Govt plans to give a name to unique ID project………Harsimran Julka
NEW DELHI: Will it be Asmita, Aadhar or Abhigyan? The Union government is mulling over a brand name for its unique identity project initiative. The
government is planning to give the programme an identity, which can be readily identified by the people.
government is planning to give the programme an identity, which can be readily identified by the people.
Five names three of them being Abhigyan, Aadhar and Asmita have been shortlisted to give the programme a brand identity. A huge advertising campaign will be floated, involving over 1.2 billion people. Tenders for the advertising campaign, for the initial stage, is expected to be issued next month.
The authority has also set aside Rs 50 crore for advertising and publicity and enrolled heads of Future Brands and Chlorophyll as consultants on a media and awareness committee. About 20 logos have already been shortlisted by the Unique Identity Authority (UIDAI) with the final ones expected to be announced around April 26.
Next month, the tenders for the initial ad campaign will be floated. We have already started three pilots for collecting fingerprints and iris (eye) information of citizens in Karnataka and AP. The Authority is confident of rolling out the first set of numbers between August 2010 and February 2011, a government official said.
The technology data centres for data repository will be based in Bangalore and Delhi, while the disaster recovery centres will be based elsewhere in the country. UIDAI plans to evolve the unique ID into an attractive brand to spread social awareness. UID itself is a three-syllable word which may not be easily recognised by masses. We are looking for a name which can instantly click with Indian citizens even in remote villages, he added.
The UIDAI has formed a media awareness and communication council that will assist UIDAI to spread awareness about the chosen UID brand name among masses. The six member media awareness council will submit its report in 90 days.
The appointed agencies will be involved in designing communication around concept awareness and creative design around UID. The authority may subsequently hire a public relation consultant as well.
Meanwhile, the government may also deliberate on a celebrity endorsement for promoting the brand. Its interesting to note that Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchans association with the Pulse Polio campaign did give it a huge boost. However, considering the recent controversies around the association of Mr Bachchan with Amar Singh, the government might chose some other personality.
Future Brands CEO Santosh Desai, Procter & Gambles India marketing head Sumeet Vohra, Pidilites president for marketing and sales, Praveen Tripathi, and brand consultancy Chlorophylls MD Kiran Khalap are advising the government on its brand strategy for the UID project.