‘What men! Which side you supporting?’
‘Jeetenge toh hum, miyan!’
‘Dei! Whistle podu for my team!’
This is India. It’s watching cricket religiously. And this is India which speaks cricket in many different languages. Even though it is one event, there are many different ways to reach every one of these people.
India is an evolved and a growing economy that is happy to pose many a challenge to advertisers. There is India, which speaks English and then there is Bharat, the heartland of the country where business is no longer English. It is the language spoken by the people who live in the heartland. Think Marathi. And it’s dialects. Think Hindi. And you will realise that every city has its own, unique way of communicating. Think Punjabi… Think Assamese… There are so many more!
These are people who have studied in their mother tongue and have graduated from schools and colleges and wear their badge of being ‘local’ with pride. With larger towns getting saturated for growth, India has seen smaller towns rapidly opening up for new things.
State governments have learnt to support regional capital cities and that is why so many industrial hubs have opened up all along the highways connecting state capitals to smaller towns and even villages. This has meant increased opportunities for marketers. This growth has given rise to a brand new vibrant category of tradesmen. They are very local and have a very distinct way of doing business.
Farmers in certain districts too have grown affluent over the years, and offer marketers a unique opportunity as well.
When you look at these markets you realise that there are enormous pockets of affluence at a district or SCR level. Each has its own ethos, culture, language and idiom of expression. This is the reason why advertisers like Nestle are targeting this new Mini India where regional preferences drive brand growth.
Therefore, anyone who is offers GEOTARGETING makes communication effective and ensures good ROI.
In this scenario, digital, local print, radio find favour with advertisers.This can be complemented with good audio-visual impact on the TV screen through 3000+ GEOTARGETED narrowcast FTA channels which the local cable ecosystem has developed and nurtured over the last 2 years, thanks to the digital delivery on cable!
This article is authored by Sharad Alwe, Managing Director, UPDATE Advertising*
