What do Indian students really want? Beyond the usual surveys, the latest Brand Chakras study reveals what deep seated needs education brands can satisfy. On the one hand, a clear demand for “entertaining education” and on the other hand a yearning for mentors and inspiring role models who can give them individual attention and prepare them for life. Typical of so many other Indian consumer groups, the Indian student too today is asking for a magical combination. “The Call for Dronacharya”, a joint initiative of JWT India Planning and SRM University, a qualitative and quantitative study across 8 centers and students from different education streams. To see an executive summary, click here.
Showing posts with label brand chakras. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brand chakras. Show all posts
11 February 2009
03 December 2008
What makes Mumbai the way it is: From "A Tale of Four Cities"/JWT India Brand Chakras Study
Mumbai: where "Survival is the Art of Living"
A Street-Level Look at the people, culture and temperament of Mumbai, India's Sprawling City of 13 Million Shaken by Last Week's Terror Attacks
"Indifferent sadness." "Impotent love." "No whining. Accept hardships and keep going." "The show must go on." These were but some of the comments from consumers during a study by JWT India on the character of Mumbai just a few months ago. In the aftermath of recent events, the value of Mumbai-ites' resilience became a subject of debate. Many felt what one of the respondents said: "Riots, bomb blasts, floods. ... The city bounces back by forgetting and that, I personally feel, is a bad thing. The city should come to a grinding halt. That is when there will be considerable thought given to what led to these adversities and real steps will be taken to prevent these from happening."
So, according to the study, what makes Mumbai what it is?
* First, day-to-day life is a struggle
* First, day-to-day life is a struggle
"Mumbai is a draining city in a physical sense; one requires tremendous amounts of energy to get through the rigors of every day life in Mumbai."
"Traffic is chaotic, most people have to spend five to six hours commuting. Mumbai's productivity is reduced by half due to traffic related delays."
*Yet, it's a city of opportunity
"Setting goals and achieving them is what people come here for and they focus on that." "Strugglers here continue to have their dreams despite their failures; especially in fields like media, films."
"Mumbai has a culture of intense competition. The number and scale of opportunities available are immense."
* Be competitive and you'll reap rewards
"Survival calls for competitiveness as well as preoccupation with own matters; hence being self-absorbed and indifferent is natural to the seasoned survivor in Mumbai."
"People do not mind being right or wrong as long as they get ahead in life and achieve what they want."
"Mumbai has no sympathy for the newcomer. He or she has to be ready to compete and work hard, suffer and endure to get going in this city."
"Don't resist the hectic pace, go with the flow, the current will carry you forward."
*Therefore, there is no time to dwell on the difficulties
"If your car is bumped, then you abuse that person and move on. You do not get into terrible rage like in some other cities. They do not want to get trapped in such situations ... it is smarter to move on."
"If you are traveling in a train, there will be so many times that you will be trampled, jostled ... but you have to pick yourself up and move on. That is the attitude that surviving in this city calls for ... forget and move on."
"Despite the frustrations, you do not find a lot of violence. If people are stuck in traffic jams for a long time. You might find a lot of horn honking but not physical violence."
*Mumbai is often trapped in situations that it cannot control.
"Terrorist activities are situations which Mumbai cannot control. Politician's actions also trap Mumbai in a way."
*Indifferent sadness and impotent love
"Mumbai only feels sad. Imagine a person hit by a train. People here will feel sad, but there is not enough action as a result of the sadness because people do not either have the time or the inclination. They leave it at feeling sad. They will tide over the guilt of not doing anything by thinking that 'I at least felt sad ... so what if I could not do anything about it.'"
* People do not speak out
"The average person in Mumbai is not inclined to speak his mind out on controversial issues; the fear of repercussions as well as the 'mind your own business' attitude act as deterrents."
"They cannot afford to spend time on such issues. People generally refrain from making political statements openly. They want to avoid trouble, not get trapped in situations."
*There is no 'Voice of the City'
"Power is in the wrong hands. The sentiments of the political power does not necessarily reflect the views and sentiments of the larger Mumbai public."
"Though Bollywood people are representing Mumbai, they are not doing anything personally for Mumbai."
"Though there are personalities in Mumbai who appear in TV interviews, all these people have no power ... nobody listens to them ... they only cater to the elite class. ... People who are really affected, they do not have any voice. Whatever leaders that they have are those who try to take advantage of the situation."
"The social fabric of the city is quite complex. The class divide is quite stark. So you do not have people responding to or uniting on larger city issues that do not directly affect them."
"You will have a group talking about pedestrian spaces being misused and another group talking about the attack on open spaces in the city. But you will never find people coming together as one group and talking about larger issues like terrorism that threaten the city."
* Mumbai does not have a vision of its future
"Mumbai lives in the present and does not think too much about the future. If they thought more about the future, then there will not be too much of dirt, filth lying around."
"Those here do not have the time to plan for two, three years down the road. They do not think of planning for the future, think of larger causes like environment, etc."
*Survival is the art of living in Mumbai" ... "In Mumbai, it is difficult to survive and also easy to survive ... you just have to be a little street smart."("Art of Living" refers to one of the biggest offerings in the new age "spirituality for wellness" domain in India.)
Now, even the definition of street smart has changed. For the people who will just honk and move on, for the people who just want to carry on with their goals, for the people who just want to live and let live, being street smart now means dodging bullets.
This article first appeared in Adage
~ ~ ~
This article quotes entirely from "A Tale of Four Cities," a proprietary JWT India Brand Chakras Study that set out to uncover the forces that make the character of each of its four metros: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata; and understand how citizens relate to their cities. The qualitative study involved Depth Interviews with journalists, radio jockeys, psychiatrists, advertising professionals, HR consultants and Focus Group Discussions amongst citizens of each city, a mix of men and women, young adults and older, long term residents and recent settlers. Mythili Chandrasekar, Executive Planning Director at JWT India steered the study.
For a snapshot of the character of all four Indian metros click here
To buy the full study, write to Mythili.Chandrasekar@jwt.com
23 September 2008
From Reel to Real: JWT India Brand Chakras study on Celebrities
The Indian film star is no longer only a hero of the silver screen; he is a beacon of inspiration to his fans. Their on-screen portrayals are being given lesser importance and their off-screen lives and personality have gained prominence, says the recent JWT Brand Chakras™ Study: From Reel to Real Life.
The study reveals that film stars are no longer considered to be larger than life in terms of his or her persona and lifestyle; they are now real individuals who have risen to extraordinary heights. This shift in how celebrities are viewed is largely attributed to the availability of more real time, wide spread knowledge of what the stars do off screen – be it television shows, blogs, news controversies, or activism. While celebrities were once virtual prisoners of the characters that they played on-screen, they are now seen as individuals whose personal traits earn them as much admiration as their display of talent on-screen. His real attitudes and his larger life story is where the opportunities for brands lie.
The study reveals: 1) a model of how consumers relate to celebrities, and therefore how celebrity brands can be shaped; 2) the key payoffs that consumers derived from the three celebrities studied (Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Akshay Kumar); and 3) kinds of fan relationships.
The Brand Chakras framework revealed that Shahrukh Khan operates mainly in Power and Transcendence (leadership and vision) Chakras, while Hrithik Roshan was observed to be operating in the Love and Creative Expression Chakras. Akshay Kumar, on the other hand, was seen to be dominating in Survival and Pleasure Chakras.
The study also threw up three different types of fan relationships. The Entertainment Seeker, the Fantasy Seeker, and the Inspiration Seeker: Different fans would be deriving different benefits from different celebrities.
The qualitative study undertaken by JWT India was executed through Focus Group Discussions and Depth Interviews in Delhi and Mumbai amongst young adult fans of Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and Hrithik Roshan.
The study reveals that film stars are no longer considered to be larger than life in terms of his or her persona and lifestyle; they are now real individuals who have risen to extraordinary heights. This shift in how celebrities are viewed is largely attributed to the availability of more real time, wide spread knowledge of what the stars do off screen – be it television shows, blogs, news controversies, or activism. While celebrities were once virtual prisoners of the characters that they played on-screen, they are now seen as individuals whose personal traits earn them as much admiration as their display of talent on-screen. His real attitudes and his larger life story is where the opportunities for brands lie.
The study reveals: 1) a model of how consumers relate to celebrities, and therefore how celebrity brands can be shaped; 2) the key payoffs that consumers derived from the three celebrities studied (Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Akshay Kumar); and 3) kinds of fan relationships.
The Brand Chakras framework revealed that Shahrukh Khan operates mainly in Power and Transcendence (leadership and vision) Chakras, while Hrithik Roshan was observed to be operating in the Love and Creative Expression Chakras. Akshay Kumar, on the other hand, was seen to be dominating in Survival and Pleasure Chakras.
The study also threw up three different types of fan relationships. The Entertainment Seeker, the Fantasy Seeker, and the Inspiration Seeker: Different fans would be deriving different benefits from different celebrities.
The qualitative study undertaken by JWT India was executed through Focus Group Discussions and Depth Interviews in Delhi and Mumbai amongst young adult fans of Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and Hrithik Roshan.
25 May 2008
The Yin-Yang of Technology Payoffs: Brand Chakras study
Personal computers, internet, connectivity, telecom services, mobiles, visual imaging gadgets... new categories are trying to connect with new consumer groups. JWT Brand Chakras set out to answer the question: "What are the deeper payoffs that consumers are getting from technology - be it in their work life or personal life?" In-depth discussions in Mumbai and Chennai with 25-35 year old early adopters and people who worked in the technology space, revealed some interesting details. 
Efficiency and indulgence, refuge and escape, conformism and showmanship, child-like delight and intellectual growth, the payoffs from technology in personal life are dichotomous says the Brand Chakras™ study. In work life, technology can facilitate democracy or meritocracy, be a performance leveler or a performance discriminator, foster conformism or creativity. Technology can be functional and symbolic, in the temporary and immediate or in the permanent and the long term. It can help social anchoring or enhance social clout.
Efficiency and indulgence, refuge and escape, conformism and showmanship, child-like delight and intellectual growth, the payoffs from technology in personal life are dichotomous says the Brand Chakras™ study. In work life, technology can facilitate democracy or meritocracy, be a performance leveler or a performance discriminator, foster conformism or creativity. Technology can be functional and symbolic, in the temporary and immediate or in the permanent and the long term. It can help social anchoring or enhance social clout.
It all depends on your orientation. You could be looking to satisfy your need to belong or your need to be individualistic. At the very least, technology helps you celebrate life, but as you go up the ladder, it becomes a life-evolving tool.
The study identified five types of technology mindsets.
The Doer: keen on upgrading quality of everyday life, with a thirst for ease and efficiency in day-to-day life, wants technology to maximize life and help balance different spheres.
The Connector: strong urge to nurture relationships and stay anchored.
The Indulger: fundamental need for fun and entertainment to cope with day-to-day pressures.
The Discriminator: pressured to establish, redeem, conquer, catch up or breakaway to create a distinct identity and distance himself from the rest.
The Explorer: instinctive thirst for excitement through new experiences and keen to constantly add new facets to his life.
Technology is no longer just about convenience and greater efficiency, its influence on the average individual is more profound and life defining. Technology is now the most powerful agent of mental evolution. The power and worth of any technology will increasingly be evaluated in terms of its ability to unlock and express the power of the mind and the intellect, concludes the study.
The Connector: strong urge to nurture relationships and stay anchored.
The Indulger: fundamental need for fun and entertainment to cope with day-to-day pressures.
The Discriminator: pressured to establish, redeem, conquer, catch up or breakaway to create a distinct identity and distance himself from the rest.
The Explorer: instinctive thirst for excitement through new experiences and keen to constantly add new facets to his life.
Technology is no longer just about convenience and greater efficiency, its influence on the average individual is more profound and life defining. Technology is now the most powerful agent of mental evolution. The power and worth of any technology will increasingly be evaluated in terms of its ability to unlock and express the power of the mind and the intellect, concludes the study.
The study found that technology largely catered to Pleasure and Power Chakra needs in our lives. And identified almost 20 payoffs that technology brands could use to connect with consumers.
For more on the study, Mythili.Chandrasekar@jwt.com
For more on the study, Mythili.Chandrasekar@jwt.com
21 November 2007
Employee Engagement and the New Age KarmaYogi
(A version of this piece appeared in The Economic Times, Nov 16, 07)
Beauty packages for diwali, karva chauth on office terraces, weaving in sports and games into work lives and presence on Second Life… increasingly, employee is consumer and employee delight is part of talent recruitment, training and retention. But is it making any real difference? Are organisations missing the woods for the trees in the search for employee engagement?
A Towers Perrin study in 18 countries (including India), among 90,000 workers reports that only one in five employees were engaged. The study defines engagement as the degree to which workers connect to the company emotionally, are aware of what they need to do to add value, and are willing to take that action. Higher engagement led not only to retention but also increased profits. And, most importantly it was senior managers that drove employee engagement, (not just feel-good HR activities). India, incidentally, emerged the third most engaged country, next to Mexico and Brazil!
So what exactly do leading edge employees in India want? The Power and the Glory, a recent JWT Brand Chakras study on the global Indian, revealed the complete centrality of work is worship. But these new age karma yogis are clear: work is worship, but only at the altar of power, fame and money. Four very clear desires and demands emerged.
One: Work is an avenue of creativity and innovation, therefore organisational backing of ideas is imperative. This needs to be seen in the light of: a) growing unwillingness to work for others and need to get credit for one’s own work and not give it to the company; and b) a disdain for large organizations even though they work in them, and a belief that individuals and the wisdom of the crowds is faster on the innovation curve.
Two: Work must help to “build my name larger than the organisation”. Careers should provide adequate scope for personal evolution and growth, even while offering monetary rewards. And must, sooner rather than later, bestow a larger-than-life status, leading to social and professional influence and clout.
Three: Work must lead to opportunities to be part of the Indian badge on the world stage. Work is part of their celebration of living, and a keen desire for enriching experiences. So they expect continuous broadening of horizons, skill enhancement, early positions of power and responsibility, and opportunities to ride the crest of technological advances – so that they can evolve a larger world view. Through work, they “want a name for boosting the country’s economy” and satisfy the thirst to play a role in the global impact India is going to have; create jobs, wealth and technology.
Four: Eventually, enriching spiritual and emotional experiences – so that they can “give back”, positively influence others’ destinies and be put on a pedestal. They feel a certain responsibility to make India a better place. Twenty eight year olds are already talking of “going back to my village and doing sericulture”. Or “I’m earning two lakhs a month as a surgeon, so I give free medicines on Sundays at home. My patients say I’m God. I tell them no, but they can put me next to him.”
On his part, his personal strategies are in three large areas.
One: invest intellect and energy in work, seize the initiative in any situation, be open minded and adventurous with respect to exploring career opportunities - not letting geographical boundaries or cultural differences come in the way.
Two: get spouse and family to buy into his vision of his career; spell out the rewards at stake for them – compensation for not making them the fulcrum of his life. “My wife must actively help and support the search for glory. She is second to career, and she knows it and it is to her advantage, because my success will brings her also greater social respect’. Equally, working women want husbands to “be a source of inspiration” in their own similar quest.
Three: cultivate the power of networking by shrewd choice of friends and contacts because “ you never know when they’ll come in handy”.
Underlying all this, are two fundamental shifts in corporate life.
The first is a reduction of distance to the leadership. Psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar, in his book The Indians, cites the GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness) study as confirming that “what younger managers in India most dearly wish for is a reduction in the power distance between the leader and the led”. He goes on to draw a curious parallel in the transition of father-son relationships in middle class family life – from the formality and restraint of the authoritative joint family patriarch who struggles to express his love for his children to the more involved playmate of today, available to both sons and daughters.
The second is a greater demand on the leadership for inspiration, collaboration, communication, and nurturing. Again, Sudhir Kakar points out the basic Indian tendency to idealize the leader, avoid realistic evaluations and ignore his weaknesses. But not any more. Young global Indians too are revising their expectations of their leaders.The JWT Brand Chakras study showed that younger people like to use their talent to have a hold on their leaders, while older managers say dealing with younger people is one of their key challenges.
A Towers Perrin study in 18 countries (including India), among 90,000 workers reports that only one in five employees were engaged. The study defines engagement as the degree to which workers connect to the company emotionally, are aware of what they need to do to add value, and are willing to take that action. Higher engagement led not only to retention but also increased profits. And, most importantly it was senior managers that drove employee engagement, (not just feel-good HR activities). India, incidentally, emerged the third most engaged country, next to Mexico and Brazil!
So what exactly do leading edge employees in India want? The Power and the Glory, a recent JWT Brand Chakras study on the global Indian, revealed the complete centrality of work is worship. But these new age karma yogis are clear: work is worship, but only at the altar of power, fame and money. Four very clear desires and demands emerged.
One: Work is an avenue of creativity and innovation, therefore organisational backing of ideas is imperative. This needs to be seen in the light of: a) growing unwillingness to work for others and need to get credit for one’s own work and not give it to the company; and b) a disdain for large organizations even though they work in them, and a belief that individuals and the wisdom of the crowds is faster on the innovation curve.
Two: Work must help to “build my name larger than the organisation”. Careers should provide adequate scope for personal evolution and growth, even while offering monetary rewards. And must, sooner rather than later, bestow a larger-than-life status, leading to social and professional influence and clout.
Three: Work must lead to opportunities to be part of the Indian badge on the world stage. Work is part of their celebration of living, and a keen desire for enriching experiences. So they expect continuous broadening of horizons, skill enhancement, early positions of power and responsibility, and opportunities to ride the crest of technological advances – so that they can evolve a larger world view. Through work, they “want a name for boosting the country’s economy” and satisfy the thirst to play a role in the global impact India is going to have; create jobs, wealth and technology.
Four: Eventually, enriching spiritual and emotional experiences – so that they can “give back”, positively influence others’ destinies and be put on a pedestal. They feel a certain responsibility to make India a better place. Twenty eight year olds are already talking of “going back to my village and doing sericulture”. Or “I’m earning two lakhs a month as a surgeon, so I give free medicines on Sundays at home. My patients say I’m God. I tell them no, but they can put me next to him.”
On his part, his personal strategies are in three large areas.
One: invest intellect and energy in work, seize the initiative in any situation, be open minded and adventurous with respect to exploring career opportunities - not letting geographical boundaries or cultural differences come in the way.
Two: get spouse and family to buy into his vision of his career; spell out the rewards at stake for them – compensation for not making them the fulcrum of his life. “My wife must actively help and support the search for glory. She is second to career, and she knows it and it is to her advantage, because my success will brings her also greater social respect’. Equally, working women want husbands to “be a source of inspiration” in their own similar quest.
Three: cultivate the power of networking by shrewd choice of friends and contacts because “ you never know when they’ll come in handy”.
Underlying all this, are two fundamental shifts in corporate life.
The first is a reduction of distance to the leadership. Psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar, in his book The Indians, cites the GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness) study as confirming that “what younger managers in India most dearly wish for is a reduction in the power distance between the leader and the led”. He goes on to draw a curious parallel in the transition of father-son relationships in middle class family life – from the formality and restraint of the authoritative joint family patriarch who struggles to express his love for his children to the more involved playmate of today, available to both sons and daughters.
The second is a greater demand on the leadership for inspiration, collaboration, communication, and nurturing. Again, Sudhir Kakar points out the basic Indian tendency to idealize the leader, avoid realistic evaluations and ignore his weaknesses. But not any more. Young global Indians too are revising their expectations of their leaders.The JWT Brand Chakras study showed that younger people like to use their talent to have a hold on their leaders, while older managers say dealing with younger people is one of their key challenges.
Will Indian senior management move quickly to harness the power of the new age karma yogi? Or absorbed in their own worship, expect mehendi, kickboxing and film screenings to do the trick?
Here are a couple of ads that reflect different aspects of work is worship.
Here are a couple of ads that reflect different aspects of work is worship.
25 October 2007
Brand Chakras Study: Mother India
MOTHER INDIA: FROM CHILDREN AS RESPONSIBILITY
TO CHILDREN AS OPPORTUNITY
TO CHILDREN AS OPPORTUNITY
The Indian Mother-and-Child is now a team with a shared vision, with mothers actively believing they can shape their children’s destiny for mutual benefit, says the latest JWT Brand Chakras™ study.
Close on the heels of The Power and the Glory, which studied the Global Indian, JWT now looks at payoffs that mothers want from their children and vice versa, through Brand Chakras™.
The insight mining exercise was done in eight centers - Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkatta, Kanpur, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Trichur, and covered SEC A, B mothers with children between 8 and 16, through group discussions, and depth interviews with pairs of mothers and their children.
Enabling and empowering, coach and companion, event manager and project manager, motherhood has moved beyond protection, nurturance, compassion and selflessness. The child is now a project and a mission, and industriousness, determination, passion and planning are the dominant traits. The children too are taking the roti- kapada-makaan for granted and are looking to the mother to give them the headstart they need in life and ensure that they remain focused.
Other shifts include: from living for the moment to constantly shaping the future; from child’s success to shared glory; and a clear staking of claims on the eligibility for the fruits of success.
Emotional elasticity, reasonable adult-like conversations, retaining locus of control while appearing to be democratic, love that includes toughness and a steeling of the heart, are some of the mother’s strategies.
Children in return are conscious of the contribution that their mothers make in their current lives by donning the roles of organizer, guide, enforcer, and friend. While there may be the usual squabbles over food, outings and social activities, children do indeed look to their mothers to give them courage, inspiration, help them set and achieve their goals and fill them with a will to win. Mother is both cushion and launch pad… giving new meaning to the famous line “mere paas maa hai”! They seem to be defining success in terms of living up to the mother’s expectations. Though, “itna tenson nahin lene ka” is also something they’d like to say to the mothers!
All mothers showed a strong inclination to Power chakra qualities, but three types of mothers emerged:
The Lifeline Seeker: she has given up hopes of the husband improving their lives and is totally dependant on the child to rise to glorious levels and rescue her; looking for insurance and security, she will do everything she can to help them in this journey, but is clearly establishing her rights to the fruits of this labour.
The Coronation Seekers: she is hoping her child’s achievements will bring her out of a life of oblivion and bestow on her a halo for greater social conquest… the child is an opportunity to make an overwhelming statement about herself.
The Independence Seeker: her striving to excel in the mother role is geared to fostering independence and self-reliance in her child, so that she will have the freedom and space for her own pursuits; motherhood enhances her efficiency and gives her exposure that helps her discover unexplored facets of herself.
The implication for brands is that:
*brands need not necessarily choose between mother or child as target but could talk to the duo; *must reflect the new sets of motherhood values and attitudes;
*need to find a role in the shared vision and future that they are chasing;
*salute the mother, Maa thujhe salaam for a new set of reasons;
*connect with the philosophy of effort and determination that she is trying to instill;
*focus on the 15 Chakra payoffs that children chose from the battery of 60 fundamental payoffs; *draw from the mothers’ behaviour codes across the seven chakras that the study has identified.
The insight mining exercise was done in eight centers - Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkatta, Kanpur, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Trichur, and covered SEC A, B mothers with children between 8 and 16, through group discussions, and depth interviews with pairs of mothers and their children.
Enabling and empowering, coach and companion, event manager and project manager, motherhood has moved beyond protection, nurturance, compassion and selflessness. The child is now a project and a mission, and industriousness, determination, passion and planning are the dominant traits. The children too are taking the roti- kapada-makaan for granted and are looking to the mother to give them the headstart they need in life and ensure that they remain focused.
Other shifts include: from living for the moment to constantly shaping the future; from child’s success to shared glory; and a clear staking of claims on the eligibility for the fruits of success.
Emotional elasticity, reasonable adult-like conversations, retaining locus of control while appearing to be democratic, love that includes toughness and a steeling of the heart, are some of the mother’s strategies.
Children in return are conscious of the contribution that their mothers make in their current lives by donning the roles of organizer, guide, enforcer, and friend. While there may be the usual squabbles over food, outings and social activities, children do indeed look to their mothers to give them courage, inspiration, help them set and achieve their goals and fill them with a will to win. Mother is both cushion and launch pad… giving new meaning to the famous line “mere paas maa hai”! They seem to be defining success in terms of living up to the mother’s expectations. Though, “itna tenson nahin lene ka” is also something they’d like to say to the mothers!
All mothers showed a strong inclination to Power chakra qualities, but three types of mothers emerged:
The Lifeline Seeker: she has given up hopes of the husband improving their lives and is totally dependant on the child to rise to glorious levels and rescue her; looking for insurance and security, she will do everything she can to help them in this journey, but is clearly establishing her rights to the fruits of this labour.
The Coronation Seekers: she is hoping her child’s achievements will bring her out of a life of oblivion and bestow on her a halo for greater social conquest… the child is an opportunity to make an overwhelming statement about herself.
The Independence Seeker: her striving to excel in the mother role is geared to fostering independence and self-reliance in her child, so that she will have the freedom and space for her own pursuits; motherhood enhances her efficiency and gives her exposure that helps her discover unexplored facets of herself.
The implication for brands is that:
*brands need not necessarily choose between mother or child as target but could talk to the duo; *must reflect the new sets of motherhood values and attitudes;
*need to find a role in the shared vision and future that they are chasing;
*salute the mother, Maa thujhe salaam for a new set of reasons;
*connect with the philosophy of effort and determination that she is trying to instill;
*focus on the 15 Chakra payoffs that children chose from the battery of 60 fundamental payoffs; *draw from the mothers’ behaviour codes across the seven chakras that the study has identified.
While the study focused on mothers, it has revealed three types of fathers too – according to the mothers!
The Genuine Partner: who tries to play a synergistic role willingly taking up activities which are beyond the mother’s competence;
The Conveniently Detached: who is taking it easy, capitalizing on the mother’s high involvement and taking up the provider stance to negate criticism of his lack of involvement; and
The Cynically Detached: who disagrees with the approach, perceives the mother as crossing the line and fostering too much dependance, and feels children need a more hands-off approach.
Brand Chakras™ is the first Indian strategic planning tool that applies the 2000 year old chakra system as laid out by Patanjali, to consumers and brands. This original system of understanding human behaviour based on the seven major nerve/energy centers in the human body has never been used in marketing, and is an initiative of Strategic Planning at JWT India. http://www.brandchakras.com/
The Conveniently Detached: who is taking it easy, capitalizing on the mother’s high involvement and taking up the provider stance to negate criticism of his lack of involvement; and
The Cynically Detached: who disagrees with the approach, perceives the mother as crossing the line and fostering too much dependance, and feels children need a more hands-off approach.
Brand Chakras™ is the first Indian strategic planning tool that applies the 2000 year old chakra system as laid out by Patanjali, to consumers and brands. This original system of understanding human behaviour based on the seven major nerve/energy centers in the human body has never been used in marketing, and is an initiative of Strategic Planning at JWT India. http://www.brandchakras.com/
For further information, write to Mythili.Chandrasekar@jwt.com
12 August 2007
The power and the glory: Coffee and Donuts/July 07/ Excerpts from JWT study on global Indians
The Power and the Glory
Highlights from recent JWT study on Global Indians
For the global Indian, work is clearly worship - at the altar of fame and money - and a stepping stone to playing God, some day soon.
• Work is worship
*Career is at the heart of life. * Work is an avenue for creativity and innovation * Independence, reduction of distance to the leadership and organizational backing of ideas are important values that companies must offer * There is a driving desire to have the power to take decisions and have people reporting to you * One must build one’s name to be bigger than the company one belongs to * There is growing unwillingness to work for others and need to get credit for one’s own work and not give it to the company * Younger men like the idea of having a hold on their leaders through being a specialist/expert * Dealing with younger, more talented people is one of the challenges for the older people.
• Globalness
*It is important to work for an international company * Ambitions must go beyond India. * Through work, they “want a name for boosting the country’s economy”. There is thirst to play a role in the global impact India is going to have; create jobs, wealth and technology * They feel a certain responsibility to make India a better place.
• Relationships
*All other areas of life stem from success at work and must contribute to the search for glory. * Family respect depends on career success * Wife must actively help and support the search for glory * Men feel wife is second to career, and she knows it and it is to her advantage, because his success brings her greater social respect * Friends and networks are important because “they come in handy”, “you never know who you will need, when” * Friends must help you with your ideas * Women want their spouses to be a source of inspiration.
• Money
* Money is a natural consequence of success at work * Money leads to better lifestyle, which again reflects success at work, and feeds back to climbing the social ladder, which is seen as an important part of work life rather than separate * Heightened personal confidence, ability to take risks, broadening of views and fearless expression of views, social and legal insulation, are some of the other payoffs of money * Relaxation is important but also a waste of time, the time is better spent making more money * Money is better spent, leveraged and shown-off in India rather than outside the country.
• Social give-back
*Extreme expertise at work and money allows one to transcend to social give-back, which actually makes you feel you are playing god. This benevolence too is a reflection of, and route to, glory.
• Spiritual liberation
* It’s the cushion of affluence that will allow and facilitate even spiritual liberation* Experiences * The value of life is now estimated in terms of the quality of experiences one has, and work is central to this too * Work itself is among the possible enriching experiences * Work leads to money, and money makes many new experiences possible – leisure experiences, tech experiences, entrepreneurial adventures as well as (supposedly) noble activities.
• Technology
* Increasing familiarity with technology and the fact that more numbers of people are actually involved in creating technology, means that technology products need to talk a different language – and this is not necessarily a marketing language * These workers take great pride in the ability of individuals and like minded groups to create revolutions; there is some disdain for large organizations even as they work in them * They see through organizations and “manufactured” claims very quickly * They demand proof, higher degree of relevance and demonstration of experiences.
• Masculinity
* Above all, the global Indian spirit is in fact driving the Indian male’s rediscovery of his masculinity, which was somewhat under question in the light of growing woman power, growing child power, and too much media talk on the feminine side of him.
• Implication for brands
1) Compliment, partner and further the newfound rediscovery of a high level of self worth.
2) Give him a role to play in shaping the brand’s success rather than be passive receivers of brand messages, co-custodian rather than consumer.
3) Stand for more elevated, inspiring, larger life purposes – brands that aim to transform economies, societies and the way individual lives are lived, will find greater relevance than brands that offer transient payoffs or operate in the area of just reflecting his personality, attracting female attention or being a statement of style and achievement.
4) Draw from the 16 hot payoffs that most resonate with this leading edge target group. Brands - with messages, products, services, activities and associations - should help to: look at life with courage, symbolise their influence over others, partner their goal oriented nature, reflect and reward their highly competitive spirit, make them feel more intelligent than others, bring out their creativity and innovative ideas, encourage them to do things that have not been done before, inspire them with wisdom for a higher level of leadership.
This study was done throught Brand Chakras™ - a proprietary toolkit of JWT India.
Brand Chakras is a strategic planning tool for brand development based on a 2,000 year-old system from the Indian Upanishads – the Chakra system as laid out in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras – the first system of understanding human behaviour based on the human body, that has never been applied to brands.
The seven major chakras are seven basic energy centers that create the seven driving life themes that we live by.These chakras correlate not only to levels of consciousness but also to archetypes and personality dimensions that shape everything from fundamental values and beliefs to fears, desires, motivations, habits and day-to-day behaviour of every human being.
Brand Chakras™ is constructed on seven different “playgrounds of desires” as it were.
The Brand Chakras™ toolkit spans quantitative and qualitative tools to understand and measure target groups, brands, as well as payoffs. This study used Chakra Payoffs Reading, which creates a battery of payoffs that brands can offer consumers and is useful for insight mining/qualitative research as well as quantitative analysis of consumer relationship with category or expectation from the brand.
Chakra 1: Muladhara:Urge for survival – Abundance and physical strength
Chakra 2: Swaddisthana:Pursuit of pleasure – Sexual vitality and physical creativity
Chakra 3: Manipura:Drive for power – Good will and right actions
Chakra 4: Anahata:Quest for love – Higher emotions
Chakra 5: Vishuddha:Voice of creative expression – Truth and higher creativity
Chakra 6: Ajna:Desire for transcendence – Active intelligence
Chakra 7: Sahasara:Surrender to spirituality – Mental and intuitive intelligence
This study found that the global Indian today is largely driven by:
* Manipura: the drive for power (solar plexus);
* Vishuddha: the voice of creative expression - in search of truth and higher creativity (throat);
* Ajna: desire for transcendence - active intelligence (third eye).
For more details on Brand Chakras™, see http://www.brandchakras.com/
Highlights from recent JWT study on Global Indians
For the global Indian, work is clearly worship - at the altar of fame and money - and a stepping stone to playing God, some day soon.
• Work is worship
*Career is at the heart of life. * Work is an avenue for creativity and innovation * Independence, reduction of distance to the leadership and organizational backing of ideas are important values that companies must offer * There is a driving desire to have the power to take decisions and have people reporting to you * One must build one’s name to be bigger than the company one belongs to * There is growing unwillingness to work for others and need to get credit for one’s own work and not give it to the company * Younger men like the idea of having a hold on their leaders through being a specialist/expert * Dealing with younger, more talented people is one of the challenges for the older people.
• Globalness
*It is important to work for an international company * Ambitions must go beyond India. * Through work, they “want a name for boosting the country’s economy”. There is thirst to play a role in the global impact India is going to have; create jobs, wealth and technology * They feel a certain responsibility to make India a better place.
• Relationships
*All other areas of life stem from success at work and must contribute to the search for glory. * Family respect depends on career success * Wife must actively help and support the search for glory * Men feel wife is second to career, and she knows it and it is to her advantage, because his success brings her greater social respect * Friends and networks are important because “they come in handy”, “you never know who you will need, when” * Friends must help you with your ideas * Women want their spouses to be a source of inspiration.
• Money
* Money is a natural consequence of success at work * Money leads to better lifestyle, which again reflects success at work, and feeds back to climbing the social ladder, which is seen as an important part of work life rather than separate * Heightened personal confidence, ability to take risks, broadening of views and fearless expression of views, social and legal insulation, are some of the other payoffs of money * Relaxation is important but also a waste of time, the time is better spent making more money * Money is better spent, leveraged and shown-off in India rather than outside the country.
• Social give-back
*Extreme expertise at work and money allows one to transcend to social give-back, which actually makes you feel you are playing god. This benevolence too is a reflection of, and route to, glory.
• Spiritual liberation
* It’s the cushion of affluence that will allow and facilitate even spiritual liberation* Experiences * The value of life is now estimated in terms of the quality of experiences one has, and work is central to this too * Work itself is among the possible enriching experiences * Work leads to money, and money makes many new experiences possible – leisure experiences, tech experiences, entrepreneurial adventures as well as (supposedly) noble activities.
• Technology
* Increasing familiarity with technology and the fact that more numbers of people are actually involved in creating technology, means that technology products need to talk a different language – and this is not necessarily a marketing language * These workers take great pride in the ability of individuals and like minded groups to create revolutions; there is some disdain for large organizations even as they work in them * They see through organizations and “manufactured” claims very quickly * They demand proof, higher degree of relevance and demonstration of experiences.
• Masculinity
* Above all, the global Indian spirit is in fact driving the Indian male’s rediscovery of his masculinity, which was somewhat under question in the light of growing woman power, growing child power, and too much media talk on the feminine side of him.
• Implication for brands
1) Compliment, partner and further the newfound rediscovery of a high level of self worth.
2) Give him a role to play in shaping the brand’s success rather than be passive receivers of brand messages, co-custodian rather than consumer.
3) Stand for more elevated, inspiring, larger life purposes – brands that aim to transform economies, societies and the way individual lives are lived, will find greater relevance than brands that offer transient payoffs or operate in the area of just reflecting his personality, attracting female attention or being a statement of style and achievement.
4) Draw from the 16 hot payoffs that most resonate with this leading edge target group. Brands - with messages, products, services, activities and associations - should help to: look at life with courage, symbolise their influence over others, partner their goal oriented nature, reflect and reward their highly competitive spirit, make them feel more intelligent than others, bring out their creativity and innovative ideas, encourage them to do things that have not been done before, inspire them with wisdom for a higher level of leadership.
This study was done throught Brand Chakras™ - a proprietary toolkit of JWT India.
Brand Chakras is a strategic planning tool for brand development based on a 2,000 year-old system from the Indian Upanishads – the Chakra system as laid out in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras – the first system of understanding human behaviour based on the human body, that has never been applied to brands.
The seven major chakras are seven basic energy centers that create the seven driving life themes that we live by.These chakras correlate not only to levels of consciousness but also to archetypes and personality dimensions that shape everything from fundamental values and beliefs to fears, desires, motivations, habits and day-to-day behaviour of every human being.
Brand Chakras™ is constructed on seven different “playgrounds of desires” as it were.
The Brand Chakras™ toolkit spans quantitative and qualitative tools to understand and measure target groups, brands, as well as payoffs. This study used Chakra Payoffs Reading, which creates a battery of payoffs that brands can offer consumers and is useful for insight mining/qualitative research as well as quantitative analysis of consumer relationship with category or expectation from the brand.
Chakra 1: Muladhara:Urge for survival – Abundance and physical strength
Chakra 2: Swaddisthana:Pursuit of pleasure – Sexual vitality and physical creativity
Chakra 3: Manipura:Drive for power – Good will and right actions
Chakra 4: Anahata:Quest for love – Higher emotions
Chakra 5: Vishuddha:Voice of creative expression – Truth and higher creativity
Chakra 6: Ajna:Desire for transcendence – Active intelligence
Chakra 7: Sahasara:Surrender to spirituality – Mental and intuitive intelligence
This study found that the global Indian today is largely driven by:
* Manipura: the drive for power (solar plexus);
* Vishuddha: the voice of creative expression - in search of truth and higher creativity (throat);
* Ajna: desire for transcendence - active intelligence (third eye).
For more details on Brand Chakras™, see http://www.brandchakras.com/
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