These are the priorities of Indian Gen Z and Millennials.
Most of the world’s young people live in India.
And India next month becomes the most populous nation on earth, passing China.
India’s YOUTH BOOM looks like this:
440 million Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996)
375 million Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012)
There are two things we need to know about these generations.
First, they are hard working and earning better than their elders. A high percentage of them have a second job.
Second, they are big spenders, so their capacity to shape and influence us all is enormous.
So, getting your product or service into India right now would make great business sense.
And countries, like Australia, are busy building closer political and strategic ties with India. Makes sense – it will be the economic (and therefore cultural etc) driver of the future.
Dr Ashok Sharma has written about the increasingly close relations of India and Australia – for example, we are now the number 2 education market behind the USA and just ahead of the UK. Dr Sharma pointed to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the New Education Policy which should “bring the current education partnership to the next level”.
We know that the increasing activity in education has many spin offs – increased tourism, professional exchanges and more.
Education might be the “trade flagship” that drags other industries into the trade mix.
But we cannot be sure.
It is time for a new national conversation about Australia-India trade, with a close examination on what blockages might exist and what steps would increase two-way trade.
India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar (pictured with Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles) came to Australia in October for the annual Foreign Ministers’ Framework Dialogue – where these matters were discussed.
The two foreign ministers discussed “accelerating and deepening economic ties, including through our Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement.”
Sounds good.
But what is next?
Can the Australian Trade Minister, the Hon Don Farrell, bring business and education at all levels together in a national dialogue?
Remember – India is not just the second most populous nation on earth, it is also the YOUNGEST – which makes it the global growth centre. We cannot afford to miss this opportunity.
A McKinsey survey has found that nearly three-quarters of India’s consumers are optimistic about economic recovery, and net intent to spend is growing and positive across many categories.
Omnichannel usage continues across the majority of categories.
Social-media influence is high, especially for Gen Z and millennials. More than 90 percent are engaging in social media and entertainment platforms.
There is an upward trend for new technology, such as crypto and augmented reality/virtual reality, and consumers intend to continue digital activities as the COVID-19 crisis subsides.
About 40 percent of consumers are engaging in out-of-home activities, especially among the vaccinated segment.
Most consumers have tried new shopping behaviours’ such as new retail outlets and new brands.
Some of the best “corporate storytelling” is coming out of India
The most valuable companies in India include Tata Sons, Aditya Birla and Godrej. The most valuable in the world are Apple, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft (with the order changing every now and then). These companies cover a wide range of sectors but there is one common element. A consistent and strategic content narrative.
That’s an area well understood by Mumbai-based The Information Company (TIC) which is positioned as a “content, creative and digital agency preferred by India’s leading corporates”.
Corporate Storytellers. That’s how they like to be known.
The Information Company – Storytellers to India Inc
TIC started in 1999 and I have known them since 2004, when I connected with Founder Kiron Kasbekar, formerly Editor of The Economic Times (Bombay), Business Editor of The Times of India, and Managing Editor of Business India.
TIC has been ‘living and breathing’ content for more than 20 years, with its foundations built by top-notch journalists who brought their expertise in impactful storytelling to the game. Since then, TIC has added technologists, graphic designers, writers, videographers, and SEO specialists to the mix to execute great communication projects.
Their storytelling services are being used by the some of India’s largest, most influential, and best brands – Tata Sons, Aditya Birla Group, Godrej, Mahindra Group, Ambuja Cement, Hindalco, Fino, Cipla, Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel, Capgemini, Weber Shandwick, and many more.
Storytelling for a purpose
TIC doesn’t just tell stories – the focus on storytelling towards a purpose, whether that is building digital brand identity, promoting business interests, creating perceptions, or reaching out to stakeholders.
Thought Leadership
One of the most unleveraged areas of communication is ‘thought leadership’, with much of it being overt promotion or semi-advertising. Here, TIC has been able to carve out a niche – crafting the voices of corporate brand and corporate leaders, and delivering good thought leadership content that is credible, engaging, accurate and consistent.
One of their unique skills is to write authored articles on behalf clients across industries such as automotive, aviation, chemical, consumer products, energy, engineering, IT, insurance, oil & gas, pharma, mining, manufacturing and infrastructure.
Blogs for Interaction
Blogs is another area where, for many organisations, things go wrong. The most common mistake is to come across as self-promoting. Or the organisation starts a blog but tires of it – so their latest blog is two or three years ago. Not a good look.
But the blog can be immensely valuable – it is the one platform for any company to connect with all its stakeholders, interact with them, connect like-minded enthusiasts and so on – through focused storytelling. No wonder then that TIC creates over 30 blogs every month.
Websites that just don’t sit there
Owned communication assets such as websites should not be static – they need to be information rich, and continually updated. They are the first stop for information that is used by investors, clients, media, prospective customers, prospective employees, regulatory bodies. The website is a critical and strategic asset to broadcast the corporate narrative.
Tata Chemicals, Tata Trusts, Rallis, Lupin, Hindalco, Ambuja Cement Foundation, and Suzlon are just some of TIC’s website clients. And this does not include the list of intranet clients!
Visual storytelling
Sometimes, a visual story tells more than a thousand words. Infographics are mostly data driven – the magic lies in crafting a coherent story around data.
By writing compelling text and presenting it in an efficient and visually pleasing manner, TIC ensures that an engaging story emerges from each Infographic. This form of content is its way, both art and science.
Campaigns – traction and reaction
Engaging with employees – especially in an age of WFH – has taken on a new significance. Companies often rely on emailer campaigns to connect. But how do we gain traction and reaction?
Whether the campaign is to showcase business achievements, announce a product launch or an event, highlight business achievement, connect with employees or other stakeholders, TIC partners several big corporates to put in the right words to their thoughts.
Social media campaigns take the need for creativity to another level. Here too TIC builds award-winning strategic campaigns for clients such as Godrej and Hindalco.
Video now “most effective”
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth 1.8 million – that is the view of TIC, and they see video as “the most effective way to narrate a story”. Be it explainer, animated, VFX, event, HR videos or corporate films, TIC creates videos for Aditya Birla Group, Sterling & Wilson, Asian Paints, and Hindalco.
Content Overload
Beware of stepping into ‘content overload’, a sign of our times. How do you ensure ‘thumb-stopping’, shareworthy content for your brand? One easy hack is to make sure the content is dynamic, visually rich and – most important – interactive! Adding a layer of interactivity to your content – blogs, posts, videos, graphics, podcasts, whatever – will add to brand recall and engagement. Even a simple quiz, for instance, becomes interactive content and can be a game changer for your brand. And that is what TIC delivers.
Awards tell the story
Recognition is the best sequel to creativity. TIC has won a slew of awards for its work – here is just a tiny fraction of the recent accolades won:
Double Platinum at the ‘AVA Digital Awards 2022’ for Tata Sons e-magazine and a video for Sterling & Wilson Renewable Energy Ltd
‘Mint Marketing Award 2021’ for Hindalco’s #WomenAtHindalco social media campaign
Gold for Hindalco’s internal newsletter at the ‘Afaqs! Digies 2021’
Bronze for Aditya Birla Group’s #HaathUthanaZarooriHai video at the ‘Velocity Awards’
Best Content agency at ‘The Great Indian Content Marketing Awards 2021’
Contact TIC
For more on how TIC can support your communication objectives, just drop a message on enquiry@ticworks.com. Or better still, call at +91 842 581 4016 / 17.
These two Ministers are transforming the Australia-India relationship
Wow! The Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement signed yesterday is a whopper.
Get on the plane now if you are in business or education! The trade and investment doors are open for you.
The two trade ministers, Australian Dan Tehan and Indian Piyush Goyal, are transforming the economic relationship and created a platform for decades of growth for India and Australia. Well done.
I want to thank my friend Gopi Shankar for drawing my attention to this stunning development for Indian startups. Gopi is based in Bangalore (Bengaluru) and is Director – Trade & Industry | Global Victoria, Victorian Government Trade and Investment.
Entrackr reports:
Money flowed into Indian startups in 2021 like never before. The ecosystem broke all the previous records in terms of fundraising and minting unicorns during the 12 month–period. According to data compiled by Fintrackr, total investments that flowed into Indian startups stood close to $38 billion in 2021. This is over three times more than the $11.1 billion in total funding that startups received during 2020.
Fintrackr’s data further shows that 1,391 startups mopped up $37.98 billion across 1,625 deals in 2021 which included 380 growth and late-stage startups and 948 early-stage startups. Among them, 297 startups, mainly early-stage, did not disclose their deal size.
Into India 