GUEST COLUMN: Innovate or Perish

Prof Rajita Chaudhuri follow some off-beat trends like organizing make up sessions

If private educational institutions perform well, the government should be forthcoming in recognising and aiding them

G. Viswanathan

Chancellor, VIT University

The Government of India's education policy is three-pronged. It's about expansion, excellence and inclusion. Currently, access to higher education is only restricted to around 11 per cent of our country's people whereas the world average is 27 per cent. So we have a long way to go before we catch up with the rest of the world. To achieve this, the government's spending on education should be increased. Even though the Education Commission had recommended six per cent of the GDP to be spent on education (that too 50 years ago), only four per cent is actually spent.

The government is concentrating on school education. No doubt it is much needed but higher education is necessary to maintain the country's economic growth. Economic equality can only be a reality when the middle and the lower middle class reap the benefits of higher education. However, this cannot be achieved by the government alone. The private sector, too, would have to participate. Liberalisation and privatisation should apply to the education sector as well so that expansion takes place. But unless we take care of the tuition fee of students coming from weaker sections of society, they may not be able to join the institutions, especially the private ones, even if seats are available. Some kind of financial assistance is desperately needed for them apart from the bank loans. Even getting bank loans is not that easy for them. This model is available in China. I am told by Chinese students in my institution that their education is funded by the Chinese Government. Such a model is worth considering in our country as well.

Now, since we are liberal in permitting engineering colleges, the number of seats has gone up to 10 lakhs in India. This is a very unique situation. Such expansion should take place in other sectors as well such as medical education where there is a dire need for expansion. Our students, who are mostly going out of the country, are studying medicine in many East European countries. The cost of medical education there is comparatively cheaper than in India. It is high time that our students get enough seats in our country. As for quality, it will take some time. For a college, it usually takes about ten years. For a university, it requires 20-25 years to develop full-fledged teaching, research and other capabilities that include dispensation of social responsibilities. The present Union government wants to expand the reach of education and improve its quality. But the way it is implemented goes against private initiatives in the education sector. We can bring about quality only if there is competition between the government and private institutions.

We are also expecting foreign universities to land in India. If they are here, we'll have to compete with them. We have an acute shortage of teachers in our country. This holds more true for engineering and medical colleges. So we have to offer extra benefits to teachers. We should have more scholarships for those going for Master's degree if they give an undertaking that they will take up teaching. Only then will we be able to tackle the shortage of teachers.

I would make a request to the industry, especially the senior executives, to come and share their experiences with students and teachers. It will go a long way in improving the practical knowledge of students in engineering colleges. Another thing I would suggest is that the teachers must go to industries at least for a short period every year to brush up their theoretical knowledge with some practical knowhow.

If you ask me what I learnt from my experience in building VIT as a reputed institute in India, I would just say 'patience'. Certainly, we need the blessings of and the cooperation from the state and the Central governments. At present, there are rules and regulations which can punish an institute if it violates them. But if an institute performs well, there is nobody to recognise it. It is high time that the government recognised them so that many institutes can compete and quality goes upward. And, perhaps the cost of education would also go down due to increased competition. Since there is no competition, the cost of medical education is very high. As far as VIT is concerned, we were under the University of Madras for 16 years. We didn't have any major problem. But the curriculum was not revised during that period. We had to teach subjects from outside the syllabus which we called 'augmentation programme', because it was useful to them in the industry. Students would study certain things under that programme but would not have to write the examination.

Once I wrote to the university for introducing the credit system. They sat on the application for about two years and then replied, asking us to wait for better times!

In 1999, I applied for autonomous status and went to the university. They said that we didn't have permanent approval from AICTE. So, we were asked to go and get that first. The AICTE in those days was giving temporary approval and the university was giving temporary affiliation. Then I went to the AICTE. There I was told to go to the University of Madras and get permanent affiliation first! This game went on for two years. Finally, I withdrew my application for autonomy and applied for the deemed university status and got it. Now, we are into our tenth year as a deemed university.

I have visited many foreign universities and find that there is no problem of finance. It's largely because the former students and big business houses and industries around the particular city contribute a lot. They donate very liberally to educational institutions. This is happening in a big way in the US. So the universities there allocate enough funds for research. There are lot of scholarships to avail too. That is why they attract large number of students from all over the world.

It would be a good idea if our universities have collaborations with them. I also suggest that when the foreign universities come here, they should have a local partner here so that even if they leave, there would not be a complete void.

Bringing too many restrictions on the functioning of universities, particularly the private ones, will hamper their growth. It will eventually affect the growth of education and too many restrictions will also increase corruption. Fifty years ago, Dr Radhakrishnan Commission suggested that governments should not interfere in the autonomy of universities. It should be applicable both for private and government universities.

This year 1,52, 000 students wrote entrance examination for our university for the 3,000 engineering seats. This shows the faith that parents and students have in us. When we look at the West, all the best universities have more than 25,000 students and yet they maintain quality. MIT has 30,000 students yet they maintain the number one status in the world. I want MIT as the role model for VIT.

In Tamil Nadu, we have more than 450 engineering colleges. If somebody wanted to start a new engineering college, they should concentrate on specialised courses instead of the routine ones. In this age, one has to innovate or perish.

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Prof Rajita Chaudhuri on 'REINVENT and REJOICE'

Rajita Chaudhuri: The New Age Woman

The key to successful reinvention is consistent investment and focus on innovation. The one company that dared to challenge and even defeat the biggies is Samsung. Whoever thought that this Korean company could defeat Japanese electronic giants – but Samsung did just that. Consistent investment in innovation has helped it beat giants like Sony; and now, Apple too is feeling threatened by it.

It is innovation that has transformed HP from an under performing printer-reliant giant to the world’s largest tech company. Huawei Technologies managed to become the #2 telecom-equipment provider and to beat big competitors like Nokia Siemens through constant product updates. The biggest innovator of the decade award definitely goes to Facebook. It is gobbling up competitors and making the whole world its consumer. By constantly innovating, it’s ensured that no one will come even remotely close to it.

Success makes us comfortable. No matter how impressive, we cannot rest on past laurels. The key is to identify when a successful idea has reached its full potential and is ready to be discarded or reinvented or rejuvenated. Leaders who reinvent themselves are the ones who reinvent their companies too. IBM was famous for its big mainframe computing systems. Today, the company has a large services component, responsible for its growth and profitability.

The decade started with the burst of the dot-com bubble in the year 2000. Thousands and thousands lost all their money, hundreds of companies closed down. Then in 2004, Tim O’Reilly and John Batelle held the first Web 2.0 conference and shocased to the world the immense benefits of “the web as a platform.” This resulted in a plethora of social media sites being created, which changed our world forever. The internet was reinvented and rejuvenated. Like never before. Today, it’s the internet & the social networking sites that are turning our world around.

Failures are a part of life and the strong reinvent and take failures in their stride. However, the players who leave the maximum impact are the ones who don’t take success for granted. They genuinely believe that it is only constant change that will give them sustained success.

It’s time to reinvent as the New Year approaches. It’s time to think deep, to really feel the urge to live your life. So, all that you have wanted to do but never did – go ahead, do it! Start with yourself; give up one bad habit. Stop smoking, give up on junk food, eat less and reinvent yourself. You deserve it. As you start reinventing yourself, you will not hesitate to reinvent your team, your leadership style, your marketing campaign and your brand.

Let’s end the New Year in truly believing in the power of reinvention, for that will help us to keep our New Year resolutions.
This article is sourced from PR-CANADA.net, click here to read compelete article.

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Rebecca West to Allen w. Dulles

IIPM Prof Rajita Chaudhuri: The New Age Woman

English journalist, novelist, and critic, perhaps best-known for her reports on the Nuremberg trials, Rebecca West started her career as a columnist for the suffragist weekly the Freewoman in the 1910s. Kenneth Tynan described her in 1954 as "the best journalist alive". The following letter was written to Allen W. Dulles, an American diplomat and author of several books on foreign affairs. He was an early head of the Central Intelligence Agency (1953'1961). West's mixed review of his 'bland' book The Craft of Intelligence is being discussed here.

February 22, 1964

My dear Allen

My review has now gone to the Sunday Telegraph and I hope it won't displease you. I enjoyed the book very much, though I was puzzled by the way that you don't seem to have been posted on English cases with perfect accuracy. Houghton`2` did not attract the attention of any security organisation by his extravagance and his investments in real estate or anything else. He is said to have been detected in the course of a dragnet investigation into the possible writers of an anti-Semitic anonymous letter; an alternative version being that a defector drew attention to the presence of a spy in his area on his level. Vassall's extravagance was not noticed, and a good part of the Tribunal was taken up by frenzied attempts of our Attorney-General (a moron of the first water)`3` to prove that our security organizations should not and did not notice it.

I have a strong suspicion that you have read the Vassall Report and not the volume of evidence etc published by His Majesty's Stationery Office. The two don't jibe too well. Radcliffe`4` is an over-rated talent and he fell down over this, and the Law Officers of the Crown were pitiable. I think someone had a hope that if they slapped down the press over the Vassall affair it would be muzzled over the Profumo case. It wasn't, and the whole thing just goes to show that one can't be too clever.

I have the oddest recollection, and an unpleasant one, of Mildred Harnack Fish.`5` She turned up with an introduction from an English writer now dead, at my flat in Orchard Court, and gravely told me that Hitler adored my books. She was empowered to tell me so, and bore the message gladly, because she and her husband were trying to civilise the Nazi state by working for it in the cultural sphere. She went on to say that every book I had written would be published in a beautiful German translation if I would only sign a declaration that I had no Jewish blood in me. At which I asked her to go. She went on, telling me the advantages I would secure if I did this little, little thing, even telling me that if I didn't people might think I had Jewish blood. I explained that I certainly hadn't, but that I would rather die than do such a thing as sign a declaration to curry favour with Hitler, and I threw her out of the front door, and as I did so, I made the uncharitable remark, 'I hope Hitler does to you the worst thing he ever did to a Jew.'

In 1949 I was in Hamburg with Henry and Dorothy Thompson and someone brought a book of anti-Nazi martyrs to the hotel, and I opened it at a page where there was the blond and vague face of Mildred Harnack Fish beside text which showed that Hitler had done that very thing. I felt considerable remorse, until an ex-Communist said to me, 'Let me suggest to you, dear Rebecca, that she was not merely disguising her real convictions when she came to England on this mission. She was also engaged in a typical Communist attempt to tie bricks round the necks of all conspicuous anti-Communists.'

Not a nice story, but this is not a nice age.

All good wishes, and may we Meet some time soon,

Yours ever,
RW

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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KARNATAKA PROTEST: A promise not kept

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Six years gone & STF men who killed Veerappan get nothing

When the elusive forest brigand Veerappan was shot dead by the joint Special Task Forces (STFs) of both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu on October 18, 2004, the then government had promised to reward the cops involved in this operation.

Dharam Singh, who was the Chief Minister of Karnataka at that time, had announced various incentives, including cash rewards and promotions to all the 754 Karnataka STF personnel involved in the operation. Also, he had promised to gift residential plots to brave officers at their respective district headquarters.

Now, almost six years after that incident it looks that the operation has been forgotten. The STF has been renamed Anti-Naxal Squad (ANS) and redeployed in the dense jungles of Western Ghatts. Different governments came and went, but nobody made an effort to fulfil the promise despite repeated reminders and pleas by potential beneficiaries.

Upset with the attitude of the government, some personnel resorted to legal battle. B.Venkappa Rai and D.R.Jayaswamy of Mysore, N. Jagannathan, B.K. Bhaskar and Ningappa of Bangalore filed a case in the court against the state government. Finally, the court ordered the state to sanction the plots to the petitioners. But the government didn't act. And when it continued to ignore the court order, the petitioners filed Contempt of Court petition against the state government. This time, the government acted and sanctioned residential plots to all the above petitioners. But the government can get into trouble if the rest of the personnel also approach the court. In such a situation, the government might find it difficult to provide the plots to all of them.

Therefore, it immediately swung into action and issued an order on May 17, 2010, (HD92 POP 2010). It stated that instead of giving plots to the personnel the government would give them money that is cost of the plots (Rs 510 per square-foot). Some officials said Rs 20 crore is going to be allotted for this purpose. They said the government reneged on its early promise because there is shortage of plots in urban centres across the state.

According to the promise, the personnel holding post of inspector and lower level were supposed to get 30/40 plots and those above the inspector level 60/40 plots. Some activists said the recent offer was nothing but an eyewash, for none could get a plot with the price the government has fixed as the land value has risen in the urban centres, particularly in metropolises like Bangalore. The government is trying to wash its hand off the whole issue.

Moreover, even if one goes by the price per-square-foot fixed by the government, the total amount needed is around Rs 46 crore. But, as per the order, only Rs 20 crore is going to be allocated. Is it another eyewash?

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RAAJNEETI: Plot politics

Prof Rajita Chaudhuri follow some off-beat trends like organizing make up sessions

TSI Five-O: A gripping political ensemble tale
Every time you catch Samar Pratap (Ranbir Kapoor) with his smart phone in 'Raajneeti', he is seen playing chess on it. It's a most apt image that Prakash Jha weaves into his epic political saga because all the twist and turns appear like a well planned chess move ' some you'll anticipate and some will catch you blind-sided. It is not, as pre-release speculation would have you believe, a film based on the first family in Indian politics. But it is the story of a political family and the turmoil it goes through when a power struggle ensues as the party leader suffers a stroke. He appoints his younger brother at the party helm but there are Gen-Next kids ' the son (Arjun Rampal), the nephew (Manoj Bajpai) and the daughter-in-law (Katrina Kaif) ' who are also staking their claim to power. There's the outsider as well (Ajay Devgn) and pulling all the strings merrily in the background is the schemer, (Nana Patekar) trying to keep everything from falling brutally apart.

Shades of Mahabharata and 'The Godfather' converge to create a hue of a saga of succession battles and the twists they spawn. The performances are all top notch. Ranbir defies his age to deliver a top class performance, Manoj Bajpai shines as the desperate son who sees his position fade away, and Nana Patekar is understated as you have never seen him before. This combined with a good background score and well-planned sprawling shots lay the canvas wide for Jha to showcase his brand of filmmaking. Some of the plot points are a bit of stretch (politicians settling feuds themselves in a shootout, 'Wild Wild West' style? I don't think so) but 'Raajneeti', with some sharp dialogues and a well-laid-out storyline is a satisfying watch.

It does not answer any questions about politicians and their ilk but as a chronicle of the murky visage that is politics and how the hunger for power transforms seemingly ordinary people into doing extraordinary things, 'Raajneeti' has got to be on your watchlist.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Rough cut: Cinema under siege

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In an open letter, Iran’s most admired director asserts the right of independent filmmakers

Abbas Kiarostami
Iranian filmmaker and global ambassador

I am not sure whom I am writing to, but I do know why I’m writing it. I believe that under the circumstances it is important because two Iranian filmmakers, both of whom are vital to the Iranian wave of independent cinema, have been jailed. As a filmmaker of the same independent cinema, it has been years since I lost hope of screening my films in my country. By making my low-budget and personal films, it has also been years since I lost all hope of receiving any kind of aid or assistance from the Ministry of Guidance and Islamic Culture, the custodian of Iranian cinema.

In order to make a living, I have turned to photography and use that income to make short and low-budget films. I don’t even object to their illegal reproduction and distribution because that is my only means of communicating with my own people.

Even if we choose to disregard the fact that for years now, the cinema administrators of the country, who constitute the main cultural body of the government, have differentiated between their own filmmakers and independent filmmakers, I am still of the opinion that they are oblivious of Iranian independent cinema. Filmmaking is not a crime. It is our sole means of making a living and thus not a choice, but a vital necessity.

I have found my own solutions to the problem. Independent of the conventional and customary support granted to the cinematic community at large, I make my own short and independent films with hopes of gaining some credit for the people I love and a name for the country I come from. Sometimes, that calls for the making of films beyond the borders of my country, which is ultimately not out of personal choice or taste.

However, others, like Jafar Panahi, have for years tried to summon official government support, exploring the same frustrating path, only to be confronted with the same closed doors. He too has for years held hopes of obtaining public screenings for his films and receiving official aid and assistance from the relevant governmental bodies. He still believes that based on the merit of his cinema and the acclaim they have brought the country, he can seek legal solutions to the problem. The Ministry of Guidance and Islamic Culture is directly responsible for what is happening to Panahi and his like. Any wrongdoing on his part, if there is any at all, is a direct result of the mismanagement of officials at the cinema department of the ministry and its inadequate policies which leaves no choice for a filmmaker other than to resort to means that jeopardise his situation as a filmmaker. He too makes a living through cinema. For him, too, filmmaking is a vital necessity. He needs to make himself heard and has the right to expect cinematic officials to facilitate the process, rather than become the major obstacles themselves. Perhaps officials at the ministry can not at present be of help in solving Panahi’s dilemma but they need to know that they are and have been responsible all these years, for the horrible consequences and unpleasant and anti-cultural reflections of such policies in the world media.

I may not be an advocate of Panahi’s radical and sensational methods but I do know that the cause for his plight is not a result of choice but a compulsion. He is paying for the conduct of officials who have for years closed all doors on him, leaving open small passages and dead ends. Panahi’s problem will eventually be solved but there are numerous young people who have chosen the art of cinema as their means of expression and careers.

This is where the duty of the government and the Ministry of Guidance and Islamic Culture, as the government’s main cultural body, becomes even more critical, for they face a large group of Iranian youth who aim to work independently and away from complicated official procedures and existing prejudices.

Jafar Panahi and Mahmoud Rasoulof are two filmmakers of the Iranian independent cinema, a cinema that for the past quarter of a century has served as an essential cultural element in expanding the name of this country across the globe. They belong to an expanded world culture, and are a part of international cinematic culture. I wish for their immediate release from prison knowing that the impossible is possible. My heartfelt wish is that artists no longer be imprisoned in this country because of their art and that the independent and young Iranian cinema no longer faces obstacles, lack of support, attention and prejudice.

This is your responsibility and the ultimate meaning of your existence.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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A Pakistani in America

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As Shahid Husain makes a trip to America tinged with hope and apprehension, he brings a pleasing grab bag of a jumble of funny encounters, strange sights and what not

A couple of months ago, I mailed one of my political analyses published in The Sunday Indian to my FB friend Amy Lavenson to get her opinion about it. Interestingly, she invited me to deliver a “community lecture” in Olympia, WA. It was unbelievable! Always shy to face the audience, I thought she must be joking. Nevertheless, I asked her to send me a scanned invitation so that I could make it a part of my application for the US visa. The copy she mailed me said that she would bear the internal expenses. Now the question was who would bear the external expenses, that is, the air fare and boarding and lodging cost. That issue was also resolved when a college mate of mine said he would bear the cost. He too mailed me a scanned letter. My editor at The News, Talat Aslam, was kind enough to give me a recommendation letter.

Though unsure about getting the visa, I took an application form from the American Express and tried my level best to fill it in the stipulated time frame but failed. Repeated efforts bore no result. The US visa application is so cumbersome and detailed that I thought I would never be able to fill it properly. It’s loaded with minor details and silly questions such as “Are you a terrorist?” and so on. I sought help from a fellow journalist, named Maqbool, to fill it but he too failed. It took almost a fortnight to ultimately fill it with the help of a very fast typist at The Herald.

Having applied for the US visa online, I waited for an interview at the US Embassy in Islamabad. That meant an expenditure of another Rs 20,000 or so to go the Capital. I was short of money as usual and didn’t want to borrow from friends. Amazingly, I received a call that I would be interviewed at the US Consulate in Karachi. But an employee at the American Express was adamant that it was a computer error and that I would have to go to the US Embassy in Islamabad. However, I stuck to my guns.

I was pretty sure I would not get a US visa despite the fact that I have travelled to the UK and several other countries and always returned on time. I never had an urge to slip away or seek political asylum. Finally, I received a call from the American Express that I would be interviewed in Karachi. I was asked to reach the consulate at 9.30 am.


In the meanwhile, I rang Elizabeth O. Colton, Public Affairs Officer at the Consulate General of the USA, and told her that I had been invited by a couple of US colleges to deliver a lecture. She told me frankly that nobody could influence the visa officer and that all she could do was to write a line that she knew me.

My interview at the US consulate was brief. Finger prints were taken and then the visa officer, a man with stern looks, called me in.

“Why are you going to the US?” he asked me. “I have been invited by Amy Levinson to deliver a lecture,” said I.

“So you are going to Columbia, New York?” he asked. “No I am going to Olympia, Washington,” said I. “Sorry, I have some hearing problem,” he said, adding, “My sister graduated from Columbia, New York.”

“Is your wife accompanying you?” he asked. “No!” said I. “Where were you born?” he asked another question. “I was born in Karachi” was my reply. He paused for a moment and then handed me a coupon and told me I would receive a call from The American Express in a couple of days to collect my passport. “Have a nice trip!” said he.

Excited, I had informed almost all the friends that I was going to America to deliver a lecture. I received an e-mail from Dr. Ehtisham, a retired surgeon in the US, asking me to stay with him. He informed me that his house was merely two miles away from the Niagara Falls. Another friend who lives in New York invited me to stay with him. My old friend Zulekha Yusuf, who lives in Virginia, asked me to visit her home and said that she would organise a meeting of Pakistani Americans so that I could deliver a talk to them. She also wrote a very provocative message on FB saying, “What do you think of yourself?” I replied that I was a journalist with an experience of 36 years and recognised in India as well as Pakistan, and no more an activist of National Students Federation (NSF) whom anybody could use.

Interestingly, while I was chatting with an old friend who had sent me a letter saying he would bear my travelling and boarding cost, I was shocked when he said he knew Mir Khalil-ur-Rahman and Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman while I didn’t. I said I never wished to know big businessmen. He also asked me whether I was a member of the Communist Party of Pakistan. I said I was a group member during my student days and it was written on FB that I was a Marxist. I flatly told him I didn’t need his ticket. “What to do now?” I thought. “How to bear the travelling cost?” I decided to sell a piece of land that I owned at throwaway price.

During all these days, I wrote a hypothesis on relationship between Nature and Man, and showed it to well-known psychiatrist Prof. S. Haroon Ahmed and to my classmate at the University of Karachi, Dr. Kaneez Fatima-Shad who is now an eminent scientist and professor of molecular medicine and drug research at Dr. Punjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research at the University of Karachi. Both approved it.

I will elaborate it in 4-chapters, 100 pages book after I get a break. I am also likely to present the hypothesis at John Hopkins University.

My wife Nasreen Fatima, an ex-computer programmer and now a house wife, said she had heard visitors were passed naked through a machine. I said I didn’t care if the Americans passed visitors through the screening machine naked since it’s too hot these days and I felt angry due to perspiration. She said “Aap to ajeeb batein karte hein (You talk strangely)”. I asked her if she wanted to go to America. “Bhar mein jaye America. Mein to kabhi nahin jaongi (To Hell with America. I would never go there),” was her reply.

My friend Imran Ayub who works for the Dawn newspaper said, “Shahid bhai just leave your clothes near the screening machine and run on the airport naked and we will get a juicy news item in the New York Times reading ‘a naked Muslim terrorist arrested at JFK Airport’, and we will lift the story.”

Shahid Husain

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT FOLKS

Brands and companies that wish to succeed in the emerging rural market need to employ strategies which allow them to be a part of the consumer’s daily life...

India is fast becoming an emerging market with an estimated 150 million strong middle-class consumers. Stretching across the length and breadth of the subcontinent it has long fascinated domestic as well as multinational corporations around the globe. In fact, now the dream is blazing brighter than ever as the Indian rural market is displaying a marked inclination towards consumerism, outpacing the urban market in its ever increasing demand for an array of products and services.

The basic surge in the demand for consumer products is not anymore confined to the people with high levels of income. Even those who appear to be less privileged buy and use such products. Significantly, most of the purchases are made from the households’ own income. Higher purchases schemes and loan account for only around 10% of the rural buying. As a result, like all other mediums of communication, activation and experiential marketing has also seen a massive surge in opportunities in the emerging Indian rural market, as brands now have to increasingly rely on consumer – brand experience to capture mind share against extremely strong local products.

In a market where life revolves around deep rooted community values, joint families and social customs, a pertinent question pops up: Does one size fits all or does one needs to make specific strategies to target emerging Indian consumer? Our emerging consumer is not the savvy “I know it all” of the metro as yet. Yes, as in almost all other media for activation too – it’s different strokes for different folks!

For marketers in the last decade, making space in this emerging consumer market has been fairly simple. The famous video on wheels road shows, the branded smaller trucks, and the likes have done endless rounds, season after season for almost every product. However, in the last few years India has truly evolved with the TV, movies with their endorsements and even the electronic medium has seeped into the rural fabric. They know their brands and have opinions. So, is the ‘song and dance’ or the ‘show them a movie at night’ is really all it will take now?

The time is ripe for focused and relevant messaging and activations that build relationships. To appreciate and understand the emerging consumer’s decision making process one needs to understand the culture of ‘emerging India.’ The social structure of this TG is built around the immediate family, local business community, regular meetings at mandirs, community participation in festivals, et al. Hence, this impacts the entry points to consumer’s life where his purchase decisions are heavily influenced by someone close/trusted like family members, friends or even local dealers/agents, and of course if the product drives aspiration. Interestingly, rural youth is slowly evolving as the ‘opinion leader’ in influencing brand and product decision in a market that was swayed by village elders for centuries. When building a brand in rural India, word-of-mouth is a huge motivator. Initiatives like participation at community events such as annual melas, haats and street theater, continue to generate awareness and influence buying decisions.

Comparatively evolved involvement with schools, sponsoring sports teams or clubs, adopting associations, and building associations with panchayats create a positive word-of-mouth. A plan which activates word-of-mouth goes a long way in forging a longer lasting relationship. A case in point is Dabur Chyawanprash with the objective to reach out to mothers through kids to make them aware of the importance of Chyawanprash in their children’s everyday life. A unique concept of ‘Androoni Shakti Choonauti’ for the kids was conceptualised promoting the brand across schools. Post an interactive session and a product audio visual, letters were sent to mothers including a slogan contest and discount coupon. In fact, in select markets over a lakh students translating roughly into the same numbers of households were contacted. With a 50% response the brand was not only able to build a significant relationship with the consumers but also add on to the numbers. Certainly activating emerging India is all about having different strokes for different folks!

Ambika Sharma is the National Head of Jagran Solutions, which in 2009 won 23 awards at the 10th PMAA event at Singapore

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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