I'm glad to announce the winner of our recent
blog contest:
Danielle Ginty, VP of relationship management at
iDNA
Entrants were asked to write a blog post on marketing in the developing world, inspired by
Vijay Mahajan and
Kamini Banga's book, the 2007 Berry Book Prize-winning
The 86% Solution: How To Succeed In the Biggest Market Opportunity of the 21st Century.
Here's her post:
The developing world is the greatest market growth opportunity because I believe it is hungrier (not necessarily meant as a double entendre) in its desire to attain “new� lifestyles through consumer goods and products than the smaller percentage of us who have had abundant access to consumer luxuries to the point of boredom or passionless purchasing and inevitable waste.
There are many luxuries that we take for granted while the developing world is learning about them and are eager to consume, including electronics, telecommunications, medical devices and education. Luxuries, useful and perceived, are easier to market to those who have disposable income; and now that the developing world is starting to have more disposable income they are a growing market.
Take the following example: the luxury brand status symbols, the
Jaguar automobile and the
Land Rover SUV, seem to be more or less ex-loves of the Western world, (more details can be found in
this Slate.com post). Their operations were put on the market and the most likely bidder was an Indian company called
Tata Motors. An interesting comment about this bidder, is that even though Tata Motors could and wants to buy, there are those in the industry who believe that ownership by an Indian company would taint Jaguar’s brand image.
This example may not represent the typical market interests of the developing world masses, however, it is indicative of the changing buying power of developing countries and desire for luxury items. Not to mention, another noteworthy fact that while SUVs have fallen out of fashion in Hollywood, sales in India are booming.
For the Western world, the love affair with luxuries is dwindling for most of us “few� – who believe we have seen, had and consumed most ideas (or variations on those ideas) on the market not to mention those that sit on shelves and in warehouses. Consequently, we are a more complicated market to target. In an effort to create new luxury products of interest, the manufacturing and marketing trends seem to turn to more sustainable, feel-good products with purpose. Product descriptions include words like "organic," "eco," "sustainable" and "environmental". (Read more about that
here.)
But what about all the old luxuries sitting on the shelf? Those same ideas and items represent a whole new way of life and attitude and sophistication for those in the developing world and they exist ready and waiting for a willing market to embrace them. My cynical agreement with the developing world being the greatest market growth opportunity is based around the belief that they are an easier sell in large part because they are “developing� and their needs and desires are at differing stages from ours and are much broader. I just hope these developing worlds do not feel the need to follow exactly in the footsteps of the so-called “developed� worlds, since we have not always chosen the most responsible path.
Danielle Ginty is a vice president of relationship management at iDNA, a strategic communications, technology and entertainment company. In this role, she draws from her past experiences in the worlds of advertising; professional services and corporate marketing to partner with her clients and bring them the tools they need to solve their problems and meet their communication objectives. For the past few years, she has worked closely with Chief Ethics and Compliance Officers, helping them to create fresh ideas for their employee communication programs.
