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The Indian advertising
scenario, for years, has been
the stronghold of two languages English and
Hindi. However, the last few years have seen dramatic changes with the
rise of regional advertising. India is, in fact, a home to over 300
languages and 2,000 dialects, which a change in language/dialect seen after
every 15 kilometers in the country. Although advertising in
the national language (Hindi) would enable economies in scale
with respect to communication, smart marketers cannot afford to
ignore regional languages, particularly at a time when sensitivity
towards regional languages and fragmentation of media is at an
all-time high.
The Indian advertising industry has definitely come a full circle. The
time prior to 1970s was characterized by the media being
predominantly local in nature. It was restricted
to the local press, radio and cinema and had limited reach. The
stress was on regional languages and content. The 1980s broke
new grounds with the launch of the Doordarshan. This single
channel telecast across India brought immense economies of
scale through national messaging and led to possibilities of building
national brands. Advertisers, for the first time, were able to look at India
as one big market. The honeymoon was, however, short-lived as
the 1990s witnessed the beginning of yet another phase launch
of satellite television that, not only set the ball rolling for fragmentation
of Indian media, but also brought the world at India's doorstep. The
end of the 1990s was characterized by increased competition as
the number of national and regional channels began to surge,
thereby enabling marketers to reach their desired target group irrespective
of wherever they were located. These changes helped convert mass
media into niche media, unraveling new opportunities in
region-based communications for marketers. |
