inquiringeyes

The chariot and the palanquin

Car ownership and gender-mediated needs in India and China

Hair clips, left over food from yesterday’s trip to Mc Donald’s, child’s sipper, lip balm, broken hair dryer, dirty laundry, two extra pairs of shoes, last year’s wall calendar, cuddly toys, wrapping paper for gifts the list goes on and only becomes more unusual - you see these things in a car and you know that the driver is a woman.

Contrast this with a high definition car stereo system and speakers that match, a certain car perfume, no additional fitments inside the car other than those outside, viz. an extra spoiler, collar for the silencer and stickers that match the color of the car, and similar stuff that makes the car look like a potent metal carriage that moves around - you see these in a car and you know that the driver is a man.

What do these two examples show? What do things in a car say about the driver?

A lot, to say the least.

For a man, his car needs to be all loaded, state of the art, well-oiled, prepared for any emergency - almost like it were a phallic symbol in the body of a motorized metal carriage that were designed for mating calls -both overt and covert. Of course there are men whose cars are extensions of their beer bellies – out of shape and full of waste, but we do not see many such men driving good cars, do we? 

What we do see though are young men driving around the city streets – steady around neighborhood markets and zipping on trunk roads, with their car stereos blaring music, as they look sideways. Do not panic - they are only checking out those who are checking them out - modern day mating calls I say!

Such kind of contemporary masculinity is just another version of the refined aggression of a well-heeled businessman or successful company executive walking proudly towards his shining new BMW – be it in a car park in Beijing or Bangalore.

For a man his car is like a chariot that he steers in this society’s resource constrained war zone. A war zone with too many successful men and too few suitable women, too many cars and too little space, too many people and too few who can really stand out.

For different kinds of men, the chariots are different too - there is the ceremonial ‘peace chariot’, the one that seeks nothing more than prestige. It is usually a luxury sedan - symbolizing class more than control, pragmatism more than power. Usually it is the business executive, or the young achiever who is seen in the company of such three-box metallic wonders.

There also is the ‘war chariot’ or the SUV, which is about Power more than Prestige, Dominance more than a subtle statement of Superiority. It does not believe in peaceful coexistence - not in life, not on the road. Little wonder, that the more chauvinistic among the men in India - the political leaders, landlords, aristocracy and the likes, are regularly seen in the vicinity of their 4-Wheel Drives.

Even in China, where political leadership has already standardized the choice of power statement (in Audis they trust and a black A-6 is the badge of power in Middle Kingdom!) But in spite of this, many still go for their Q7s. PLA personnel and their Audi SUVs with the trademark white number plates are hard to miss in all major cities in China and especially in Beijing!

But that’s about men, for most of the women on the other hand, a car is like a Palanquin. It is an extension of her living space. It has to offer, at an arms length, all that she needs, or needs to do – be it the make-up kit, hair comb, many shoes - “the stuff she needs”; or gifts, dirty laundry, broken hair dryer, child’s sipper - “the stuff she needs to do”.  

Try overhearing conversations that women have about cars – they usually hover around the brand names and quickly move into a discussion about the interiors. Many of them just want a nice cup holder or a bigger vanity mirror under the sunshade! Their needs speak volumes about their expectations from the car. For a girl the way a car feels from inside is any day more important than the way it looks on the outside.

Such needs are in sharp contrast to a man’s need for the ‘spec-fest’ loaded with numbers- 1.5/1.6@ 2000 and the self-styled platoon of reassuringly complicated abbreviations  - BHP, PS, rpm, DOHC, ROCAM, VTEC and the list goes on.

There of course are exceptions to this, because Tomboy girls like SUVs and bikes just the way safety obsessed moms like the extra armour of a 4-Wheel drive. And not to miss China’s er nais (Mistresses), who can be seen driving almost anything - from a Beetle to a Bentley; QQ to Q7s with as many Cayenne’s, Mini Coopers and Lamborghinis in between!

In developing countries like China and India, cars have classically been marketed either to the man or to the family. Seldom do we think about the implications of gender preferences in car purchase. In China unlike in India – a man’s car does not have much of a chance to look especially masculine. This is because of the prevailing regulations that prohibit any modification to a car’s exterior – thus leaving the male of the species with a generic logo that could be just about as exclusive as the price tag attached to it. 

The personal feminine touch is more visible for a woman’s car. Women, especially those who are single, have a bigger playground on the inside of the car. Little wonder you see Hello Kitty’s with their potent pinks and hug-worthy panda’s by the million. China, which is already world’s biggest market for cars and India, which is on its way to the No. 4 spot in 2015 have a growing number of female drivers (and owners!). For example 15-20% of hands behind the wheels in urban India are females.  Contrast this with still bigger numbers from China, where as much as 40% of Beijing drivers are women. The trend is not limited to big cities – south China’s Hainan Traffic Police data suggests that female license-holders account for over 17% of the total number of drivers. Even in Shouguang in Shandong (East China), with a population of just over 1,080,000 - one third of students in driving schools are women!

In spite of these pointers, it is difficult to think when was the last time a car was marketed to women, by pre-fitting it with things that acknowledged the presence of the female buyer.

Adapting a car to a woman’s needs does not require a lot of reengineering, basic adjustments on the inside can already help the women in many ways. There is no rocket science in visualizing a special under-seat shoebox that can hold the extra pair, so that everything need not be kept in the boot. Imagine seat belts that do not spoil ironed clothes and back of sunshades, that not only has a vanity mirror but can also hold lipsticks and eyeliners. Think of special LV steering wheel covers, visualize an extendable massage arm under driver’s seat that can soothe strained legs, and also a window glass that blocks out harmful UV rays while minimizing skin tan. The possibilities are endless – all it takes is the conviction and the will to do it.

Gender roles are becoming increasingly prominent in car purchases. Heroic hunter’s power and prestige has had more than its share of limelight, it is time to turn attention to feminine fairy’s cool comfort, which is looking for wheels to match. Are we listening? 

 

'Swarmonomics' and the Chinese shopper – seven things to learn

In the past four weeks we have seen two examples of swarm-style purchase frenzies by Chinese shoppers.

The first occasion was the panic-buying of common salt. Shoppers were under the impression that the iodine in salt could help in protecting them from the negative effects of nuclear radiation coming out of Japan following the earthquake-related nuclear emergency.

Stocking up on salt was also viewed as a good idea because some shoppers were convinced that the sea salt due to hit shelves in the coming months would have been polluted by the nuclear radiation, making it wiser to buy up stocks now. On a single day, around 4,000 tonnes of salt was sold in Zhejiang alone! Shops ran out of stocks, and when all the salt was gone, many zeroed in on soy sauce, due to its high salt content.

Calm had barely returned when another round of swarm-style purchasing hit the stores. This time it was laundry detergent.

Shoppers from Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and Wenzhou, upon hearing that detergent prices were to go up soon, moved in hordes and wiped the store shelves clean. Shop shelves lay empty as wave after wave of anxious shoppers loaded their shopping carts with almost any pack of detergent that they could lay their hands on.

These two instances say a great deal about the attitudes of the average Chinese shopper. These attitudes include:

1. Uncertainty about the future: The average Chinese shopper is anxious about tomorrow. They are not sure what is going to come their way and want to do all that they can to pre-empt anything that might go wrong. Making oneself uncomfortable today only to avert negative effects of future uncertainty, no matter of how remote or far-fetched it might be, is not unusual 

2. Low levels of trust: Chinese shoppers do not trust reactive information. Irrespective of the assurances from various other professional agencies about the price, quality and future availability of the products, shoppers were not convinced. They went on stocking up on these products as much as they could. 

3. Risk aversion: Chinese shoppers are hugely risk-averse, especially in times of relative uncertainty. They do not like to

leave things to a stroke of luck; they want to ensure that they do the right thing for themselves and ensure that it covers any kind of potential risk. 

4. Value consciousness: The large majority of Chinese shoppers will go to any extent to save money. 'Money saved is money earned' seems to be the shopping mantra for the masses that flock to supermarkets. This value consciousness is not just unique to China, but a theme reflected in other emerging markets. Shoppers in India are not very different. The sight of Chinese shoppers jostling for salt and detergent is reminiscent of the shopper stampede in India in 2006 when the Big Bazaar (a leading retail store brand in India) announced a three-day-long annual sale that offered a heavy discount on products across categories such as apparel, electronics and other consumables. Millions of shoppers came to buy, and in some of the cities police had to be called to manage the anxious mob of shoppers. Shoppers were worried that they might not be able to get the deal if they reached the store late or missed the first day of sale. 

5. 'Swarm sense': The occurrence of a flash flood of shoppers is neither sense nor nonsense; instead it is swarm-sense.

This is propelled by a feeling that 'the crowd must be right'. There is complete lack of individual judgment in the purchase decisions, and this only becomes more pronounced in the event of insufficient proactive information from credible sources.

This swarm-sense is also similar to the way Indian masses reacted to the news of Ganesha (a Hindu deity) drinking milk in 1995 and again in 2006. Millions streamed into Hindu temples carrying their pot of milk to offer to the deity. 

6. Connectedness: Rumours behind both the events were triggered largely by misinformation that spread through mobile phone messages and online microblogs. The speed at which the messages were spread and the scale of response demonstrates how modern-day communication technology has turbo-charged age-old word of mouth. This also shows the higher credibility of communication channels like mobile phones in such rumour-laden situations. 

7. Post-fact society: At a time when we have access to multiple information sources and diverse perspectives, we do not get the truth; we only choose to believe one version of it. What might 10-15 years ago have been a journalist's dilemma about which version of a story to believe and write about, is now the dilemma of the average person. The only difference is that the average recipient of information might not always be conscious of the choices that he or she is making. 

What can all this tell us as marketers and advertisers? We can definitely do well by acknowledging the importance of speed and timeliness of response. Such situations can be seen as moments of crisis and yet they can prove to be big opportunities for brands to come across as earnest and committed to a shopper's interest. For example, in the above two situations, consumer product brands could have gained a great deal had they stepped in early and reached out to shoppers; in the case

of the detergent frenzy they could have told shoppers about the company's commitment to provide the products at constant prices.

These two incidents also show the importance of opinion leaders in shaping people's behaviour. If brands identify the opinion leaders, especially those with clout in the online space, and supply them with complete information, they would be able to counter misinformation much faster and more effectively.

While shoppers are risk-averse when they lack credible information, marketers, in spite of having greater access to information, are not much different. They need to overcome this barrier. On this occasion marketers lost the opportunity to have a socially responsive stance, but there is nothing stopping them from doing that in the future.

 

 

 

A Dinner Banquet with Insights on Luxury & Philanthropy

Few months back about 50 of China’s business and philanthropy elites came together for a 90-minute discussion over dinner. The venue was a mansion on the edge of Beijing - a gilded and karaoke-equipped rococo castle, modeled after the baroque 17th century Chateau de Maisons-Laffitte in France. The hosts were the billionaire philanthropic duo - Warren Buffet & Bill Gates. Media dubbed the dinner as the "Ba Bi" Banquet - after the Chinese transliterations of the host’s names. ("Ba Bi" incidentally is also the Chinese for "Barbie").

BaBi was hot in media much before it even happened. There were news reports about a business tycoon from south China pledging all of his fortune to charity after his death and motivating other Millionaires in China to come forward and contribute. There were reports that the attendees had requested the list of invitees not to be made public for they were afraid of attracting unnecessary attention to their fortune. There were also voices from China’s philanthropic circles that Chinese did not need to learn philanthropy from Americans etc. 

But the string of events in the run up to Ba Bi and even after that, have more to tell us than just who pledged to donate and who did not. BaBi tells us a lot about the attitude of China’s super rich on two counts – one obviously is Philanthropy and the other less obvious but very evident is the attitude of China’s super rich towards luxury and indulgence.

What makes this rich group so important is its large & growing numbers. According to Shanghai-based analyst Rupert Hoogewerf China has 64 billionaires in US-dollar terms (second only to the United States) and at least 875,000 U.S. dollar millionaires. And these numbers are growing healthily. The disposable income of the richest 10% of Chinese families is 2008 was USD 20,500 – almost as much as 3 times the official government estimates. And this does not even include the total undisclosed income in China, which is estimated to be over 1.4 trillion (about the GDP of India!)

But in spite of this prosperity, for most of the Chinese the idea of charity seems a bit detached from daily life. While the total amount donated, as per Government records, has risen from $1.5 billion (RMB 10 billion) in 2006 to over $7.5 billion (RMB 50 billion) in 2009, it is still a negligible fraction of the $300 billion annually donated in the US, which is over 2% of the country's GDP. Also, only around 20% of China's annual donations actually come from individuals; the rest are made by private enterprises. In the US, for example this number is as high as 70%!

Contrast this attitude towards philanthropy with the state of luxury. In 2009, China alone accounted for 25% of the world's total luxury consumption, making it the second largest luxury market after Japan, whose GDP per capita is more than 10 times higher. And yet despite their consumerist instincts, the Japanese still appear to be more charitable in general than the Chinese. According to the 2010 World Giving Index, released by the Charities Aid foundation, 17% of the Japanese population has made charitable donations, compared to China's 11%.

What does all this mean? Does BaBi tell us anything more than what these numbers reveal? How?

BaBi was actually a terrific opportunity to glean insights about the China’s rich, their riches and their desire to give. Here are five things that I learnt from the much-publicized dinner.

1.     Short history of prosperity & thus philanthropy in modern China: “I just started making money and now you want me to give it all up?”

Because of China’s socialist background and the fact that wealth China is so new, the notion of government’s role versus philanthropy is still not fully developed. Historically, especially before 1949, China’s wealth was based, in one way, on familial wealth & power via heirlooms, bequeathments and hereditary titles. China comes from an Imperial, agrarian society, where power and social status is based on familial wealth. Modern Chinese society continues to have many aspects that still emphasize family wealth. We see this today in the continued inadequacy of China’s social welfare system, where Chinese parents still need to save all their wealth in order to pay for the education, and buy real estate for later generations.  

It is thus rather unrealistic to expect all of China’s Millionaires to become super-givers soon. After all most of them are the first generations of millionaires. After so many years of penury, it is only natural for them to want to hold on to their newly acquired wealth.

Short History of Luxury: “I have it and I want to flaunt it..”

From a luxury standpoint - we cannot expect China’s rich to start appreciating the nuances and subtleties of super luxury products and services. They have earned it recently and they would want to show it. A Chinese expression “大气” or da qi (the big and glorious) captures their state of mind rather well. Thus luxury that helps them demonstrate their achievement and success will do better than the classic understated luxury.

 

2.     No Philanthropic Role Models: “I should give all my money for ‘noble’ causes like whom?”  

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have had historical precedent from such past American philanthropists as Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Ford. China does not have many distinct philanthropic heroes in its own history. It will take time for China to have it’s own super-rich philanthropists. While people like Jet Li are already doing this in some way – there is still a lot that needs to be done to create social icons out of givers.

No role models in Luxury: “Unique style, like whose?”

From the luxury standpoint as well, there is a long way before China established its own set of luxury role models. There are still not many rich and successful men and women who have a distinct style that could inspire the other rich to develop their own unique style or get inspired by a new Chinese model of luxury and style. Today majority of role models in luxury and style are from the west and the choice of products of these luxury icons is emulated for their novelty and badge value rather unique resonance with one’s personal style.

 

3.     Limited reliable ways to contribute to the society: “There is infrastructure to spend but limited infrastructure to give”   

"If my donation doesn't end up helping the needy I'd feel cheated, to me it's not a question of money," said Cao Dewang, CEO of Fuyao Group - the biggest glass manufacturer in China- in a recent interview with CCTV. The news channel went on to say that Cao pledged to donate RMB 200 million to 100,000 low-income households via the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, a non-profit charity overseen by the government - but would do so only after signing a detailed contract to ensure that his money falls into the right hands. Jet Li is also quoted to have said in a recent interview that, “The main reason [why Chinese are skeptical about donating] is because there is an inherent mistrust in giving your money to any third party to pass it on. They’re convinced that for every 100 that they give, the end party won’t receive anything near that 100.”

The lack of a robust and matured ‘infrastructure to give’, accentuates concerns about giving in general. 

 

Shop for status not style: “It is expensive and everybody knows that – that’s enough for me..”

From luxury’s perspective, Mainland and Hong Kong shops are loaded with the most exotic in luxury with brands that boast of steep price tags, ironically they are all picked up from the shelves just for that reason viz. - the price and the exotica rather than a brand’s unique ability to pronounce one’s personal style. There is infrastructure to spend but there is no infrastructure to understand the nuances of luxury and then spend in a way that reflects personal taste. 

 

4.     A different kind of philanthropic instinct: “Pragmatic Philanthropy that makes people self-reliant”

Billionaire Guo Jinshu told Xinhua recently "In China, an entrepreneur's top responsibility is to keep his own business sound, to fulfill taxation payments, and create jobs. This is also out of a philanthropist heart." Guo’s remarks remind us of the old Chinese adage “if you feed the poor – you feed him today, if you tell him how to fish you feed him for a lifetime.” There seems to be a more pragmatic outlook towards philanthropy among some quarters of the Chinese rich. While the pragmatism is real – there are still not many avenues to help people donate this way.

Another cultural factor is the need to not talk about how much one gave out. Some of the media reported that the billionaire duo, were not well received in China because they publicized their charity efforts. This is not always the Chinese way of giving – “if you give, you don't really need to announce it."

 

5.     Sense of insecurity both physical and financial: “If people come to know that I have enough to start giving, I might not there to be able to give tomorrow..”

It is interesting to note how every week, local newspapers in China publish pictures of the country’s lottery winners showing up to claim their oversized checks in disguise. Almost all the winners resort to some kind of mask to hide their real identities for the fear that if they get recognized they might not be left alone to enjoy the newfound money. Many people are said to have hidden the windfall even from their family members and continue to lead their normal life. There is threat perception about being identified as someone who can cough up money when needed.

People no matter how prosperous – want to ‘lie low’ and keep off the radar. They do not want to attract attention for they are not confident about their security. This insecurity comes in part from the fear of have-nots – who might be simmering with discontent and the other part comes from scrutiny by Tax and other regulatory bodies.

Camouflage fortune by harping hard work and performance instead: “Make me look like a self-made success, not just rich and privileged”

This is one of the biggest challenges for luxury marketers. As the luxury buyers get increasingly insecure about their personal and financial wellbeing, luxury purchases will get impacted sooner or later. The need for showing off one’s wealth will collide with the need to lie low. Volks Wagen’s (VW) Phaeton is a great example of the need for understated luxury but for entirely different reasons. Phaeton is priced between RMB1-2 million but looked like a big Passat to many (a mid priced car from the same stable). The brand became a laughing stock on Internet with many jokes around it about being a high priced mid-range car. Not withstanding this the car still sold very well in Northwest China for exactly the same reasons – with its high price and plain vanilla looks – it was the designated as a“service car” of the local officials and the Army who did not want to be seen wasting tax payer’s money on luxury cars.

Buyers might need to exercise restraint while purchasing brands that give out the story of their bank balance. While symbols and imagery that connote fortune, power and status has traditionally been the mainstay in luxury advertising in China, it might need to acquire a new avatar that focuses on success and achievement from performance & hard work rather than just glory & big fortune.

BaBi was only a dinner banquet but it has a lot to say about the large and growing number of the Chinese super-rich. While this group is an extremely profitable source of growth for luxury marketers, it has its unique characters. It is vital to understand the real nuances of Chinese Philanthropy & Luxury for greater impact in future. (And by the way, understanding the Chinese rich might not always require a one-on-one interview!)

Breaking free with a safety net

A visit to Beijing or Shanghai’s Decathlon - the French sports goods store - is a feast for the activity lover. Decathlon has almost everything that a sports lover would want - from bicycles and bicycle accessories, to inline skating gear, to all kinds of sports goods- football, volleyball or basketball; camping and trekking gear - you name it! It is not just a big store with no shoppers -Decathlon is buzzing! No matter what time of the year you visit, a barrage of Chinese shoppers would greet you.

Are Chinese as sports oriented, as the medals tally in all major international sporting events would make us believe?

If I were to compare the average Chinese person’s level of physical activity with his counterpart in India, it would be easy to conclude that the Chinese are much more active. They engage in many more outdoor activities than the Indians do. This also has to do with access to infrastructure for outdoor activities, which is a lot more in China than India. Parks, bicycle lanes on main avenues, pedestrian footpaths, public fitness zones in all communities etc are just some of the examples that point at how India’s urban infrastructure has not been developed for the man wanting to keep fit. Sometimes, although jokingly, it is said that the most popular sport in India is “spectator sports!”

While the Chinese are physically more active than Indians, it can easily make us believe that they would also be a lot into outdoor trekking and rock climbing and hiking and the likes. If I were to believe the brisk sales of tents, camping gear, etc in Decathlon, I sure could say so. But the truth perhaps is a little more interesting than that. During my regular visits to the parks in Beijing, which are a must go autumn destination for Beijingers, I discovered something more interesting than the buzz in the Decathlon stores. The camping gear that was meant to be used when you trekked up that hill or when you went hiking with your friends over the weekend was being used in the park! Families and couples had set up their tents in the well-levelled lawns of the parks. And while some of the boys and girls were cozying up inside them, it was largely a family’s day in the tent with the kid in tow enjoying the new experience away from the cramped apartment block! It was like the morning/ evening walk now remixed and made a little more exciting; A more ‘predictable adventure sport’; A barbeque dish in a lunch box!; A blend of freedom with the family in tow; Like breaking free with a safety net!

This is just an observation and only represents one side of the urban story, for there are as many if not more Chinese that go for hiking. But the adventure tents in family parks sure have a story to tell.

As China develops, prospers, urbanizes and may be even westernizes in some way – it still is not witnessing a sweeping change in values. There is and perhaps will always be the Chinese way of doing things. We can’t and need not expect the Chinese to transition into individualistic and free spirited explorers just because they buy at Decathlon and love North Face. There is an evolution beneath all this revolutionary change and that evolution will ensure the presence of a unique ‘Chinese way of doing things’ in almost everything that happens in this country.

Will you talk to your Mom like this? 3

This is the third in the short series of posts on Challenges facing Qualitative research in China. As I have said in the posts before, the idea is not to castigate research agencies or trash the ways of some of the marketers. Instead the idea is to highlight the research & marketing issues plaguing various marketing and research systems & highlight that if we address these we can find a way to superior understanding of people in China and consequently do better marketing and market planning.

Have you ever wondered what kind of working people would take out time on a Wednesday afternoon (or morning!) to go to a discussion in a room full of strangers talking about sanitary napkins or tyres or adhesives etc for over two and a half hours? I can hazard a guess - these are people who do not have much happening in their personal or work life. Some of my not so polite friends have another word to describe these people - they call them "losers who don't have a life!"

Come to think of it - who can take out so much time for a relatively unimportant topic and that too in the middle of a workday! These people are outside the stream of active social or professional life and thus have so much time to spare. They are the laggards in all kinds of product adoption processes. Outside of occasions like the focus group discussion - they are a conservative lot without strong opinions on most of the subjects - leave aside consumption choices.

This is the other challenge that a lot of qualitative research faces in developing markets like China. Most of the people that we end up recruiting for research are at best not savvy about the topic being discussed. This is dangerous because we base many of our marketing decisions on the feedback captured from these researches. When we do this – what we are effectively doing is taking feedback from the masses and ending up with the lowest common denominator of understanding. This might be a better idea in electing a government but it can definitely not help us make strategic breakthroughs in marketing.

Having said that - this also does not mean that we only speak with opinion leaders – that is not realistic either. What we really need to do is to structure our research in a fashion that we strike a balance between such dull followers and some savvy adopters. Learnings from only that kind of a mix can be considered more balanced and representative of the reality.

Only such a respondent mix can help us find inspiration not just information.

 

Happy Working!

 

Will you talk to your Mom like this? 2

This is the second in the short series of posts on Challenges facing Qualitative research in China. As I said before, the idea is not to castigate research agencies or trash the ways of some of the marketers. Instead it is to highlight research & marketing issues plaguing various marketing and research systems & highlight that if we address these we can find a way to superior understanding of people in China. And consequently do better marketing and market planning.

In this second part, I will share some thoughts about the way we ask the questions in our researches.

It pains me to see how we run our consumer immersion groups.

Why are we so direct?  

After every response – we simply barge in with a “why?” or “why not?”

Do we really believe that people will give an honest explanation for their usual behaviour?

Add to this, people in China take much longer to open up than people from most of the other cultures that I have been exposed to. We need to respect this cultural truth. China is a lot about steady conversations and negotiations. It is not a “on and off” culture, it is not about this way or that way, it is not the start and stop mindset. It is a continuum. It is about maneuvering around and about topics – touching them enough to give a hint rather than making them obvious.

Our way of talking to people needs to learn from this. 

My long-time friend once told me how Chinese and Westerners think differently. He explained it to me through a business meeting analogy. For the Westerners – if a meeting is short it must be very good because everybody was talking the same language and thus not much conversation was required to reach an agreement. Contrast this with the Chinese idea of a good meeting. The Chinese think that if the meeting is short – it did not really achieve much. The underlying principle is that it takes longer to know people and understand their motives – too quick and you have not really achieved anything. On the contrary, if it is longer – it sure means that it helped people know each other more. Knowing people is most important. All the business can follow.

Now think about our interview situations - how can we rush through it with a 100-bullet point checklist?

I often say – “In China – slow down, if you want to speed up. Things move forward briskly when we do not labour them too much. Conversations are no exception. Of course we need answers to “why” and “why not” but we need not ask it that way. We need to make the questions indirect, help respondent speak about himself without feeling shy about it by. Make it less sharp and allow the real answers to flow in. Only a comfortable respondent is a natural respondent.

A few more to come in this series.

 

Will you talk to your Mom like this? (1)

From today I will start a short series of posts on Challenges facing Qualitative research in China. The idea is not to castigate research agencies or trash the ways of some of the marketers. Instead it is to highlight research & marketing issues plaguing various marketing and research systems & that if addressed can the way for a superior understanding of people in China and consequently better marketing  & market planning.

Why do we always have so many questions? Do we know so less or are we playing safe by getting the research to confirm even the most elementary things?

Fewer questions, shorter questions with more room for conversation are much better than long questions and many questions. Visualize our conversation with our friends and family - how we talk to them over tea and snacks. It is fluid, enjoyable and refreshing. It helps us know each other even more and it brings us closer. Now think about our last conversation with users - chances are

We had many more things to discuss (many-many questions)

We moved from one question to another very fast (completing a ‘list’ rather than striking a conversation and trying to understand)

We consumed almost two hours doing this and everyone was tired & irritable at the end of it (rather than becoming more open, refreshed and thus closer).

Why do we do this? Why are we so paranoid about not being able to complete all the questions in our DG? If we all know the marketing goal, the brand challenge and our priorities – then why don’t we allow the interviewer some intellectual & conversation autonomy? Why do we act like we just came from Mars and we need to be told everything by the research?

“If there is a shared vision –there is no need for supervision”, said someone and if there is a shared vision, I don’t see any reason to be paranoid.

Meaning of Human Development – Notes from the streets of Hong Kong

This is my fourth time in Hong Kong in the past two and a half years.  I now feel that know something about this city. Something more than just a passing tourist’s photo stream or Visa hopeful’s city maps. So after a lot of back and forth, mental dribbling and a heavy downpour on my way from the nearest subway station, I decided to pen down my thoughts.

Hong Kong is like a moving theatre paused forever - everyone is moving around but nobody is going anywhere. It is tall, very busy, sometimes green, most of the times gray, proud of its glass-concrete, very cramped, always rushed, mostly hashed often rehashed, super calculative and much more of these. It is overflowing with business suited; straight haired fast walking women and carefully gelled, well clothed men, with the latest designs in apparel and accessories. They all seem to have come straight out of a style magazine.

Even the traffic police refuses to be ordinary. It is so well equipped that for a man like me who is used to seeing police with a big bamboo cane, these blokes look like astronauts who lost their way back home and ended up in the street.

 

Hong Kong has it all. It has the glamour, the energy, the stars and subway lines full of people who look like stars but have somehow decided to take the subway with you!

It makes you feel good about being single. It is a city that makes you want to be bachelor. It makes you want more. No, it actually makes you greedy and totally insatiated, for no matter how much money you decide to carry in your wallet – you will almost always feel poor.

Hong Kong is sorry-serious. No one has time for now. No one has time for anyone. No one has time because they have already spent all of it to make the money that can get them the time they really want. Everyone is busy fuelling his tomorrow.

Hong Kong speaks and you listen. Beeps, clicks, alarms, horns, announcements, and other such similar sounds dominate the airwaves, telling you about the your mundane life. These are the sounds of the system that no one can see but everyone is blissfully intoxicated with. These are sounds that hold conversations and gentle whispers to ransom.

 

Stand anywhere in the city and you can’t escape the constant humming of the street. It is the echo of traffic sounds rising along the tall buildings that literally have their heads are in the clouds - like a halo of some kind – of success or struggle, you decide.

So many people brush past you but nothing really touches. The touches do not move. The moves are not lasting.

In Hong Kong even the weather cannot touch you. People walk from one under pass to another overpass. From subway station - to the Mega Shopping arcade and into the apartment elevator. The rain at best becomes a hassle - a topic of discussion about how it spoilt the dress or slowed the traffic or made you remember that you need to carry the umbrella.  The raindrops disappear on their way down the glass panes – hoping for someone to notice them.

 

The bright sun is blocked and bored behind the buildings – with nowhere to go, other than home. The incandescence of the Vichy & Fancl signage never really allows people to look very far. The pursuit of a colon cleaned glowing look is what dominates many a damsel’s weekend agenda.

 

 

Hong Kong is the dwarf king of opportunity who gives each of his dwellers a personal shield. A shield of indifference, that makes it easy not to look people in their eye. A shield, that makes it easy to carry an expression that will discourage people from approaching you or smiling at you. And a shield that makes it easy to turn every interaction into a transaction, a transaction that must be completed in the notional quota of time allotted for it, for time is to be earned here not spent. Hong Kong is overflowing with human heat with no traces of warmth.

Not surprisingly, I see the marketing world understanding and profiting from this state of the society. On one side are adverts that talk about making women more attractive in various ways – from cosmetics, to mineral water, from spas to push up bras. All of this to help them to pamper themselves and put their best foot forward. There is, what I call the 'relax and pamper yourself market' and the 'get ahead in the corporate battles market'  and 'win the best guy market').

 

On the other hand there is the personalization and warmth industry trying to balance the impersonal and cold world it lives in. Brands trying to draw people’s attention to the softer hues of life. You see a cell phone with the social media features exclaiming ‘let the life come to you’ (read - enjoy yourself!). 

 

We have an airline exclaiming that each of her staff really enjoy what they do  - so you can be sure of getting personalized services on board! (read - we are not cold and mechanical!)

 

Why has Hong Kong come to be like this?

Is it the dogged pursuit of money that makes people pragmatic and cold?

Is it the development or lack of it?

Is it their embrace of the ‘western ways’ of life that makes the city so full of itself with no room for anything else? 

Is it the cultural change sponsored by the English?

Is it the ethnic background of the Han majority that originated mainly from Guangzhou & Taishan in Guangdong province in Southern China?

It sure is not the English – they were in India long enough, but India did not become like this. Not even the really big cities like Mumbai.

Then what is it?

It is Darwin.

When you put 70,55,071 people in about 1104 square kilometers, you get a density of over 6000 people for every kilometer. You also get an urban jungle, thin on all kinds of personal resources.

Hong Kong is just this – an urban jungle where everyone is fighting for survival and minding the gap between what they need today and what they can get. The daily struggle for survival takes out the humane from the humans. From there comes the dog eat dog race, the survival of the fittest - the constant challenge to outlast the one next to you. And Hong Kong does outlast almost everyone - with an average life expectancy of 80 years for men and 86 years for women – Hong Kong is ahead of almost the whole world when it comes to survival! But ‘survival’ and ‘living’ were never really the same. I also find the ‘survival of the fittest’ a little awkward because if you look at the development indices – Hong Kong is a developed city, in fact it is among the top Alpha Cities of the world. Developed and yet struggling for survival?! I have not been to another place like this before.

I often used to tell my parents, that Hong Kong is like a bonsai New York. This time I added one more thing to this description. Hong Kong is the Mumbai without the innocence but with the flyovers and other trappings of a developed world. I say this because Mumbai is not very different from Hong Kong is some basic ways. In about 600 square kilometers we have about 13830884 people, which gives us a density of 22,920 people per square kilometer –far higher than Hong Kong’s.  But still – Mumbai does not feel the same dog-eat-dog, survival of the ‘coldest’ place or at least not as much. It still has some innocence left in it.

Why?

I believe it is the stage of development. The more economically developed a place, the more people believe in the Theory of Evolution. Look the survey chart here - it shows belief in Darwinism across the most developed societies in the world. I am sure if this survey were carried out in Hong Kong, it would also figure in the upper quartile. 

 

Truth always seems to come with a dose of irony. The idea of development is usually linked with notions of peaceful coexistence and equilibrium etc. However it also seems that as societies develop, they tend to become more of where we as a species started from – believers in survival of the fittest.

As the rest of China urbanizes – I would not be surprised to see more Hong Kong’s mushrooming all over the country. Shanghai is leading the charge on this front, as it strives to become ‘a very big & influential Hong Kong’.

Personally I hope more cities continue to be like Beijing or Bombay - as big and warm at heart as they are in size and scale.

May innocence live longer..

Consumer Hypocrisy

I recently had the good fortune to exchange views with Allen Adamson of Landor Associates, about his book Brand Simple. Allen has talked about how important it is for brands to be transparent and honest in every respect. In this regard, I mentioned to Allen about consumer's own lack of integrity on many counts. I then asked him how to manage high standards for brand in the world of double standards of consumers. 

Here is an excerpt from that exchange.

Issue:

In BrandDigital, you have mentioned the need for brands to be honest and transparent. Last year, Timberland CEO, Jeff Swartz said in an interview with Fast Company that his company had to discontinue its sourcing from China because of what he called violations to human dignity that underscored the business model of the supplier called Kingmaker. This had an adverse effect, as prices went up and the timing of this event was really bad. Needless to say that this would have contributed to the subsequent decline in Timberland's sales. 

How do you think the brand can reconcile the need for transparency and ethics when consumers are not at all obliged to return the favor? Customer is absolutely the king, but how can brands manage consumer hypocrisy when they demonstrate one set of standards as citizens and dwellers of this planet and another set of standards as consumers of products and services.

Allen's View:

One of the most challenging dimensions of marketing is, and always has been, the ability to separate what consumers say they will do and what they actually do when they get to the shopping aisles. While there have been many advances in research methods relative to how consumers will behave when it?s time for them to reach for their wallets, this question still stands as one of the biggest leaps of faith a marketer must make. In fact, there are very few consumers today who would not give the ?socially acceptable? answer to questions concerning their intent to buy goods that save the planet, or from brands that stand for social responsibility. That said, marketers must look at ?doing good? as a long-term business objective, not a short-term promotional effort, if they want to change the way consumers perceive their brands and become loyal to these brands. If the purpose of the company is built upon, and operationally driven, by doing good, it must be willing to live with two or three quarters of less than great sales as it builds this image in the minds of consumers.