DECODING THE INDIA STORYReal solutions for a real India

Future IdeasFuture Ideas proposes and brings a new way of creation of businesses, built on macro and micro insights lead by consumer thinking. In an ever-evolving world that borrows practices yet retains identities, Future Ideas recommends a new way of problem solving which is dynamic and built on socio-cultural insights. At Future Ideas, we see things through an Indian lens and believe in o�ering real solutions, as real as the social/cultural market it operates in, to have the desired impact. We partner with clients in this journey of discovering and insights. And in doing so, it takes us closer to understanding the consumer classes, amidst which we operate. We specialize in understanding consumer groups, building insights and translating those insightsinto holistic design solutions.

Future BrandsFuturebrands advises global and Indian companies on conceptual and operational brand challenges and helps them succeed in business through insights & knowledge-based brand solutions. We design and bring alive the brand world for companies so that they can build deeper brand connections with people and grow brand value. We have an energetic mix of brand strategy & management expertise to take on brand challenges in any category. We are passionate about reading socio-cultural changes and applying the understanding to design & nurture brands.

Future Brandshttp://www.futurebrands.co.infuturebrands@futurebrands.co.in W4D-204/3 Keshav Kunj Sainik Farms New Delhi - 110062

Future Ideaswww.futureideas.ininfo@futureideas.in

Tower C, 10th Floor, 24/7 Park,L.B.S. Marg, Vikhroli (West), Mumbai - 400 083

0101101011

BOLLYWOOD

Khakhi

jugaad

NIRVANAyoga

CURRY karma0101101011

0101101011

BOLLYWOOD

Khakhi

jugaad

NIRVANAyoga

CURRY karma0101101011

The India StoryThe most challenging and exciting time to live in, is on the cusp of change. And that is where India is today. We are on the cusp of change wherein a huge, multicultural India is transforming from a socialist economy to a consumption-led economy. The scope and depth of change that is taking place across India, is unparalleled in its history. This change provides both unique challenge and an unprecedented opportunity for businesses from across the world.

Changing demographic pro�les, increasing income levels, urbanization, technology, globalization and a free �ow of ideas from within and outside the country is bringing about a dramatic shift in consumer tastes and preferences.

On a recent trip to India, a foreign visitor was pleasantly surprised to note that the leading English newspaper in the country was also the most widely read English broadsheet in the world. The call center boom in India is quite well known, but had India transformed into a nation where everyone speaks and reads English? Not really! India’s largest English newspaper doesn’t always �nd a place in the ten most widely read newspapers in India.

The truth is we are far too many. A miniscule percentage of the entire population makes up a large and impressive number, when compared to most other countries in the world. Therefore, it isn’t uncommon to �nd more and more of these, “India has the largest/second largest/eight largest XXX in the world” statements. Lured by the spectacular numbers and generalizations showcased during the early years of liberalization; many multinational companies entered India. Soon they realized that the on ground realities are far di�erent from the statistics that they were presented with.

Statistics isn’t enough to do business in India. In fact they can be misleading to a large extent. We are not only too many, we are of too many of di�erent kinds. A statistic by nature generalizes a situation and the one thing that doesn’t work in India is generalization. To every generalization, there is a notable exception. For every similarity one �nds among Indian consumers, there is a signi�cant di�erence.

1 | Future Ideas

3 | Future Ideas

For example, while understanding the size of the consumer market, one �nds that there are more than hundred towns with population concentration of more than 300,000. It sounds great on paper, but digging deeper, one will �nd that just eight cities make up around seventy eighty percent of addressable market for urban consumption in India.

There are too many Indias within one India. The economic, social and cultural diversity of Indian consumers forces marketers to view this mass of consumers not as one single market but as a ‘mass of niches.’ The language we speak, the religions we follow, the food we consume, the fabric we wear and the festivals we celebrate change every few hundred kilometres. Reaching out to consumers in India is not about dealing with one consumer market, but multiple consumer markets based on communities, languages, ethnicity, castes and religious beliefs. Even though on the street and within o�ces, every Indian may seem somewhat similar, each of them live very di�erent lives that are based on the region the family comes from, the language they speak, their religious beliefs and the festivals they celebrate.

Multiple centuries simultaneously co-exist. In the nation’s capital, a drive from the Red Fort area, down Daryaganj, through Lutyen’s Delhi and into Gurgaon is almost like a travel on timemachine. Not only does the architecture, cultural ethos, social outlook change with the locality, but so does levels of aspiration, willingness to change, consumption patterns and wealth creation. Add to it the confusion that pervades modern Indian democracy, policies, economics; and doing business in India becomes a memorable roller-coaster ride.

In India, logic and emotion, individual and social, poverty and a�uence, capitalism and socialism, life and lifestyle, value and indulgence, and the past and the future simultaneously coexist in India. And all these paradoxes converge to make India what it is. To the external world, the harmonious coexistence of these contradictions is one of the most confusing aspects of the Indian consumer market. But it can also be interpreted as a proof of our country’s openness to change and its ability to add new dimensions without losing old ones. It opens up new and unique opportunities as well as brings forth challenges for brand and business owners hoping to tap into the large Indian consumer market.

Everyday organizations around the world are lured by the Indian growth story, sometimes narrated in sizzling detail by the media and at other times by ambitious local associates. Sure India is the land of tomorrow, as many Indians are joining the consumption class. However organizations and business will require ingenious methods for capturing the many India’s that comfortably co-exist and demand for products, services, brands and ideas that appeal to the head the heart and the market.

Brands as big as Kellogg’s, Coca-Cola and McDonalds have learnt the hard way that they need to de�ne themselves in Indian terms. They have struggled but accepted that the average Indian’s desire for progress does not follow the trajectory of western society. We have seen brands occupying what seemed like unshakeable leadership positions lose their initiative. Nokia, which till recently had a near 70% share of the mobile phone market, today struggles to cope with local brands who have created a lineup of phones with disruptive features that appeal to a new generation of mobile users.

Why do so many entry strategies fail when it comes to the Indian market? One would assume that given the poor success rate, global brand managers would have learnt from the mistakes committed by their peers and predecessors.

The underlying �aw: looking at India from the Global lens and evaluating the market potential, category state and consumer evolution to tailor the existing global brand o�ering. Segmenting the market based on income or socio-economic parameters while almost the entire country’s consumption patterns di�er based on their cultural identity.

Not a marketing problem alone, but a cultural problem

Culture - the invisible driver?

© C

opyr

ight

201

2 Fu

ture

Idea

s. A

ll Ri

ghts

Res

erve

d

Food In India Spectrum by Future Ideas

5 | Future Ideas

DECODING THE INDIA STORY

Future Ideas and Future Brands come together with a diverse team of anthropoligsts, sociologists, brand consultants, market researchers, demographic experts, mythologists, consumer specialists and category experts to help decipher the Indian consumer.

A collective India cultural lens will help business understand the Indian Consumption Culture, ways of Business, how India understands change and the Indian idiom of products and her needs.

The Approach

Cultural immersionIn-depth understanding of the cultural context that shapes the Indian consumer relationship with a speci�c category.

Community StudiesDetailed sociological and anthropological studies on individual communities and consumer groups in India to gather consumption drivers for each of these communities and consumer groups

Community CalendarsIdentifying festivals, and the highs and lows of consumption categories by studying each of the community’s luni-solar or lunar calendars and developing promotion and marketing calendars that are customized for communities

Constituency MappingUnderstanding the larger socio-cultural forces that people are governed by and how it shapes their needs and desires.

Consumer SegmentationSegmenting customers based on communities, migration patterns, family sizes, age-groups and professions – factors that de�ne consumption far more than just income or demographic segmentation.

Opportunity MappingIdentifying emerging consumer themes, how and what is changing to conceive new opportunities and brands.

Brand Localization Interpreting global brands in terms that become meaningful for an Indian audience.

Product CustomizationIdentifying relevant and meaningful opportunities to di�erentiate in the Indian market.