2017: A year when India graduated into a true digital democracy

The year began with Donald Trump being sworn in as president of the

United States

and ended with the wedding of Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma (with plenty else happening in between).

So, how did 2017 fare? Who were the winners and losers?

According to the Chinese calendar, it was the year of the rooster. Which rings true because the people/brands that made news were the ones who also made the loudest noise – even if it was not the most pleasing to the ears.

2017 was the year when India truly became a digital democracy. As the digital footprint spread outwards, the masses learnt to pay money through their Paytm accounts. It was the year when we received Facebook requests and motivational WhatsApp messages from our electricians, plumbers and drivers, as they discovered the joys of joining the digital world. But it was also the year when being connected acquired a new meaning for Indians — connected not via the internet but to Aadhaar.

At the same time, trolling became a national pastime, reaching epidemic proportions. We trolled our politicians, our journalists, our celebrities, our brands — we trolled everyone who could be trolled.

Attention, already divided between multiple screens (TV, phone, PC) got further splintered into the five windows of Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter and SMS, as brands struggled to gatecrash the attention of consumers. And while smartphones took away attention, they also became a platform for customers willing to call out and transmit the misdemeanours of brands. And a lot of brands realised it wasn’t possible to dodge the scrutiny.

With everything being hashtagged, hashtags were fast losing their relevance. But there were two notable exceptions, occasions when they created a big impact: #MeToo and #NotInMyName raised important issues in ways we had never seen before.

New brands were born while some realigned themselves. Nitish Kumar underwent the fastest and smoothest rebranding, from the champion of secular forces arraigned against BJP to an anti-corruption ally of Modi. Rahul Gandhi also had a brand makeover, relaunching himself in Berkeley, California, before descending on Gujarat to unleash Rahul 2.0. This Rahul was aggressive and funny, and challenged Brand Modi head on.

Brand Kejriwal went quiet, dropping beneath the radar this year. The Delhi CM rebuilt his brand by focusing on policies rather than mass media campaigns. Brand Modi stayed strong throughout but came under pressure in the wake of the shocks brought on by GST and demonetisation. The Gujarat elections proved this brand’s sternest test, which he passed but not without a struggle, indicating tougher challenges ahead in 2018.

In 2017, we discovered our own ‘royal couple’ in Virat and Anushka. From Italy to Delhi to Mumbai, we obsessed about their wedding. On the field, Brand Virat was unstoppable, going from strength to strength and threatening comparisons with the great Sachin much earlier than anyone anticipated. And Indian sport found a new star in P V Sindhu, who got the better of the world’s best.

Brand India did well internationally with Moody’s upgrading its credit rating (after 13 years) from Baa3 to Baa2, while the ‘ease of doing business’ ranking jumped to a best-ever of 100. Closer home, however, brands NCR and Gurgaon suffered heavily as air pollution levels made international headlines.

The coming year promises more action – from Kohli, who faces the test of overseas pitches, to Modi, who prepares for 2019, and Rahul, who begins his innings as Congress president in earnest. Here’s wishing all of you a year full of liberty, privacy, equality and harmony.

(The views expressed are personal)

(Author is

Jitender Dabas

who is the chief strategy officer, McCann World Group)