5 tips from a small town Bhartiya

For the last more than 18 months I have been observing with interest brands’ approach to Bharat, small towns of India. Since I am living in one, Dehradun, here is my humble advice to the brand custodians:

• Mind your language, the App language: Earlier the problem was that all ads, TV as well as press were thought in English and then were translated literally. Now the problem is worse. It’s the digital era. The Bhartiya youngster is glued to the smart phone. And his language is apps. But what is the language of the apps? Can we please look at apps in Hindi or the local languages. The knowledge of English exists in Bharat but the comfort level is still the local language. Just see the traction that the android app of HDFC in hindi is getting. The faster that happens, the more the conversion to digital will happen. And if you do not still believe in that, just think why has Star Sports got four HD channels? Usually at any given point in time be it cricket or kabaddi or football at least two HD channels show the same match but one is giving commentary in English and the other is totally in Hindi along with the graphics etc also. Why?
• Service dikhao, service dikhao: I guess this will hold true in metro India too. But trust me in Bharat this could be your brand differentiator. Service as a concept is just non existent in Bharat towns. The bhartiya is in awe of you. Don’t exploit that awe. Surprise him with your humility and care. The bhartiya customer believes in building personal relationships. Make him feel, he is in your scheme of things. The customer wants a new post paid connection with a nano chip or a micro chip SIM. “Come after two days, we are out of stock.” Hello, aren’t you missing a trick? This is a high end smart phone user who wants a post paid connection. Shouldn’t you be wanting him badly enough to say, give me your address, I will come to your house with a nano SIM. Win him with your service.
• Great promotion idea, par distribution? Front page ad in TOI Dehradun. Buy a limited edition Lifebuoy Star Wars Handwash pack and you could win 50 lightsabers daily. But is the new pack available in Dehradun? Not to worry, the fine print in 6 point size in reverse against the red background says, scheme valid till 20th So the promotion is so great that the brand expects the consumer to go to the retailer everyday till the distribution finally delivers? Yes, the brand delivered to India on time. But Bharat?
• All editions of TOI is a great buy So what if the Big Bazaar ad has offers for Delhi which are not valid in Dehradun? So what if an embarrassed store manager in Dehradun has to tell his customers that India is superior to Bharat? Wasn’t it cheaper to get all editions of TOI? Hey, is that the reason for point four too?
• Value for money matlab daam kam yaa maal zyada, Nahin? VFM? Isn’t it just about the price equation? More quantity for same price. Or less price for same quantity. Or even less price for more quantity? But in Bharat there is one more equation that works. Badaa Naam, Pichlaa model, Chota daam. Aspirational brands, older model, lesser price. That’s why iPhone 4s and 5s models are flying off the shelf in Dehradun. That’s why the local dealers are having their own price wars within the city on these models, while the 6 and 6s is still available at company price. Many premium and aspirational brands can still work wonders in Bharat if the definition of VFM is tweaked a bit.

Happy 2016.

Karva Chauth and the triumph of digital media

(The original post was published on 31/10/2015)

Karva Chauth is all about tradition and has also been the target of women who consider it a sign of men's tyranny. With education and awareness of a more liberated outlook spreading, one would expect this festival to receede in the background. Yet, exactly the opposite has happened.

Seeing it from a small town perspective, think the festival actually explains the digital phenomena. It's just that digital age has resulted in a more amplified view and celebration. It's the perception that has been amplified. And that has resulted in people being more aggressive in demonstrating that they follow/observe it. I saw two karva chauth apps which explain each ritual, what to wear, what to use and also have alarms which remind the women about what to do when. Even the ritual of fasting seems to have been made easy. Women were thronging multiplexes in groups to see the new releases in the morning....divert attention, busy posting updates on FB.....whats app group were busy with women exchanging jokes, videos....

Even employers, specially in small towns where it's not the MNCs or big private companies, but besides the govt and public sector, it's small time traders, businessmen, retailers who were willingly allowing the female employees to take leave with pay, being seen as compassionate....in fact some businesses shut shop early to allow husbands to reach home on time. By not doing so they were fearing a backlash on social media. And local pop ads highlighting local jewellery stores or food outlets were also quite visible
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Social media had galvanised local media too. I counted 12 ads which were directly karva chauth related offers two days prior to karva chauth. These were from local beauty salons, food stores, jewellery and even restaurants offering takeaways and karva chauth meals. But the best were classified ads with couples wishing each other and one vernacular newspaper even had a full page dedicated with couples photos, wishing each other! 

To me it was reflecting the arrival of the digital age in all it's glory and pomp. The festival is riding a new digital age. The question is how long will the ride last? Will the novelty wear off? Because finally it is about the belief....and at night that had the last laugh....the cloud cover defeated the apps which using GPS were exactly pointing towards the moon and yet as it was still not visible, the fasting had to wait those few minutes more.

Guilt Commerce

This weekend I learned about a new type of commerce. The 'guilt commerce'. Living in Dehradun and having a daughter in a boarding school this weekend was a revelation.

Wherever in Doon we went this Saturday and Sunday the place was teeming with boarders and their parents. Stationery and gift shops, eating joints, malls, cinema, the cash registers were jingling everywhere and the businessmen couldn't hide their glee.

Let me explain. All boarding schools have a monthly off wherein the parents can take their wards away over a weekend. Typically the student can go out on Friday evening and be back at the boarding on Sunday evening or Monday morning, before school. So lot of outside parents come to town on a particular weekend. They check into hotels or friends' or relative places and then they get into indulging their children. Shopping for school stuff, boarding house requirements are par for the course. And then comes 'guilt shopping'. Dining at favourite restaurants, shopping for the odd indulgence, buying of goodies, watching cinema, ice creams.....

Thankfully my daughter had a simple wish list...a few canvasses, colours, brushes and books. All which I agreed with. And then she asked for a loom kit. I had no clue what it was. But she not only knew everything about it but also knew where to buy it. So we proceeded to a gift shop type of a place and I was bowled over by the number and variety of boarders. I think I saw almost all types of school dress and designs. ( Some schools allow children on a day pass in school dress). And while standing in a queue to pay I noticed some interesting buying behaviour and parent reactions.

One young chap insisted he wanted the 'Blood capsule.' I had no clue what it was and neither had the poor mother. But remember the phrase 'guilt shopping'? Well the mother succumbed to it. Another mom was chiding her son for buying 4 pens as according to her he hates writing. At this my daughter mumbled in my ears ' oh he must be buying it to play pen fight'. I was learning new things. And of course there was the usual. An 8-9 year old insisting on the new Barbie, with a little help from the shopkeeper and getting away with it.

I chatted with the shopkeeper when my turn came. While furiously punching his calculator he told me, 'sir once in a month we face bonanza. And this time with rakhi over a weekend, we are having a windfall'. So there were parents from Punjab in their Audis, from UP in their Fortunners, from Haryana in their Dusters and from Uttarakhand in their Dezires. All justifying their child's stay at a boarding house with their wallets.

At the mall the food court didn't have an inch of space. At the ice cream parlour, the chocolates and caramels were running out of stock and at the stationery shops there was a run on the pens.
Cities like Dehradun thrive on guilt commerce. There is a tourist season and a guilt commerce season. Tourist season is for a few months but guilt commerce is a monthly phenomena.
I did my own calculation. Guilt commerce had cost me almost five grand. Now multiply this conservative figure by more than 5000. Not bad eh!