By Shobha Prasad
Director
DRSHTI Strategic Research Services PVT, LTD
Mumbai, India
shobha.p@drshti.com
Many Indias
The air was cold, and I could see snow on the mountains from a distance. My companion, a local translator, was leaning out of our SUV, asking for directions in a language completely alien to me. So far everything on this trip had seemed alien—climate, terrain, customs, food. Yet, this was no foreign land; I was in a remote part of my own country, India.
As an Indian, you can feel like a stranger in your own country. India has 28 states, over a dozen religions, and 22 recognized languages. Differences between Indian states can be startling. Cuisines and palates vary sharply, ethnic variations lead to different skin and hair types, and even body language can differ—shaking the head a certain way can mean “yes” in some parts of the country and “no” in others! Value systems, influencers, and cultural icons can also vary widely across the country.
The reason is that India is an amalgamation of multiple ancient cultures going back thousands of years. It is not uncommon for Indians to identify more sharply with their state as “Punjabis,” “Bengalis,” “Keralites,” etc., than with the country as a whole.
Plurality: Challenges Faced by Brands
This plurality poses serious challenges for brands seeking strategies that straddle the country. Many focus on just a few states, given their consuming population equals whole European nations, which is not a bad strategy. However, the quest to “conquer” the whole country is always on, and this is where qualitative research has become increasingly useful, helping find common platforms or differential strategies.
We get challenging briefs as a consequence. For instance, an Indian brand of SUV wanted to understand why it was successful in Northern India but could not make inroads into Southern India. Our research discovered that SUV design preferences aligned with different concepts of masculinity across these regions. The more rugged, aggressive design appealed to the men in the North, while the same design was considered a bit too thuggish in the South, where masculinity was more understated and suave. This insight helped the company to make portfolio decisions, targeting different brands to different parts of the country.
Brands have to be mindful of cultural variations while framing their advertising messaging. Here is an example. The brand Mountain Dew is positioned in India on the concept of “Courage,” with the tagline translating to “Beyond Fear Lies Victory.” Advertising for the brand showcases the throat-constricting moment of self-doubt that precedes the surge of courage as a “Dew moment.” These ads worked well except in the state of Punjab, ironically a state of warriors and bravery. Our research provided a significant cultural insight that Punjabis refused to acknowledge that they experienced the self-doubt or the moment of vulnerability that the Dew narrative was based on. The premise of the ads fell flat. As a result, the brand had to evolve a new tagline especially for the Punjab market: “Scare the Fear.”
It is not unusual for advertising research to be conducted in as many as eight to 10 centers across the country to capture the differences in cultural nuance and find common platforms, which can be very elusive indeed!
Food companies, in particular, are directly impacted by cultural differences. Since virtually every state has its own unique cuisine and flavor palate, companies create different spices and foods for different parts of the country. This needs intensive qualitative research, including ethnographic observations, desk research, discussions with experts, and co-creation sessions within each state.
Multicultural Research: Rules of Thumb
Virtually every research project in India is a multicultural experience. We follow some rules of thumb, often unconsciously, in every research project. These rules impact the design, process, and analysis stages.
- Cultural Context Informs Research Design
Differential Approaches
Design research in terms of age bands, ethnic backgrounds, and communities to cover, whether we mix genders in focus groups, and much more depending on the culture of the region.
Rural India, for instance, needs a different approach than urban India, as it has different value systems and social constructs and is far more class and caste conscious. Hence, recruitment has to be careful not to mix people of different social classes or castes; otherwise, people would simply not speak up or just agree with the “upper-class” participants.
While across India, it is a good practice to have female researchers interview women; in rural parts, this is essential. We once made the error of having an all-male team interview some rural women, only to have a furious family patriarch call the police and have the team arrested for suspicious activity!
Cultural Context and Probing Strategies
Probing strategies are also dependent on the local culture and social norms. Some cultures are excessively polite and unwilling to express negative opinions. To coax out true feelings, we need to use third-person projective techniques or questions such as “What would people say about . . . ” or “What do you think people may not like about . . . ”. However, other parts of the country can be brutally frank, and such techniques are not really needed.
Over the years, people have migrated across states but carry their culture with them. All of our analysis takes into account the cultural backdrop of the state, as well as the specific migratory backgrounds of respondents. Our discussion guides always incorporate an initial probe to understand who our respondents are in terms of their home state, family type, and some generic attitudes in order to “place” them.
Ethnographic Elements
Important cultural elements are unable to be captured in conventional focus groups or interviews. Observational and ethnographic elements are important to capture even within the framework of conventional research.
Home visits are eye-openers in culturally diverse societies. We did a study of refrigerators across the country to find wide variations in usage. In a country without a tradition of freezing and storing, these variations follow climate and food cultural patterns. In the hot and humid southern states, we found the refrigerator was used to store different flours and spices to preserve their shelf life, while drier regions used it more as a cooling device. This has led to innovations in refrigerator design for different parts of the country.
Ethnographic elements are important in other ways as well. For instance, Indians are highly religious, but given the vast religious diversity and potential tensions, this topic is too sensitive to discuss in conventional sessions. In this context, a visit to homes can be very revealing. The religiosity that people do not express in conversation is expressed in myriad ways on their walls, pictures, décor, and small symbols. You can see the differences between the deeply rooted and more progressive, and how this impacts their choices in ways that cannot be easily articulated.
- Culture Sensitive Processes
Social Sensitivity
Understanding the history, communities, and hierarchies of a region really helps in grasping modern-day attitudes. While the caste system in India is officially dismantled, traces linger and find expression in unexpected ways.
For instance, in most parts of the country, accepting hospitality is an important mark of respect, but sometimes there is more to it. I recall refusing tea at a home I was visiting as part of fieldwork, as I had just had a cup at the earlier home. The woman believed I was refusing because I thought she was from a lower caste and quickly reassured me that she was a “Brahmin” (the highest Hindu caste). Embarrassed, I explained that her caste was a nonissue with me and finally accepted some tea. With some homework, I would have realized this was a particularly caste-sensitive part of the country and not made such simple errors.
Language Matters: Research in the Native Language
Language frames the window to culture. Translators and moderators are often conduits who can help grasp the culture through language nuances. It is important not just to ensure accurate translation but also to understand the metaphors used, as this provides insight into the way this culture thinks.
For instance, there is a well-known
Indian brand of cockroach repellant called “Laxman Rekha,” literally translating to “Laxman’s Line.” This product is chalk
made with pest repellant material, with which to draw a circle around food to
protect it from cockroaches.
This name has roots in the legend of Ramayana, where Laxman draws a protective line on the ground for Goddess Sita to keep her safe from demons. (Incidentally, she steps out of the line and is kidnapped by Ravana.) Many use the phrase “Laxman Rekha” in regular conversation to signify boundaries one should not cross. This name captured the imagination, and the brand has endured for many years.
A brand of biscuit called Sunfeast Supermilk is based on milk from native Indian cows. The advertising uses a saying from the local culture as their tagline: “Goodness will always find you.” The brand today feels part of this culture.
We consciously adhere to the principle of conducting research as far as possible in the native language, although there are bridge languages across the country (Hindi, English). Most Indian researchers are multilingual, fluent in two to three languages at the least.
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“Laxman Rekha” Brand Culture Sensitive Analysis
“Smell” the Culture
A friend of mine once reflected that you can “smell” a culture. We try to get this whiff before we start the formal part of the research. Conversations with locals, reading local news articles, and immersing in sights and sounds really help to get under the skin and scrape off the “alien-ness” of the place.
Let’s go back to where we started—in the SUV in a cold Himalayan Indian state where I felt like such an outsider. The northeastern states of India set against the Himalayas are very different from the rest of the country, with influences from across the border and a long tribal history. People from this region also have different racial characteristics with high cheekbones and smoother skin and hair.
To most of us on our team, we may as well have been exploring a new country, and we approached it as such. History and geography books in Indian schools rarely cover this region in any granularity, so we had to learn everything from scratch.
To start with, we read up on the history of the region, met professors and social workers, and familiarized ourselves with the local politics. We started with markets and restaurants when we went there to feel the daily thrum of life. Because of these efforts, by the time we started meeting participants, the edge of alien-ness was already off.
Once we peeled away the superficial layers around the food and language, we found much that was in tune with the rest of the country, especially aspirations for their children or material milestones. Like other states in the country, they desired to feel integrated and a part of India without losing their own unique regional identity.
But the difference was that their feeling of alienation was much bigger. They wanted to be “seen” and wanted to see their own regional icons being used in the ads and products specially created for them.
With this understanding, the client was able to adapt messaging already in use in other parts of the country but with greater cultural sensitivity, using regional icons and media while retaining the overarching brand platform.
Identify Big and Little Traditions, Stories, and Myths
We believe culture is best understood through a study of large and small inherited traditions. A breakdown of cultural stories, myths, rituals, and beliefs around products especially provides deep insight that can be leveraged to build culturally rooted brands.
Food staples like rice, wheat, and barley often have deeper significance beyond their practical or nutritional value. They are often part of religious rituals, and some even have social significance, projecting status in society.
Understanding the myths and beliefs surrounding traditional categories is particularly important, and this can vary across the country. For instance, in some parts of the country, red chilies are believed to be harmful to health, and green chilies are preferred. This is the opposite in other parts of the country, and this has an impact on product composition and claims.
Cultural significance goes beyond food to numerous categories. For instance, painting homes in India means more than coloring walls. This used to be done every year as part of the festival ritual, signifying purification and rejuvenation and projecting status through showcasing the home. Understanding this has had an impact on marketing strategies, such as special bundled sales during the festive season and messaging that focuses on these emotions of rejuvenation or upgradation.
Brands operating in India make it a point to understand the cultural significance, history, and rituals around their categories, and align their marketing efforts and messaging accordingly.
Creating Culture Bridges
Despite superficial differences, cultures may not be very different from each other at the core, but to arrive at this, it is important to get beyond the superficialities. We strive to relate different cultures to each other, looking for similarities that would help us “club” cultures from a strategic viewpoint.
This is what ultimately helps brands optimize their strategies and become successful over vast multicultural geographies.
Growing Cultural Complexity and Impact on Research
Today, migration across the Indian states, increasing exposure to social media, growing access to online shopping, and much more have impacted Indian societies, apparently blurring lines across cultures. Urban and rural India do not seem to be as far apart as earlier. Gen Z and Gen Alpha are displaying greater homogeneity transcending geography. If this is indeed the case, it is good news for brands as they can adopt uniform strategies across the country.
But the reality is more complex. On the surface, we see homogeneity in fashion, hairstyles, jewelry, lingo, and much more. But scratch the surface, and we find root cultures impacting the way these newer generations express themselves—their use of language, their humor, the types of reels they create, and their icons are quite different across different parts of the country.
In fact, the democratization of creativity is leading to further doubling down on local identity. Local influencers have their own catchment and are exerting a different kind of influence that is rooted in local culture. There are also efforts to dig deeper into roots to preserve the original cultures and languages from erosion. The result is that cultures are not merging but morphing within their lanes, each new generation adding new layers and tones.
Looking Ahead
More recently, our research projects have turned to ethnography, peer group studies, and intergenerational interactions to help define these evolving cultures and how influencers interact with deeper cultural roots to shape new identities. There is also increasing exploration of AI-driven tools to provide scale to insights and help widen understanding without compromising depth.
Interestingly, while earlier, the challenge for researchers was to see beyond the superficial differences to understand unifying similarities, today, the challenge is to see beyond the superficial homogeneity to understand the real diversity. Complicated!
This complex and dynamic situation is why Indian clients are increasingly turning to qualitative research to help them understand the changes in society and what it means for their brands in their quest to “conquer” the entire country.
