Being a professional politician is difficult. There is tremendous pressure on political leaders to be constantly in the public eye, engaging with people.The enterprising among them are showing a keen interest in public relations. They understand exactly how businesses leverage the power of communications to market themselves. They see the skill perfected by Narendra Modi who has enhanced his public image as a global statesman by leveraging modern PR tools.One such savvy Tamil Nadu leader followed suit and set up his own 'political strategy and image management team', much in advance of the 2016 elections to the state assembly. The team consisted of marketing and communications professionals with corporate backgrounds. They were hired as consultants and I happened to be a member of this team. Our mandate was made clear — The constituency was the market where our client's (the political leader's) persona was the product to be sold. Based on our past experience in selling various products and services, we put together a blueprint that would give the client his best chance at beating competition.We painfully went through videos of his public appearances analysing his body language and the content of his speeches. The team took to providing inputs to his public addresses. Daily briefs were sent out to keep the client updated with nuanced information on relevant public policy issues with a view to enhance his 'thought leadership'. Suggestions on possible wardrobe makeovers were made. Reinvention and rejuvenation of his ideology was his constant concern.The team took over the management of the client's social media presence. It was made dynamic through the posting of multiple messages every day that dramatically increased his online following. The messages were direct in their tone and resonated with the target audience. Apps were developed to boost connect with young, tech-savvy voters. The team used open-source software to develop mobile-friendly websites and to create separate campaigns for online audiences.To deepen connect with the constituency and to establish his image as a tech-savvy politician, an innovative technology-based project was initiated and widely publicized. It was basically a helpline, set up using customer relationship management tools, to help residents who couldn't visit the MLA office. Those who called the helpline received a registration number and were given regular updates regarding the status of resolution of their issues.The team mapped the entire state through multiple reconnaissance trips, meeting important stakeholders and understanding local issues. We documented all the information, from the history of the constituencies and the voting patterns there, to information about present and past candidates, and detailed insights about the electoral districts. We used technology and analytics to examine data collected to uncover hidden voting trends, correlations and other electoral insights. The exercise resulted in great insights into the behaviour, needs, and aspirations of voters. It helped in coming up with innovative and powerful suggestions for the final manifesto.Despite all the hard work, the party that our client represented lost the elections. But the consolation was that the client appeared to have shed his earlier lacklustre image.I quit the campaign before the results due to personal reasons. While I am sure the client must have thoroughly considered the verdict and internalized the lessons learned, here are my two-cents-worth reflections from the exciting work I was involved in.If I were in the client's shoes, I would start by asking myself what I am chasing. Politics is not a business, and voters are not consumers. Leadership is not a product to be packaged and positioned differently to different sets of consumers.Politics doesn't need corporate-style public relations; for the realm of politics is itself the greatest platform for the practitioner of true public relations. Astute politicians who rise to become mass leaders successfully use the political platform to influence the whole of society with their worldview. People desire to see their leaders as genuine change-makers delivering on a vision.Image management and modern tools can only take a politician thus far. What would leave a lasting impact, and win elections, is a vision of the future that is convincing and rings true. Without that, a highly professional and well managed poll campaign alone cannot deliver victory.(The author is a former journalist who has served as political consultant)

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