New-media campaign guru Brandzel meets IAC members

The man behind US President Barack Obama’s new media campaign, Ben Brandzel, has offered his suggestions to India Against Corruption (IAC), the primary body backing the Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement on its new media campaign. His suggestions would be incorporated in IAC’s campaigns in the future.

On Friday, Shivendra, the force behind IAC’s internet campaign, along with other members of the team, met Ben Brandzel for an interactive session to listen to his ideas on their campaign and on how manage campaigns of a greater scale. Brandzel, described as a leading international practitioner, trainer and writer in the field of progressive online organising, was also the director of new-media campaigns and fundraising for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

Members of the Hazare camp who attended the meeting with Ben Brandzel said a lot of ideas were exchanged during the interaction. “In similar campaigns in western countries, the organisers engage corporates such as fast-moving consumer goods companies that have a direct relationship with the people. We had not thought about this,” said Shivendra, who manages IAC’s social-networking websites. “There are differences in circumstances in India and the US, but there is still scope for customisation,” he said.

Brandzel said IAC should invest more in building a large email database, since Facebook as a relatively unreliable medium for sustaining contact over time and text-messaging was expensive. IAC sends the majority of its messages through either Facebook or text-messages.