All That Marketers Need to Know About The Indian Youth Having a Middle class that just about

Matches The Entire Population of United States is good enough, But having a Young Population that nearly Rivals the Total Citizenry of the EU is the Icing on the Cake for India Issue Date - 24/02/2011 Its not for nothing that marketers of the world are getting ready for India. But are they able to grasp the fine print when it comes to enticing this young country? Generation gap. Its the reason why every father considers his child to be chasing all the wrong things in life and the child considers his/her father to be too far away from todays reality to make a judgment. But when you consider the way change happens in todays time, it doesnt take a father-son kind of age gap to look at a generation shift. A lot of us who came out of college or bagged our first jobs just around ten years back would notice a stark difference in the way youth behaves and acts today, and also how marketers try to target them. One instance that caught my attention just some time back was with respect to personal loans. Even till a decade back, we were thinking twice over just taking a loan for a two/four wheeler. Today, home loans are taken by people under 30, and there are loans for things like consumer electronics, mobiles & holidays. The last I heard was that there are loans for dinners in five star hotels as well! Marketers do have a number of tricks in their playbooks, and this is just one of them - when you break up the amount payable into installments, price sensitivity to demand comes down. Of course, the fact remains that debt funded consumption booms are not uncommon. The US has just been through that and the resulting bust cycle, as its current national debt stands at a whopping $14.13 trillion, and it bears a household debt of $11.6 trillion by the end of September 2010 (GDP of $14.12 trillion as per World Bank). US has an external debt to GDP ratio of around 94.75% compared to 21.65% for India and 19.2% for China. So definitely, there is a lot more scope to fuel debt fuelled consumption here, as compared to countries like US, which have pretty much stretched themselves to the hilt, and cannot stretch further till some strong GDP growth numbers come in. When we talk about the attractiveness of the Indian market, the first point that comes to mind is its middle class. As per NCAER, the Indian middle class (now defined as an income bracket of Rs.3.4 lakh to Rs.17 lakh as annual household income) will swell to 267.7 million by 2015 and 547 million by 2025. Current US population was around 310.23 million in 2010 and is showing a growth rate of around 0.9%. Even if it grows by 1% every year from now, it would reach around 360.16 million by 2025, which means that the Indian middle class alone would outnumber the entire US population by that time. However, many experts have called this a chimera, since the average income and prosperity level in India are far behind the levels of developed countries.

Thats where being a young country can be of immense help, and that is one area where Indias credentials are tough for even China to match. According to a report by McKinsey, India is expected to add a workforce of 250 million by this decade. By 2025, around 28% of Chinas population will be aged 55 years or more; India, with 16%, of the same, will obviously be at a better position. India could potentially add 170 million urban workers between 2005 and 2025 compared to 50 million for China, if it gets its urbanization story going. In fact, the number of Indian people below the age of 25 is around 600 million, and the population of the entire EU is just touching 500 million so far. Indeed, as discussed earlier, there are a lot of marketing experiments happening in the Indian market today, and the attempt to push debt fuelled consumption is just one of them. The fact that a consumption boom is emerging in India is not too far-fetched. Look at how costs of premium branded products (see table) are going up at rates of 15-20% every year, and yet they are finding takers. Of course, this inflation is hardly of concern to the government of the day. As the combined effect of economic growth (GDP growth of 8.6% expected this fiscal compared to 8% the previous fiscal) and favourable demographics come into play, there seems to be hardly a better market to play on. Discretionary spending is expected to be some 70% of overall spending by 2025 as compared to some 38% in 1995. Also the ratio of dependents is bound to come down to around 48% by 2025 compared to 60% by 2005. But the numbers can only provide the tip of the iceberg in a market like India, where the market is so diverse that it can befuddle even the most seasoned of marketing brains. People who have studied this market have realized that the Indian youth follow no set patterns in their consumption behavior, and making any assumptions too soon is insensible. For instance, while private consumption will grow to Rs.67 trillion by 2015, organized retail will grow at a crisp pace to account for Rs.3 trillion by that year (thrice its value in 2010). However, unorganized retail isnt a write-off at all, as it is expected to grow by Rs.4.5 trillion in the same period. They note that while Indians are going to unorganized retail for categories like apparel, footwear and electronics, they still prefer the traditional route for groceries, furniture, medicines, et al.

This is the great Indian paradox that marketing expert Rama Bijapurkar talked about in her popular book on Indian consumers titled We are like that only. She calls India the bullock cart to business class economy, which implies that extremes coexist in this country, and this is true for the youth as well. They may seem to be least interested in a national cause on most occasions, but they surprised everyone when they came together for the Jessica Lal candlelight vigil and to protest 26/11. Indian youth are ready to indulge in materialism as well as dwell in spiritualism. They eye foreign brands with respect, but do not mind going Indian as well when they feel like it. The upcoming double income couples are ready to enjoy packaged meals in American style, yet they also want to enjoy the pleasures of cooking at home and having fresh food. They enjoy eating in the most expensive restaurants, but cannot avoid street food either. They are equally at ease shopping for apparel in Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle, as they are shopping in Sarojini Nagar in Delhi or Fashion Street in Mumbai. They may go beyond their monthly budget to be able to enjoy an expensive holiday, while they haggle with vegetable vendors, rickshaw drivers, door to door salesmen, et al in their daily lives for that slightly better bargain. They will buy expensive cars, and look to save money by curbing their travelling. India is truly a land of contradictions, and the youth of this country display these same contradictions in no uncertain terms. Marketers typically have to approach this market with a lot of sincerity and also understand that this market can surprise as well as shock. For instance, there was a huge pent up demand for FMCG goods post liberalization, and players were typically bullish about a sustained boom. When the concept of EMIs for personal vehicles started gaining traction, it was shocking for even giants like Hindustan Unilever, as their brisk pace of growth suddenly stalled. The size of the wallet had not changed; the consumers had just reallocated their expenditure to what they considered was more critical to their status. As mobile phones, laptops and iPods gained favour, hardly anyone noticed how the music systems slowly lost their appeal in the market. TV channels and advertisers face an uncertain future, as the youth of India growingly gets hooked on to the internet. Earlier, we had time to watch ODIs, now even watching T20s can be an expensive proposition. If tablets gain prominence the way they are expected to, both desktop and laptop players may have to start planning exit strategies soon. A number of market leaders have seen their positions being eroded in the last few years Nokia, Samsung, Maruti and HP to name a few. While the grey market used to be a threat earlier, private labels are an eventuality that the top brands are yet to get accustomed to. There is also no telling when a new player like Micromax can suddenly discover a new Y factor that the incumbents have ignored and take the wind off their sails. This youth market is intensely dynamic and willing to experiment. If India is on your itinerary in the coming months, do make sure that you possess these traits as well, and in ample measure.

4Ps B&M- ICMR- CVOTER SURVEY Know The Indian Youth Inside out 4Ps B&M in association with ICMR & Cvoter showcases an Methodology 4Ps B&M in association with Indian Council for Market Research (ICMR) & Cvoter conducted a survey amongst the Indian youth (18-25 years). The survey included responses from 1,628 respondents belonging to 31 different Indian cities as given below Tier-I cities: Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru & Hyderabad Tier-II cities: Jaipur, Chandigarh, Indore, Bhopal, Guwahati, Ranchi, Nagpur, Lucknow et al Tier-III cities: Varanasi, Ambala, Jabalpur, Nashik, Agra, Jodhpur et al Interviews conducted were both face-to-face and telephonic. The target respondents were administered a structured questionnaire and the Survey had a good mix of working and non-working individuals. The process was an attempt to understand the buying behaviour of the youth in categories like mobile phones, gadgets, internet usage and apparels (especially casual wear). The survey also took into account certain psychographic parameters to judge the TG. The analysis of the survey is represented by categorising the cities different tier zones to further understand the diversity of the Indian youth.

MOBILE PHONES

Internet Usage

Gadgets

Casual Wear

The Youth today looks at Price, Quality & Relevance How has the youth of India evolved over time as a market? The youth of India has been exposed a lot because of media; they have become more aware and hence more discerning about their choices of products or whatever they buy. This means that its no more about the particular brand being strong, but about what the product promises to do for the youth customer; and more importantly, how it suits him as a person. People are looking at things very positively now, against the time when they would blame every thing else in the world. When the Indian youths see India growing, they see a very positive future for themselves too. When you see a positive growth, then you also become flexible with your spending. If I can afford something for the price of X, I will be willing to pay X + delta X if it satisfies my needs and also satisfies me as a personality. So, youth buying has become personality driven. Do you think Indian youth still go for cheap products, or have they become more quality sensitive? I believe that there is a certain segment which is price conscious, and a segment that is not. It depends on how deep your pocket is. The youth is a little less compromising. If he has a choice between buying something cheap vs buying a value product, the youth in the metro will grab the value product. Yet, there is a segment which only looks at the price, but the larger group is more discerning. If the youth of today has the choice of buying a product that is relevant to him, he would not mind spending a little extra. So, I think they are looking at price, quality and relevance at the same time. How do you contrast the youth buying behaviour of India with Europe and US? Were still evolving as an economy. There is a difference between conservatism and liberalism. Somehow, we are in the middle as a country. There is a certain segment in India that is at par with the youth buying behaviour of US or UK, but there is also a segment which is much below that; so factors like friends, geography, et al come into place. Indian youth are very diverse in its purchase behaviour. SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING EXCLUSIVE COLUMN : MICKEY GOODMAN, PROFESSOR OF MARKETING, STERN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS IF YOURE NETWORKED, YOU EXIST! Social Media is here to stay because thats where the youth is. Marketers have realised this and shifted the battlefield to the networked space. Sanchit Verma writes on how this could alter marketing dynamics Six years ago, when Facebook picked up pace inside Harvard University, Facebook me became the common expression. Thanks to that superlative start, today the social media landscape has undergone genetic modifications to an extent that your presence on it is taken for granted by society. Although one can comprehend this attitude given the fact that 7.3% of the world population is present on Facebook, brands had perhaps never contemplated what social media would become. But now, this medium has farther reaching implications for companies

than one can imagine. According to a 2010 Social Media Study by the Social Media Examiner, 91% of all marketers across the globe are using social media in some capacity. The ICMR 2011 Indian youth survey carried at the start of this section contains exhaustive details on the internet usage of Indias youth today. Even secondary research shows that in India, social media today reaches around 60% of the online audience (ViziSense data) and Facebook here too tops the charts with a user base of 22.1 million followed by Orkut (18.5 million), ibibo (3.56 million), twitter (3.14 million) Bharat Student () and Linkedin (2.95 million). In fact, a study (The Generation 2.0) undertaken by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in 2010 states that 85% of the Indian youth is hooked on to social networking sites. Thus, for brands, the question is no more about being on the social network; it is now about how to capitalise on it. Agrees Dawn Iacobucci, Professor of Marketing, Vanderbilt University, Owen Graduate School of Management, as she tells 4Ps B&M, Social media is growing quickly, and as such most companies will soon find themselves facing the questions about how best to use it. Her views are reaffirmed by a report released by Xperian, which estimates that $4.3 billion will be spent towards advertising through social networks in 2011, a 29% increase from 2010. If thats going to happen, then the money better be put to good use. This sudden rise in popularity of this platform is not by default but by design. Reason: Social media gives its user the power to comment, post, tweet or like round the clock. To put things in perspective, this is probably the first media platform which facilitates a two way communication. Consumers, the world over, have criticised media for edited content, but this is a platform where anyone can become a part of a discussion. The sudden rise of social media stems from the fact that it engages. The challenge, however, remains finding a more brand-centric means of measurement to take it to the next level, Max Hegerman, President, Tribal DDB, India tells 4Ps B&M. As far as India is concerned, companies are playing it safe by maintaining a formidable presence in the social media space. For instance, with 2.4 lakh fans, the official Facebook fan page of Pizza Hut, has the largest fan base for any restaurant brand in India. Even Ford Motors India is operating a blog with the domain name www.drivingford.in which updates interesting developments pertaining to the company. Its not as if only a few brands realise the pressing need to be a part of this eco-system, brands across industries with distinct target markets too

have joined the bandwagon. Although it does not make sense for a luxury car maker to be active on social media, but considering the youth demography that influences the decision making process of our target households, it becomes necessary for brands like us to be present on social media platforms, agrees Clemens Ollmert, Head Marketing, Audi India. If human psychology is to be traced, then one would observe that people tend to read books and newspapers mostly in isolation. But the toxic cocktail of digital access, mobility and social networking has re-engineered the intake of media from being a solo activity towards being social experiences. No doubt, at this point of time, quantitative measurements are hard to come, but then, the repercussions of ignorance can be fatal. After all they say, if youre not on the network, you dont exist! Change comes from Youth How significant is social media with respect to the entire marketing mix? The most significant achievement of social media has been its ability to magnify word of mouth exponentially. It has become an extremely important source of communication in todays world. What happens now, for instance on the net, is that a user visits the Ford Figo page and writes that he doesnt or does like something about the product. All of a sudden there are 10 advocates who come out of nowhere and resonate the discussion. Their words are very powerful because they carry enormous confidence. As a result, more visitors reading these comments become a part of this conversation (despite never having met each other). I therefore think that word of mouth is going to drive most outcomes in the future because it brings both the good and not so good experiences of customers on board. Is digital marketing really important? Well, its just as important as one-on-one conversations. Its getting bigger by the day. At one point of time it was perceived that digital activities were niche and existed as a mere support element in the entire communication mix; that has now changed. How important do you consider suggestions given by a young employee? When I was young, there was a philosophy that children should be seen but not heard. That no longer exists and certainly not at the Ford Motor Company. An interesting article years ago mentions that if you really want a change in the organisation, it can only come from two groups either the people who are young (the ones who havent been moulded on the organisations philosophy) or the lot consisting of people who are theoretically at the end of their careers (considering the experience they bring to the table). Others in the middle of their career are just maintaining. If you really want a real change in the organisation, you better be listening to them because they might just have the next big idea. EXCLUSIVE COLUMN : NIRMALYA KUMAR, PROFESSOR OF MARKETING, STERN SCHOOL OF LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL Marketers need to Rethink Best Practices In an exclusive interaction with 4Ps B&Ms Shephali Bhatt, Nirmalya Kumar talks about marketing best practices, Social

Media and The Asian consumer Is there a dichotomy between marketing best practices and the consumers current perception? Unfortunately yes. As I stated in my book, Marketing as Strategy, markets always change faster than marketing. The marketing fraternity is still push-marketing oriented in its tactics whilst consumers, especially the young ones, feel informed, energised, empowered, and spoilt for choice. In such an environment, marketers fearing a loss of marketing effectiveness increase the use of their in-your-face marketing tools to enhance their sales. Some subtlety is certainly the order of the day! Which, according to your observation, are best practices that do not influence the consumer anymore? The short-term effect of promotions and push marketing, such as spamming mobiles with sms, email boxes, and cold calling for offers may still lead to increased total sales even if the response rate is abysmally small. But the long-term impact on the brand is unfortunately not measured consumers smell the desperation of the brand and subsequently build a perception around it. Its rather better to work on building the success formula of the brand (one great USP and a differentiated value network to deliver it). Citing the Groupon example, how do you think consumer behaviour would change with the increase in such deal-of-the-day, group buying websites? The ability to leverage social networks for marketing is still at a very nascent stage. Even the executives at Facebook admit that there is a lot they have to learn about what works with respect to marketing on their site. Unlike search where consumers come looking to buy and for information on brands, Facebook is a more private space in the mind of users and he is there to interact with his friends. Thus, marketing has to consider this difference. Having said that, Groupon has been very successful in using social networks to create a buzz for the deal. But then, it is targeted to a specific set of consumers the bargain hunter. The challenge is not to make the consumer too deal prone and thereby lose price integrity. It is a slippery slope, because once lost is hard to regain pricing power. We dont want the youth to start believing that everything should be available on deal. Share | Where do you think the consumer is shifting to at the moment. Is he becoming a loyal brand ambassador (read customer) or is he moving away from that tag? My research reported in the book titled Private Label Strategy indicates that there has been no decline in brand loyalty despite popular beliefs to the contrary. Any consumer is brand loyal to some brands, brand ambassador to the very few, and demonstrates various levels of indifference to the rest. Only iconic brands with radical differentiation (Apple, Nespresso) or passionate service levels (Mandarin Hotels, Starbucks) elicit brand ambassadors. Since you have spent a major part of your life outside Asia, how do you think consumer behaviour differs across continents for the same brands campaign (keeping aside the disposable income of these two set of consumers as the same)?

Asia is a large continent and the behaviour of Japanese consumers versus Indian consumers or Iranian consumers is very different. Still to make three gross generalisations excluding Japan, Asian prosperity is relatively new in the emerging economies of China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. In contrast, Europe, especially Western Europe, has seen sustained prosperity for well over 50 years post World War II. Europeans are also relatively more educated. Higher income combined with education makes consumers more confident about making independent decisions on quality. Such consumers have less need to rely on the reassurance provided by brands and are willing to focus on objective quality. Second, since prosperity has come to Asia recently after decades of consumption denial, Asian consumers prefer ostentatious markers of affluence. This is also partially a function of high Asian social stratification and the need to establish difference with the lower status portions of the population. Third, younger consumers in Europe and US have become sensitive to impact on the environment. One does not observe this in Asia in any substantial manner. YOUTH MOBILE Your Best Possible Connection The Transformative impact of young India on marketers is perhaps most visible in the mobile handset segment. Features and technologies are consistently getting redefined as per their needs, and they are key to any players future. Inflation bites us to no end in this current day and age, yet mobile phones as well as telecom services remain most relieving exceptions. Thanks to competition, they have only had a negative correlation with rising economic prosperity in India. Currently, we have a robust 729.57 million strong mobile subscriber base, making India the worlds second largest market. The cherry on the cake is our ever growing population which is approximately 1.3 billion at present. Also, the Indian population is the worlds youngest with approximately 50% of it under the age of 25. Companies in this industry, therefore, are leaving no stone unturned to make themselves relevant to the youth. Airtel repositioned itself as a young brand with a global appeal recently. The latest move by Blackberry manufacturers Research In Motion (RIM) is also telling. Through their latest TVC We Are The Blackberry Boys they have tried to reposition themselves in the Indian market from originally being exclusively for corporate users to becoming For All, predominantly the youth. Youth has transformed India into a vibrant market with space for multiple handset manufacturers, applications and technologies. As per an IDC report, domestic vendors have risen from a meager five, accounting for 0.9% market share in 2008 to 68, garnering 41.2% market share in 2010. With the advent of domestic players, there has been a sudden rush with the introduction of varied features by both domestic and international players to tap the youth and retain or grab the market. The most popular ones have been dual-SIMs, longer lasting batteries, touch screens, QWERTY keypads, GPS, e-mailing and internet surfing.

Nokia and Samsung have been classic case studies. After the entry of other domestic players, Nokia, though still the leader, has lost market share drastically from 64% in 2009 to less than half at just 31.5% in Q3, 2010. On the other hand, Samsung is the only international player to have sustained its position and in fact doubled its market share from 9% in 2009 to 17% in 2010. This exceptional progress, according to analysts, has been attributed to its strategy of focusing on segments like smartphones and touch screens, which are liked by the youth. Samsung has led the touch screen market with 23 models, the most famous being Samsung Champ and Galaxy S. It also catered to the social media frenzy & the tech-savvy side of the youth with its Samsung Corby and various models with dual and triple SIMs. It realised that Indians had started to change handsets frequently (within 18 months) to access new features or applications. According to Ajay Sharma, Country Head, HTC India, For the Indian market, which is dominated by the youth today, it is all about experience rather than just a communication tool or medium. Price is no more the key as handset quality and quality of services have taken centre stage.

In 2010, the total number of handsets sold touched 155.9 million units. Smartphones in particular have seen a growth of 34.2% qoq (Q3) and year-onyear rise by 294.9% (IDC Report). The propensity to adopt feature phones and smartphones is greatest amongst the youth and business executive segments. Todays youth is intelligent and very tech-savvy and wants to experience world-class quality. For them, everything boils down to Experience, opines Naveen Mishra, Telecom Analyst, IDC India. Googles Android has also gained acceptance as a mobile operating system (OS), as 9.4% of smartphones sold in Q3 2010 were based on the Android OS compared to 2.9% in 2009. A report published in 2008 by University of Michigan has studied the effects of mobiles as a Personal Communication Tool (PCT). It states that the most noticeable effect can be seen only amongst the youth and so the need is to pay attention to mobile youth culture. For common users, mobile phones are a status symbol. But for youngsters, they mean embracing of technology. For young adults, the distinctive uses of mobiles maintain and reinforce social network ties and help them create their own independent identity. On the whole, mobile phones serve as a core identity for young people. It is widely said in US that If you have a Nokia you are cool; if you have a Motorola or a Sony Ericsson, you are a business guy. Similarly, the Indian youth strongly associates mobiles with personality, as the success of the Blackberry Boys campaign has shown. Players need to keep a tab on all such inputs related to Indian youth preferences, since they are

the perfect destination for handset majors today. They are technology savvy, they dont mind spending a few bucks more and they are extremely open to new brands as well. All in all, they are the perfect antidote for slowdown blues across the globe outh & youth trends will remain the key AJAY SHARMA, COUNTRY HEAD, HTC INDIA How do you view the importance of the youth to the Indian handset market? India is young with the majority of the population being in the age bracket of 20-30 years. This is complemented with the fact that the Indian youth is very intelligent and tech-savvy. In recent times, there has been a bombardment of innovations on the youth with various applications, new mobile operating systems, touch screens and it has been well received. So, the mantra is that India is youth centric, which wants continuous exposure and has a huge appetite to consume breathtaking technology and innovations. How do you see price playing its part? The Indian market has transformed today and I believe that the 4Ps of marketing cannot be used the way it was before. The market has become a multiple price-tier, where every handset manufacturer at all levels has its own space to survive. Price is not the key anymore as handset quality and quality of service have taken centre-stage. VAS players have redefined the market and have been very successful, because the youth has given its full support. How do you view the competition in the vibrant telecom space? HTC is not driven by a price-strategy but is completely focused on technology innovations and quality output. We deal with smartphones, which are high-end and full of applications and features. We want to empower the communication experience and transform mobile handsets into an all-in-one platform. Today, and in the future too, youth and youth trends will be the centre for marketers. Our latest innovation has been the new HTC Sense.com service. People can simply manage their mobile phone experience from their HTC phone or PC. For example, anyone can easily locate a missing phone by triggering the handset to ring loudly, even if it is set to silent, or to flag its location on a map. If the phones been lost or stolen, users can lock the phone, forward calls and texts to another phone, send a message to the phone to arrange its return or even remotely wipe all personal data from it. MARS VS VENUS No Mars, No Venus, its just The Youth The thick line of preferences between young male and female is getting blurred in a jiffy, which means instead of catering to two segments, marketers now need to concentrate on only one The Youth Clichs have a world of their own. Some are meant to be broken and some deserve to be written about. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, not so much of a clich but a significant truth that has been extensively observed and written about for epochs. If men are your prototypical macho figures, women have for ages been the elegant human object of appreciation. Enter the digital era and you would feel the line getting blurred, even if its just a little. With

unisex salons and the likes of Fair and Handsomes, beauty is no longer the rightful interest of creatures who have landed on earth straight from Venus. Says Sandeep Ahuja, MD, VLCC Healthcare Ltd., The fact that we have unisex salons across 160 centres in India shows the rapid transition in the cultural phenomena and its impact on the strategies we ought to formulate in order to woo the youth segment, which has sprung up to represent one set of consumer, irrespective of its gender. And while you have more young men becoming conscious about their appearance, young women are exploring their braver side by switching to adventures that were originally touted as mens forte. A recent report compiled by auto industry experts showcased a growing fad of women bikers. The study showed a 40% increase in the number of women buying motorbikes. The trend also is validated by market research agency Maritz Canada, which suggests that women globally influence 66% of the buying decisions and that includes vehicle purchases. In simple words, the Maritz survey has found out that todays women make more automobile purchase decisions than men. Since the youth today has become synonymous with the world digital, let us sneak peek into the blurring disparities on the digital front which was more or less a guys copyright in the beginning. According to the numbers doled out by Nielsens Media Industry Fact Sheet 2010, 45% of the gamers are female and Sony PSPs 52% market comprises women alone! The scenario is not very different at the virtual forum, which has become the lifeline for youth. Globally, women spend 30% more time on social networking sites than men, reveals the latest data provided by comScore Inc. Even youth entertainment channels like MTV echo that at this moment, understanding the age split is more significant, because the gender split more or less doesnt exist among the youth. Aditya Swami, Sr. VP, Viacom Brand Solutions, expresses, Both MTV and VH1 that cater particularly to the young consumer, experience equal viewership from both male and female audiences. Certainly, there will always be shows like Stunt Mania that will have a male skewed audience, but in nine out of 10 cases, we try to build the content in a way that it suits both sets of consumers at the same time. And why not, with young men spending ample of time at parlours and women in their late teens getting more interesting tattoos than their counterparts, the differences between the likings and preferences are set to diminish. Even when it comes to being tech savvy, 70% of women

entrepreneurs in our country are jumping on to the tech bandwagon to give the veteran male tech caliphs a good fight. Ahuja asserts that the ratio of men to women in terms of their willingness to seek a beauty treatment would have been 20:80, if we were living in 2006. But in just about four years, the numbers have changed to 35:65. That brings us to the moot question, is the concept of Mars vs Venus a pertinent one, especially in the context of young India? Says Rana Barua, CEO, Red FM, Worldwide, brands are turning their attention to female consumers and thinking of ways to align their services and products to their needs. This is quite visible in the way products are marketed these days, even in the case of financial services, which like many other fields of interests, was once considered a product meant for masculine intellect. While earlier you had advertisements in which a man worried about his daughters wedding expenses and hence invested in mutual funds, now you have advertisements in which a daughter is buying her dad a bigger car. With more women becoming a part of the workforce, communication today has certainly become more inclusive. Barua adds, There are of course products which will be exclusively marketed to men or women, but in everything else, I think we are seeing a move toward a more wholesome communication. Unlike a few debates whose elasticity is proportional to the number of arguments, both in favour and against, this issue gives you a clear winner, the youth. The youth that plans to step on Mars as well as Venus irrespective of their sex. And hence lies the arduous task in front of all those brands who have not been able to gauge all these transitions to be able to suit the needs of a homogeneous set of Indian consumer, the young Indian. By : Shephali Bhatt o Differences at Music Stores FERZAD PALIA, CHANNEL HEAD, VH1 B>After winning the rights to telecast this years Grammy Awards, have you perceived any stark discrepancy in the response from your male and female viewers? I believe the excitement fever is the same across both male and female audience. The way music has evolved in the young generation, you will find Eminem being liked by guys and girls equally. A hard rock genre or heavy metal might still be largely skewed towards the male audience, but the audience for the rest of the genres like House, Rock or Pop, our Country is fairly evenly distributed. When it comes to preferences, is there any major distinguishing factor amongst male and female music lovers? No major differences. Music has grown to become more of a medium that connects the youth. Ever since the late 90s, it has always been about what kind of music you like or what is your current playlist. Listening to, lets say, a Deep Purple defined you then, and it continues to define you now. Music is essentially generation-based and less likely gender-based. You might find the Iron Maiden fans opinionated about various other forms of music, but there number is

limited. Music is no longer ancient and so has the listener, the youth. Gone are the days, when guys would prefer loud music and girls would be skewed towards softer and romantic numbers. So now that you seem to be convinced that the concept of Mars vs Venus is almost nonexistent in your line of business, how has that changed your marketing strategies with time? Rightly pointed out, the division doesnt really exist any more. Earlier, we would have researches and surveys done for male audience and female audience, separately. We dont follow that practice any more. For us, it is the youth, and we see both of them on the same platform. We all know that intrinsically, this concept is never going to change, because as the phrase goes, Men will remain from Mars, and Women, indeed, from Venus. REALITY SHOWS When it Comes to Youth, better Get Reel! Reality shows have been a great success story for Indians in general. But is the same true for youth-based reality shows? When the real life becomes too much to handle, we tend to turn to reel life, solely for the purpose of entertainment. And when the reel life seems too good or bad to be true, we distance ourselves from the far-fetched soap operas. But the idea of real on reel has been fascinating enough to draw significant eyeballs all over the world. Statistics speak that in US, three out of four girls belonging to the age group 12-17 admit that reality shows are their favourite pick among entertainment shows. And a similar trend has been catching up vigorously across the rest of the world. Indian media houses apparently managed to wake up to this fact at just about the right time. With a decade old history of successful reality shows like MTV Roadies, Kaun Banega Crorepati, Indian Idol, et al, the Indian media has been doing a swell job in adopting the reality show pattern from the far and near western countries and audiences have been responding fairly well to these shows. Affirms Ferzad Palia, Channel Head, VH1, Channels have always put on screen what they think was the audiences demand. And they continue to do so. TV evolves on a daily basis, and so the innovation, too, has to be done on a regular basis. With Indias demography, youth has vividly come across as a strong market. Thus, making reality shows just for the youth was almost a no-brainer. While MTV Roadies was ideally be the first in this genre, today theres a slew of them like Splitsvilla, Emotional Attyachaar, Dadagiri, Dare to Date, Axe your Ex, and a host of others. Channels with youth as their major market like MTV, UTV Bindass and Channel V have been churning out youth-based reality shows one after another. The eternal viewership brawl that they consequently enter into is not limited to this handful of YECs (Youth Entertainment Channels). A host of others continue to bring reality entertainment formats that appeal to a large section of the youth. Endemol Indias Big Boss and Khatron ke

Khiladi, both of whose latest seasons were aired on Colors recently, enjoy a significant viewership from the youth segment. Says Divya Radhakrishnan, President, TME, Rediffusion Y&R, My company has a bunch of young employees and while Big Boss was on air, though they werent able to watch it on TV, they would all watch it online, the next day. The idea here is to highlight the fact that youth is no longer dependent on TV per se for entertainment. Youth has gone digital and ventured deep into the mobile space as well! Keeping that in mind, are youth based reality shows becoming redundant, or does the market still have space for more? Nina Elavia Jaipuria, Sr. VP & GM, Nickelodeon, says, Youth or no youth, India is still largely a one TV per family nation, wherein everybody in the house is watching everything. So, yes, that eats up into the viewership of a select youth-based reality show. But if theres innovation, theres always a certain space for that, undeniably. She believes that the reality show business has unarguably become fatigued in recent times, but it is unlikely to become the bread and butter for a channel or a production house. Irrespective of the age group they cater to, reality shows are short lived. You can draw youth with your reality-based shows, but only fiction or other means of entertainment will keep them glued, and reality shows are an expensive route to gain attention, for that matter, she adds. Moreover, while reality shows have ineluctably changed the scenario of the way TV was watched, youth-centric shows have a limited appeal, since they also compete with Facebook, YouTube, et al. Youth Entertainment Channel ADITYA SWAMI, SENIOR VP, MTV/VIACOM BRAND SOLUTIONS You changed your positioning over time from being a music channel to a youth entertainment channel. What prompted the change? Fifteen years ago, music defined young people. Today, there are many criteria that define youth Facebook and Twitter, whether you own a Mac or a PC, whether you sport a Levis or a Diesel, and much more. Times have changed, and so have we. As a channel, we wanted to connect to youth, go beyond TV and meet the requirements of this multi-platform generation. It is basically a 3-screen engagement strategy that we are following engage people on the mobile handset, TV and the Internet. The growth of TV reality shows, especially in the youth segment, has been tremendous. What according to you are the reasons for it? There are three reasons why this market has had such an exemplary growth. First, a person-toperson interaction has increasingly given way to technology. So increasingly, everybody wants to see whats happening in other peoples lives. Second, it is exciting for the youth to see people of their age group, surviving under challenging conditions in those reality shows. Third, it enhances connectivity and the youth get to see someone like Ashutosh Kaushik (winner of Roadies Season 5), who used to run a dhaba in Saharanpur, and is today going places. These are tales one can totally relate to. But havent youth reality shows eaten into the viewership market of other show formats? Definitely yes, it is eating into the overall viewership of all channels. While total viewership is

growing at its own pace, the share of each channel, or show is dropping. But then, we have to learn to live with that. With reality shows, we are just at the tip of the pyramid. So we have to take our business onto the next level, rather, even beyond the TV set. We get only 50% of our revenues from airtime sales. So with MTV, living for the youth, is only limited to a channel. There are other key elements in the ecosystem and the larger business is on the Internet. FINANCIAL PLANING No Vision Beyond Tax Compulsion... Youth, financial planning and insurance when juxtaposed would sound more of an oxymoron than a sensible marketing gimmick. But given the youth bounty, financial marketers cannot ignore the potential business and hence are customising their marketable portfolio to suit the youths mindset. Do you invest for your future? Have you insured yourself? These are questions, whose answers, when posed to Indian youth, in all probability would be in the negative. After all, they feel that there is no need to do so, and quiet understandably its not their folly. This attitude therefore further escalates the problem for marketers in the insurance and finance domain, whose products are anyway too very complex. But at the same time, they just cannot miss on the youth market a market, where the primary motive for investment is nothing other than tax compulsion. A 2010 Deutsche Bank Research, The Middle class in India Issues and Challenges, states that as income increases, the amount and variety of discretionary spending increases and interestingly a new range of products such as financial services is increasingly being geared towards this group. However, what is more interesting for marketers is reading between the lines that Deutsche Bank Research wrote and the lines of an IMF report, which suggests that India is clearly a country thats young in more ways than one 40% of India is under 19 (median age is 24; by 2020 the average Indian will be 29 years old) whose spending is close to $32 billion. This demographic transition coupled with spending prowess indeed is a fertile ground for marketers targeting youth and their youthful spirit. While easy access to credit cards and no supervised spending limits on the part of the youth are music to many marketers, as far as marketers in the financial domain are concerned, theres a caveat Indias youth and potential youth bountys mantra is live and let live. Justifying this, a Celent research report states that while out of the 210 million cards in circulation in India, 169 million are debit cards and 41 million are credit cards, it is the transaction value of credit cards that eclipses the more popular debit card.

A few marketers have been wise enough in understan

ding the trend and accordingly have come up with customised products that suits the youth. For instance, Standard Chartered Bank is marketing its Visa mini as a cool accessory. For traditional marketers of finance, the writing on the wall is crystal clear while it is true beyond doubt that Indian youth are cash rich, they have no intentions of parking their hard earned money in traditional avenues. This in a way explicitly states their preference for those who would woo them in innovative ways. Street smart marketing of their portfolio is what marketers have finally learnt, the hard way though. Being young and financially irresponsible is perhaps great fun, but being old as well as financially broke stinks. This is exactly how the financial marketers of today are marketing their financial products to the youth. The youth, a majority of them who are in their first job and have just received their first real paycheck, are tough nuts to crack when it comes to marketing products such as retirement plans. And rightly so, for they believe in earn today, live today. They are not risk averse, they want quick returns and hence their choices range from investing in stock market to mutual funds. Amrit Sharma, a financial advisor with Nirmal Bang, explains the reason, Safety and security are no longer the reason as to why a youth would invest. And given their risk averse attitude the low yielding traditional avenues are a strict no. Interestingly, the regulators and the marketers have both understood this. Hence, a gamut of new products like ULIPs, which are linked with market while also taking care of safety and security, are selling like hot cakes. However, what is unfortunate is that, today less than 30% of the population is insured and close to 40% dont even have a bank account. While these statistics paint a gloomy picture for the country, the underlying truth is that it represents a huge sea of opportunity for marketers in the banking and insurance domain. And for that, while reading in between the estimates, financial marketers need to come up with such customised and innovative products, which are amicably acceptable to the GenX. By : Gyanendra Kashyap Huge Untapped Potential SHEFALI CHHACHHI, DIRECTOR-MARKETING, MAX BUPA HEALTH INSURANCE A survey by Max Bupa points out that 32% Indians use the online facility for health insurance queries. The youth are a major online community too... How does your organisation respond to this? There is no direct correlation between the survey results and marketing aspects. As we support customers for health funding, it is important for us to understand their health behaviour and needs vis--vis health care. The growth of online health related search is in consonance with the fact that people seek a second opinion and this could be indeed a potential e-service opportunity for health insurance companies like us. Health insurers need to understand that customers do seek value from the providers beyond the obvious risk coverage and related expenditure. The research will help us provide quality health information and working with our hospital partners,

we can act as a bridge. Globally, 14% people cite expenses and in India 15% cite lack of information as barriers to making a better choice for health insurance. How can insurance providers use this statistics to educate customers and help them make better choices? It is important to provide customers with the right information so that they can make informed choices. The how part of it can be taken care of by sourcing appropriate and certified content, and working with hospital partners to ensure that the information put is credible. We would lobby for a quality screen around health information. We have developed fact sheets for 150 health conditions certified by experts, which cover the entire spectrum. What channels have you opted for in order to reach out to maximum number of customers? Our advertising budget is close to Rs.12 crore - 15 crore. We have opted for a combination of touch points depending on relevance and on segmentation of customer base. We use ATL, BTL, digital, and online sales channel to reach out to our TG. EXCLUSIVE COLUMN : DEEPAK SINGH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TNS, INDIA & SRI LANKA Brands need Persistence connection to win The Youth Indian youth always has been different from their global counter- parts making it all the more necessary for marketers to under- stand the youth, says Deepak Singh to 4Ps B&Ms Pawan Chabra Do you think that the youth segment in India has matured over time? The Indian youth has learnt to balance its life and responsibilities. The generic perception that youth is self-absorbed is no longer applicable. They are aware of serious issues like global warming, terrorism (49% teen consider it as a major threat to India) and wish to bring about a change. They wish to be the catalyst who will help in making India the super power in the next 20 years. They love their families (95% teens consider family as the top priority). They understand the importance of a higher education (75% agree it is difficult to get ahead without higher education) and spend time thinking and planning about their future. But then, amongst all these worries, they dont forget to enjoy the lighter side of life (75% teenagers feel that living in the present is far better than worrying about the future). Young Indian consumers spend a lot of time on the web. For this, do you think it makes a lot more sense to push products on the Internet? The penetration of Internet in Indian homes is low (about 9%). But with the availability of internet cafes/kiosks, facilities at school and mobile internet, youth have got ample opportunities to access the web. Internet serves various purposes, from staying connected on social networking sites to downloading latest apps for mobile phones. But there is a long way before the youth would rely on Internet for latest updates on brands. It is still the television without which they cant live (as said by 68% teenagers). In what ways do the youth from Indian metros differ from the ones living in Tier-II & Tier-III cities? The urban teen is more career oriented and has his/her priorities in place. The small town youth

aspires to make it big within his/her limits & in some odd cases stay home & look after the family (15% in non metro). On other fronts, it doesnt matter what the difference is, they all want to study higher and work towards a better future. In what segments do you think that the Indian youth will put his money in the next few years? Indian teens dont have a high spending power compared to their western counterparts. But they believe that they will continue to spend at least the same amount of money next year as well. As per our survey, Food and Beverages (83% and 73% respectively) will continue to be the top recipient of youth money. Gradually, mobile phone bills (25%) are also finding a place at the top. When it comes to marketers, how do you think the Indian youth is different from its western counterparts? First and foremost, in most cases, the young Indian consumer is financially dependent on his parents. For every purchase, there is a consultation and approval process, which is very different from the western countries. Even when they start earning, every big ticket purchase needs to be approved by or at least discussed with parents. It is rarely an individual purchase, which is again a differentiating factor. On the other hand, a western teenager, gets into earning mode a lot early and is not dependent on his parents opinion for a regular purchase. Also in India, the savings are very important mantra has been ingrained into the youth from the previous generations. They spend, but also keep in mind the fact that it is important to save something for the rainy day. Young consumers are becoming more aware and knowledgeable. Keeping that in mind, do you think that building brands should be of utmost importance in this country? Building a brand is important anyway. However, given the teen psyche and their rapidly changing needs and perceptions, brand building in this consumer space can be very challenging as brands need to be continuously relevant to them. The Indian youth is evolving on a daily basis. What was relevant last year has become outdated now. The biggest challenge for the brands is to constantly maintain that connect with the youth. EXCLUSIVE COLUMN : CRISPIN REED, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BRANDHOUSE, UK TAPPING INTO THE SAVVIEST GENERATION EVER! They are a difficult lot to understand. But identifying the commonalities and driving forces behind this segment has profound implications for marketers The term Generation Y was first coined by Advertising Age magazine in 1993 and refers to the last generation to be born wholly in the 20th century. This group is also known as echo boomers, the millennium generation or often generation why?. They are the sons and daughters of baby boomers those born in the years after the Second World War. Typically the term is used to describe those who are currently 16-24 years old. Although its roots are truly North American, it is globally well-recognised now. As with all well-established demographic segments, there is a wealth of subtleties and nuances that exist behind a label. But this generation is constantly evolving. We can only provide a

snapshot intended to inspire marketers. They seek to explore boundaries, push limits and experiment in the name of self-awareness, independence and self-expression. Music plays a central role in their lives, be it Rock or Bhangra! Arguably they are the savviest generation ever to walk the planet. Theyre certainly the best connected. The rise of the Internet in the mid to late 1990s coincided with Gen Ys coming of age. As a result, for good or bad, nothing can shock them whether its 24-hour news streams from an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, unrest in Egypt, global economic meltdown or the generation-defining 9/11 theyve seen it all. This lot has always lived in a multimedia world and has an innate ability to decode brand symbolism & iconography. Young people can switch on CNN and see disasters and then escape from it all on an iPod or connect virtually with their friends on the Facebook. I suggest that there are a number of key driving forces that have influenced this generation. Driving force 1: Ethics Gen Y has a broad view of the world and an awareness of what they put in and on their bodies. They are anti-sweat shop and environmentally focused. They are comfortable with big brands as long as they have the right ethos. Driving force 2: Eclecticism They are into everything and constantly connected. They are brand mix-masters, combining styles and influences at will. Personalisation is a way of stamping their mark on the world. Ironically though, this drive for eclecticism creates a standardisation in itself. Driving force 3: Freedom There is a strong fun-loving, carefree element to this generation. Maybe this is a reaction to the constant news; or to the magnitude of economic burden they are inheriting. This freedom is both virtual and real. Driving force 4: Celebrity From Hollywood to Bollywood and even Nollywood, the age of the celebrity is stronger than ever before and has had a profound effect on Gen Y. This influences the university degrees they pursue, their choice of role models and of course, the brands they buy. The flip side of this is that they have become increasingly cynical of marketing ploys and forced associations. Driving force 5: Born to be wild Probably, like every generation of this age, they believe that they are non-conformist who make loud statements. A manifestation of this is an element of being distinctly anti-brand (or at least theyd like to think so!). This may seem contradictory to the driving force of Celebrity but contradiction is at the heart of this generation. Driving force 6: Drive Last but definitely by no means least is the sense that nothing is out of reach and this drives them on. Constantly seeking challenges and encouraged to have a strong independence of thought, they have their own take on brands and entertainment.

More than previous generations, this cohort can explore different styles with relative ease. It is hard to tell what is next. Will we meet generation Z? This apocalyptic-sounding group might signal a new set of young people who take media fragmentation and multitasking to even further lengths. But as parents of probably every generation have said, we shall have to just wait and see. Coordinated By : Amir Moin EXCLUSIVE COLUMN : ANTTI OHRLING, CO-FOUNDER, BLYK Be Open with todays Youth Indian youth today is empowered and aware and that is reflected in the choices he or she makes as a consumer. A successful brand will be one that recognises and values this and engages with the youth to co-create solutions With half of the population under 25 and two-third under 35 years of age, India is the biggest youth market in the world today. For every youth brand, India is a market not to be ignored. But not every brand manages to succeed in fact, some have even packed up their shop because they missed the pulse of the Indian youth. Before you go out to sell your wares as a brand, you need to understand that the youth anywhere is not just the tattooed, body-pierced, punk-haired person, but also the one who is contemplating his or her own venture even as he or she is finishing college, or one who is attending college in the morning and working the night shift at a call centre. Their icons are also likely to be self-made men and women. In the Hindustan TimesCNN-IBN Youth Survey 2011, the current Indian icons for the youth are cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, ex-President APJ Abdul Kalam and actor Shahrukh Khan all men who paved their own paths of success. The levels of maturity of the youth in India or elsewhere are also variable. In fact, they may vary for the same person across situations. To market anything to a youth audience, therefore, you need to work close to them and understand them very closely. You need to engage with them to not just know what motivates them, but also to gain their trust. I call this Open Marketing. It is a concept developed by Marko Ahtisaari (the former head of brand for Blyk) and me in 2007. For us, Open Marketing is where the consumer and the marketer both participate and both create value. It is my opinion that if anything can work with the youth today, it is this sense of co-participation and co-creation. It allows them to develop their own solutions and gives them a sense of ownership in the brand. It is this reason that has resulted in the overwhelming popularity of the social networking sites. These sites allow the youth to mould the digital environment to suit to their interests. In the digital world, the youth is definitely the king! Since the world currently is being driven through digital mediums like the Internet and mobile, the youth feels a sense of empowerment that translates into other areas as well. For them, what they buy and consume is about self-expression. The brands they buy define who they are whether that brand is GAP or FabIndia, whether it is KFC or Haldirams, whether it is MTV or Astha. For a marketer, it is important to acknowledge these dynamics and value the empowered youth. Any communication going out to the youth has to be transparent and mutually beneficial, not something that is disruptive or is in the broadcasting one-way mode. Today, the youth or, in

fact, any consumer is smart and knows its options. So marketers need to be straight forward. They must come out with real offerings, instead of just talking about them. One of the things that most brands miss out on is restraint. In the high-decibel din of the market, brands vie with each other to be louder in their communication. How many brands have you seen that can hold themselves back and not interrupt communication? In fact, they all go out and intrude into conversations in order to be heard. Successful brands are actually those that listen and engage with consumers at an individual level. For todays youth, this recognition of individuality is even more critical. A solution that you create together with them for their specific need will create a relationship that will go beyond the producer-consumer equation. It will create a platform for a more lasting and mutually satisfying relationship. The youth today is aware of the world and everything that is happening in here. And at the same time, he/she also wants to elevate his or her place in the world intellectually, financially and socially. A brand that partners with the youth to make that happen will be truly successful. Coordinated By : Virat Bahri Virat Bahri