Marketeer from Hadoi Freshenes the developed World
Hi! I have done Masters in Marketing from a "Reputed Business School in East India", for an occupation I sell (no sorry, I Market) Air Fresheners and Air Deodorants to housewives in the developed world.
Yes, I market fancy items to people in developed world but I'm from Hardoi, the place that's worse than the netherworld nations in Sub-Saharan Africa, if I'm to trust the word of some academic researchers.
So being from Hardoi, I have never used the product that I am marketing. The main concern of mine and people around me for past 20 years of my life was to get "mosquito less air" and not "odour less air". Though to be candid, I have also never met the consumers to whom I am marketing. For me my consumers reside in brilliant graphs and data on the desktop. They are in powerpoint slides and white boards in meetings...they are in SPSS data tables and numerous m cross n matrices. But that does not stop me from knowing which Deodorant they use and where they use it. So let me share their world....so different from Hardoi!!
If have one word to describe them, then that would be "out-wordly". I mean, who in this mundane world would ever use on type of Freshener in toilet, another type in fridge, a third type in shoebox and a fourth type in almirah! And thats not enough, the same fella also uses Aerosols with "exotic scents" like "Pumpkin Cake and Cinnamon Cookies" and "Exotic cool Springs"...God...give me a break! I never knew that someone could actually love to remain in hospital like this...but my consumers do it and they are not senile: they are "sensorial". Well, imagine Babu Ram Dulahin (BRD) going sensorial and asking her grandson Kallu to use "Apple Spice Deo".....I'm sure that Babu Ram would not be impressed!
And what's my objective: prove to them that its not enough! Ensure that they use at least 2-3 more varieties of Fresheners and Deodorants...they use it more frequently and they use it use more each time they use it. So I give them new reasons: in winter use Deo for fabrics cannot be washed, in summer use Deo for germs breed in sweat, In rainy season again Deo to suck out humidity, in spring again AF...if u feel bad odor use Deodorant, if you feel low, use Freshener, if you feel ANY odor, use Deodorant...Deo on your socks, Deo in your kitchen, Deo on your mat...Deo here, AF there....there is no stopping.
And in Hardoi? How I encourage a Sarad Kumar use a plug-in Freshener when he does not even have a bulb in his house? And can I ever ask a Kallu to use an Aerosol when every 10 minutes a stray pig, freshly bathed in human waste from nearest open drain, disposes off its own waste right outside his door? Will Tarri ever use a "Placement Deo" in Toilet when the toilet neither has a roof nor does it have a system to flush out waste? Will Ram Khilavan care to try a fabric deodorant when he does not even have enough fabric to wear to face the chilly winter? Will Majhlau ever give a damn to humidity when his main task is to fill the seeping water from walls and ceiling into buckets and throw it out every 15 mins during rainy season. Who cares about mal-odor on cloths when there are not enough cloths and who cares about freshening the house when having a house is a big deal? Well, incense stick is probably the most common Air-Freshener in Hardoi, Thanks God (pun intended!)
And for the concern on Mal-Odor: will Sonu ki Amma ever care for mal-odor in rain when the fresh odor of the unpaved floor fills each room with a natural scent! How do I ask the next-door-housewife BRD use Deo when she her way of cleaning is pasting cow dung around the walls and floor of the house? And also imagine, what "exotic scents" would come out if Hardoi junta was to turn sensorial and participate in a consumer test...forget the rocky springs, try marketing: "Kacche Aam ki Teekhi Chatni" or "Subah ke mandir ki khusbu" or may be, "Lakhan Halwai ki Garam Jalebi, Kesar Walee"...or it might be even be: "Hamree Gaeaa ka Subah wala Taja Doodh" and finally: "Ghar per jaise Gobar ki taaji Lipai"!!
Thats the difference between developed and under-developed market for you. I make fancy strategies to market to developed world while my roots tell me that the product is something I can never identify myself with, unless of course, I forget my roots and become sensorial, something thats too difficult now! Of course, no one in right mind ever think about marketing Deo and Fresheners to consumers whose idea of freshness is a cold bath from water right out of a well. And even I won't do so...sorry need to go, my consumers are calling from the data table...though I guess that somewhere deep inside, Hardoi is calling too!
Yes, I market fancy items to people in developed world but I'm from Hardoi, the place that's worse than the netherworld nations in Sub-Saharan Africa, if I'm to trust the word of some academic researchers.
So being from Hardoi, I have never used the product that I am marketing. The main concern of mine and people around me for past 20 years of my life was to get "mosquito less air" and not "odour less air". Though to be candid, I have also never met the consumers to whom I am marketing. For me my consumers reside in brilliant graphs and data on the desktop. They are in powerpoint slides and white boards in meetings...they are in SPSS data tables and numerous m cross n matrices. But that does not stop me from knowing which Deodorant they use and where they use it. So let me share their world....so different from Hardoi!!
If have one word to describe them, then that would be "out-wordly". I mean, who in this mundane world would ever use on type of Freshener in toilet, another type in fridge, a third type in shoebox and a fourth type in almirah! And thats not enough, the same fella also uses Aerosols with "exotic scents" like "Pumpkin Cake and Cinnamon Cookies" and "Exotic cool Springs"...God...give me a break! I never knew that someone could actually love to remain in hospital like this...but my consumers do it and they are not senile: they are "sensorial". Well, imagine Babu Ram Dulahin (BRD) going sensorial and asking her grandson Kallu to use "Apple Spice Deo".....I'm sure that Babu Ram would not be impressed!
And what's my objective: prove to them that its not enough! Ensure that they use at least 2-3 more varieties of Fresheners and Deodorants...they use it more frequently and they use it use more each time they use it. So I give them new reasons: in winter use Deo for fabrics cannot be washed, in summer use Deo for germs breed in sweat, In rainy season again Deo to suck out humidity, in spring again AF...if u feel bad odor use Deodorant, if you feel low, use Freshener, if you feel ANY odor, use Deodorant...Deo on your socks, Deo in your kitchen, Deo on your mat...Deo here, AF there....there is no stopping.
And in Hardoi? How I encourage a Sarad Kumar use a plug-in Freshener when he does not even have a bulb in his house? And can I ever ask a Kallu to use an Aerosol when every 10 minutes a stray pig, freshly bathed in human waste from nearest open drain, disposes off its own waste right outside his door? Will Tarri ever use a "Placement Deo" in Toilet when the toilet neither has a roof nor does it have a system to flush out waste? Will Ram Khilavan care to try a fabric deodorant when he does not even have enough fabric to wear to face the chilly winter? Will Majhlau ever give a damn to humidity when his main task is to fill the seeping water from walls and ceiling into buckets and throw it out every 15 mins during rainy season. Who cares about mal-odor on cloths when there are not enough cloths and who cares about freshening the house when having a house is a big deal? Well, incense stick is probably the most common Air-Freshener in Hardoi, Thanks God (pun intended!)
And for the concern on Mal-Odor: will Sonu ki Amma ever care for mal-odor in rain when the fresh odor of the unpaved floor fills each room with a natural scent! How do I ask the next-door-housewife BRD use Deo when she her way of cleaning is pasting cow dung around the walls and floor of the house? And also imagine, what "exotic scents" would come out if Hardoi junta was to turn sensorial and participate in a consumer test...forget the rocky springs, try marketing: "Kacche Aam ki Teekhi Chatni" or "Subah ke mandir ki khusbu" or may be, "Lakhan Halwai ki Garam Jalebi, Kesar Walee"...or it might be even be: "Hamree Gaeaa ka Subah wala Taja Doodh" and finally: "Ghar per jaise Gobar ki taaji Lipai"!!
Thats the difference between developed and under-developed market for you. I make fancy strategies to market to developed world while my roots tell me that the product is something I can never identify myself with, unless of course, I forget my roots and become sensorial, something thats too difficult now! Of course, no one in right mind ever think about marketing Deo and Fresheners to consumers whose idea of freshness is a cold bath from water right out of a well. And even I won't do so...sorry need to go, my consumers are calling from the data table...though I guess that somewhere deep inside, Hardoi is calling too!
posted by Techie Author at 6:55 PM
1 Comments:
Its amazing that so many of us feel the 'Hardoi calling' everyday from our hearts - probably 4 times a day. And yet, we dont (cant?) do anything about it. I personally wish to quit the jazzy life and move back to my place, but never actually do it.
Are we still slaves!? Are we truly 'free'?
Anyways, nice read for me.. hope we all get to action sometime in this life.
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