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.
