Ethnographic design research in West Bengal

We finished our ethnographic design research with West Bengal. The preparation was very chaotic; we were having great difficulties to find people to interview. At last our friend Sunil Barik from Delhi introduced us to a wonderful couple from Kolkata who helped us very much.



Alike Tamil Nadu, West Bengal has a kind of self-sufficient social life where people enjoy local and regional relationship without the need for extending their relationship to other states or countries. Among the people we interviewed we found that they had less of interaction with other states or cultures. Nevertheless, Bengali’s are warm and welcoming people.

Arjun and Shankhamita, are youth entrepreneurs in Kolkata. They helped us in reaching people for our study, occasionally translating interviews in Bengali language. Arjun’s family lives at the centre of Kolkata. Their house is very pleasant and reflects the cultural richness of the family.

We have now taken more than 100 interviews in North India. Most of the time my wife, Melina conducted the interview in either English or Hindi for around 45 minutes. The quickest interview we took was for 22 minutes and the longest was more than 3 hours, but both interviews were rich and insightful. Time is not a factor.

During the interview I took down notes, recorded the conversation and took number of environment pictures. In villages, people use slangs what makes the communication difficult. In these cases, we took the services of local interpreters who participated to the discussion and corrected any miss-interpretations. For conducting the interview we had a large set of questions structured in such a way that we could get the key information at different levels of interview. This protocol is the fruit of extensive research and testing we did at the initial stage of our initiative.



Arjun is a kind of person who can appreciate anyone’s personality and views without judgment. He is a good human being and knows a huge diversity of people he meets across his business activity. We asked him to introduce us to various people from high to low level background, so that we could get a true picture of the Bengali population. Arjun is an excellent orator; realist by nature. I like very much the way he depicts his culture with coldness and admiration.



Bengal has been deeply influenced by the communist culture. Many people give importance to the government and do not like when you present your initiatives as “private”. That makes our research difficult since it is important for us to understand the aspirations of those people and how they want things to evolute. After they understand the social benefits of our project they were willing to speak.


We found Bollywood pictures very efficient to understand how people project themselves in future. What are their social aspirations and dreams? Sometimes people’s choices totally contradicted what they said in response to our interview questions and provided clues to understand the choc points.


Thanks to McDonalds for allowing us to interview 2 of their busy staff members. Awful things have been written about this company’s work culture; on the other hand we found their work culture as a positive impact on their staff’s willingness. Farah told us how her job has made her more confident in life. She has higher expectations towards the future and plans for a better life. In Kolkata also the corporate culture has an impact on people’s life.



It is difficult to finish an interview without a group picture. Children were inquisitive to know what we were doing around but it is always a pleasure to share our experience with them. Bengal would remain one of the best places we have seen in India.



We had the great pleasure to take the interview of Mr. S. K. Das who has been the MD, CEO of several group of companies in India. Mr. Das has passion for progress and prosperity for our country. He is an ardent writer. Quite of his writings, short stories, poems, articles on management have been published in leading journals and newspapers. He has also received awards in Delhi in 1991 and 1996 for excellence in Industrial Management. After retirement in 2002, he is associated with several groups as Chairman / Vice Chairman of Board of Directors. At the age of 73, he is still active and continues to advice industrialist and political leaders like Mr. Ratan Tata, Dr. Debesh Das. He also has the privilege of correspondence with Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. Besides his career as a businessman, he has also helped more than 400 people in getting employment and means of subsistence through his association.



Sumit has a double Masters in History from a reputed university. He could work for some university or a multinational in Kolkata but he prefers to concentrate on what is really important for him. Sumit gives tuition of Indian history and spirituality. He takes only students who are really passionate about the subject and can appreciate the transcendental value of his teaching. Sumit told us how to re-interpret Indian classical history in the modern world. What lessons we have taken from Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and his disciples. He also paints and sculpts images of gods and deities according to the tradition of his gurus.


We would like to thank the below mentioned people who have enormously helped us in realising our research in North India:
Amit - Hyderabad
Arjun and Shankhamita - Kolkata
Arun and Maggie - Mumbai
Ashish and Monu - Jaipur
Saurabh’s family - Siyana
Sonam’s parents – Pune
Sunil - Bangalore
Sunil - Delhi

We meet hundreds of wonderful people from various backgrounds and culture. It is materially difficult to keep in touch with everyone but you stay in our hearts forever.
You all are most welcome to Bangalore!

If you would like to be informed about the publication of the North India Consumer Trends Report, drop us a line in this Kovent’s contact form

Business opportunity in rural market

The word recession brings up huge emotions – fear, anger, sorrow. However, many top business people are still very positive towards the future and see the economical recession as a turning point for their business in the rural market.

Recently, The Economist Intelligence Unit and Dubai Holding published a white paper based on the views of the people who own and manage the world’s businesses; 418 senior business people around the globe. They found that 53% think the economical meltdown would positively impact their business in the next 5 to 10 years.

It is also interesting to see that more than 50% of these executives would give priority to product and geographical diversification in the near future. They do not specify what would be the new geographical market place but we can reasonably presume that it would be the BRIC markets.

Economy is a state of mind. It is like mass psychology and the time people take to recover from an economical recession actually depends of their exposure to the global economy. If you look at where the economic crisis has affected the industry, it is only the export oriented sectors and particularly the IT industry. The export sector is mostly served by the middle class in metro-cities. They are well known for having a lavish lifestyle and craze for quality brand experience. Today many shopping malls are deserted and the urban middle class has come back to the old fashioned saving lifestyle. Many shops have closed down and others are proposing huge discounts to attract customers.



Atria is one of those happening shopping malls you can find in Mumbai. Hundreds of international brands like Reebok, Swarovski, Guess all under one roof. Today, many shops have closed down and others are proposing huge discounts to attract customers.

Sunday market in Pondicherry has regained lots of popularity for the past one year. In towns and villages, the economy is still very positive. Would you get any feeling of recession in such place?



In the same paper from The Economist Intelligence Unit, Martin Fitzpatrick, Microsoft’s regional controller for South-East Asia, explains the benefits of reaching consumers who depend from the local economy rather than global. Rural consumers are used to economical ups and downs and can recover faster than developed economies. He says “The boom-bust cycle seems to be more readily accepted as a regular part of the economic landscape. I have grown used to the concept, this being my fourth cycle of boom and bust in less than ten years. Most companies and individuals seem to have effectively written off 2009 and are instead gearing up for a better 2010.”

Going beyond globalisation

The concept of economical globalisation has probably reached its end with the economical meltdown. It would have an impact on the way companies invest their money and people consume. There is a regain of interest for local and national products. People’s lifestyle and consumption pattern has drastically changed over recent years hence companies need to keep their design strategy in tune with the evolutions of the society. Create products and services that serve the Indian economy and identity.

Our company, Kovent helps businesses to understand Indian rural consumer’s mindset and consumption pattern. Our approach is different from other market research companies who rely on data and statistics. Our researches are based on qualitative design research and ethnographic insights. They reveal rural consumers needs, behaviours and desires through lifestyle scenarios. These scenarios will help you to understand which product speaks to their social aspirations. How you can capitalise on social trends to enhance your consumer’s experience and brand perception.

Kovent is dedicated to anthropologic design research that serves companies business objectives. As social issues enter the minds of today’s Indian citizens, we are integrating ideas such as sustainability and social responsibility into our researches.