AdAsia 2011: Are clients looking for customised solutions for the "many Indias"?

Leading from Unilever COO Harish Manwani's statement that "We are many Indias", we asked MEC managing director T Gangadhar, Publicis South Asia chief executive officer Nakul Chopra, Unilever's vice president-media for Asia, Africa, Middle East, and Turkey, Rahul Welde, and Lodestar UM chief operating officer Nandini Dias whether clients are looking at customised solutions for regions beyond language adapts. 

MEC's T Gangadhar agreed, "We've known that for many years and clients do recognise that. In terms of media planning, there are different Indias, and there's one specific tool called Socio-Economic Regions, that allows to us to socio-culturally target the disparities."

Chopra said, "I can't say not at all, because if you look at it at a macro level, especially between North and South India, the cultural differences are just too deep to make it just about a language adapt. But I can't say it's a large enough phenomenon."

Welde said, "Broadly if you look at it, there is firstly cultural diversity, and therefore cultural insights play a role in the way we approach consumers, and secondly, there is a wide gap between the haves and have-nots, so again you need customised solutions for communication in general."

Dias elaborated, "Surprisingly, it's true for things like automobiles now. One would suppose automobiles would have a single strategy, but for Mahindra, we've found drivers in North India and South India are also different." She added that often outdoor was used more often in the North, and print in the South.