Selling to the five senses

Selling to the five senses

What constitutes human nature, and how does it affect FMCG and the packaged food industry?

Samson, human is what human does. To that extent, human nature is all about a connected and tactile entity. An animal that is sensorial in every respect. We love to hear, see, taste and smell. Often, as we refine our public attitude and behaviour, keeping in mind societal dictates, we tend to suppress many of our inherent tactile responses. For instance, much as we might want to smell a pair of jeans before buying it, we might find it an embarrassing thing to do in a brightly lit retail outlet. Gradually, we forget that we want to do that at all. And there goes a bit of natural instinct.

Touching anything that we see and want to buy, for instance, is a basic need. While we are allowed to touch loose grain and commodity and even coffee powder (which we also take to our nostrils for a whiff), we are not allowed to touch many a category as the marketer fears contamination or soiling, as in the case of packed food. The fact, however, is that human nature wants it.

The packaged food industry, at large, is not very friendly to human nature. First, packaged foods are hermetically sealed. You cannot even see what’s inside, let alone touch it. Neither can you smell a good coffee packaged seamlessly. And you can’t taste it, for sure. Therefore, packaged foods and beverages do not allow you to interact with the product before you buy it. And that is an issue to tackle.

The future will see a greater degree of interaction between product and buyer in the packaged goods segment. Until then, let’s suffer this indignity to our natural and animalistic longings.

IT companies now seem to be throwing up political candidates. Are IT companies going to be the breeding ground for a new breed of politicians?

Malathi, an interesting question this.

I isolate three generations of political leadership in India thus far.

I do believe the first breed of politicians that hit the road in our country were freedom fighters. They had fought hard against the British and, in many ways, were the natural inheritors of the nation’s political lineage. The second set were the sons and daughters of these freedom fighters. They had themselves seen it all first-hand and it was all in the family, so to say.

The third generation of politicians is just about taking shape now. This comes from the new leadership of the country. It comes from business houses, corporate environments, cinema, sports and more. Your question, therefore, points to interesting possibilities. These are the new political breeding grounds.

Take Infosys, for instance, which is an ecosystem of excellence. Nandan Nilekani was indeed pivotal in steering the Infosys juggernaut to become what it is today, together with a whole big team of founders.

To that extent, Infosys respected excellence and promoted an environment where the best could excel and merit conquered all. This environment is good for every sphere of achievement. Whether in the realm of corporate excellence, sporting excellence or, for that matter, political excellence, this is a great spirit to have and use.

Nilekani has used it to advantage thus far. He has carried this very spirit to the UIDAI and has succeeded in scaling up the unique identity format, which now covers 600 million Indians.

In addition to it all, Infosys has believed in being inclusive. It has encouraged those working within to experiment with the outside world with dignity and panache. Today, Nilekani is being counted in the world of politics just as, possibly, another former Infosys executive-turned-politician, V. Balakrishnan, is going to be.

An individual is the smallest unit of society. And no individual is an island. A corporate entity cannot tie down the social and political spirit of individuals. Instead, it needs to facilitate its discovery and use.

(Harish Bijoor is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. Send your feedback to cat.a.lyst@thehindu.co.in )

COMMENT NOW