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

Design and communication strategy for Lifebuoy’s re-launch

Rural India has ample of opportunities all waiting to be harnessed for the much-needed volumes. Not astonishingly, it has become the latest marketing catchword for most FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) majors. Some of the requisites for making an impression in the rural market include:

1) Strong distribution channel
2) Minimum profit margin
3) Simple marketing message
4) Lesser-priced packs to increase affordability
5) Packaging in smaller units and localised design that attracts consumers
6) Convenience of storage while use
7) Thorough knowledge of the village psyche
In brief, the strategy revolves around what attracts rural consumers to a product.

Hindustan Lever Ltd. (HLL) is one of the few FMCG’s to be highly successful in rural India. It has been a pioneer in reaching out to the smallest of villages with innovative products. HLL is also open to the idea of building rural-specific brands since it will only dispel the marketing media effort for the brands. Today, HLL’s brands have become household names. No one knows Indian consumers better than HLL. The company has access to both global and local research, technology and development teams. It is fully supported by its nation-wide manufacturing and distribution network.



HLL is India's largest marketer of home & personal care products, foods & beverages. Recently, it launched “Pureit”, which is an in-home water purification system that gives water ‘as safe as boiled water’. It is also the largest exporter of branded FMCGs, marine products, basmati rice and one of the global players in castor.

When we speak about HLL, the first name that comes to our mind is Lifebuoy. It was sold in India as early as 1895, but was officially launched and marketed from 1935. For over 100 years, Lifebuoy with its distinct perfume and catchy jingle was associated with health and well-being, making it the world’s largest selling soap brand. Its ads carried the message that Lifebuoy washed away germs and kept one protected and healthy.



Lifebuoy is among HLL's power brands which contributed to nearly 30% of the company’s detergent turnover and was a leader in the carbolic segment with almost 95% market share. It went through a major re-launch for the first time in 1964 with a change in product formulation, shape and packaging. In mid 2001, HLL then launched Lifebuoy Active and Lifebuoy Extra Strong. However, these launches led to a minimal turnaround. For nearly 107 years, the brand hadn't undergone a major restructuring and repositioning. The sales were declining since consumers were shifting from carbolic based soaps to beauty soaps with better fragrance and lather.

The decline of the brand, prompted HLL to re-think its marketing strategy. Lifebuoy underwent a major turning point in its history with the re-launch in 2002, 2004 and again in 2006. The re-launch was done to beat the slow-moving sales. To register positive preference among consumers, HLL challenged everything that Lifebuoy stood for.

Lifebuoy is now an entirely new mix with a superior formulation, fragrance, lather profile and a contemporary shape. It offers an improved bathing experience and skin feel. The new Lifebuoy is targeted at today’s astute housewives who seek family health protection. It made a thoughtful shift in positioning from being a male soap, champ of health to a family soap with a more reliable health protection against germs for the entire family.

The new range includes Lifebuoy total, Lifebuoy deofresh, Lifebuoy nature, Lifebuoy care, Lifebuoy activ fresh, Lifebuoy International Plus, Lifebuoy International Gold, etc. Apart from this, Lifebuoy also offers specialised products like Lifebuoy HandWash and Lifebuoy Clearskin, which provides treatment and protection against acne.



HLL did huge rural campaigning using the idea of hygiene as a podium to reposition its brand. The company devised a strategy to ensure its focus on family health themes via TV and print campaigns in the rural markets. They conducted consumer education exercise using "Germ tests" through multimedia. They also explored the opportunity to spread message during World Health Day. HLL also launched Lifebuoy Swashthya Chetana, the first single largest rural health and hygiene educational program. The campaign aimed at educating children and community about the threat of unseen germs and maintaining good health through practice of basic hygiene.

HLL used innovative communication tools at melas, festivals, haats, etc. to spread awareness about hygiene and health by product demonstrations. These techniques were used in order to change the hand-washing and bathing habits in rural India. For example, people in mela were asked to put their hands below a special camera where they could see the germs on their hands and were asked to wash their hands with Lifebuoy and see the difference. Hand-carts were also displayed at the company’s stall for attracting more people.

Ideas like putting stickers on hand pumps, walls of the wells, putting tin plates on trees surrounding the pond were some of the innovative media utilised by Lifebuoy. The idea was to market the product not only at the point of purchase but also at the time of consumption. Other media techniques used were shop-fronts and cinema van operations having films and audio cassettes with songs and dance sequences from popular films that comprised ads of HLL products during breaks. The reach of conventional media is not that effective in rural markets. Moreover, it is not always viable to cover all these markets due to high costs involved. Yet, these markets are vital since the growth potential is high. Operation Harvest served as a medium to augment the role of conventional media in rural India and in the process built relations and loyalty with consumers.



HLL has always been at the front line of trying out with innovative schemes to reach rural consumers. It deliberately introduced small-sized packs of Lifebuoy targeted at rural markets. Cross company product mixes were also offered to lure consumers. To induce growth, HLL dropped the prices of its products and has been also trying to upgrade its consumers by cannibalising its own brands.

Rural retailers and quick product availability influence the purchase decision of rural consumers. HLL therefore undertook projects to enhance the rural supply chain by a network of sub-stockists and 'Project Shakti' in partnership with the Self-Help Groups of rural women. These Self-Help Groups acted as direct-to-home dealers. In rural India, women are the catalyst of change and that is why Project Shakti kept women in focus. It is they who give Shakti its strength. Project Shakti has proved to be a great marketing venture for HLL since it works in both terms which is promotion as well as a distribution network with social welfare benefits. The model created a win-win partnership between HLL and its consumers, some of whom depended on the organisation for their livelihood and helped building a self-sustaining virtuous cycle of growth for all. Another good initiative taken by HLL under Project Shakti is `I-Shakti', an IT-based rural information facility that provides solutions to major rural needs such as agriculture, education, vocational training, health and hygiene.

Rural markets are still evolving and there is no fixed layout to understand consumer behaviour. Lot of research is yet to be conducted for understanding rural consumers.