Both the market and the consumer have undergone a dramatic change in the 2000s.
It’s December 2009, the end of a year — but also the end of the first decade of the new millennium. The 1990s was the decade of economic liberalisation. India globalised and began to integrate with the outside world. Markets got flooded with global brands and new categories. It was a period of adoption — sometimes direct — of both global brands and global communication. The market was filled with optimistic consumers craving to take in the goodies of life. It was the end of socialism and the beginning of capitalism. Austerity stopped being good; consumption was in. Advertising started to take an Indian shape and character. If the Liril girl was the highpoint of the 70s and the 80s, then Asian Paints “Pongal” and Cadbury Dairy Milk “Cricket” commercials set the tone for advertising in the 90s. The girl dancing on the cricket field was symbolic of the unshackling of the consumer in the Indian market. It was a decade of continuous growth and excitement for both marketing and advertising. It was a period when India, on a leash till then, was suddenly allowed to run unfettered — the joy of getting out of school and into college! It was a decade of disruption.
What changes has the last decade left us with in the consumer market? Looking back is an interesting exercise.
First, consumer luxuries have got democratised during this decade. Products that were considered for a few started to reach larger and larger masses of consumers — from colas to shampoos to readywear to mobile to airlines. Categories that started in the 90s began to expand their footprint and became a part of mass life. Consumption and consumerism reached more people than it did in the 90s. Social inequity continues to be part of India’s economic, but the capitalistic principle that “open up from the top to a few, and the benefits will flow down to many” has come true. Consumerism is truly mass!
Along with this, has come a culture of upgrade and step movement rather than lifetime ownership and gradual movement. I think technology, mobile handsets in particular, made consumers get used to constant change — buying a new product even when the old one was “functional”, thus breaking the barrier of the “replace when it’s broke” mindset. And then this extended to other categories in life — from clothes to televisions to homes. Every Indian market presents an opportunity to marketers to get consumers to move up. As technology improves and consumers’ disposable income increases, the willingness and propensity of consumers to make leaps from unbranded to branded and pay significant premia is also increasing. There is no longer “lifetime ownership”, but “lifetime consumer value’!
Third, there has been a shift from product to services and experiences. And this is taking place across categories. Coffee has become Cafes, beauty products are transiting into Parlours — and this is going into small towns too with local “aunties” sensing business opportunities opening parlours and beauty counselling centres at home — and home videos have become multiplexes. And in every case, it provides marketers an opportunity to extract more value.
Style with substance is the mantra of the decade. We have seen it in advertising where it’s not only messaging and story that matter, but the best advertisements are those that are made with love and aesthetics and the quality of execution shows. Packaging has made leapfrog transformation in material, form and design; consumer inclination to look good is reflected in the growth of both parlours and gyms.
If the 90s was about Indian globalising, the 2000s was about Indianisation of global brands and categories. Western tops became kurtis; MTV and Channel V adopted Indian film music to increase connect and with the K serials, India got its own local soap operas. McDonald’s showed the way in marketing to tailor-make its product offering to script a success story and the successful Thanda Matlab Coke advertising in 2001 was the torchbearer for global brands to get into Indian culture. Through the decade, there were a spate of global brands, including technology brands like Nokia and Motorola, that recognised that India needed its own mix. This ended with Vodafone continuing with its local Hutch advertising even after taking over the local brand and now contemplating taking the Indian communication abroad to the West!
The Indian celebrity disease and advertising craze grew and took fresh shape through the decade. As we exit, celebrities neither bring “awe and credibility” to the brand they represent, nor transfer values, they just give advertising cut-throughs. With over-exposure and media editorials bringing the celebrity into homes, the aura around them has disappeared, making them more human and real. It, of course, gives advertising agencies more play-field to do things with them; but should get marketers to re-evaluate the value they are bringing. Celebrities have become human!
Reality shows have become a part of our lives. It started with Kaun banega Crorepati and ended with the explosive Sach ka Samna with music and dance shows and the likes of Big Boss and Rakhi ka Svayamvar catching eyeballs. Cross over to news channels and they too are filled with sordid stories of celebrities and semi-celebrities, and happenings within their home walls. Mass voyeurism is in and so too viewer enjoyment, vicariously, of other people’s sorrows and unhappiness. Hand in hand with this is the birth and growth of “brands with a social conscience”. Lifebouy, Idea, Tata Tea are examples that are talking to the responsible side of Indian consumers. Clearly, a schizophrenic society is opening up, providing brand opportunities at opposite ends of the spectrum. And brand communication has evolved in both directions.
In sum, it’s been a decade of evolution. We have progressed from “needs” to “desires”, “adoption” to “adaptation”, from “exuberance” to “enjoyment”; from “starry-eyed fascination” to more “value-added evaluation”. The fundamental drivers, structure of the market and the consumer have changed. We entered the decade with unbridled optimism and exited it with cautious optimism and a sense of realism — a natural evolution from the early growth stage to late growth stage. The next decade needs to be viewed as the next phase of this evolution and managed accordingly. Looking at the last 10 years as a period will help us see things as a larger picture.
Something worth thinking about.
The author is Country Head - Discovery and Planning, Ogilvy and Mather, India.Views expressed are personal.
