The New Age Traveller by Shaziya Khan (JWT Mumbai)

(This article was published in Today's Traveller Collector's Edition: June 2012)

Experimental travellers are of  different shades. However, the two broad types are “Groupie” and “Savvy”.

The Groupie experiments, but only in his comfort zone. The comfort zone manifests in various ways. First, the Indian food. “Ghar ka khaana” is all important, no matter how far he/she may be from home. Second, a punishing schedule, even if it is on holiday, is not exhausting in the Groupie’s eyes; rather it is FPV (full paisa vasool). “I have seen all of America” the traveller may declare triumphantly on returning home.

But make no mistake! This traveller wants the very best five Star hotels, the best cars, all through his trip. The family can actually afford a Swiss chalet, but would rather holiday as a ‘big gang of family’ or ‘friends’. The Groupie may be shy of holidaying alone, but he is certainly not shy of spending. Buying 4 ipads, one for each of the kids, on a single afternoon is no big deal. A safari world show official group photo for 300 bhat? Of course! Sprawling with a Rolex or Omega, and eating chiwda from home is a relaxing moment.

Many such moments are photographed and enjoyably shared. The holiday doesn’t end in three weeks for a Groupie. The favourite holiday destinations are re-visited every now and then, as a group. So, finally, the comfort zone is defined by a certain type of destinations. Typically, the world-famous attractions include Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK, and the African Safari. The Groupie believes that travel is about excitement and “aha” moments.

The Savvy experiments, period. Holidays for him mean exposure, experience and trying out things ahead of the curve. And, the Savvy traveler is planned and customized. If the Groupie seeks comfort, the Savvy, in contrast, exudes it. The Savvy seeks uniqueness. A sort of “my way on the highway,” if you will. He/she is quite happy to book online, get the best deal (“under 100”), know the dollar rate, the best season…

In the Savvy traveller’s experience, the travel agent is at best an executor of his plans. This category of traveller has a like-minded circle of friends and family, and a voracious, eclectic media appetite, both of which keep him effortlessly abreast of the latest travel trends. So, visiting destinations for festivals, carnivals is right. Annual leaves are meticulously planned. And, the Savvy traveller heads out more often than not to more unique destinations, such as Brazil, Madagascar, Spain, France, Germany, Turkey and Africa.

The Savvy traveler takes photographs selectively. Only in an area of particular interest. He chooses to walk a lot to get a firsthand feel of the place. He eats; in fact revels in the local food. He enjoys conversing a bit in the local lingo. His holiday has a loose agenda with enough free and flexible time. Rather than try to do everything, he chooses a few good things. For him, travel is about personal satisfaction. That contented “hmmm” more than the novice-like “ahas.”

Within the savvy profile, there are three sub groups:

Luxury Savvy: Being at the very high end of the segment, he demands bespoke experiences of a very high quality. He would almost always book a suite. Even on holiday, he may have a private office from which he can run his empire for a few hours a day. He ‘does’ vacations at least twice a year—during summer and in winter (Christmas). A family holiday is a must for him. And, there might be just a couple holiday, too. Visiting a spa to detox is on for sure. Travel to him is part of his fabric of life.

Adventure Savvy: He lives life and travels at the cutting edge. It is all about the adrenalin rush, escaping to nature and some real life. He believes in being on the road less travelled. Off to Peru or Sikkim to be challenged by the mountains, or to a diving holiday. Or, even the Everest base camp. Physical activity to him is the most exciting and rejuvenating part of travel. Travel to him is a trip, of another kind.

Senior Savvy: He wants to see the world. Travel is a reward for a life well lived. It is a well-earned, well-deserved prize. Responsibilities over, he experiences a new freedom and couldn’t care for less. Whether it is about unique destinations like Egypt or about fulfilling a lifelong dream—say a cruise holiday—travel is a reward for him. So, everything about it must be special, carefully planned and well suited to his comfort levels and pace. He likes to holiday on his own terms. And, this includes the company of his lifelong friends.

And yet, the scene is evolving rapidly. Haven’t we all considered the rise of kids and teen travel? Kids below five years have passports more often than not, whereas a few years ago, it was a teen phenomenon. School trips are now hardly to the Campa Cola factory and more likely to NASA. Generational arguments on the fault lines of travel permission (“but the whole class is going river rafting in Rishikesh, or sightseeing in Egypt”) abound already. Kids are more adult-like about travel, and far more exposed to it from a younger age. Parents, too, are encouraging  travel for their children. They believe it to be one of the finest forms of education without walls. As today’s children grow up and approach the age of independent travel, their experiments in travel as leisure, in travel as education, in travel as part of a career, and in travel as vacation will be of a much wider range than we can imagine. So, whatever you do, as travel brands keep a close watch on the confident and well-traveled kid.

The Making Of The New Age Actor by Rishad John (JWT, Mumbai)

The following actors have chosen their roles and their choice of movies are very selective.

The actors in point are 

Abhay Deol (Manoranjan 6 feet under, Shanghai, Zindagi Na Mila Dobara)

Kalki  Koechlin (The girl in yellow boots, Shaitan, Zindagi Na  Mila Dobara, Shanghai)

Vidya Balan (Parineeta, Dirty Picture, Kahaani)

The new age actors have discovered that in order to order to remain relevant they have to constantly keep themselves  fresh in order to be in the consumer’s eye and consumer’s mind.

The consumer is always on search for something new and in order to catch their attention the promo has to be enticing enough for them to keep a reminder and make it a point to watch it.

The new age film need not have a star cast, it just needs to have a good story and what has now caught everyone’s fancy is the right formula  to market their films. Aamir Khan seems to have struck it right and whether it was his film Ghajini which had everyone sporting a similar haircut or his other movie Taare Zameen Par or 3 idiots which went on to Delhi Belly which had everyone hooked onto the song “DK Bose” and then his wife’s, Kiran Rao’s   movie debut Dhobi Ghat had everyone hooked and waiting to watch what is next.

The rise of Art Cinema:

A parallel cinema in the form of Art Cinema has been in evolution for many years now and has been a strong alternative to the commercial Bollywood masala and saw the rise of stars such as Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Nandita Das ,Rajat kapoor, and  Vinay Pathak and they have certainly given a serious change to fare we have available today, be it movies like BOL  or Ankur or strong performances from Jaya Bachchan in Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa or with Nandita Das directorial debut of Firaaq which spoke of strong themes or the recent Irrfan Khan  movie Paan Singh Tomar which told us the true story of an Olympic medallist from India and how life took a change for a different course.

Films furthering social causes have gone a long way and have brought to the front issues such as an autistic child and their dilemmas in movies such as Tare Zameen Par   or even bold films like Fire, Earth and Water which spoke of issues prevalent in India.

There can be further argument as to how can not a Bollywood actress take on another role and we saw this in the case of Rani Mukherjee and her role as a prostitute where a  Bollywood actress was  seen in a  serious role.

Laaga Chunari Mein Daag was a strong story of a woman who has strong beliefs when trying to protect her family and will go to any lengths to protect the people who matter to her the most.

From this we can see that it is not a certain formula but the storyline that needs to have a strong connect with the audience and this is what worked for a movie like Kahaani where there was an instant emotional connect  with the lead character and it beat the internal target set by Viacom 18 pictures  by three times.1

Marketing on another level

Recently, Ishaqzaade which was Arjun Kapoor’s debut film with Parineeti Chopra did an innovation on You tube where they had every viewer had to watch the song of their film before they went onto the video of their choice and they were not allowed to skip the video which was the usual option to skip the ad and go on to their chosen video.

Indian films now have their movie site where you can learn more on the movie see trailers and have more consumer interaction with the movie. Take the case of Turning30 which people interact and learn more on the characters and hence try and identify with the person they are seeing on screen.

Bejoy Nambiar said recently at an MTV Youth Marketing Forum that he promoted his film, Shaitan on the internet and through this he got 20% of his audience which he may not have got if he hadn’t reached out online.1

Setting the stage for new genres

With the stage set for new age cinema, we have progressed in certain directions, and have also developed some genres.

We deal with social issues, stories that have a relevance to current society and stories that need to be told because through the medium of cinema we reach a wide audience and our story needs to be told to make a dent or a connect with our audience that are waiting to see what role does this actor perform next or what film does a director like Ram Gopal Varma or Anurag Kashyap bring out next.

The new Age actor is branching out as we have seen in the case of Aamir Khan who has transposed himself onto the small screen with a socially relevant show and has managed to pick the right topics and get the middle class who have been affected by it , talking about it.

His show, Satyamev  Jayate has gone on to create a prime viewer ship slot and has a TVR OF 4.0 after 4 weeks which is all set to grow and become a property of its own on Sunday mornings.  2. & 3.

India is the largest maker of films worldwide and we continue to strive to make relevant social films across themes and genres in multiple languages and we have some great films coming out from various corners of India.

Our films are here to entertain us and we the discerning audience have every right to expect stellar performances from our new age actors.

1. Source: MTV Youth Marketing Forum April 2012

2. Source: afaqs.com

3. Source:  Storyboard.com

Atticus 2012

WPP’s highly-competitive Atticus Awards exists to encourage its employees to pursue thought leadership by awarding original, published thinking in communications services.

This year, the Khan and Khan of JWT India made all of us proud with their fantastic performances... Shaziya Khan, Executive Planning Director (JWT Mumbai) won a Certificate of Merit in the Consumer Insight category for her entry, “India – a JWT Perspective”. Lubna Khan, Strategic Planning Director (JWT Delhi) also received a commendation for her work, “Don’t Listen to yourCustomers - Working with a Task Based Approach to Innovation."

Their achievements will remain an inspiration for us all!

Female and Auto: The Peek-a-Boo Show by Nilakshi Medhi, JWT Planning, Delhi

The story starts with the Honda Brio commercial, which triggered off a series of thoughts... of emotions and gender, of history and truth, of automobile and males... the commercial leaves behind an impression of what an automobile can offer and even substitute. Another case in point is the Maruti Suzuki SX4 commercial, which makes the car almost an innate object of subjective ‘male’ urges. The automobile has been a very narrow and a cliché canvas, on which many male fancies and desires have been painted and even ‘white-washed’.
Flip a few pages in history and some surprises may pop up...
The original Ford Mustang, now coveted as the muscle car from Ford was originally designed as a car to appeal to the women, which men incidentally should also desire. The original slogan for the Mustang was "A sports car that you can buy on a secretary's salary." The commercials portrayed young women in the 20's and 30's leaving a busy office and running home to load up their Mustang for a fun weekend with the girls.



Communication in automobile has gone through many twists and turns, as it reflects the changing cultural norms of the day. The automobile or the passenger car was originally designed as utility vehicles, primarily positioned as ‘horseless carriages’. These vehicles were meant for male use, except for society women called ‘chauffeuses’, who drove for recreation around 1910. Even then the accepted means of transport for the women folk were electric cars, which even Henry Ford bought for his wife, Clara in the same year the iconic Model T was launched, 1908. The gender roles were clearly established, gas powered cars were meant for use by the male section of the society.
It was only in the 1950s and the 60s that a paradigm shift was noticeable, as females were increasingly being heard in the society and the family composition. This can be largely attributed to the significant role that women played in the two World Wars and the suffrage movement. As manufacturers adopt new selling techniques, they began to listen and acknowledge the female element that existed in most purchases. But the household remained the common context around which most manufacturers sought to attract this influential segment. It was not uncommon for a woman to drop her husband off at work, take the children to school, run errands throughout the day, and then return to pick up her children and husband, which was leveraged by most manufacturers. The portrayal of most women in this era was conservative and within the realms of the traditional set-up of a family and a home. While the man earns the bread, the woman can still ‘be free’ to run errands and enjoy life.



The 60s and the 70s can be seen as the rise of the counter culture generation that challenged the status quo of the society. While in the early 1900s, the emphasis was on improving the efficiency and the performance of the vehicle, the 60s and the 70s was the age for satisfying the vanity of the generation. Dagmars, tailfins along with the abundant usage of chrome in automobile was the order of the day. These superficial changes capitalized on the sexual revolution and reinstated a consumerist economy driven by men. Women were relegated to being the docile ‘pussycats’ while the masculine man maintain absolute control behind the wheel. Ironically while the feminists were shouting hoarse about birth control, the female form became an accessory to sell one of the most potent male fantasies, a fiery four wheel dream.



As we roll into the new decade, the two sexes have become more alike in their access to and usage of automobiles. In fact, in the late 1990, 20% of all American households had three or more cars, with increasing number of females entering multiple male domains or the so called “male public place”. With increasing employment level, sprawling suburbs and a choking public transport system, women is seen multi-tasking between home and office, running errands and clocking more miles than the man in the house. Throughout the decades, the automobile has been a gendered object that has seen manufacturers swinging between male advocacy and female dependency.
Since its origin to modern times, the automobile has been a ‘boy’s toy’, succumbing to the male whims and desires. Like the iconic Mustang, which has moved far ahead of being a ‘secretary’s car’ to a throbbing V8 engine power horse, automobile manufacturers are taking the same tried and tested route of seizing the pulsating male heartbeat.
This brings us back to the Honda Brio and Maruti Suzuki SX4 commercials that pampers the male ego and blatantly highlights the rift between the masculine and the feminine subjectivities. A SX4 may proudly proclaim that ‘Men are back” but when did they ever leave this very masculine space?