Advertising successfully to India's cultural diversity

The rapid growth of social media and the mobile Internet is changing
ways that businesses reach out to their customers and even more importantly how customers are influencing and
shaping companies and their brands. Marketers everywhere are under pressure to deliver increased ROI and better
metrics. The challenge for Indian marketers is in not only integrating these evolving communication channels, but in
adapting them to India's unique diverse cultures and audiences.
Multinational firms have adopted integrated marketing communications (IMC) successfully in developed markets as a
means of achieving high brand coherence and ROI. As these firms focus on India and it's vast middle class, they face
unique challenges - spanning language, regional culture and religion, in addition to lifestyle group classifications - in
adapting their IMC methodology.
Have firms, Indian and multinational, figured out the right IMC mix to bridging India's traditional culture and the
evolving modern world of its growing youth population? Professor S. Ramesh Kumar of IIM Bangalore has explored
this question by analyzing mainstream media advertising campaigns and drawn some useful conclusions.
Analysis of Advertisements
Professor Ramesh Kumar uses the concept of a ritual setting - which is the context portrayed by a brand's
communication with the intent of creating a specific perception in the mind of the consumer. He illustrates this with
the example of brands such as Titan or Cadbury's positioning themselves as an appropriate gift across a variety of
circumstances. Such a gift-giving ritual setting in his words creates a gifting-brand association. The ritual setting can
also highlight or differentiate the cultural values being portrayed in a particular advertisement.
Professor Kumar analyzed advertisements in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. Specific
advertisements he looked at included a bleaching cream (Fair and Lovely) and coffee (Sunrise). Both the
advertisements studied, have a young woman as the protagonist. The analysis was done in the context of a set of
pre-identified values and ritual settings, as shown in Tables 1 and 2.
Table 1
Ritual Setting Values
Cricket
Middle-class
dreams
Family bonding
Individualism
Respect for work
Family happiness
Western ideal of
beauty
Self Esteem
Achievement
seeking
Table 2
Ritual Setting Values
Urban
Modern couple
Traditional Apparel
Western Apparel
Preparation of
traditional coffee
Nominalism
Conservatism
Personal
grooming
Social
orientation
New mindset
Fair & Lovely
In the case of the bleaching cream Fair & Lovely, a middle-class girl's aspiration for a hither-to male dominated
cricket commentator's role is used as the central thesis. The use of the cream is portrayed as increasing the girl's self
confidence, leading to her ultimate success, making her family proud and even recognition by a cricket celebrity.
By weaving middle-class aspirations with the cultural ideal of family's happiness within the ritual setting of cricket, the
advertisement balances competing values even while avoiding the minefield of racial or cultural stereotyping that skin
lightening could imply.
Sunrise
In an example of a more detailed and culturally-specific story-telling, the coffee advertisement depicts an urban
couple, shopping in a modern supermarket, when they hear from elderly (and traditional) relatives who plan to visit
them. The husband receives the couple, while the wife quickly doffs her western attire and appears in a traditional
ethnic dress and make up. She then serves them coffee which is much appreciated. By weaving traditional elements
such as the seeking of elders' blessings as well as the ritual of coffee preparation with the reality of India's urban
nuclear families that have both spouses working, the advertisement seeks to strike a delicate balance.
Professor Kumar suggests that the communication campaign for a specific brand should be in line with the
personality values associated with the target group of consumers for that brand. This approach can also be used to
differentiate target segments in terms of both demographics and psychographics.
Conclusion
India's growing consumer marketplace presents a great opportunity for both domestic and multinational businesses.
Furthermore the advent of social media and the mobile internet are changing how consumers are informed and make
their buying decisions. This requires a well planned integrated marketing communications strategy. Using personality
value analysis and linking them to specific brands, taking into consideration the target segment is likely to add value
to integrated marketing communications campaigns planned by companies for India. This is a useful perspective in
particular to multinational brands that need to adapt to the Indian context. Connecting with the consumers values is
more likely to create a strong bond between the consumer and the brand.

Role of advertising in bringing about changes in culture, custom and tradition
A characteristic of human culture is that change occurs. We can see that how over a period
of time peoples habits, tastes, styles, behaviors and values have changed. Rapid
industrialization has changed many long honored attitudes regarding time and women.
Instant food, labors saving devices, fast food establishments have all gained rapid
acceptance. Consumers receive important cultural information through advertising.
Advertising promotes more than mere products in our popular culture. Images used in
advertising are often idolized; they eventually set the standard which we in turn feel we
must live up to. Today's advertising and consumer-culture have roots in the changing
nature of the market in the late 19th century. Those changes paralleled changes in the
modes of transportation and communication, urban growth and a cultural climate for social
and geographical mobility. Advertisements serve to show us what the ideal image is, and
further tell us how to obtain it. Advertisers essentially have the power to promote positive
images or negative images this in turn affects our culture. In many cases, advertisers want
to influence the public for buying a certain idea, product or service, directly impacting their
free wills.