'Digitisation has made targeting microcultures easy, especially in a market like India'

The increasing regional market penetration and fast pacing digitisation have further strengthened the hyperlocal strategy of brands. It is noteworthy to say that the multilingual approach by brands has become the need of the hour to cater to the diverse cultural markets to achieve the targeted numbers. Pitch CMO summit hosted an intriguing panel discussion on the ‘Importance of Multilingual & Diverse Cultures in Building Brand Love’, with prominent thought leaders from different industries. 

The panel consisted of Kavitha Ganesan, Head – Brand Marketing, TVS Eurogrip; Rahul Gandhi, CMO - India & UAE, iD Fresh Food; Naveen Raman, Sr. Vice President & South Head, 82.5 Communications; Navin Kumar, Director, Navin’s; along with Naziya Alvi Rahman, Editor, exchange4media as the session chair.

Rahman commenced the discussion by quizzing fellow panelists on the different ways adopted by brands to embrace multilingual and multi-cultural strategies. Ganesan prompted, “Today’s evolved consumers want to consume content in their own language. Brands have to strategically gauze the diverse market and incorporate their thinking to create campaigns that cater to every market for greater penetration of goods.”

Gandhi seconded her thoughts and added, “Digitisation has made targeting microcultures easy, especially in a market like India.”

Talking about the real estate sector, Kumar explained that the language requirement changes with every project in the sector. So, multilingual communication plays an important role in this process.

Pivoting the discussion towards how agencies cater to the demands of clients, Raman enlightened the viewers by the fact that 90% of Indians want to consume content in their regional language. “Different regions have different requirements from various clients. Therefore, we, as agencies, position brands according to their geographical and linguistic needs. We need to have a dual strategy for brands when it comes to different cultural needs.”

The session chair then was curious to know about the kind of briefs given to agencies by the brands. Gandhi highlighted that they usually stick to the strategy and provide clear and understandable briefs to clients. “We go with the audiovisual and static posters in multiple language approach for regional market”.

“We ensure that the cultural diversity is respected when it comes to targeting different cultures”, noted Ganesan.

While Kumar believed that cultural targeting is mandatory in the real estate business.

Putting the spotlight on the challenges faced by the agencies from marketers and the ways to tackle them, Raman asserted that capability of thinking is important. Clients need to be strategically clear, which makes it easy for agencies to work. “Understanding relevance, nuances of different cultures and being focused to clients’ demands is the key for all creative agencies”, explained Raman.

The panellists concluded the insightful panel discussion by discussing ways to remove cultural stereotypes and be culturally sensitive. They zeroed in on having proper research before planning and executing different multicultural and multilingual campaigns, thoroughly by listening to consumers, use of local partners for better local communication, and being hyper local in approach.