It is the first week of March and that time of the year, when every brand is in a race to come up with the most empowering content about women, the taboos around them, their roles in society and what not. Yes, we are talking about International Women’s day, today that is. We all have a tendency to expect brands like Dove to come up with creative videos about breaking barriers and walls built around women; but when we see brands like Flipkart and Dabur getting into this niche advertising segment, it makes us wonder if it is really worth it to spend days or even weeks shooting an ad, whose lifetime is just one day?
Well, after some research, we found this:
Current population of India is 1.34 billion comprising of 48.5% females and 51.5% males. Women constitute a share of 48.1% in urban population and of 48.6% in the rural population (India Guide, 2017).
From the badass body positivist to the adventurous woman who loves to explore, and the helicopter parent who juggles her responsibilities with singular success, the modern Indian woman has adapted to manifold shades. You’d probably chuckle if we tell you that women are the world’s largest and most influential consumers, driving the majority of household spending with their buying power. It’s a #truestory indeed–gone are the days when the Indian woman’s purchasing power was limited to groceries.
According to a 2018 study by Fortune India, women are known to exert an influence on over 85% of the products and services. This influence is what is becoming noticeable over the years by the brands as they start showing women through a different lens rather than just a “domestic obsessive” or “selfless nurturer and sacrificer”.
If we try to put a number around it, according to a 2020 research by Clanconnect.ai, an AI-driven influencer marketing platform – a majority of the top 1,000 influencers in India are women and they rule the top 1K Instagram influencers and beat men by almost 50% more in numbers. The total reach of all women Instagram influencers was found to be 1700 million, while that of men was 1200 million. If we become highly conservative and assume that only 20% of this massive number of followers are women, the number boils down to 580 million! This means that women are becoming more self-aware and are following these influencers to stay as close to the upcoming trends as they can. This is also a sign of rising aspirations amongst the female community.
So, it should not come as a surprise that brands take this one day so seriously and go all bonkers to spend efforts, time and energy to depict women in their flamboyance and to encourage and accept womenhood.
Now to the next question: How to tap this growing influencer community in the subtlest way possible? Of course, brands would not want to get into another Tanishq controversy, and every step has to be taken with caution. Enters some of the traits, segments and behaviors that are defining the women of today that took our attention:
#1 The Dream Weaver
The Flipkart ad #leadlikeher shows women in an ever-inspiring light – women take responsibility of some things, because they are better at those things than others!
#2 Flawlessly Flawed
Yes, you guessed that right. Dove brought the gender and beauty stereotype tales to the front desk once again by talking of the beauty norms decided by society, which are not (and should not be) valid today. Women are much more than toned bodies and fair complexions.
#3 No Strings Attached
Did you know? In a country obsessed with marriage and childbirth, nearly 12% of the overall female population comprises women who are single, separated widowed! Then we have brands like Zivame, taking the route of comedy to highlight the “more common that we would like to think of” issues – making this world a little better and happier.
#4 The Urban Nomad
As much as we love or hate RomComs & Dramas, we can’t refute the fact that characters like Tanu(Kangana Ranaut) from Tanu Weds Manu, Veronica(Deepika Padukone) from Cocktail, & Laila(Katrina Kaif) from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara have been our fav characters. Reason? They all represent the woman we all wish to be – carefree and a sassy lass who refuses to tame down. She is uninhibited, unrestrained and almost always takes the road less travelled to unravel her true self. This is again represented by brands in multiple versions, either by empowering women to wear what they want, pursue jobs that they want to or travel as far as they want to.
These are just a few of the many traits being represented by brands in their own unique way. As the Indian woman rapidly moves beyond the pink and the pretty, marketers and advertisers have also ditched misrepresenting women by drawing caricatures of them as the ones who eat the right breakfast incessantly shop at the name of a sale and the ones who need a man to do financial transactions.
These avatars represent what women really want and who they are becoming. And while the conversation has just begun, we hope to see women around us coming into their own, opening up, breaking free and living the unrestrained unshackled life that they are meant to be. And seems like we are on a fast track already as we see women leading countries and women composing songs like these:
“If we want it, we take it
If we need money, we make it
Nobody knows if we fake it
You like to watch while we shake it..
I know we're making you thirsty
You want us all in the worst way
You don't understand
I don't need a man”
– Me and My Girls, Selena Gomez
But guess what, women were not always on the back seat. There are many communities around the globe which have been thriving for centuries with women at their helms – but that is a story for another time. Stay tuned till Wednesday for this upcoming story –
Till then, don’t forget to share our blog with your friends and family.