Congress blames ad agency for Lok Sabha polls debacle

NEW DELHI: After its disastrous performance, senior Congress leaders are gunning for Dentsu, the Japanese communication agency which handled the party's poll advertising account.

Congress hired Dentsu for nearly Rs 600 crore. One of its primary objectives was to position Rahul Gandhi as a young and dynamic leader out to empower the common man. But the Congress campaign failed to match the BJP ad blitz, which was handled by Piyush Pandey, Prasoon Joshi and Sam Balsara.

"Dentsu cannot be absolved of the blame for the debacle. They not only charged a premium for the creatives, but they also released ads at an abnormally high premium in connivance with various media houses," a senior Congress leader alleged.

A Dentsu India spokesperson countered the charge. "All the financial negotiations were in line with the services we had committed to offer via a rigorous and transparent process, and agreed to before the commencement of the campaign. Apart from Dentsu India, there was another agency hired by Congress for ad releases. All rates... were tripartite involving the client, agency and media houses/third-party service provider."

A senior Congress leader also alleged that Dentsu India executive chairman Rohit Ohri had a heated argument with Congress leader Ajay Maken over the same issue. Subsequently, all Dentsu employees in India received an email, which forbade them from talking to the media.

While Maken was not available for comment, in an emailed response, the Dentsu spokesperson said, "We do not disclose any client information adhering to the confidentiality norms and the non-disclosure agreement signed between the client and the agency which is still in effect. Similarly, as per our company code of conduct, Dentsu executives are not authorized to speak on any of our clients."