A Bridge Across India(s)
Marketing beyond the Demographic and Psychographic Divide
Context:
I recently read three articles in one of the newspapers. One that spoke about the income disparity that exists in India and if I may add, one that is widening. Combined with another article they tried to make sense of the income classes in India. A third article a few days later, gave data pertaining to education and economic affluence. Leaving the socialist aspects aside, the averages as usual by themselves are misleading and deceptive.
Exhibit A:
According to a statistic (source or basis not explicitly mentioned by the report) an income of Rs2.9Lakhs per annum puts one into the Top 10% earners and to enter the Top 1% an income of Rs.20.7Lakhs per annum shall suffice. However, to get into the Top 0.1% you need an annual income of Rs.2.25Crores. The comparable numbers in terms of accumulated wealth or net assets for these brackets are Rs.21Lakhs and Rs.82Lakhs for the Top 10% and Top 1% respectively.
Exhibit B:
The associated article in the same newspaper quoted data from 2 reports namely the Indus Valley Report 2025 and the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2025. The Indus Valley Report proposes the concept of 3 Indias based on income categories
- India 1 – Representing the wealthiest 10% of the population who have a per capita income of USD15000 (Rs12.8Lakhs) comprising of approximately 30MN households
- India 2 – 23% of population with per capita income of USD3000 (Rs.2.5Lakhs); ~70MN households
- India 3 – 67% of population with per capita income of USD1000 (Rs.85Thousand); ~200MN households
Exhibit C:
The third article looked at the social caste construct and how it impacted education levels. Education it opined and I agree is perhaps the biggest factor in inter-generational upward mobility. The article also referred to data gathered by the NSSO.
Premise:
Looking at these numbers set the marketer in me thinking about what lies beyond these income/wealth numbers and how we as a tribe use the demographic data for creating/defining our target audiences. The thought then led to a further reading and assimilation of data from a wider range of articles and reports.
What also found its way into my thinking were my recent experiences with studying Consumer Archetypes and my interactions with a vast set of consumers trying to understand their aspirations and motivations.
While by no means exhaustive or even pretending to be scholarly my notes as I made them threw up a pattern that potentially can serve as a de facto framework for marketing to Indian consumers based on 3 broad dimensions:
- Geographic
- Economic and
- Psychographic
A combination of these dimensions help us understand the 4As namely Availability, Affordability, Accessibility and Acceptability of Products and Services that we marketers aim to influence and promote.
Marketing is essential for raising awareness, building trust, and encouraging the use of services and products.
From the point of view of the Geographic Divide i.e. Urban and Rural, inclusive marketing involves more than just targeting rural audiences—it requires a thoughtful understanding of their distinct challenges and cultural backgrounds to create meaningful connections and promote the adoption.
Nielsen reports provide important insights into overall consumer trends, spending patterns, and the key role affordability plays in shaping consumer behavior across different groups. With much of India’s economic activity and spending power concentrated in urban areas, a targeted approach is essential to effectively understand and engage rural markets through customized marketing strategies.
- Rural consumers are generally more price-sensitive and favor local brands that meet their needs and budget.
- Urban consumers are more brand-conscious and are influenced by national/international brands and media trends.
- Rural families are often larger, with centralized decision-making by one person.
- Urban families are usually smaller and nuclear, with shared decision-making between male and female members.
On the Economic dimension, the narrowing of the consumption – expenditure gap between urban and rural areas, coupled with the increasing inclination towards non-food items in rural spending, signifies an expanding market with evolving needs and preferences. Marketers who recognize this burgeoning potential and tailor their offerings to meet these specific demands are poised for success.
Fueled by rising income levels and various government support initiatives, the purchasing power of rural consumers is on an upward trajectory.
Growing access whether in terms of transport infrastructure paving access to higher order necessities such as health, education or to information and awareness courtesy the digital access that the penetration of mobile phones and internet have meant higher aspirations.
Believe it or not the axis, however low it might have been has considerably shifted up and right over the last 2 decades. Therefore, understanding the Psychographic aspect of the change is an imperative. Unfortunately, as old school as I may sound, data alone cannot get marketers across the line.
There is no substitute to first hand exposure to the consumer. A marketer worth her salt cannot, dare I say should not compromise on living a day in the life of the consumer(s) they aspire to market to. Multiple times over, if need be.
Bridging the demographic and the psychographic divide in India necessitates a strategic and sustained commitment to understanding and effectively serving the unique needs of different archetypal consumer profiles that emerge based on the dimensions and factors outlined.
Archetypes
Debatable as they may (and intentionally so) the broad archetypes that emerged according to my notes are as below:
The Rulers
The prime movers and shakers if not already who-is-who these are folks who are heading there or at the very least striving to. They are setting trends and shaping narratives – social, political and economic as they go along. The Rulers are the HAVES.
The Controllers
They are the country cousins of the archetype just above. They have POWER and do not hesitate to wield it. They are always in-step or at worst one behind with what is current and trending. Social superiority is essential. The Controllers are the MUST HAVES.
The Aspirers
Their trajectory is pointing upwards and their ambitions are keeping it there. They have SKILL and KNOWLEDGE to get where they want to. They are the difference between a fad and trend! They are the WANTS.
The Dreamers
They are doing well for themselves though things could always be better. The dreamers are happy with the fact that it is possible for them to be better. However, ambition takes back seat for sentimental reasons or contentment or pragmatism. They are the COULD BES’.
The Warriors
They are inching towards a better life for themselves. Every day is a battle they fight and WIN. Bruised and battered they may be but they wear their battle scars with pride. Making ends meet is not the goal it is something they have to do to get to it. The Warriors are a tribe that is armed with a can do spirit but they are the MUST DOS’.
The Survivors
They have limitations, severe ones. The absence of privilege of any sort is what defines them. Yes, they depend on others but that is just the cards they have been dealt. There is a desire to change their future and rid themselves of the baggage of the past (socio-economic). They are the NEEDS.
3×2 India Framework
This proposal based on a top-level analysis of consumer psychographics and consumption patterns unveils distinct differences between urban and rural populations across the economic divide. The image that follows tries to give context to the archetypes on 2 axes based on Geographic and Financial. This placement of consumer types in context underlines the need for tailored marketing strategies across the archetypes.
Key strategies for success include prioritizing localized product offerings and pricing, building robust distribution networks that penetrate remote areas, utilizing local languages and culturally relevant messaging, and fostering trust through transparency and community engagement.
Conclusion
The increasing reach of digital platforms presents significant opportunities, but addressing the challenges of connectivity and digital literacy requires a hybrid approach that integrates digital outreach with strong community-based initiatives.
There are some useful and celebrated case studies in the form of Project Shakti and e-Choupal that demonstrate that a deep understanding of the local context and a willingness to adapt strategies are fundamental to achieving meaningful impact in rural India. However, these need to be perhaps revisited through the lens of economic disparities too.
Ultimately, bridging the divide requires a long-term commitment from businesses in general and more specifically marketers along with other stakeholders to create a more inclusive and holistic marketing construct that speaks to all consumer types.
Ready?!
Going DIGITAL / Talking GREEN ?
Are you as a brand or business or communicator doing the same? Well here’s a thought. Going digital alone may not be as green as you think or have been led to believe it is.
Do not get me wrong, marketing work-flow automation, digitization, etc. are a step in the right direction. However, their “greenness” may be getting over-stated when it comes to a marketing context and conscience. Marketers across organisations tend to add the green tag to all or any such initiative that they take without a holistic understanding of the carbon cost of such an exercise.
This overtly simplified rationale of digital = no paper = green may be where most marketers stake claim to green. This conventional wisdom approach was good enough two or may be three decades ago when “paperless office” was a buzz word.
RIGHT NOW is the time for the marketing tribe to step its game up and make green tangible.
I have seen EV cab operators give CO2 or Trees equivalent in their apps to make consumers aware of the impact of their choice(s). Utility companies moved from paper bills to e-mails. Many of the solar rooftop installation players too are using this ploy. The question though is, how much of it does a consumer really comprehend?
Yes paper bill to email was a timely step but who is making you aware of the green cost of the email? There is a green cost every time we search, browse, scroll, play or transact digitally.
The heart of the digital world lies in data centers. These facilities, housing servers that store, process, and disseminate data, are massive consumers of electricity. Firstly, they power the servers themselves, and secondly, they require extensive cooling systems to prevent overheating. Estimates vary, but studies suggest data centers collectively consume approximate 340TWh or 1-2% of global electricity.
A single data center often can consume the equivalent electricity of 50,000 homes.
Here are some assorted data points intended as food for thought:
Email: A single, simple text email has a small footprint (estimated around 4g CO2e), emails with large attachments can increase this significantly (up to 50g CO2e or more). The sheer volume – estimated at over 347 billion emails sent daily in 2023 (Statista, 2023) – means the cumulative impact is substantial. Furthermore, “spam” emails, which constitute a large percentage of traffic, represent wasted energy for processing and storage.
Digital Transactions: Financial transactions, online banking, and cryptocurrency mining require processing power and network usage. While a digital transaction is often more energy-efficient than a physical bank visit, the scale is immense. Cryptocurrency mining, in particular, is notoriously energy-intensive, with Bitcoin’s network alone consuming energy comparable to entire countries.
Social Media & Streaming: These platforms are particularly data-heavy. Streaming video accounts for a vast portion of internet traffic – estimates often place it around 60-80% of total downstream volume (Sandvine Global Internet Phenomena Report). High-resolution video streaming, scrolling through image-laden social media feeds (like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook), and video conferencing all require constant data transfer and processing, demanding significant energy from data centers and network infrastructure.
According to Meta’s own report on sustainability the net emissions were CO2 equivalent 7.5 million tons in 2023.
Aside to compliance led, mandatory or responsible reporting by global majors, the brands of today going forward need to help their consumers make informed choices in the context of today. This means making green-speak colloquial. Making impact relatable, tangible and in classic marketing sense rewarding.
Whether consumption patterns actually change if people were indeed made aware of the green cost of watching a season, placing an order on the internet, time spent on social media is debatable but given the dire state of our planet surely worth an effort.
As marketers, we can surely be conscientious about the next reel we create for our brand or the next e-mail that get’s triggered or notification we serve for a cart action.
Ready?
The Art of Electioneering
“Where absolute superiority is not attainable, you must produce a relative one at the decisive point by making skillful use of what you have.”
Karl von Clausewitz, On War 1832
As I write this post I am aware that hundreds like me are analyzing what the world’s largest democracy has witnessed and trying to put in perspective. As the election juggernaut rolled through the country under intense media attention the various angles to the 2014 elections in India have been explored, analysed and have been discussed threadbare.
One of the things that has bubbled up to the top and been referred to often with an accusatory tone is how India’s PM designate was a well marketed product. There is little doubt that what has just concluded is a milestone election in India’s history. One that introduced several elements into the Art of Electioneering. For sure there will be cases made out this election that students of business, social and political science will delve into across universities. I have in a previous post talked about how the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) captured the imagination of millions in Delhi. What the creators of the Modi campaign have achieved is far bigger and far reaching in its impact.
“The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.”
SunTzu, The Art of War
In hindsight what has been executed and arguably to perfection have been text book strategies. Be it SunTzu, Porter or Aaker or Prahalad what the strategy cell of Bhartiya Janata Party has done is research, organize, propagate and execute or as I call it the ROPE trick. For the purpose of this discussion I shall attempt a retro-fit of my observations of the campaign to popular models in marketing strategy.
Along the lines of the adage “Customer First” we’ll take a look at how the BJP campaign tested on understand the drivers for this election and the needs of the voters i.e. Customer Motivation.The marketing brains behind the BJP campaign ticked these boxes well and proper. They clearly identified the mood of an electorate that was young and aspirational. From an Indian perspective, we have as marketers devoted hours cracking the code and allocated millions of rupees trying to win the youth over. The BJP campaign identified the Youth as mainstream. As per the 2011 census 65% of India’s population is below 35 with a median age of 29 putting an eligible workforce (15-64) at a whopping 430 million, higher than the entire population of the USA!
The strategists at the BJP HQ caught on to this early in the day and having identified their target segment distilled their motivations. So what were the motivators they identified? Speaking of the high level motivators (since each has contributing factors and dimensions), a strong yearning for growth and opportunities, a need re-assert pride, a secure environment and a decisive leadership were what were chosen as the pegs of the campaign.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OZMHVtnFRE
The campaign planners were also smart enough to place their communication not just on traditional media but where the Youth were on the internet constantly communicating with each other using a variety of social networking tools from BBM to Instagram to Pintrest to Google Hangouts! This enabled BJP to speak to them at an individual level as well as a collective, influential mass. More importantly, this was not just at the time of the campaign. The social leg of the BJP campaign started a couple of years ago with senior leaders writing blogs, active on twitter etc. The buzz around BJP was atleast 3X their nearest competitor in the sociosphere the AAP.
Several articles have been and will get written regarding the extensive use of digital media by the BJP in election 2014. The use of technological wizardry with the 3D rallies or the beat and booth level mass outreach mobile screens carrying their leaders message the campaign exploited every possible touch-point.
So was it just a media and technology blitzkrieg based on consumer (read voter) understanding or was it more?
Here’s where I would introduce another text book model to which in perspectives will answer what the BJP went about doing. This is about understanding your competition better than anyone else. The BJP used this understanding at every step of the way and in all their communication verbal, written or visual to attack them. Again in hindsight, the way the numbers panned out they seemed to have done it well.
The strategy cell of the BJP along with their campaign creators seemed to have blended their understanding of the voter and the ruling Congress to create the perfect potion that cast a spell over the electorate. The silence of the Prime Minister, the reactive nature of the Congress campaign, the disconnect of their leadership all became weapons in the BJP campaign arsenal.
The respective campaign taglines represented the middle of the road, motherhood tenor of the congress versus the more exhortative call for action from the BJP. Much again has been written and talked about this having been a “Presidential style” election. The author disagrees. Granted that this was an election of personalities like never before, but to say that this was the first is incorrect atleast as far as the past four or five elections are concerned. The BJP always has portrayed a leader whether it was the former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee with the slogan “Ab ki baari Atal Behari” during the 1998-99 elections or L.K. Advani with “Majboot Neta Nirnayak Sarkar”. Even in the past whether declared or not the contenders for the top post were always clear.
Endnote: The victory of the Bhartiya Janta Party in these elections was a result of a very well thought out strategy and smartly integrated ground realities. It was a journey that began well in time. Yes the leader himself had a role to play, but the magic was him resonating with the youth of this country. Voicing their aspirations and promising a better future. Clichéd and overused as it maybe it goes without saying that with great power comes great responsibility. The burden of the mandate will now be on the BJP it is for them to perform to their promise. The nation hopes for deliverance.
The Sixth Sense: Appealing to Consumers with Mobile Advertising
Marketers of today have to contend with a media consumption pattern that is very different say from even 5 years ago. Where the proverbial push comes to shove, India was always expected to leap-frog technology generations.For example not conforming to the traditional diffusion of innovation cycles India aborted its pager journey and quickly jumped onto the mobile phone bandwagon.
And what a ride it has been! Almost 19 years since the first mobile call in India was made possible, India has a mobile subscriber base just shy of 900Mn and almost 176Mn subscribers accessing internet through their mobile devices and 15Mn broadband subscribers. If the service providers play their cards right and the powers that control don’t get greedy the data revolution beckons!
Just for perspective, even the current number of mobile subscribers in India is 3 times the population of the United States, there are only six countries in the world that have a population in excess of 176Mn (the reported number accessing internet through a mobile device) and finally there are 175 countries that have a population less than the broadband subscriber base in India. Having posted phenomenal growth rates as a category the recent explosion has been in the smartphone space. In the last two years alone, smartphone shipments have grown by over 225%, an estimated 12Mn smartphones shipping every quarter in India during the past 2 quarters.
Point is, numbers in an Indian context have been and are always going to be there for taking. It’s a whole different question if we start peeling the onion layers and start getting down to the real stuff which is engagement levels.
The focus on ROMI or the Return on Marketing Investment has never been higher. With marketing budgets in absolute terms pointing south for most brands a multiple X return is the constant lookout of most marketing planners. Couple that with amount of measurability digital media affords, the growth in internet consumption using mobile devices and we can start to understand demand-supply dynamics.
Digital marketing brought in new paradigms and marketers such as us started living with the so called new rules of communicating with our customers. Mobile marketing has been a close follower of its cousin and is invariably clubbed with and is a sub-set of the “Digital strategy” of brands.
The concern that I would like to put forward is that we somehow seem to be applying same or similar framework to mobile as that of traditional internet marketing. And why should we be not? One could argue since numerous reports tell us consumers are doing the same things on mobile internet as the traditional desktop/notebook internet.
So why mobile advertising should be treated differently?
Communication sent out by brands has to appeal to the consumers senses for it to register. The mobile today is an extension of the consumers self almost an appendage. It is the consumer’s sixth sense! It connects the person to whatever is relevant at a given point in time, more importantly in space! Augmented Reality or AR as most of us have started to refer to it has been around for a while. Sadly though, marketers are yet to figure out its best use.
Keeping the above in mind, while building their mobile advertising plans brands should perhaps go back to the very basics of planning communication figuring out the Who, When and What.
Who to speak to. The quintessential Target Audience definition now with pin point precision
When to speak to them. Approach with an understanding of what they would be or have been doing. Which marketer has not built/studied a day in the life of the target consumer?
The additional dimension that mobiles have brought about is where. Brands therefore need to weave in the where into the context of the communication. Fortunately technology affords us this luxury.
With mobile advertising Time & Space are to my mind, an imperative.
Example, an 18 year old urban female mobile phone user who is a frequent YouTube or an Internet Radio user would be subjected to a certain kind of advertising because there are a certain set of brands that want to target her. Now, say if a cosmetic brand had to say different things to at different points during the course of the day they technically could and some brands are. It is common place to super-serve a certain segment and the wasted communication on rest of the audience is considered acceptable collateral damage.
Where is an extension of the logic and potentially an opportunity to give different messages. The same cosmetic brand could communicate differently depending upon whether this 18 year old girl was commuting, in her college canteen or sitting in a café in a mall? Time and space!
In the digital space brands are striving for engagement more than anything. So while we may still be buying and selling in CPM, CPC and CPV terms and busy calculating our ROMI basis the conversion rates. What is going to really bring in results is the quality of engagement that brands have with their TG.
Engagement is a function of opportunity & dispensation and the “where” has a significant impact on dispensation.
Brands, creative agencies, digital agencies, media agencies….anyone listening!
Somewhere over the Rainbow: Principles for Finding the Pot of Gold in a Digital world
In a world full of choices the consumer remains elusive and is turning into somewhat of a recluse. Regardless of age, gender, geography, occupation, social strata the consumer is exercising his right to choose and consume content of his choice at a time of his determination.The promise of the present is “On Demand”. Now given this situation any other message or communication apart from the content that we as marketers want to deliver is a serious challenge.
The changing spend patterns of brands as far as the marketing investments are concerned indicate increasing outlays on
Digital media.Hitherto our investments have been based on Reach x Frequency objectives for our Target Group. Digital media supported by the
growth of e-commerce however, has brought in an immense amount of measurability and brought to fore the “response function”.The question we as should ask ourselves is whether using digital media is indeed a requirement or are we enamoured by the
measurability.Here are a few thoughts on what to look out for before making the decision.
Visible in the right context and environment
In their hurry to ride the digital wave marketers have been guilty of placing their brands in places and contexts.Given the deep engagement of the consumer with the medium, brands should avoid being intrusive and being seen outside of context.Involving and interactive
Interactivity is not a given. While there are no absolutes in terms of wrong or right a “Pick the Right Grain” mobile game on the lines of Candy Crush might not be an idea worth investing. Brand managers need to be wary of falling into this trap.Build on communication or messages from other media
The digital natives are a smarter race. They are more aware and tend to be put off by messages that do not give credit to their intelligence. Communication on the digital media should not be a “repeat” it should be a “build”. Take off from what I already know or have seen about you. Makes sense especially if digital is not the only media that your communication is riding. In recent memory Nokia is a good example of how different assets were created to complement each other.
Generate interest
Brands should endeavour to create curiosity around or with the communication. Interest groups are an increasing trend. People
are comfortable interacting with and engaging with “Familiar strangers”. Strangers who seem familiar because they share the
same passions. Meri Maggi campaign is a good example of well executed digital campaign
https://www.maggi.in/meandmeri-maggi.aspx
Youthful in approach
Youth is mainstream for many contemporary brands more so on the internet. Youth is a demographic but youthfulness is a state of mind and needs to be embedded in any communication. Here’s an example of IBMs recent 5in5 communication it put up through its facebook page “People for a Smarter Planet”http://ibm.com/5in5
Optimised across Assets
We are aware that most internet journeys begin with a search.Very often brands do not ensure that all their assets are visibly pointing in the same direction. Whether it is owned media, social or bought they must all be singing from the same page.Receptive
This is applicable in the real world also but even more so in the digital world. While we plan for Facebook likes, trending hash-tags and positively biased conversations, it is critical for brands to keep their ears close to the ground. In the digital world nothing spreads faster than bad news. Brands have to learn to take feedback positively, to respond quickly when someone writes in, create memorable moments from miserable ones. Consumers are likely to repeat a brand that made good over trying a new brand.Brands will need to objectively evaluate their personality, product, the message and tick the boxes on what are really notes to self compiled over time. Hope you find them useful.
