I was traveling from Benares to Delhi by train. A group of young management students were traveling in the same compartment; while some of the boys and girls were from Kanpur Allahabad quite a few were from the class one and two towns who were perusing their management course in Benares and were then going back home for a short visit after one round of semester exams .
I watched them with interest as they talked about their career plans, exams, films, brands, products; pulling each other’s legs. There were umpteen numbers of things coming out of their haversacks and tote bags –creams, shampoo, spray, chocolates, wafers, chewing gums, and attachments of their gadgets. Grooming was an important subject of discussion apart from career and gadgets and it was interesting to hear boys and girls sharing grooming tips. Hair and hair care was an important subject across the sex.
I was pleasantly surprised to hear the name of cooling oils in the discussion. I thought cooling oils were down market brands to these management students but it was not. One girl said some of these brands were loaded with good stuff for hair care and were quite effective in extreme summers. Yes perfume was an irritant “I wish there is a pure coconut version available in the cooling variant. Cooling effect is caused by menthol and it is a safe ingredient. We take it in many forms; then why not in hair oil and use specially in those scorching summer days.” My curiosity really got tickled and I asked how she got into using the product. She said she picked it up from one of her room mates from small town India .Influence from the bottom of the pyramid! I thought .... Is this one of a kind or an emerging trait? If this is true then sooner or later big brands need to look at the so called local down market products in a new light; or was I reading too much?...
I read the following from the interview of the Marico CEO today in Afaqs:
"Cooling oils, we are prototyping in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. It is a seasonal product. Typically, cooling oils do well during the summer season. In-home consumption of cooling oils is very high, which is what excites us about this product. The segment is one of the fastest-growing in the hair-oil category, clocking a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 13-15 per cent. It is clearly important for us to be there."
13-15% CAGR! Where is it coming from? Just an organic growth or Bharat has started influencing Indian consumption pattern? If that has started to happen then Banphool, Navratan and Himtages of the world may have already taken a stride from being thanda to being cool.What do you think?
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4 comments:
interesting observation!agree to some extent.
been meaning to comment on this one. you've captured the essence of it with your remark on menthol hair oils having come all the way from thanda to cool. couldn't agree more. in a complex country like ours, and in a complex time, hybridization is the mantra of the day. hair oil as thanda is a culturally undiluted space, static, immutable, invariably valid. it has a fixed address. whereas cool is diluted, multiple, equivocal, hybrid, contextual. cool changes with the time. cool morphs with the mood. in this age of migrations in physical, virtual and cultural space you can't afford to have a fixed address. what was thanda has reinvented itself as cool to stay relevant, to be flexible, re-usable, changeable, to be worn with different color codes and dress codes.
i cant agree with you more . therefore it becomes imperative for marketers to provide cool wheels to thanda -starting from packaging , model and communication. the context should remain but the content demands up gradation . thanks for your comments
Quite liked the closure on Bharat versus India. Infact it gives a food for thought for further researching and writing. Going beyond the cooling oil, if you see a large number of products (brands) have also imbibed traits such as this. One hour champi, panch mutlab chota coke et al. The Bharat to India and India to Bharat is an interesting journey. Maybe you being in the trade can capture that better
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