NEW DELHI: Congress has engaged advertising agency JWT for a Rs 500-crore publicity blitz to stymie the challenge posed by BJP’s Narendra Modi and help smoothen its path to a hat-trick in the 2014 general elections by hardselling its welfare credentials.JWT’s creatives addressed concerns in Congress regarding BJP’s onslaught over corruption scandals at the Centre and impressed the party’s vice-president, Rahul Gandhi, a person familiar with the matter said, explaining why the agency was picked.Eleven agencies had made presentations to senior Congress leaders for the contract. The agency’s creatives centre around a poser to voters: “Would you entrust your country to this man (Modi)?” Congress has also asked the agency for regular inputs to counter Modi, said the person cited earlier.JWT has put a team in place to pick holes in Modi’s record as Gujarat chief minister, said the person, who did not wish to be named, adding that this team will come up with a set of Modi’s “claims” and “real facts” on issues such as alleged fake encounters, malnutrition and water crisis in the state.JWT denied it had been awarded the Congress contract, with Sanjeev Bhargava, its managing partner and head for Delhi, saying the pitch process was still underway. The operations chief for Percept, another agency in the race for the contract, said: “I believe the pitch process is yet to conclude as we have not been informed about any new development.” But the Congress source said the decision had been made, and the party would sign a formal contract with JWT after Sonia Gandhi returns from abroad. The source added some representatives from JWT were already stationed at the Congress war room in Delhi.In its brief, Congress has also asked JWT to play up the Centre’s welfare schemes such as direct cash transfer and legislation on food security and land acquisition. It has also been told to devise ways to blunt the expected onslaughts by rivals, notably BJP, on the corruption front. As ET had reported in July, agencies such as Equus, Percept and the Grey group were also in the running for the contract.Ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, JWT, Crayons and Percept had handled the party’s ad campaign, which included purchasing rights of AR Rahman’s Oscar-winning number ‘Jai Ho’. In 2004, the Congress campaign was mainly handled by Leo Burnett, which packaged its Aam Aadmi messaging that helped the party undercut NDA’s ‘India Shining’ campaign. Some of the work in the 2004 campaign, notably ad films, was handled by Percept, the agency behind the ongoing Bharat Nirmaan campaign.Congress has also roped in PR consulting firm IPAN. According to a senior leader, IPAN, set up by the late Rajiv Gandhi’s classmate Rajiv Desai, has been hired in a consultancy role. “There are sometimes problems in implementation of a contract, in what we expect and what is being delivered,” said the leader, who did not wish to be named. “Sometimes there is no continuity in the point persons inside Congress as they are given newer responsibilities. So, IPAN will be a constant interface between the ad agency and Congress.”Desai, who advised Rajiv Gandhi on media matters during parliamentary elections, also found a place in Congress’ media committees under the chairmanship of Pranab Mukherjee, Shivraj Patil, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ambika Soni even as he did not get any assignment after the former prime minister’s death.Over the past year, Rahul Gandhi has been increasingly relying on Desai’s inputs on media strategy, the leader said, adding that his adeptness at social media chimed with the party’s strategy to use cyber platforms.(Additional reporting by Pritha Mitra Dasgupta and Shephali Bhatt)