We made McDonald’s change their menu
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Unlike a lot of other posts, mine will be a far cry from technology. A hard-core marketer and brand guy at heart (and a marketing research consultant by profession), my first reaction to any change in technology is to look at it from Indian consumers’ perspective. So here I am, opening my innings with a brief article on internet and consumerism on internet.
Disclaimer: I credit my understandings / misunderstandings to my own observations, on life, on consumers and on brands. I am really not driven by ‘data’. So, you won’t find many numbers in my posts 
A lot has been said about the Indian consumer while comparing him with his western counterpart. Marketing gurus have often referred to them as ‘price / value conscious consumers’. The most difficult consumer to appease in the world - perhaps, that is the reason why McDonald’s was forced to change their menu upon arrival ! Star TV was forced to develop content adapting to local palette (sun sets on Baywatch and rises on ‘K’ girl). FM was initiated to adapt to local music (remember Delhiites, the good old 102.6 fm? Do you remember it anymore?) Newspapers were persuaded to adapt to local content. The key word here is ‘localization’.
I might draw a flak from the internet puritans when I say that Internet is, by far, a virgin territory in terms of exploiting ‘local content creation and delivery’. How many websites offer vernacular link? How many websites allow seamless transition to local searches and local content? ‘Food’ for thought - how many north indians love idli-dosa and how many south indians love butter chicken? Is it therefore advisable to give them both on the same plate?
Bottomline: While I do see a lot of startups mushrooming from the subcontinent (and it is indeed heartening to witness that), I wonder if they pause to ponder - ‘We made McDonald’s change their menu’.
Shāyon adds : This is a guest post by Shitij Jain. Unfortunately I do not know him personally. I found this post submitted to us and decided to check it out. After I was done reading, I couldn’t help but admire the beauty and ease with which this post was written. Also reminded me of a forwarded image that I had gotten from a colleague of mine. I am not posting it here since it is a huge image, but here’s a link (thanks to Pankaj Bengani for the lighter image) for you to check it out and I am sure you would be able to identify the impression given out by my suggested image and stitch it to the context of this post.
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Hey Shayon, thanks for the kind words! Definitely motivating enough, for me to write in more stuff. Thanks again!
wrote something on similar lines a while back.. http://tinyurl.com/6m324v …
Would agree with what you have pointed out Manu, however I have tried raising a thought starter here. While there seems to be mass-agreement to ‘localization on the net’, it doesnt seem to be getting implemented across the neighbourhood and it peeves me to think of the reasons why? it was indeed re-assuring to see indiatimes getting vernacular in their attempt of having marathi articles on the portal (perhaps site-traffic is skewed towards maharashtra?) as far as the numbers go - its already around 50 million (juxtconsult online report 2008). albeit 4.5% of the total population, but its just growing exponentially. Any medium before it explodes hits low on topline / bottomline in terms of cost of acquisition, am sure I would credit the indian companies of having that sense and therefore being aware of the fact that if they wait for the numbers to pile up in this industry, they might have to shell out a lot more than what they can today (while its still growing). and you have mentioned an interesting point on segmentation, will write in more on that in my next post
There is a lot of local content in India you just have to start searching and even for that we have more than one option try Rediff Language Search which offers 8 languages http://search.rediff.com/ilsearch.html or
Guruji and Google regional searches 5 languages each and you will be amazed by the local content in India
laloo’s blog with a hindi option is great. This man understands India
@Shitij - you just quoted ‘data’ figures. check out my posts on the juxt consult report as well. I think most Indian marketeers ‘know’ what your saying. Its just that indian internet marketeers dont ‘feel’ what your saying. Maybe its got to do with the mindset, or their hands are not dirty enough. There’s multiple variables.
Marketing and ‘data’ just have to go hand in hand..:) so as much as I would want to think from the ‘gut’ data just sneaks into the picture:). You are right about the mindset, Indian Internet marketeers are still ’scared’ to take the leap of faith. Since what I am saying could change the rules of the game, and because it hasnt happened before, no one knows whether it will succeed or not.
The fact that localisation of content has not happened is not quite a problem with the marketers.. it is about the audience.. they haven’t made themselves lucrative.. in fact they have been harming the whole setup for internet marketers for e.g. click fraud in PPC programs.. the result is that channelling energies into a local audience is not profitable.. at this moment.. numbers only show one side of the story.. the fact is that converting audience into money is tough in India.. and then again what’s the harm in using the power the web offers us in reaching out to an international audience…