Anna Hazare and his campaign against corruption was one of the most widely followed stories on the media last year.
The ad industry's attention was once again drawn to people processes.
I met the head of the Indian operations of a large MNC a few days ago and asked him how the year had been and he made a telling comment. “Well, the only thing I can tell you is that I am glad 2011 is over.” The Indian cricket fan too would endorse the sentiment entirely, as contrary to bookmakers' predictions and my own hopes, India slumped to an embarrassing defeat in the Boxing Day test, which thankfully ended the cricketing action for the year.
For the Indian consumer in 2011, economy was distinct from parsimony, and values too, came to the forefront.
The Boxing Day test is overshadowing even the deadline of my year-end column. In a sense it is easier to review the past than to predict the future. So let me stay with the past (as befitting people of my age) and not worry unduly about the outcome of India's Australia tour even if I can feel the excitement of a possible Indian win (after ages) in every pore of my body. How was the year for marketing and the consumer? And what about the poor advertising agency? As usual I believe in the collective wisdom of my peers many of whom are storehouses and repositories of information on marketing and the consumer just as Wisden has always been on cricket. So I humbly dedicate this column (errors et al) to my quietly wise friends whom I reached out to in my hour of need.
A new value-seeker
Thanks to reports of doom and gloom the average Indian consumer has stopped splurging. (Or has he?)
When we talk about a leader as a brand, the only Indian example that used to come readily to mind was that of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He was an undisputed, undeniable brand in every sense of the term. This is not to undervalue the contribution of other political leaders like the simple but effective Lal Bahadur Shastri or the charismatic Jawaharlal Nehru, both of whom had their followers. Suddenly the Indian leadership stakes has a new entrant in Anna Hazare. What a leader! If someone can actually move our government and even the normally sluggish Manmohan Singh to action, he deserves nothing but the highest praise and the eligibility to enter the top brand management stakes. While it is understandable if I were to break into eulogistic rapture about his actual achievements I shall carefully desist and attempt to stay with the leadership brand, its characteristics and the learning therefrom for young aspirants. What can we learn from the Annas of the world - about leadership and branding?
Anna Hazare and his campaign against corruption was one of the most widely followed stories on the media last year.
