It's my life...

Today consumers have unlimited choices; brands can make the most of it by understanding the changing needs of the consumers and offering a wider range.

In the earlier days, during the pre-liberalisation era, choices were few and far between. There used to be only one bathing soap per family which perhaps also doubled up as shampoo. And when shampoo did arrive, we didn’t have different shampoos for dry hair, broken hair and other innumerable hair types. Likewise, there was only one general purpose face cream which worked as a moisturiser, a day cream and a night cream, and for all possible skin types. The world was quite simple. Conformity was in and consumerism was unheard of. Flamboyance, outrageousness, individualism were traits that were shunned by most for the fear of a social backlash. Everyone tried to stick to the given norms and stayed within the boundaries of the acceptable social structure. We were also a closed economy and exposure to varied brands and categories elsewhere was limited.

But this ‘one-size-fits-all’ syndrome has now been replaced by ‘each-one-to-its-own’ as consumerism and product categories have significantly evolved over time.

“So what if I was born with black eyes?

I always wanted to have green eyes which I can now have by wearing lenses,” says Disha, a college student. And this is becoming a common refrain.

Gone are the days when people can be content with what they originally inherited — hair, skin type, build, eye colour et al. Consumers today have gone ahead and are challenging nature. Hair streaking, frowned upon by most a decade back, is now an accepted personal style statement. So is the emergence of male grooming products, a phenomenon just about five years old. This evolution has been further hastened to the next level with the creation of products catering to the different skin and hair types for men, which was previously considered a female bastion. Consumers can now choose the colour of their eyes, facial structure, shape of their nose, and skin type thanks to contact lenses, plastic surgery, botox jabs, etc. So from the times of “Hamara Bajaj”, the shift has already been completed to “mera wala blue” with thousands of shades of blue thanks to paint tinting machines where at the touch of a button, your own kind of blue can be created.

In a way it mirrors the larger change that is taking place in society. Earlier we were conditioned to be part of a herd, doing stereotyped activities. Standing out or going against the grain was deemed outrageous. Conformity was the rule by which we all were expected to live. Now it is exactly the opposite as everyone wants to be unique and different, not only by looking for a personalised channel of expression but also going to the extent of challenging what nature has given them.

The IT world has virtually infused this seed of personalisation at a very rapid pace through various media, ranging from personalised email ids to online avatars. Earlier the trend was to read books only of a celebrated class of individuals called ‘authors’. Now self-expression in the form of blogs and tweets is becoming popular.

Gone are the days of herd mentality and conformity. Now is the time to create your own following. Yes, people do look up to trend setters for certain hints and directions, but instead of aping them, as they did in the yesteryears, they prefer to create their own sense of individuality through personalisation. With rising aspirations and avenues due to the nearly 9 per cent GDP growth, many more professions are now respected. A decade ago, being a DJ or a wedding planner would not have been considered respectable. But with the explosion of new professions and new communities, some of them being online, new categories are being formed to allow expression for the same. With college admission cut-offs hitting the 100 per cent mark and new professions coming to the fore that can be the route to good income and fame, parents are also increasingly letting their children make their own choices.

Although there is a sense of acceptance towards trendsetters, when it comes to showcasing to the world, individuals today try to inovate and add their own personal touch to the trends to be able to stand out. “I am the star in this movie called Life.” This idea is becoming common for today’s generation.

What does it mean for marketers?

In India, most consumers don’t know the difference between a packaged fruit drink, packaged juice, fruit beverage or packaged nectar, though the fact is that the category evolution from plain bottled mango drink that started decades ago is almost complete. Today consumers have a mixed fruit juice where the choice of fruits is decided by the manufacturer. The day is not far when there will be not just one mixed fruit juice, but many options of mixed fruit juice by the same brands. So consumers would be able to select the juice based on their choices of fruit. They can pick their personal taste and leave the general aside. More personal. More customised. More for you only.

Bread is bread. But now you can ask which bread. Wheat bread? Rye bread? Honey bread? Multi-grain bread? Same is the case with sauces, dips and cheese.

Consumers want to be different and discover the individual in them vis-a-vis the common choices they had before. It is certainly rewarding to discover oneself through one’s unique tastes and choices. The times of 9 per cent growth and rising incomes and aspirations make this discovery possible.

Brands should find ways to identify and communicate consumer benefits so that they can create more sub-categories, thereby taking advantage of this discovery route of personalisation which the consumers have embarked upon. With so much attention being paid to their needs and changing tastes, the consumers can be excused for feeling like kings and saying ‘It’s my life’.

The author is president, food and FMCG, Future Group