Has the Indian Customer Evolved??

Some fifty years ago, David Ogilvy said: “The consumer is not a moron, she’s your wife”. I believe that this was true about the Indian consumer then and is as true about her today. Nothing has really changed. So, is the question in the headline redundant?

It would not be wrong or boastful to say that the average Indian advertising today is perhaps superior to that of any other country in the world. This is not just a nationalist point of view; when many of us in the business share Indian work with the outside world, it is received with much appreciation.

This was not the case decades ago. At that time, lots of advertising was basic, relying on the brand name repetition six or seven times in thirty seconds. This was done in the belief that this was the only way in which the ‘unevolved’ Indian consumer could connect with and remember the advertising. Just imagine the plight of the consumer!

This was an advertiser and advertising view of the consumer, not the truth about the Indian consumer. It has taken fifty years for the Indian advertiser to evolve, realise the truth that the Indian consumer is not backward. So the more relevant question should be ‘Has Indian advertising evolved?’ And the answer is a loud ‘Yes’.

In the early days, advertising ignored the fact that the Indian consumer has been, for centuries, brought up on understanding messages metaphorically. The Dohas (couplets) and Chaupais that our parents recited without consuming “memory plus” tablets are a simple example of the fact that the Indian consumer not only remembered these messages but also enjoyed them.

However, the advertiser after his MBA, and his agency, after reading a lot of western books on advertising, used selective memory to only focus on “We sell or else”. And thus created a lot of advertising that was rational, ‘A for apple’ and hence boring. They conveniently forgot that the same David Ogilvy also wrote: “You can’t bore people into buying your product”. Engagement and entertainment were given up for making product-oriented sales messages. And yes, there were enough brothers in research who validated that this was the way to do it.

Much can be taken out from the roadside seller’s selling techniques. Remember the long chain of Bhel puri sellers on Marine Drive or Chandni Chowk or the Agarbatti sellers in trains and buses. How well they packaged their sales messages in interesting copy and story telling. These people lived the lives of “We sell or else” in reality. If the salesman didn’t sell by the evening, he and his family had to go to bed without dinner or had to have kilos of bhel puri for it.

So he sold his wares persuasively, entertainingly without talking about the ingredients with which or the process in which the product was made! If he did, he did it interestingly and not like a science class.

Unfortunately, the modern marketer or his agency partners did not have the fears of going hungry. So they decided that they were ‘clever’, consumers were ‘morons’ and hence had to be spoon-fed messages to be persuaded to buy their products. This is a result of people taking themselves too seriously. When a normal, gentle, good-humoured father till breakfast at home, becomes Mr Manager or Einstein’s gift to mankind in office, the result is people who forget they are consumers and human beings and believe they are brain surgeons. And the result: clinical operations and not heart-warming stories.

I distinctly remember a discussion with a brand manager many years ago. It was for a brand of headache pills. I presented a humourous script. The brand manager got quite upset and said: “People don’t have a sense of humour when they have a headache”. I argued that “people don’t watch TV when they have a headache. The task of advertising is to make them remember us when they are not watching TV and do have a headache”. He just didn’t relent and I lost the battle and had to create a ‘boring’ script. It took me many years to realise the reason why he did not want humourous advertising. He wanted a very boring and irritating ad, so that people would get a headache and then he could sell his pill!

It is only when we get consumed by our product that we forget the consumer and treat her like an idiot who has to be fed with features that are more important to us than to her. Look at the charm of Daag acche hain. I think my middle-class family in Jaipur would have understood and loved it in the ’70s as much as the middle class consumer connects with it today.

Unfortunately, thanks to the ‘misplaced perception’ of the advertiser and advertising community of those times, my poor mother had to suffer some magnified, microscopic view of some lab test where some black particles were released from something that looked like a close-up of the weave of a charpai. Pepsi’s ‘ Nothing official about it’ and Asian Paints ‘Celebrate’ campaigns are landmarks that remind us that our consumer has always been evolved and likes to participate or be engaged with our advertising. Cadbury’s and Hamara Bajaj did not have to sell features in the early nineties. They did not have to spell out their messages. They treated the consumer as intelligent beings who liked to fill in the blanks and enjoy their intelligence to be recognised.

Everyone loved Fevicol in the ’80s; everyone still loves it in 2008. And mind you, these people did not have to go and do an “advertising appreciation course” in the interim to enjoy these campaigns Back in 2004, I was waiting for my car outside Rambagh Palace Hotel in Jaipur when the watchman — a handsome looking 70-year-old man with an eight-inch Rajasthani moustache — walked up to me. He probably had not studied beyond class four or five. He said: “Sir, you have left Jaipur for good?” I replied in the negative and told him it is my hometown, that my mother lives here. I come here very often. He laughed and I could see a twinkle in his eye as he said: “So you are stuck to Jaipur as if with Fevicol”. QED. The ultimate reflection of the intelligent consumer! W

ith a ten-fold increase in media exposure, the pressure is now more on us — advertiser and advertising agencies. Consumers have grown smarter and are able to make bigger connections — fill paragraphs, not just blanks. If we don’t treat them with the respect they deserve, they will oust us from their lives and we will be left writing only intelligent articles on “Has the Indian consumer evolved?”

(The author is executive chairman and national creative director, Ogilvy & Mather India)

Fruit Juices -- Providing the Real Punch!!

This juice is worth its squeeze. At least cola majors Coca-Cola and PepsiCo think so. A couple of weeks back, when beverages giant The Coca-Cola Company announced its results for the October-December 2007 quarter, it attributed the growth in its Indian market to its mainstay brand Coca-Cola and its expanding portfolio of fruit drinks (beverages with 20 per cent fruit pulp).

Fruit drinks are increasingly filling the crates that were otherwise capped with fizzy carbonates in the Indian market. In October 2007, Coca-Cola India took its orange fruit drink Minute Maid national after a carefully phased launch that first covered major cities. Last month, PepsiCo rolled out its fruit drink, Tropicana Twister, nationally.

PepsiCo also announced that it expects to treble its turnover in the next three years, expecting a good portion of this increase to come from fruit drinks. Coca-Cola India has meanwhile launched its second communication campaign for Minute Maid and the company has also finished its test-marketing 200 ml carton packs of “Mazaa Aam Panna” in Agra, Bhopal and Bareilly. The company plans to launch the drink this summer.

The action by the global giants is partly in response to the local players. In March 2007, homegrown beverages major Dabur had launched Real Twist, its fruit drink in three flavours – Mango-Orange, Mango-Apple and Mango-Pineapple.

“Growth in the fruit drinks segment has been accelerated by increased consumption by teenagers in the last two years. With Réal Twist, we are meeting the needs of teenagers who were looking for a product that is different and with which they can associate,” says K K Chutani, general manager-marketing, Dabur India.

It’s also because the fruit drinks segment is ripe for plucking. At Rs 1,200 crore, the juice and juice drink category is among the fastest growing segments of the approximately Rs 9,500 crore packaged beverages category. While fruit drinks as a category is growing at 18-20 per cent, carbonated soft drinks are growing at 6-8 per cent.

However, more than 90 per cent of sales happen through the unorganised route — juice centres, street corner shops and so on. It’s this 90 per cent that companies are tapping. “Hygiene is a huge issue at most of these outlets. A well-packed fruit drink can surely tap this market,” says Venkatesh Kini, vice-president-marketing, Coca Cola India.

Competitors agree. “It’s the fastest growing liquid beverage category. The young consumer has clearly displayed a liking and a need for fruit drinks,” says Sucheta Govil, executive director- innovation, PepsiCo India.

The other part of the strategy is to cater to the evolving consumer tastes. “The Indian consumer of today is clearly seeking healthier alternatives,” says Sharda Agarwal, a former marketing director of Coca-Cola India and a co-founder MarketGate Consulting.

“Bottled water and fruit-based drinks are benefiting from the healthier tone that Indian consumers have taken. Moreover, the soft drink market is maturing,” agrees Sunil Alagh, chairman, SKA Advisors.

Hence, TV campaigns of both companies emphasise the presence of fruit. For instance, Pepsi’s campaign shows a young boy sipping from a bottle of Tropicana Twist only to find pretty girls hurling oranges at him, in a way symbolising the fruit rush that the consumer gets after drinking the juice. “We plan to spread awareness about health benefits of fruit and fruit juices through various nutritional programmes,” says Govil.

Coca-Cola India’s campaign for Minute Maid shows fruit pulp disappearing from oranges only to be found in the drink, promoted widely as Pulpy Orange. The company focused a large amount of it promotions on sampling.

Apart from television and print advertisements, Coca-Cola India distributed free samples to consumers at malls, offices, shopping arcades multiplexes and other places in most major metros to create awareness. “We distributed more than a million free samples. Once consumers taste our product they would be hooked to it,” says Kini.

But the same confidence seems to be missing on ground. In a dipstick study conducted by Business Standard, It was found that close to 50 per cent of restaurants, bars and hotels surveyed did not stock the new variants launched by Pepsi Co or Coca Cola India.
Bar and restaurant owners believe that these drinks are of little use to them as customers prefer carbonated drinks as they mix well with other spirits. They also believe that most of their customers are not in an health conscious frame of mind at their joints and hence most do not see any value in stocking these drinks.

Hotel owners are also of a similar opinion that customers trust them on hygiene, but would not prefer such fruit drinks due to the preservatives present in them. Says one, Fresh fruit juice always tastes different, these drinks are just not the same.

Another points out that their fresh fruit juice are higher ticket items at Rs 30-45 a glass than these drinks. “Fruit juice and fruit drinks will sell more at kirana and convenience stores. They require the more traditional FMCG medium of distribution,” agrees MarketGate’s Agarwal.
But the other 50 per cent who stock support the products are positive. Pepsi retailers are optimistic that there will be demand for the drink once the advertising and campaign picks up. Minute Maid retailers claim that they already sell 1-2 bottles in the same time in which they sell 10-12 bottles of Coke or Sprite.

Further they believe that sales are low because its winter. It’s a common belief amongst them that once summer sets in demand will surely increase for these drinks. Hotel owners in affluent areas claim that they are already experiencing a pull for the drink.

This pull is essential as the focus on fruit drinks is also an attempt at portfolio diversification. Both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo discovered this, much to their discomfort, when consumers started to shy away from Colas following reports of contaminated water in the carbonates— twice in the last five years. A diversified portfolio, consultants believe, will empower companies when crisis strikes.

Both companies decline that this is the real reason behind pushing fruit drinks. They say that they are merely leveraging the market opportunity. Says Kini, “The market for carbonated drinks is 10 times larger than the fruit drinks segment. We are launching this product because our research shows that the Indian customer is ready.”

Globally, however, both Coca-Cola and Pepsi have no qualms in accepting that their focus is on building a strong portfolio of non-carbonated drinks. Coca-Cola’s global strategy has been to target newer markets with carbonated drinks and to build a strong non-carbonated drink brands and healthier carbonated drinks like diet-colas, sugar-free drinks and so on.

The results are also showing globally. For instance, Pepsi’s juice brand Tropicana Premium’s global sales is higher than carbonated drinks like Mirinda and 7Up. Also sports drink Gatorade and Diet Pepsi rank second and fourth in terms of world wide retail sales clearly signifying the shift towards health drinks.

Non-carbonated drinks is also more profitable. In 2007, 62 per cent of the volume sales of PepsiCo Beverages North America were accounted for by carbonated drinks, while non-carbonated merely contributed 38 per cent. However, in terms of revenue, non-carbonated drinks contributed to 69 per cent while carbonated drinks generated only 31 per cent.
While it’s too early to compare volumes in India, the pricing of the products can shed some light on the attractiveness of the segment. While a 500 ml bottle of Pepsi or Coke costs Rs 20, a 350 ml PET bottle of Tropicana Twister costs Rs 22, while Minute Maid costs Rs 25 for a 400 ml PET bottle.

While Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are climbing up the price ladder, Dabur is driving its price point down with Real Twist. That’s because the company has traditionally marketed fruit juice and nectar, which contain 80 per cent or more of fruit pulp.

After targeting, housewives, children and senior citizens with its premium juice offering Real and its variant Real Activ, the company has extended its portfolio with Twist to reach out to the youngsters. Real Twist is priced at Rs 45 for 1.2 litres on the other hand its fruit juices like Real and Real Activ are priced between Rs 72 and Rs 85 per litre.

Even PepsiCo and Coca Cola India are looking at the age group of 18-29 years and 20- 29 years respectively. Both companies have also tweaked the taste of their global products to suit the Indian palate.

“Indians like their juice with more orange and more sweet. Hence, we have made it so,” says Coke’s Kini. Will consumer response be equally sweet?