Friday, May 29, 2015

If Tanu weds Manu.. Shouldn’t Marketers Court Bharat!

As Tanu mocks Manu above, chiding him for his choice of “substandard” Jhajjar girl Datto- over herself. One wonders how Bollywood's Movie Camps viewed such Desi movies just a few years ago. The Formula driven, mega budget star casting Bollywood camps would have called this as “Reebokey” or Dublicate. Until the block buster like "Dabangg" broke the mold- Thus movies with connect with small town North India (Bharat) perhaps have become the new formula!

Advertising and marketing Mirror the Society, unfortunately the Metropolitan context of most our adv’s makes me wonder.The Marketers of India, sadly still view the “Bharat part” of India as peripheral but not “Main target” of their Brand value & imagery. The question is: is it Time to target Bharat as “mainstream” for Brand’s core values? Marketers will argue is there even a need to connect to Bharat? Isn’t that something akin to what Bollywood was doing? Let’s evaluate.

Metro Vs Urban Populations
Numbers with the right lens show us the opportunity. 31.2% of Indian population is Urban (not metropolitan) 68.8 is rural, Top 6 metro cities have 6% population, top 10 only 7.7%. Top 20 only 9.73%. In conclusion 25% of Indian cities are non Metros. So the metropolitan values & Imagery connects with only 6%. The remaining part for a diverse nation like India would have  similar Psychographics, aspiration and brand preference is the premises – one wants to challenge.

 Chart shows urbanization trend in 16 key Indian states.  8 states are below the average level of urbanization,  4 among these 8 figure in the top 10 GDP contributing states of India. Potential? Further if bank deposit signify buying power the fact that 36% of all bank deposits are from Non Metro Urban India  Indicates of a viable opportunity .
 One element, which needs to be underlined is that metropolitan India has high percentage of immigrants from small towns. Instead of  stereotype of Metropolitan SEC A- the Emigrant software engineer from Raipur, young sons of a PSU worker from UP, the government employees all migrated from small towns connect more with their towns than Metros.

Psycographic

The Marketers argument that aspirations are same across India, need to decipher seemingly simple yet defiant Datto in the movie “Tanu... In her rebuttal to “Naivete” ridicule by Tanu. Datto says she may not know to dress up, but knows how to manage relationships, she is a state level athlete due to her own efforts, battled her circumstances, against all odds-on her own terms. She is confident go getter, no complexes for her not knowing English (Evoked clapping in suburban Mumbai)
 Does this resonates with the world of privileged English speaking 16 year old of Metros? In my wide travel the well-off youth of small towns always looked Cock sure -where they want to go & unapologetic of their limitation. They are indifferent to the “perception generated by their in-difference“. Why so? Because several of their conviction are labelled  too forward in their home town and considered regressive or backward in cities. Their rebellious indifferent attitude, can be summed up simply as “we are like that only & we are very good”

The Movie though not seminal work, connects across India. Realistic characters right out of small town north India. Rich textures of relationship’s absent in an “emigrant’s make do city life. The languages & Jargons of small town. Perhaps the emigrant Software Engineer in Bangalore isn’t ashamed of his roots? Perhaps we cannot force feed “aspirations”. You can look down upon Bharat, but they won’t look up to you.  

Competitiveness.

Many would argue making a mainstream brand targeted only at Small town India- would sacrifice the Metropolitan urban market completely. Agreed, but all brands imagery and context target Metros’s would not you be alone targeting connecting to Bharat’s ?-Thus a Brand inside a lesser competitive space can have more success.

Another argument that the Brand will lose the “aspirational hallo” for Metros. Certain categories can be brought to life by “connect” to the audiences- Bollywood movies are just one of them. There is an element of pride in Bharat- it needs more manifestation in our Brands.

Competitive sports are the most notable signal of the rise of small towns, meritocracy which may not require an education ecosystem. Lads into lime light of cricket (Shami, Rahane, Hardik Pandya,even Dhoni & Raina) Kids cracking  IIT JEE  prove this again- the next big wave of aspiration lies in Bharat, an aspiration which is definitely different than pure hedonic consumption driven Metros portrayed by advertising.

Courting Bharat


Beyond making a sales network for catering to Bharat. It’s time to court it with  brands, which resonated and connects with them ( Quite a few have already begun)- City emigrants will value it too. In cities outside metros, Bharat is not aping the West. It will not follow the US markets- it will create its own solutions. Its protagonist & its local role models don’t share mindset of urban westernizing India- a conservative BJP in power, does signal it. Youth entrepreneurs are making their own mark in small towns guided by values with a different moral compass. Let’s create a brand which encapsulates their unique views. Let’s court Tanu, Manu, Pappi and the real Bhartiya Middle Class.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous10:58 AM

    I agree that marketers need to court aspirational brands catered to Bharat .... However several are structural differences ti a metro / urban economy vs rural .... Unlike the urban economy where availability is key ... Rural economy needs in addition acceptability and affordability .... Spend patterns linked to cultural and social acceptances are norms.... Traditions dictate what you wear and buy .... This needs great attention to detail .... There are as many dialects as are districts in a state .... Unlike metros where English is accepted medium ... A rural brand would need to resonate with this divergent group .... Another challenge is affordability .... Saving patterns are quite different in rural India .... Prime reason being people have more cash on hand ... And incomes are quite volatile .... Lastly about 50% rural India inaccessible during many parts of the year .... Esp monsoon with inaccessible roads and disruption to power ... This needs structural changes to economy ... Infrastructure development can change dynamics ... Given the challenges still rural India poses great challenges to marketers .... Only the most innovative ones will be able to create the right connect ....

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