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This is an archive article published on January 3, 2010
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Opinion Does marketing exist?

In the 60 years after World War II,consumerism started with marketing,the organised selling of mass scale products....

Shombit Sengupta

January 3, 2010 02:55 AM IST First published on: Jan 3, 2010 at 02:55 AM IST

In the 60 years after World War II,consumerism started with marketing,the organised selling of mass scale products. Americans formulated the marketing concept which their business schools have been promoting since the 20th century. But in reality,marketing was invented for and by religious gods,goddesses,spiritualists and preachers thousands of years ago. Religious icons have left their extraordinary symbolic expressions for recognition by the social system century after century and billions of humans follow and sustain it with reverence. This is the real form of marketing which is beyond the obvious.

Marketing is all about creating a need. Oranges,for example,originated in SoutheastAsia centuries ago,but the culture of eating oranges on Christmas Eve was started and popularised in Europe from 1950s onwards. Today,the top three orange-producing and exporting countries are Brazil,the United States and Mexico. They benefit from good Christmas marketing,as well as the health and fitness trend that have made oranges a necessity across the Western world. Take another example of how an American multinational computer-technology corporation went into Greek mythology to pick up the name Oracle and marketed itself into toting up the third-largest software revenue,after Microsoft and IBM.

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Santa Claus: The plump,jolly,white-bearded man dressed in a red coat and trousers with white cuffs,a black leather belt and boots,was created by American caricaturist and political cartoonist Thomas Nast in 1861. This image was immortalised after Harper’s Weekly printed an initial illustration in 1863 and “Merry Old Santa Claus” in their 1 January 1881 edition. Originating from 4th century Greek bishop St Nicholas,famous for his generous gifts to the poor,the story of Santa Claus,also known as Sinterklaas and Father Christmas,spread to Europe,and is now reinforced worldwide through literature,poems,song,radio,television,and films. Images of Santa Claus became the rage in the 1930s when the Coca-Cola Company’s Christmas advertising depicted him,spawning the urban legend that Santa wears red and white because they are Coca-Cola brand colors. Historically,Santa Claus was first used in advertisements selling mineral water for White Rock Beverages in 1915,and his benevolence was associated with charity organisations like the Salvation Army.

Santa Claus is a marketing tool today,selling billions of dollars worth of products and services across the world,irrespective of whether the buyers follow Christianity or not. The fervent celebration of “Burra Din” is a British legacy that unites India. Even villagers and small-towners eat some version of cake,follow the gifting tradition or go on picnics,while new-fangled shopping malls in metros all have Santas. I don’t think any other cultural or religious festival in India cuts across society so visibly.

Business is business. The power of American marketers to transform religious festivity into business is stark in St Valentine’s Day on 14 February. Traditionally lovers in English-speaking countries expressed their love by sending Valentine’s cards to each other. The US Greeting Card Association estimates that a billion valentines are sent annually worldwide. Today commerce flourishes with romance in most countries across Latin America,Europe,the Middle East and Asia with sales of chocolates,flowers and diamond jewellery. Virtual romance floats in cyber space through the Internet. But fundamentalists oppose Valentine’s Day as “cultural pollution from the West”. In parts of India and Saudi Arabia,a ban on it in 2008 created a black market in roses and wrapping paper.

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Diwali: India is adapting westernised ways,celebrating Christmas and Valentine through an organised marketing process,but isn’t it about time we exported a few of our festivals for the world to enjoy? Why not start with Diwali,the non-dogmatic Hindu festival that appears more relevant to most Indians? Give it a character to represent a billion people and market it meaningfully as an international festival. Let’s play with an example here. First,create the mythological story,then keeping a metaphorical idea that can be relevant to different global societies,design a versatile symbolic expression with activities that have universal appeal beyond religion—the way Christmas means gifts and Valentine means romantic love.

While most countries are called fatherland,India is called motherland. Being representative of women and buying gold among other gifts during Diwali is a tradition. Combining the two,a gold icon can be appropriate. Symbolising women from Indian history,exquisite Ajanta Ellora figurines can be interwoven in a modern way,and associated with a fruit that’s relevant to India yet globally relished. That’s the mango,produced 50 per cent in India,and the rest in Mexico,Brazil,Equador,Peru,Haiti among others,but exported almost everywhere in the world. Even though Diwali time is not mango season in the northern hemisphere,like the orange eating culture at Christmas,it will create a special moment of how to get mangoes then from somewhere in the world. In fact,this demand will promote the mango culture worldwide and encourage its cultivation for sale during Diwali.

So the Diwali symbol could be the golden mango with representation of gifts inside,with a modernised gold Ajanta woman. This image can be crafted three-dimensionally with lights inside for a night time festival. Why is a global festival good for human society? Everyday life has humdrum activities with routine work deteriorating to tension,stress,societal problems,psychological embarrassment,depression,perhaps a nervous breakdown,all of which people want to get rid of. A highly orchestrated well marketed festival can bring joyfulness into living. It’s refreshing to think of the Christmas togetherness or dreamy love of Valentine’s Day. That translates to immoderate pleasure when people hunger for enjoyment; they want to flaunt their money and forget life’s passive parts. This positive aspect of any festival creates a lot of work and more business.

An international festival from India will create immense goodwill. It will proliferate our culture and provide numerous opportunities for our billion people country to spread their wings into new business and cultural ventures across the world.

Shombit Sengupta is an international creative business strategy consultant to top management.

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