Language is for communication and not for oppression

The news out today is that the body that regulates web addresses (ICANN) will now allow web addresses that can be in scripts other than Latin or what we commonly know as English letters. Also out is another news that in Maharashtra it is going to be mandatory for all commercial establishments to put up bold Marathi signage on store fronts.

While the world is beginning to accept that language must be a matter of personal choice and no boundaries must be put on it, here at home we have decided that the only way for our people to achieve regional identity is to curb their use of language.

There can be little doubt that a language spoken by a majority of the region’s population should be used for as much of the official correspondence and in Government offices as possible, but surely all commercial establishments should have the liberty to choose how they project themselves? The whole idea behind storefront signage is to inform customers about the business. So if an establishment felt that it would lose business by not having signage in the local language it would ignore that fact at its peril. If the shopkeeper felt it would improve his business no Government dictate would be needed to put up shop signs in Marathi or any other language that the shop keeper felt necessary.

Unfortunately this drive by MNS and like has very little to do with their love of the language or their concern for the average Marathi speaking person. It is just another tool they are using to stir up a people who are looking to find their place under the sun. Yes, regional identity is one part of the over all identity of a person. But the MNS would do much better to use the resources it has to push its followers to better educate themselves and eradicate such social evils as drinking, gambling and lack of education- all of which are a far greater of cause of poverty and misery than the lack of Marathi signage.

Innovation will always be the best weapon

“ It is impossible to break through all the clutter and noise”, this is what most frustrated marketers feel and genuinely face every day. And added to this is the fact that consumers these days have access to several un-official yet strong networks of information such as social networking sites, forums and blogs. In this kind of an environment what is a marketer to do? Well the answer is the same as has been since the beginning of commerce- innovate.

And this is precisely what marketers of goods and services are doing in India now more than ever before. Co-branding, in-programming product placement, cross promotions have suddenly seen a spurt. Gone are the days of the vanilla media plan where you bought ad space and air time and hoped to God that the viewers would catch your ad and not switch to another channel at the flick of their remote’s button. The need of the hour is to find a greater emotional re-connect with the consumer and communicate in a way that it is perceived more as a recommendation than an advertisement.

Keeping this in mind many television channels are cashing in on a new asset. They have realized that there is a deep emotional connect between their audience and the characters of their favourite television shows. So when Star Plus wanted to launch its new serial “Sabki Ladli Bebo” it placed mentions of it in its already popular “Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai”. The same channel also regularly promotes its live award events using its existing fiction series. Similarly Zee TV recently promoted its finalists of “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs” in an innovative yet awkward episode of “12/24 Karol Bagh” which is already growing in popularity.

These kinds of promotions are not limited to television serials alone. Lux just launched its new range with beauty oils. And while they roped in India’s first cine-couple (Ash and Abhi) to do the regular commercials, they also have all the doe-eyed leading ladies of their most popular soaps selling it to all the beauty hungry young girls of the country.

Faced with an ad crunch even the print industry is being pushed into innovation. Femina, a leading women’s weekly, tied up with HUL to cross-promote a range of its products this festive season. The idea of course being that the promotions would be perceived more as an unbiased recommendation by the publication than a push by the manufacturer and the consumer product manufacturer would promote the Femins name in reciprocation. Thereby crossing the boundaries of the usual promotion.

Only time will tell how succesful these tactics are. But they sure indicate a mature marketing environment where the marketers are not caving in but using innovation to reach out to the consumer.