Percept/H appointed creative agency for Aadhaar's pilot phase

Aadhaar is the unique identification project driven by Nandan Nilekani and the UIDAI. While Percept/H will take care of the creative duties, DAVP will be in charge of the media mandate

Percept/H has been roped in to handle the creative duties for Aadhaar's pilot phase following a multi agency pitch. Aadhaar, as is known, is an initiative by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to provide unique identity numbers to Indian residents - a project headed by Nandan Nilekani, until recently co-chairperson of the board of directors of Infosys Technologies and current chairperson of UIDAI.

The media duties will be handled by the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP). Ram Sewak Sharma, director general, UIDAI has confirmed the developments to afaqs!. Ad spends for the pilot phase will be in the region of Rs 10-15 crore, while the yearly ad budget is likely to touch Rs 50 crore.

As reported by afaqs! earlier, a total of seven agencies took part in the creative pitch process for the pilot phase. These included Rediffusion Y&R, Dentsu Marcom, Lowe Lintas, Crayons Advertising, Concept Communication, Span Communications and Percept/H.

The pilot phase will commence in August 2010 and will end around February 2011. Subsequently, a fresh pitch may be called for the handling of brand Aadhaar on a long term basis.

DAVP will also look after the media aspect, particularly for audio-visual media and print.

Percept/H will work hand in hand with government agencies and infrastructure to carry out marketing/advertising activities to popularise Aadhaar across India. The synergy between the two sets of agencies is important for the success of Aadhaar because while the creative agency will generate effective, creative ideas to connect with the masses, the government agencies and infrastructure will be instrumental in providing the scale and bandwidth to reach the interiors of India.

As is known, Aadhaar recently adopted a logo, created after a nationwide contest in February that drew more than 2,000 entries. Its logo - a fingerprint encased within the sun - indicates that the promise of Aadhaar stems from uniqueness, while the sun symbolises a promise that shines on all equally.

At the core of Aadhaar's DNA is creating equal access to opportunity, as the brand hopes to be about entitlement and being recognised as an individual.

For the record, this unique identification project was initially conceived by the Planning Commission as an initiative that will provide identification for each resident across the country, and will be used primarily as the basis for efficient delivery of welfare services by the government. It will also act as a tool for effective monitoring of various government programmes and schemes.