A strategic provocation by wolfzhowl strategic behaviour & brand consultancy on the need for regional-connect in advertising in a country like India. Ho a simple word like glamorous can lead to so much of mis-interpretation and why there is a need for more strategic efforts in understanding the local consumer context especially in the area of marketing communication. Brands & brand custodians need to look a lot more closely at regional-connect & context. It was not like yesteryears where only the metro/tier-1 cities of India were primary consumers. There is fortune at the bottom of the pyramid and there is the mass market which is the reality. But even more so, for similar category of consumers - the socio-cultural context is so different, that if you take your consumer for granted your marketing communication efforts will be rendered impotent!

1. "Mind
Your
Language”:
a
strategic
provocation
by
wolfzhowl
strategic
behaviour
&
brand
instigation
consultancy.
Simply
Google
the
amount
of
languages
that
are
palpably
employed
on
an
everyday
basis
in
India.
Mr.
Anant
Rangaswami
in
his
1st
book
(elephants
in
the
room:
http://www.firstpost.com/ebook_download.php?id=80
)
opined
about
lack
of
"regional-­‐connect"
in
advertising
and
how
the
lack
of
relevant
re-­‐interpretation
of
the
thought
in
the
local
language
alienates
people.
In
my
immersions
with
people
as
consumers
in
#stratalogues,
I
have
videos
of
Andhraites
finding
most
of
the
ads
"dubbed",
"non-­‐conversational",
"non-­‐
contextual"
and
most
of
the
times
only
distantly
relatable.
Some
Andhraites
even
find
the
ads
(TVCs
mainly)
laughable
and
funny.
Hey!
There
is
quite
a
lot
of
popularity
for
all
the
south-­‐films
dubbed
into
Hindi...
but
they
are
aired
only
in
the
afternoon,
ever
wonder
why?
Would
the
north
population
ever
replace
Bollywood
cinema
with
dubbed
south
cinema
at
9pm?!
Would
it
be
aired
on
prime
time
on
a
Friday,
Saturday
or
Sunday?!.
Yes!
Just
like
the
African
American
culture
became
popular
amongst
the
Caucasian
population
in
the
USA,
there
seems
to
be
a
south
culture
finding
an
MTV'isque
&
ghetto'ish
popularity
in
Bollywood
(Quick
Gun
Murguan,
Ready,
Rowdy
Rathore,
Chennai
Express
and
Rambo
Rajkumar
etc;).
From
Mehmood'isque
slapstick
portrayal
of
the
south'ies,
"Southern
Masala"
has
come
a
long
way.
But
if
you
pause
&
notice
the
most
successful
Bollywood
movies’
based
on
South
culture,
which
have
done
well,
all
of
them
are
originals.
They
have
been
re-­‐interpreted
in
the
right
context
and
enough
creative
pains
have
been
taken
to
either
infuse
elements
of
South
into
mainstream
popularity
or
placing
a
northerner
amidst
a
southern
setting
and
creating
a
relevant
context
for
viewers.
Whether
Dhoni's
ads
for
Chennai
Super
Kings
or
Virat's
ads
done
in
a
Tamilian
context
-­‐
it
was
like
an
ode
being
paid
to
the
70mm,
melodramatic
aspect
of
Southern
&
Tamilian
culture.
Again
well
thought
through
and
it
is
not
the
same
as
mindlessly
"dubbing"
originally
thought
in
English/Hindi
TVC's
into
local
languages.
Coming
back
to
Mr.
Rangaswami's
point
in
his
first
book,
if
advertising
is
all
about
creating
consumer-­‐connect
for
a
brand,
then
we
are
miserably
failing
most
of
the
times
while
connecting
with
people
of
other
languages
(with
the
exception
of
a
hutch
pug
ad
or
har
ek
friend
zaroori
hota
hai
-­‐
which
is
about
a
universal
human
emotions
-­‐
it
is
semiotics
in
motion
that
any
&
every
human
being
connects
with).
The
problem
is
with
the
other
70%
of
the
ads
that
actually
don’t
connect
&
infact
alienate
and
are
a
waste
of
money!

2.
For
example,
let's
look
at
a
simple
word
"glamorous".
In
an
urban/Mumbai-­‐Delhi
context
(&
I
give
it
to
you
even
parts
of
Hyderabad
-­‐
but
not
even
in
a
Vijayawada,
Vishakhapatnam
etc;)
the
context
in
which
"glamorous"
is
used
or
the
meaning
of
the
word
is
so
very
different.
"Entertainment"
is
an
FB
page,
which
has
more
than
80,000
FB
followers
and
most
of
its
"tollywood"
based
posts
get
50/60
to
300+
likes
and
on
an
average
10+
comments
(at
the
low/mid-­‐end).
It
keeps
posting
"tollywood
gossip"
&
has
an
avid
consumer
base
(these
are
stats
some
of
the
best
brands
can
also
not
boast
of).
Check
this
link
from
them
and
please
for
yourself
analyze
the
meaning
&
context
of
the
simple
word
"glamorous"!!
http://www.nthwall.com/te/n33/2013-­‐08-­‐
25/featurednews/Youngheroesstrongrecommendationstohotheroine!.php
Glamorous
=
a
subtle
(southern
polite)
way
of
saying
exposing
(skin
show).
Now
imagine
a
dubbed
TVC,
which
chooses
to
convert
the
ad
thought
in
"Hindi"
and
keep
it
in
a
"Tinglish
=
Telugu
+
English"
manner.

3. Imagine
the
TVC
is
for
a
brand
like
"rejoice"
shampoo
or
another
brand
addressed
to
women
in
the
heartlands...do
you
really
think
a
woman
would
buy
that
product
with
you
saying
"glamorous
ka
unda
daaniki"
(to
stay
glamorous)?!.
And
who
are
our
contextual-­‐conversational
custodians
while
"dubbing",
"translating"
or
"trans-­‐creating"….
the
language
re-­‐writers
who
are
as
much
Mumbaikars
as
we
are?!
"Mein
meri
bhi
baat
nahin
sunta
hun
or
something
like
that"
etc;
are
mainstream
dialogues
beautifully
leveraged
by
advertisers/agencies/creative-­‐folk
at
times.
But
where
is
"naakoka
tikkundi,
daani
koka
lekkundi"
(
I
have
certain
madness
&
I
have
certain
calculation/measurement
for
it)
punched
by
Power
Star
Pawan
Kalyan
being
leveraged
in
advertising?.
Sadly
several
opportunities
are
being
missed!
Certain
categories
can
work
on
universal,
common
aspirations.
Certain
categories
simply
do
not!.
So
let's
not
aim
to
do
Cannes
or
urban
all
the
time
-­‐
cause
it
does
not
simply
work!
It
simply
is
not
relevant!
Let's
stop
looking
at
every
piece
of
creative
from
what
we
want
to
create
only
and
filter
in
the
context
and
the
connect.
Till
then
"think
context"
before
you
"dub"!!
Wolf-­‐out
@wolfzhowl
http://www.slideshare.net/ChallapalliKalyanRam/edit_my_uploads
https://www.facebook.com/Wolfzhowl.Strat
http://in.linkedin.com/in/challapallikalyan/