‘Romba solid!' TV commercials tap into the south's consumption story

The ghost of Quick Gun Murugan must be having a hearty laugh.

His trademark statement, “We are like this wonly” – delivered with a characteristic south Indian accent was used by youth music channel Channel V to cut itself a unique identity in India's cluttered TV market.

Now, it appears all kinds of major brands, from cola players to air-conditioners to financial services companies, want to be “like this wonly.”

“This” is being identifiably South Indian – at least in their television commercials (TVCs).

Cola brand Thums Up has dumped Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar to capitalise on the growing clout of Telugu heartthrob Mahesh Babu. Mahindra Duro is banking on Kareena Kapoor – but she speaks Tamil in their ad. Tata brand Voltas is featuring a Tamil-accented male protagonist to promote its all weather air conditioner.

With the south emerging as a strong consumption market, it appears as though creative agencies are changing their north centric slant when it comes to advertising. Take ICICI Prudential. Its animated character Chintamani provided financial tips to the viewers – with a noticeable south Indian twang. Soon after, Kotak Mahindra followed suit with Bollywood actor Vinay Pathak playing “Subbu” - a financial advisor with a heavy south Indian accent.

“Advertising in India has suddenly discovered the South as the consumption story is picking up there. Even though southern States contribute about 56 per cent to the Indian GDP, they were not known as spenders but savers. This phenomenon is changing,” says brand strategist Mr Harish Bijoor, CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.

High priority areas

Mr Bijoor says that no longer is the South Indian the conservative spender of the past. Earlier, gold, utensils, or financial products were the high priority areas for the southerner, who chose not to spend much on comfort. But things have changed of late. The priorities are changing and so is the buying pattern.

Mr Subhobroto Chakroborty, Business Head, Genesis Advertising, says, “Breaking a clutter or idea in the southern market is difficult. Hence, the creative agencies are coming out with new ideas and different marketing strategies to woo the southerners.”

When Thums Up roped in Mahesh Babu, eyebrows were raised but for Coca-Cola, the strategy made sense. Andhra Pradesh was the largest beverage consuming market in India. Similarly, Mahindra's latest ad for its two-wheeler brand Duro with the punch line “romba solid” featuring Kareena and Tamil actor Karan proves the fact that South is a growing market for scooters.

Better sales

“The ad has worked for us. The month-on-month sales for Duro are the fastest growing in this category at 30-40 per cent. We are a strong brand in the south with one third of our overall auto sales coming from this market. The ad is helping us break through,” says Mr Sarosh Shetty, Head of Marketing, Mahindra Two-wheelers.

Customers both in south and north connected with the “romba solid” tagline, Mr Shetty claims, adding that the culture divide between the two regions is narrowing as people are travelling and experimenting more.

Mr Dhiraj Chadha, Marketing Head, Voltas, says the whole idea behind its ad was to create the humour factor. “The two characters that come to mind are Punjabis or South Indians. However for ACs we created Murthy as we felt that people down south can adapt to a technology faster,” he says.

The consumers in south are quite value conscious and would buy a premium product only if they trust the brand or technology. The north contributes to 35-37 per cent of the overall AC market, however the south is growing by 25 per cent. The south sells more split ACs than north at 90 per cent.

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