Emergence of Post Liberators to change market dynamics
American demographers have a great way with words. When they found, post World War II, that there was an explosion in the birth rates, they coined a nice term to refer to this phenomenon:
By M G Parameswaran, |
American demographers have a great way with words. When they found, post World War II, that there was an explosion in the birth rates, they coined a nice term to refer to this phenomenon: Baby Boom. As these post-world war II babies started growing up, they started behaving very differently from their parents and their grand parents. They had not seen war or depression. They did not have to brave the wild west, the British colonial forces or even the poor Red Indians. The whole world loved America (if you don’t count the iron curtain countries; and they did not count) and these baby boomers could do no wrong.
In India, we are witnessing our own version of a baby boom and I am labeling these new boomers, Post Liberators. These are the now generation kids born a little before or after the liberalisation flag was waved by the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao and the then finance minister Manmohan Singh. The date: July 24, 1991. These post liberators have are now approaching consumption age, with some in their first jobs. How will they behave as citizens, and how different will be their consumption behaviour?
Compared with the generations before them, the Post Liberators have grown in an India that is witnessing expanding choices: of education, jobs, careers to electronic goods, two wheelers, cars, phones and more. They have seen foreign brands enter the market and fail. They have seen Indian brands facing foreign brands and winning. They have seen Indian companies buying foreign companies. The latest I am told is the erstwhile East India Company, now a furniture and curio shop in south Mumbai!
No wonder we are seeing Indian consumers changing, as was pointed out in the article in the Harvard Business Review (October 2006) on the New Indian Consumer. The authors Ashok Gopal and Rajesh Srinivasan point out three distinct trends: Indians are getting more materialistic, consumerism is becoming a way of life in India and foreign is passé, Indian is paramount.
It is possibly a mistake to assume that the whole country has adopted the consumerism mantra. It is likely that these new trends are being driven by the post liberators, in the bigger cities. It is likely that the younger lot, the post liberators and their immediate seniors, are driving this new sentiment.
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Post Liberators, now 15 to 20 years old, are not in the driver seat as yet, but they are probably influencing a lot of decisions being taken by their parents: which TV to buy, rail or air, etc. And it is well known that mothers learn the latest cosmetic tricks from their teenage daughters! The coming decade will see all these post liberators enter the work force. Their behaviour at work will be different. And their behaviour as consumers will also be different. We will need to develop new rules of engagement with these post liberators. The first step may very well be the acknowledgment of the fact that the new Indian consumer is going to be calling the tune, and get our ears tuned to hear their song. Just like the US marketers created products and services to especially cater to the Baby Boomers, it is now time for Indian marketers to start planning and take the Post Liberators seriously.
The author is executive director, FCB Ulka Advertising
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