Advertising Management and Sales Promotion

Unit 2

Unit 2

The Exciting World of Indian Advertising

Structure:
2.1 Introduction
Objectives
2.2 Emerging Areas of Growth
Shifting patterns of consumption
2.3 Factors that Affect Marketing and Advertising
Industrial growth
The China factor
Elections
Monsoon rains
Disposable income
Employment
Inflation and consumer basket
Economic cycle and managing change
Consumer mind share
Rising prosperity and spending power
Government control on ads
Power of vernacular languages
Innovative media
Happiness quotient
Good advertising is more than hard sell
2.4 Summary
2.5 Glossary
2.6 Terminal Questions
2.7 Answers

2.1 Introduction
In the previous unit, we studied about advertising management. Let us now
study emerging areas of growth in advertising, factors affecting marketing
and advertising, etc. In this unit, we will take a journey into the exciting world
of Indian advertising.
The advertising environment in India is an incredibly complex Web that
works at many levels. It is closely linked with many factors other than what
are seen as advertising. These range from manufacturing to monsoon rains,
employment to religion, beauty contest to diet fads, spirituality industry to
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exercising mania and local cultures to foreign policy of each government in

power. Each of these influences advertising expenditure or ad spend as well
as mood and pace of advertising.
In 2009, the most decisive factor was the downturn in the world economy,
which affected the Indian economy as well. Although Indian economy is not
heavily dependent on exports as other Asian countries, it is still affected,
especially in the segments that are linked with exports such as IT and ITeS,
gems and jewellery, garments, commodities, etc. By 2012, the most
decisive factor has been the turnaround of the economy, and the question
whether it can be sustained.
Advertising is not only about being creative, winning awards or working in a
glamorous profession, but it is also about selling, be it a product, service,
celebrity, national prestige or corporate image. Selling needs an in-depth
understanding of the buyers and target audience, and what is happening in
their individual and collective lives.
Interestingly, modern India that sent Chandrayaan, its first spacecraft to the
moon, still depends on the monsoon rain for its fundamental economic
wellbeing. The rain not only helps in filling up our granaries and bringing in
vegetables to a homemakers kitchen, but it also brings in money to our
farmers. These farmers then go out and buy all sorts of goods that keep our
industries humming.
Objectives:
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
illustrate the uniqueness of Indian advertising environment
list the invisible and intangible factors influencing advertising
explain how all these factors work together and influence the targets
mind

2.2 Emerging Areas of Growth

The humble farmers still remain to be the largest group of spenders in
India. When a farmer buys, he/she buys the best, probably because he/she
knows that he/she may not be able to buy that item again for a while,
considering the vagaries of rain. The rural and semi-rural regions have just
discovered runaway consumerism they buy everything ranging from bright
plastic buckets to powerful motorbikes, imported cars to cell phones, college
education to colour cosmetics, all of which are advertised products. As it is
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said in bemused frustration, a rural home may have a large screen colour
television, but no indoor toilet. They no longer believe in safety
investments like gold and land and are out to enjoy and improve
themselves.
Steady growth is now in the rural and semi-rural areas. Yet, very few citybased advertising agencies really understand the rural mind, for example,
what are their dreams and aspirations, what drives their ambitions and
insecurities, what are the collective cultural and emotional pressures that will
lead them to the next level of purchases, etc.
For at least a decade now, urban markets have been inelastic and mature,
often stagnating at replacement level. Unemployed people also do not buy
much. Therefore, consumer durables and other manufactured products
must sell differently now sales, installments, incentives, low interest loans,
exchanges, etc., to accelerate the purchasing decision of a necessary
item.
2.2.1 Shifting patterns of consumption
The market is full of contradictions. Middle class consumers are looking out
for better quality and higher priced products within the category. More
households are using higher priced detergent powders now. Remember the
Nirma phenomenon which started its incredible career priced at only
` 5/kg, even though some claimed that it wrecked coloured clothes? It is
facing stiff competition with Wheel (which is the largest selling detergent
brand in India) and other better quality washing powders. AC Nielsons retail
audit for 200506 for detergents, a product of almost universal penetration,
shows that detergent powders grew 6% in value, but declined by 5% in
volume. This implies that people are buying better detergents, which are
needed in smaller quantity.
This is backed by high advertising pressure. For instance, Hindustan
Unilever Ltds (HUL) ad spend was increased by 45% in the first quarter of
2006, and Colgate-Palmolives by 31%. Similarly, toothpaste is gradually
replacing tooth powder and better quality bath soaps are in demand even in
villages. From 2005 to 2008, thanks to households upgrading from
toothpowder to toothpaste, the toothpaste penetration has grown by 9% and

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the toothpowder category has actually seen a de-growth of 2%.1 Marketers

reason that this change is taking place due to the advertising pressure from
FMCG companies, and also because of the increase in disposable income
and growing aspirations of the consumers.
When India started winning beauty pageants at the global level, every young
girl aspired to reach the podium. It also created a whole new beauty
industry cosmetic dentistry, plastic surgery, gyms, skin care, health food,
diets, high-quality cosmetics, beauty parlours, hair stylists, focused training
for poise and charm, etc., all of which are advertised. Talented, beautiful
Indian women soon lost interest and went back to their hard-core
professions like law, engineering, architecture and medicine. But the beauty
industry is still doing fine, and thus all advertising related to this industry is
also doing fine.
Brand managers, advertising and marketing managers are constantly
watching all these trends to devise their action plan for the next 6 months.
The challenge and fascination of the range of factors that can influence
Indian advertising will always keep widening, especially when the economic
cycles turn so fast; this is because India as a country, as a nation and as a
market is turbulent and follows few rules and defies most controls. Besides
this, advertising essentially deals with human emotions and behaviour and
will always remain unpredictable. It is always changing and throwing all
theories to the winds.
The advertising industry takes all these into consideration, then leaves a
good margin for errors and arrives at a campaign concept that usually
works.
Self Assessment Questions:
1. Advertising is not only about being creative, winning awards or working
in a glamorous profession, but it is also about selling, be it a product,
service, celebrity, national prestige or corporate image. (True/False)
2. There is steady growth in the rural and semi-rural areas (True/False)
3. Brand managers, advertising and marketing managers are constantly
watching all the trends to devise their action plan. (True/False)

Source: ACNielsen

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2.3 Factors that Affect Marketing and Advertising

There are some factors which deeply influence our thinking about
advertising in India. These factors are entirely different from the last century
and perhaps from other developing countries. These should be monitored
constantly, even when one is not directly dealing with these products or
segments, because the economy is an integrated whole and that affects all
of us. There is a lot of movement within each of these domains. Sometimes,
situations change totally, as quickly as in three months, creating a profound
impact on the entire economy. Often, they are unobserved and not very well
understood, but they are critical, nonetheless. But by and large, these
factors control and influence Indian economy far more than they are credited
with, and thus should be watched keenly.
2.3.1 Industrial growth
Industrial growth is difficult to measure in absolute terms because when one
sector is doing well, another may not be. Industrial lending is a key indicator.
Big industries have been in a tight spot since 200809 due to global
recession, forcing closures and retrenchments. And the financial health of
the urban industrial worker segment is a major influencer of the urban
market.
Medium and small-scale industries have been in trouble for some time
around 44,000 industries closed down in 200406. But that does not always
show up in research data because this segment is not given the correct
weightage in aggregate growth. In May 2003, ICRA report was based on
four industry groups food products, beverages, tobacco and basic metals,
which is a distorted view. The health of Pepsi, TISCO, ITC, and TELCO
does not represent the total Indian industry. Most small and medium
industries are located in small towns and semi-rural areas, and the
purchasing power of their employees is as important as that of the farmer or
the urban industrial worker.
2.3.2 The China factor
As Chinas so-called over-heated economy that grew at over 10% of
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for several years slows down, it has many
implications on the Indian market. Unable to compete with Chinas
subsidised production, many Indian industries are manufacturing their
products in China, taking advantage of the same subsidies, and importing
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them back into India, still at a price cheaper than domestically produced
goods.
China is always trying to flood the Indian market with industrial intermediary
products and cheap consumer products for the lower end of the market. It
provides India with more product options at lower prices, but it curtails our
industrial growth and reduces jobs in India and thus the buying power.
2.3.3 Elections
The election expenditures are a major factor in the Indian economy, but they
are not well documented for obvious reasons. The Lok Sabha and state
legislature elections as well as the smaller local ones like by-elections,
panchayat and municipal ones take place all the time.
Election advertising has come a long way from the erstwhile practice of
sloganeering and propaganda to the use of blogs, Google ads and even
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques. For the advertising industry,
the amount of print ads, banners, hoardings, posters, plastic danglers,
booklets, CDs, video and music vans, films, SMSes, commercials and press
and electronic communications that are produced is truly mind numbing.
Political advertising has evolved and also become slicker with a greater
number of parties using the services of ad agencies, and mega money has
been flowing for high-decibel rhetoric. One may remember the India Shining
campaign of the previous BJP-led National Democratic Alliance Government
during the 2004 Lok Sabha elections; it set new standards of political
advertising. Reportedly, Rs. 500 crore was spent on this campaign.2
Many agencies work on local election campaigns for individual candidates in
every constituency. These release an enormous amount of unaccounted
cash into the market, which in turn goes into buying goods and services
immediately for a large number of people. And they are all advertised, one
way or another.
2.3.4 Monsoon rains
It was considered that the rain is the real finance minister of India, because
it controls the entire economy. The dependence on rain is not so great now,
2

Source: Madhavan, E. (2008, November 3). Advantage political advertising as

parties look for an image shine before elections. Retrieved from http://
www.exchange4media.com

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partly due to irrigation and partly because agriculture accounts for only 15%
of Indias nearly $2 trillion economy, Asia's third biggest.3 An ETIG analysis
of 10 years of rainfall data and key economic indicators show that during
200406, rainfall had been below normal, yet these years have shown the
highest economic growth. Nevertheless, rain matters a lot, because in the
end even ground-water-based irrigation depends on recharging by
rainwater. India will now probably not see a famine again because of its
ability to import food in difficult years. But the farmers will not buy anything
when their harvest is poor.
If the farmer does not have the money to buy gold to cars, imported
luxuries to aspirational products then urban production will suffer.
However, the Indian market is now becoming more climate-proof and stable.
So, forward planning and budgeting for rural advertising can now be done
with more confidence.
Yet, monsoon rains still wield an enormous power over the Indian market.
Rainfall has been about 25% less than average in 2009, and its
consequences are very visible. Because there is less production of sugar
cane, pulses and oil seeds, prices have shot up in spite of huge import and
government control. Clearly, black-marketing is at work. Exports have also
suffered because of price rise.
When farmers, semi-skilled and industrial workers earn less and spend
more on such essentials like food and clothes, they obviously have little
money left for buying other goods and services, which is the domain of
advertising. The market had grown at a rapid space only in rural areas,
riding on the good monsoon of the past few years, and this can take a
serious knock if the rainfall is poor.
A monsoon with average rains would boost grains output, helping the
government to keep inflation under check and boost the faltering economy.
2.3.5 Disposable income
A great debate goes on about the percentage of Indians living below the
poverty line. But where is the poverty line? As mentioned elsewhere, in
3

Source: (2012, April 17). India sees 2012 monsoon normal, no El Nino threat.
The Times of India.

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200405, it was 21.8% national average; this was based on the consumer
expenditure data collected from a 30-day recall period. Apparently, village
folks do not remember what they did a month ago, and therefore the data
came out skewed. In the last 3 years, researchers have lived with families
and collected data on a 7-day recall basis. Though these people do not buy
advertised products right now, they do aspire to do so in future and are thus
of interest to the advertising industry. In March 2012, the Planning
Commission fixed the poverty line at Rs. 28.65 per capita daily consumption
in cities and Rs. 22.42 in rural areas, bringing India's poverty ratio to 29.8%
in 200910. But, most experts are of the opinion that this threshold is too
low.4 According to the 2010 data from the United Nations Development
Programme, an estimated 37.2% of Indians live below the country's national
poverty line.5
According to the World Bank Survey, 2005, India emerged as the
12th wealthiest nation in the world based on the Purchasing Power Parity
(PPP). However, according to the same report, 41.6% of the total Indian
population was below the international poverty line of USD 1.25 a day.6 In
April 2007, India became a trillion dollar economy, an exclusive club of only
7/8 nations at that time. Great for nationalism, but it just does not seem to
reflect at the micro level, where our buyers of advertised products are.
Poverty and unemployment still plague us, which slows down growth and
thus the purchasing power.
No matter how eagerly the commercial world looks at the great Indian
middle class people, who spend and acquire with the most uninhibited
energy, these people are scattered all over the country and they are diverse
in their habits. To sell in this market, advertisers will need to have a deep
understanding of Indias new consumers today so that they can deliver the
products that meet their aspirations. Advertising agencies will have to be
sensitive to their attitudes and aspirations. People also do not like to spend
much, still being loyal to their age-old thrifty habits. Therefore, low price
4

5
6

Source: (2012, March 19). Planning Commission further lowers poverty line to
Rs.28 per day. India Today.
Source: www.undp.org.in
Source: (2005). New global poverty estimates What it means for India.
Retrieved from http://www.worldbank.org.in.

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points and high expectations, with a tight control over the wallet, are the new
reality of the Indian middle class segment. Table 2.1 depicts the number of
Indian households falling into high-, middle- and low-income categories.
Table 2.1: Number of Indian Households (HHs)
Category of HHs in India

Number of HHs
(in millions)

High-income HHs
(Earning over Rs. 1.80 lakh p.a.)*

46.7

Middle-income HHs
(Earning between Rs. 45,000 and Rs. 1.80 lakh p.a.)*

140.7

Low-income HHs
(HHs earning less than Rs. 40,000 p.a.)*

41.0

Total

228.4

* at 200102 prices
(Source: National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) estimates on
Earnings and Spendings at the end of 200910.)

For the higher income class, sharply higher consumer spending now shifts
to conspicuous consumption, thus changing the face of Indias retail sector.
This leads to attracting some of the worlds market leaders in super luxury
goods. However, selling to this segment is a different technique altogether.
All these statistics are needed to get a grip on where our buyers are, what
their profiles are, what are their disposable income and purchasing pattern,
and how do they think, feel and act. These are necessary so that better
structured marketing and advertising strategies can be worked out on a
more reliable and long-term basis.
2.3.6 Employment
As per the 2011 census, Indian population increased to 1.21 billion from
1.02 billion in 2001, with a decadal growth of 17.64%. Jobs, on the other
hand, have been growing at a slower or more fluctuating rate. Jobs are axed
and salaries are slashed during years of economic downturn because firms
tighten their belts to survive in those times. Unemployed people do not buy
too many things, advertised or otherwise. Therefore, the marketing and
advertising industries have to plan their turnover target and strategy
accordingly.
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A massive job loss was evident all over the world for almost a decade,
largely due to automation, and then because of the recession. By one
estimate, there have been nearly 10 million job losses in India alone up to
200809, taking unemployment to over 10% of the employable population.
This does not include partially or inappropriately employed people or people
who just do not even seek work considering the market conditions; but they
are consumers, nevertheless. However, the situation has been improving
lately. According to a finance ministry official, the latest figures based on a
sample survey of eight sectors show that as many as 10.66 lakh jobs have
been added between March 2009 and 2010.
The total employment in the Indian economy during 200910 has been
estimated at 506 million with an average annual growth rate of 1.97% for the
period 200405 to 200910. The total labour force for 200910 has been
estimated at 520 million and the figure is expected to go up to 574 million in
201415, which means that 10 to 11 million new entrants are expected to
join the labour force each year. The estimates indicate that employment
must grow at least at 2.5% a year for the next 5 years so that most of the
open unemployment, including the additions to the labour force due to the
increasing population, may be taken care of. According to projections
worked out by the labour ministry, this would require a 9% economic growth
rate of the Indian economy at the current level of absorption. This definitely
seems a daunting task, casting uncertainties on employment situation in the
future.7
The demographic profile of India has changed drastically. About 45% of
Indians are now below 35 years of age, and they want to possess and
acquire aspirational and advertised goods. They also want power and
control over their own lives and the nations destiny. To do that, they want
to earn lots of money. That will certainly change the way goods and
services are advertised, nurtured and positioned in the market.

Source: Pannu, S.P.S. (2010, September 18). Higher growth produces more jobs
in India. India Today.

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2.3.7 Inflation and consumer basket

Since India publishes only Wholesale Price Index and people buy at
consumer prices at the retail level, it is difficult to figure out what is
happening to the shifting consumer basket, which has seen major changes
in the last decade. Indians spend a much lesser percentage on food now, at
any level; however, they spend more on durables like education, housing,
electronic goods, vehicles, and utilities like power, water, telephone, etc.
Hence, the target profile and techniques to sell to them have also changed.
When inflation is low, it means that the same amount of money will buy the
same amount of goods. So, market forecast and advertising planning get
easier it is safe to assume that people will continue to buy what they were
buying. When inflation is high, the same amount of money buys fewer
goods. Hence, market turnover of unit sale shrinks and requires a different
approach to marketing and advertising.
FMCG companies are tightening their purse strings by controlling
advertising spends and other marketing expenses to maintain their
margins because high cost of raw materials continue to pose a serious
challenge. According to a report by Standard Chartered Equity Research
on the Indian consumer sector, the FMCG segment maintained margins
at 15.8% in 201011 despite rising raw material costs; they did so by
controlling ad spends and cutting operating costs during the period.
Inflation in input costs led to a slight decline in gross margin, but
operating margin was steady due to better operating leverage and
decrease in ad spend. Ad spend by several companies was down by
200 basis points in 201011.
(Source: (2011, June 20). FMCG firms cut ad spend to offset high input costs.
Business Standard)

In the first half of this decade, due to easy consumer loans and rising
disposable income, the consumer durables as well as expensive
investments (e.g. real estate, insurance, retirement plans, foreign holidays
all advertised products) were sold in vast quantities. Thus, there was a stiff
competition among durables and luxuries for the consumers wallet. Too
many goods and services were chasing available rupees, so to speak.
Ironically, the recession has swung the market to the opposite direction
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loans have become harder to get and jobs have become scarce, leading to
less disposable money. A larger number of unsold goods and services are
still chasing shrinking amount of rupees. Marketing and advertising
professionals are now creating different selling and positioning strategies
altogether.
As far as the consumer is concerned, opportunities have never been so
good. Swanky malls, even in small towns, are loaded with global brands of
luxury items. Wide range of brands available to fit every taste and budget,
etc., are becoming common. The Indian consumer is finally in the drivers
seat. Indian market has moved from the regulated sellers market and
shortage economy to lavish buyers market. All these affect the marketing
strategy. It is a great pity that recession has hit badly and is curtailing
consumers purchasing power. However, the effect of recession is
temporary.
2.3.8 Economic cycle and managing change
The economic cycle of boom and bust is a fact of life, whether at a personal,
national or global level. Since the world started keeping a record of it,
economists have been trying to discover a pattern or, more important, a time
scale of this curious phenomenon. But, there has been no success. It just
happens. Our job on the ground is to deal with it.
The current economic condition is the result of many factors pooling
together, and it affects the advertising and marketing industries hugely. In
lean times, advertising needs to be far more skilful to achieve a satisfactory
amount of sale. Delivering a certain amount of results is not an easy task in
spite of more direct and aggressive creative work, hard-selling strategy,
smaller but effective formats, fewer releases and less expensive media. But
it is possible. It just requires more innovative, out-of-the-box thinking that
engages the target at a more fundamental level. The cycle will turn and
bring in new consumption that is triggered by pent up demand even though
marketers will have to operate on skin-thin margins due to unethical
competition. It is again a different kind of challenge for the advertising
professionals.
During boom time, there is no necessity to use great techniques or
strategies. People are in an upbeat mood to spend non-stop, and
advertising helps to sell the maximum. Advertising has witnessed ups and
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downs in ad growth that match these boom and recessionary cycles. For
instance, during the peak of recession in 2009, advertising growth in India
was 10%. In 2010, with the economy picking up, this figure shot up to
27%. In 2011, the year started on a positive note; yet as the global economy
saw another churn, inflation rose above 10% and the rupee weakened
against the dollar; so, advertisers went into a shell and held back their
purses. There was growth, but at a mere 8%. Advertisers had been badly
affected in 2009; hence, only necessary advertising was done.8
2.3.9 Consumer mind share
The core of advertising does not change ever, which is trying to touch the
self-interest of the consumer in order to make him/her buy the advertised
brand. But strategies and tactics have to adapt to changing consumer
attitudes, mindsets and market conditions. For a number of reasons,
consumers are responding lesser than ever to traditional advertising, which
has become more costly and less cost-effective than before, that is,
advertising is able to reach fewer consumers even with the same or higher
spends. With the proliferation of umpteen new brands, real product
differentiation has become small and largely insignificant, making it more
difficult for advertising to create the brand personalities of the past. Besides,
the bar has just risen higher for advertising, and the consumers are not
easily impressed by a concoction of words, visuals and sounds put together
for advertisings sake.
The abbreviation that the advertising fraternity is throwing around is CPA or
Continuous Partial Attention. Due to demanding and stressful lives, people
are forced to live on the one hand, and the countless number of brands
demand their attention on the other; audience apathy and hostility is only
normal. It means everybody is getting lesser and lesser mind share of
his/her target. Gone are the days, when people had to queue up and wait for
several years to get a Bajaj scooter or an Ambassador car (about 30,000
units were produced per year in its heydays); finally gaining one was
considered a divine privilege. Today the struggle to capture the mind share
of the target group is a warfare. Advertising and marketing should take note
8

Source: Dhaleta, S. K. (2012, February 20). Ad spends grow by 8%: PitchMadison report. Pitch.

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of that. Moreover, as consumers achieve increasing control over what they

want to see, hear and read, they are rejecting advertising messages. Hence,
marketers are looking for out-of-the-box ways to communicate to their
audiences, as illustrated by the following example of rural marketing.
HUL, one of the pioneers of rural marketing, overcomes the limitation of
traditional communication channels by innovatively using unconventional
media like wall paintings, cinema vans, weekly markets (haats), fairs and
festivals to communicate with the rural folks. Given the rural consumers
fascination for cinema, HULs cinema vans show popular movies,
interspersed with advertisements of their products. HUL achieves direct
consumer contact through weekly markets, fairs and festivals. This gives
the company an opportunity to address consumers, who are spread over
many tiny villages, at one location. The occasions are used to
demonstrate product benefits and also to sell such products. Such
demonstrations have played a significant role in creating the detergents
market in rural India.
(Source: Creating markets, www.hll.com)

2.3.10 Rising prosperity and spending power

The growing money power in all classes of society changes the tone and
approach of advertising too. India has gone up in the value chain they eat
less grain and prefer to eat more fruits and vegetables; they go in for
processed food and enjoy eating at restaurants. These are all advertised
products. People now wear better clothes and live a better life. Even lowermiddle-class folks want basic durables such as refrigerators, kitchen
appliances, washing machines, gas, video, music appliances, etc. This is
partially because the mother works and cannot do housework all day. All of
these are advertised products, yet they need to be sold differently to this
newly emerging consumer group. These people are extremely price
conscious and bargain prone, but they buy nonetheless. Basic functions,
low price, easy financing, installment plans all packaged into irresistible
offers induce consumers to buy.

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Activity 1
Compare the amount of spending on advertising by companies in India in
1990 with that in 2012. List the reasons for differences in such spending.
2.3.11 Government control on ads
In spite of truly huge liberalisation and globalisation, India remains
government controlled. There is still a ban on advertising of alcoholic drinks
and tobacco products.
Innovative advertising and promotion will be required, and it has been going
on for a decade at least. Sponsoring of sports, visual and performing arts,
culture and music events, adopting schools and childrens programmes,
public donation of high visibility and corporate social responsibility projects
are some of the ways to keep the brand name of these two product groups
in front of the consumers. In addition, there is the phenomenon called
surrogate advertising, where products that are forbidden from advertising
are promoted through another product of the same brand, using the brand
image and advertising the forbidden product.
India also has a ban on advertising of ethical products like prescription
drugs, hospital facilities and professional services such as medical doctors,
lawyers, etc. (This also includes advertising services because selfadvertisement can damage the consumers judgement.) Yet, these are vital
and lifesaving services and the consumer has the right to know what is
available to him/her. If allowed soon, they need highly technical and
responsible presentation in the media through advertising.
2.3.12 Power of vernacular languages
There are over 17 official languages and 4,000 dialects in India. In the last
century, advertising was done in English. Campaigns were written in English
and then translated into respective state languages, often with indifferent
accuracy and result. However, this is not the case anymore. Partly fuelled
by the explosion of regional language media print, radio and television
alike India is today proud of her multilingual culture, and she demands to
be catered to in regional languages. This shift is not patriotism- or culturedriven but market-driven. The natives now have the big time money power,
like in rural and semi-rural regions, and not the minuscule English speaking
city folks.
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The truth is that an English ad cannot be literally translated into Gujarati or

Tamil. At best, the core concept of the campaign can be retained. The
regional ads have to be written and visually modelled differently to suit the
cultural differences, linguistic quirks and sensibilities of the target groups.
This means copywriters and visualisers need to develop skills and intuitions
to appeal to the culture they are addressing. For best results, though rarely
practised, separate campaigns for each region should be devised.
2.3.13 Innovative media
In the infinite clutter of easily produced mass communication messages, due
to easy-to-use computer technology, everybody is desperate to find new
vehicles of communication that will stand out from the crowd. It is the job of
the advertising professionals to think up of new but cost-effective media
(however briefly, before they too get copied), which will grab the attention of
the audience.
Two most eye-catching innovations in recent times had been the panels of
stunningly alive visuals on the sides of the dedicated delivery trucks of
companies, mostly processed food products. These company-owned trucks
always had these panels with large surfaces to cover the sides, but they
were dull and dirty metal surfaces only. Then, some genius made moving
hoardings out of them with special photography brought alive with colour
and movement. This brought about a remarkable change in advertising.
The other startling medium is the back of auto rickshaws. Usually, just the
brand name and pack shot are shown, but often, full ads with text and visual
appear. The traffic behind an auto rickshaw is a hapless captive audience
and simply has to look, and thus read. And the message stays alive, due to
the sheer number of times it is viewed by the people in a single day.
Mouthshut.com (launched in 2001 during the dotcom bust to find a cheap
medium), stickiewicket.com, buysellbooks.com and farmsandvillas.com are
some of the pioneers who saw a 40% surge in business credited to this
endearing medium.
2.3.14 Happiness quotient
Desperate to reach out to the target group, strategy planners are using
humour increasingly, thus getting results. Even 15 years ago, humour in
Indian advertising was an absolute no. The brave agencies who tried
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humour paid dearly and got poor or even negative response. India is a
young nation today and the youth do not mind laughing at them, because
they are more confident and feel good about them. Humour makes an
instant emotional connect with the reader or viewer and it is totally classless.
There are several examples of brands such as Fevicol, Mentos, Chlor-Mint,
Center Shock, Amaron, Sprite, etc., that have created a likeability for
themselves through the successful use of humour in advertising.
However, other ways of making customers happy are also emerging. How to
make the consumer happy, get him/her to love your product and enable
him/her to become your brand advocate is the marketing challenge now.
Offhand, there are some basic, true-and-tried ways to achieve customer
happiness. They are loyalty programmes like frequent flyer schemes, hotel
gold cards, Shoppers Stops First Citizen, Jet Airways Jet Privilege, Taj
Mahal Hotels Inner Circle and Renaissances Prestige. Even Crossword
book store has Book rewards, each having gradation within, like silver,
gold and platinum, to prevent brand switch. Basic loyalty to the brand is
rewarded with discounts, proactively building relationships to get their
message across.
The pioneers in the field feel that, at the end of the day, a birthday card or a
bottle of wine in the hotel room gives the regular customer not just food or
return on investment, but a happiness quotient. These are long-term
experiential investments and more rewarding to the service industries than a
fat bill.
2.3.15 Good advertising is more than hard sell
To achieve these new modes of subtle communications, it is essential to
connect emotionally with customers to understand their deep emotional
needs and preferences, or may be insecurities and fears. Joy, hope, faith,
desire, longing and confidence are only some of the ways to connect. And
they are eternal in their appeal.
These are not new concepts. Marketing folks have used these concepts
since time immemorial. Only the form and media have changed recently and
advertising is moving with the times. Innovative thinking, connecting
emotionally and being absolutely honest with the customer are the core
concepts that remain evergreen in handling human relationships and
contribute to good advertising.
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Self Assessment Questions:

4. Election advertising has come a long way from the erstwhile practice of
sloganeering and propaganda to the use of blogs. (True/False)
5. To sell in Indian market, advertisers will need to have a deep
understanding of __________.
6. Understanding of _______ income and spending pattern are necessary
in order to work on structured marketing and advertising strategies in a
better way.
7. The current economic condition is the result of many factors pooling
together, and it affects the advertising and marketing industries hugely.
(True/False)
8. Consumers are responding lesser than ever to __________ advertising
for various reasons.

2.4 Summary
Let us recapitulate the important concepts discussed in this unit:
Advertising, in every country, has to cater to its people and their
environment, be it emotional, cultural or financial and this is an everchanging scene, needing constant adjustments.
The task is even more difficult in India because of its enormous
geographical spread and diversity of nature, for example, woollens need
not be advertised in warmer states of south India. Similarly, rainwear has
a better market in east India where it rains heavily rather than in
Rajasthan.
Good advertising requires the ability to see the buyer as a wellintegrated real person and not statistics made of marketing data. Once
the background of the person is understood, creating a good advertising
campaign gets easier. Here, we have mentioned only some of the
factors that influence the buying decisions of a person.
The real learning is that these factors are not static. They keep changing
all the time, and with it changes their combined power to influence the
buyers mind. Therefore, it is a good idea to start watching and storing
information on these economic and cultural issues through wide reading
of newspapers, financial magazines and cultural niche journals.

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2.5 Glossary
Search Engine Optimisation: technique used to increase the amount of
visitors to a website by obtaining a high-ranking placement in the search
results page
Hoardings: a large board used for displaying advertising posters
Wholesale Price Index: an index showing the rises and falls of prices of
manufactured goods
Disposable income: amount of income left to an individual (which is
available for spending and saving) after taxes have been paid
Heydays: peak days, prime time

2.6 Terminal Questions

1. Describe the shifting patterns of consumption. What role does
advertising play in this?
2. List some of the factors that affect advertising.
3. Describe how disposable income and purchasing pattern are affecting
advertising in India.
4. Explain how economic cycles are affecting advertising.
5. What is the reason for using humour parameter in advertising? How it is
helping the advertisers?

2.7 Answers
Self Assessment Questions
1. True
2. True
3. True
4. True
5. consumers in India
6. disposable
7. True
8. traditional
Terminal Questions
1. Consumers are looking out for better quality and higher priced products
within each category. This is backed by high advertising pressure. Refer
section 2.2.1 for further details.
2. Industrial growth, seasons, Disposable income, Employment, Inflation
and consumer basket, Economic cycle, Consumer mind share, spending
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power, Government control on ads are some of the factors. Refer

section 2.3 for more details.
3. Advertisers will need to have a deep understanding of Indias new
consumers today so that they can deliver the products that meet their
aspirations. For instance, these days people of India, whether lower,
middle or upper class, spend and acquire with the most uninhibited
energy. Advertisers have to consider this fact. For more details refer
section 2.3.5
4. Advertising has witnessed ups and downs in ad growth that match the
economic boom and recessionary cycles. For instance, during the peak
of recession in 2009, advertising growth in India was -10%. In 2010, with
the economy picking up, this figure shot up to 27%. For more details refer
section 2.3.8
5. Humour makes an instant emotional connect with the reader or viewer.
Hence, strategy planners are using humour increasingly in ads, thus
getting results. Refer section 2.3.14 for more details.
References:
Dhaleta, S. K. (2012, February 20). Ad spends grow by 8%: PitchMadison report. Pitch.
(2012, March 19). Planning Commission further lowers poverty line to
Rs.28 per day. India Today.
(2012, April 17). India sees 2012 monsoon normal, no El Nino threat.
The Times of India.
(2011, June 20). FMCG firms cut ad spend to offset high input costs.
Business Standard.
Pannu, S.P.S. (2010, September 18). Higher growth produces more jobs
in India. India Today.
National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) estimates on
Earnings and Spendings at the end of 200910.
Nielsen, A. (2005-2006). Retail Audit. AC Nielsen
E-References:
(2005). New global poverty estimates What it means for India.
Retrieved from http://www.worldbank.org.in.
Madhavan, E. (2008, November 3). Advantage political advertising as
parties look for an image shine before elections. Retrieved from http://
www.exchange4media.com
www.hll.com
www.undp.org.in
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