The prevailing celebration of technology-enabled access to 'raw' consumer realities is challenged in this presentation. While acknowledging the many benefits that video-ethnography and social media bring (emotional engagement, richness and texture, more impactful storytelling), they have also led to a focus on the anecdotal story, on data rather than analysis, and on micro-reality at the cost of the macro view. Furthermore, to remain relevant researchers must reclaim their role as meaning makers and framers of reality as interpreters, and not merely cameras.
Striving for simplicity itself is nothing new. However, what has changed is the level of distraction in the current age. Within this context it is now difficult for decision makers to see the information they need. Successful insight delivery must cut through the growing attention deficit phenomenon. It must also address the need for novel, nuanced and actionable insights to answer the call for innovative business initiatives. Breakthrough Simplicity is the goal and we must move from unnecessary complexity to profound simplicity; while ensuring we are not in the domain of either naive simplicity or worse still, the simpleton.
Culture, as we all know (sometimes rather disastrously!), is a powerful mediator across a range of marketing activities. The aim of this paper is to present thoughts on enhancing communication effectiveness for the Indian market by sensitivity to key characteristics of the Indian personality, e.g. the tendency towards greater emotional expressiveness and intensity, a higher need for saving face or overcoming shame/shyness; and the relatively higher acceptance of authority.Our premise is very simple: communication can engage the consumer at three basic levels: the head, the heart and the soul/value-system. How can we engage better at these levels to ensure more effective communication for the Indian consumer?
While there is a significant body of research on the organizational climate that is conducive to innovation, most of this research has a strong 'western' bias, concept, practice or culture. How much of this 'climate' is easily translatable to the high potential emerging markets and cultures in Asia? This paper draws upon literature and applies the oft-studied principles to the core issue of how multinational companies van drive innovation practices in their Indian subsidiary? What are the cultural barriers to and facilitators of innovation, and how can these be overcome or exploited?
The world is looking intensely at Asia today, as it moves rapidly towards becoming not only the world's largest producer and consumer, but also the largest productive workforce. Marketers and policy makers everywhere are keen to know how to exploit this rapid transformation. The presentation provides a macro perspective on the environmental changes occurring in Asia today, then more closely examines consumers with selected insights about youth and women, ending with a discussion on how marketers can devise strategies to deal with this exciting new opportunity.