Hindu art of marketing
-by Piyoosh Rautela
Maybe you have not realized this, but we have much to be proud of in our tradition.
Vedic literature is replete with concepts of zero, along with techniques related to algebra and algorithm, square root, and cube root.
Arguably, but the origin of Calculus is sure to be traced back to India, some 300 years before Leibnitz and Newton.
Albert Einstein has rightly acknowledged this by saying, “We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.”
Urban settlements of Mohenjodaro and Harappa indicate the existence of civil engineering and architecture that blossomed to a highly precise level and were manifested in a large number of monuments of ancient India.
Remarkable feats were at the same time achieved in the field of astronomy.
Routine marketing
Though not that much appreciated, we had great marketing genius amid our ancestors, who devised and implemented strategies that have stood the test of time and have worked satisfactorily, seamlessly and cotinuously , and that too without recurring investment on promotion or advertising.
This is sure to sound bewildering to the marketing and advertising stalwarts of the present time.
If we dive deep into the basics, marketing is all about selling and sustaining the demand by establishing a special emotional relationship with potential customers, This bond is considered as being the essence of brand loyalty, and huge investment is pumped into promotion and advertising
HMT – “Desh ki Dhadkan“,
Bajaj Chetak – “Hamara Bajaj“,
Rin – “Safedi ki Chamkar” and many others being displaced outright from the market.
Either the promotional strategy was flawed, or the marketing gurus could not sense the onslaught of TITAN, LML, NIRMA and other competitors.
Be what brands do fail and succeed, and it is a global marketing truth.
NOKIA – “Connecting People“,
KODAK– “Say Goodbye to Middle Tones“,
HMV – “Home of Entertainment Since 1921“,
PENTAX – “Be Interesting” and
SONY – “Make Belief” are just a few examples of marketing turmoil.
Marketing without promotion
In this backdrop, you are sure to be astonished, if I tell you that the brand loyalty promoted by our ancestors has not failed over centuries, despite no revenue being pumped directly into advertising or promotion.
It is a fact indeed, that our ancestors better understood the marketing algorithm and scientifically built upon this a strategy that was to work for ages to come without promotion, and the target products were to remain in the purchasing choice radar of the potential customers.
For doing so, our ancestors never relied on brand ambassadors, as is vogue these days. They were perhaps aware that every brand ambassador has a shelf life, and none can eternally market their product. Marketing was thus not perceived as just selling, but as establishing an emotional bond with potential buyers through a passive connection with their social identity.
So, rather than roping in celebrities – Shahrukh Khan by Hyundai, Deepika Padukone by Louis Vuitton or Ajay Devgan by Vimal– the brand loyalty professed by our ancestors was woven around an appeal to tradition, culture, and religion. Moreover, all through marketing remained subtle and passive.
Adi Shankaracharya
Some 600 years ago, born in a humble Namboodari Brahmin family, Adi Shankaracharya dwelled from Kalady in Kerala and took over the sub-continent like a storm. He preached the concept of the union of soul, i.e. Atman and Brahman. With his oratory and canvassing skills, he convinced people and won them over to his side, uniting this land of stark diversities by subtle but powerful bond, and was a real nation builder.
Adi Shankaracharya was at the same time a great visionary who took an interest in the well-being of people around him. Though not recognized so, he was at the same time a marketing guru par excellence.
If Hindu, you would certainly have bought coconut (nariyal) and copra (gola), as also whole betel leaves (sabut paan patta) and areca nut (supari) many times, and if you look around a few might still be lying unnoticed in your house, perhaps around your place of worship. With around 97 crore Hindus in India alone, the turnover of these products in monetary terms is sure to be much larger than your wildest guess.
I am equally sure that you would have never cared to question their presence in your house, far off from the place where these are routinely grown. And if these are out there in your house, and you do purchase these routinely; it is due to clever design and not just coincidence.
Some 600 years before present times, during the lifetime of Adi Shankaracharya, the means of transport were not efficient, convenient, and well developed. At that time it was hard to sell, particularly agro-horticultural products in far-off markets if these do not comprise the staple diet of the potential buyers. Moreover, land revenue rates being exorbitant, the lot of the primary producers was largely laced with poverty.
Agri-horticultural productivity at that time hardly translated to the prosperity of the producers, and this holds good even today despite all advances in supply chain mechanisms and in transport.
During the time of Adi Shankaracharya, it was still harder to get gainful employment, except in the Court or Army of the local rulers. Most people thus depended on agriculture and were perpetually poor.
At that time there was hardly any market value of coconut or copra as also whole betel leaves and areca nut and the primary producers were not in a well to do economic state. Having observed the miserable condition of the primary producers Adi Shankaracharya cleverly devised a strategy to latch them to the mainstream economy.
To improve the economic condition of the primary producers Adi Shankaracharya cleverly amalgamated coconut, copra, betel leaves and areca nut with the religion and philosophy championed by him. He thus propagated these to the nook and corner of the subcontinent and his cleverly designed marketing strategy has been successful in maintaining the demand for over 600 years, even in areas hundreds of kilometers from their place of origin.
Sustaining demand
This gave boost to the demand of coconut, copra, betel leaves and areca nut and the same was translated into the prosperity of the primary producers. This added to the social acceptability of Shankaracharya and perhaps the surplus generated by this strategy fuelled the Sanskritik Digvijay – a positive feedback loop.
The reasons of the success of this strategy are not hard to ascertain, as it started with WHY of the Golden Circle of Simon Sinek and at the very beginning addressed the concern as to why people purchase what they purchase, and only after that proceeded to convince them as to what they have to purchase.
It may well be contended whether this strategy was the natural outcome of the mission of Shankaracharya or as part of a well-thought-of and planned game plan. In both cases, the marketing gurus of today can learn a lot from their game plan and come out with out-of-the-box thinking for sustainable marketing of their products.
(The post-Hindu art of Marketing appeared first on the Risk Prevention Mitigation and Management Forum.)