Article : Selling in Chennai? Talk Madras Bashai

Selling in Chennai? Talk Madras Bashai

Article by Sushila Ravindranath in screenindia.com

http://www.screenindia.com/news/selling-in-chennai-talk-madras-bashai/500733/

A young Chennai-based advertising executive had this to say when we were discussing the industry: “Not so long ago, most big agencies in Mumbai used to get a national perspective of the brand that they advertised for by looking out of the window. The country stretched as far as eye could see – that made Bandra, the southern most tip of India. With the geographical boundaries having been clearly etched on the advertising map, the small matter of a state like Tamil Nadu that existed a few thousand kilometres away could be safely ignored. In all likelihood, the client had his office in Nariman Point too and concurred with the agency.”


However, with the software boom, Kollywood’s meteoric rise and the retail revolution, Tamil Nadu could no longer be ignored. South Indian consumers of national brands had to be addressed. It suddenly dawned on marketers that large parts of the South are more prosperous, more educated than many states above the Vindhyas. The agencies were quick to spot the states’ spending power, which meant that brands had to reach here – which in turn implied that advertising had to be beamed across to a state where no man had ever gone before. But there was still a problem. How does one advertise in Tamil or in other South Indian languages? It’s a known fact that advertising agency types think in English. Why change a century-old practice just because we live in changing times?

When brands like Horlicks, Bru and Hamam sold well in the South, separate ads were created for these brands by default. However it did not matter that Indian languages, much less Tamil, have no equivalent for ‘Hamam cares for you as Mother Nature does’. Nor did it matter that literal translation of Hindi into Tamil does not work. Says Rajiv Menon, ad and features film maker, “The syntax of Hindi is different from Tamil. The Southern consciousness of the market, the culture, clothes, festivals, everything is different. You can’t impose a Baishaki on the South. Even within South one must remember that the popular Tamil festival Pongal, is not celebrated in Kerala.” This is why spoofs on Hindi ads dubbed in Tamil became very popular in comedy shows. When the horrors of SRK speaking Tamil in a Dish TV spot happen, asking Tamils to “Wish pannu, dish pannu” break through the TV screen, the locals double up with laughter.

The big national advertisers also woke up and found that regional brands in the South had started eating into their market share.

The regional marketers were doing the promotion in their languages and on their regional channels. For example, there is a soap called ‘power’, which is manufactured in the Erode district of Tamil Nadu and which does very well in three to four districts. The locally made spots are shown on local cable channels. Kerala has soap brands like ‘manjal’ and ‘mullappoo’, which again are strong in limited areas. There is a lot of micro marketing and market segmentation taking place in the Southern states. An Everest masala stands no chance against a locally made and marketed Achi masala with a much loved Tamil actress Manorama promoting the product in local Tamil or a Sakthi masala. It has become necessary for national advertisers now to address the crisis looming large.

Ogilvy Dakshin, is an initiative of O&M India to create specialist regional language advertising to address South Indian consumers of national brands. Says Suguna C Swamy, Consulting Partner and Creative Director, Dakshin, “The South, especially Tamil Nadu is a self confident place. If we don’t address these consumers, we do so at our own risk as they just switch off and reach out to a friendlier and frequently local competition.” Dakshin has successfully launched ‘Fortune’ oil manufactured by Adani Wilmar brand in the South by creating TV spots, ads and promotion keeping Tamil sensibilities in mind. Today in a matter of four years Fortune brand sun flower oil is the number two brand in Tamil Nadu after the local brand Gold Winner. When Dakshin did a Fanta ad with local stars speaking local dialects, sales zoomed up 19 per cent.


Everybody is now jumping onto the ‘think local’ bandwagon. “Gone are the days when advertisers take their Hindi ads and have them dubbed over in Southern languages, paying no attention to lip-sync even” says Anita Gupta, GM of JWT Chennai. “JWT

Chennai, over the past couple of years, has created award-winning campaigns that are rooted in the essence of the South”.

A campaign that was a huge success recently was the Asin-led South campaign for Mirinda. “This campaign in particular shows Tamilians’ love of music and Madras Bashai – a lingo of, for and by the people of Chennai” explains Anita. The agency has also helped raise Pepsi’s profile in a Thums Up dominated Hyderabad market. “We understood that the product itself needed a slight tweak and the communication had to supplement this. Hence the ‘fizzier’ Pepsi was born with Hyderabad’s youth icon Charan Tej endorsing it.” MNC cola companies caught on to targeting the regional customers much ahead of others.

Addressing specific groups is not a new idea. As Suguna points out, the US (or the Mecca of Advertising) has for many years created separate communication for Hispanics and African Americans, even though on average they are not big spenders or necessarily better-educated.

Now that our marketers are also waking up to reality, sadly the TV ads might stop providing the much needed comic relief for the Southern viewers.