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| Madhukar Sabnavis: Impact Brand India | |
| Madhukar Sabnavis / New Delhi December 05, 2008, 0:14 IST | |
 It is a short-term setback, but we need to act fast.
The happenings in Mumbai last week were attacks of a different kind. Unlike the hits of the past — 1993, 2003 or 2006 — this was in the heart of the city, at two city icons and at the elite; shattering confidence in Indian security systems and spreading an aura of fear. The fact that the struggle continued for nearly 60 hours drained the city and its people emotionally, mentally and physically. Threat that was often seen to be part of public spaces became private; entering closed enclosures and taking form beyond the hit and run activities of traditional terror strikes. Will this change the face of India, both internally and in the international world? It’s something worth pondering about.
It is a fact that India has always lumbered back to business as usual after previous attacks. That has inherently to do with some basic cultural values ingrained in Indian society over years. We are fundamentally resilient — we know how to cope with setbacks rather than get cowed down by them. Our ‘fatalistic’ approach to life enables us to do this coping. It has helped us, over the generations, weather a succession of invaders and conquerors — be it the Islamic invaders or British traders. We are a culture that has over centuries learnt to co-exist with diversity. We may not openly co-operate and accept others; but the philosophy of ‘live and let live’ has always helped us to co-habit different view points — with some giving and sharing. Not surprisingly, we remain a fairly ‘peaceful’ multicultural society. Finally, a fundamental belief in peace — so wonderfully leveraged by Gandhi during our independence struggle — keeps Indian society away from the ‘eye for an eye’ theory so often endorsed by other societies. Retaining our equanimity in the face of external turbulence is a value we, as Indians, have imbibed over the years. It’s these three core values of Indians that have ensured Brand India has retained its balance in the past and will ensure that Brand India does not get into a chaotic, violent mode as an aftermath of such attacks.
There is, however, also an interesting social dimension that has developed in the last decade and a half. Young India has discovered and enjoyed the fruits of growth and development since liberalization in 1991. It is hungry for more and single-mindedly focused on bettering its life and keeping its lifestyles in synch with its counterparts in the Western world. Setbacks such as bomb blasts and terror attacks are not going to be allowed to come in the way of this resurgent, ambitious new Indian. Given that as a country we are blessed with great geographic spread —Mumbai is the heart of ‘economic’ India but India is not Mumbai — the growth opportunity lies everywhere and is happening everywhere. One big significant attack can shake the economy momentarily but not stir it to disruption! Life will go ahead regardless.
To global audiences, this is certainly a shock. It is not surprising that the English cricket team decided to cut short its tour and return to England. The postponement of the Champions League is again a natural fallout of the incident. Tourism is being hit — airlines and hotels are seeing large-scale cancellations. However, one must remember these are short-term setbacks — something driven more by sentiment rather than fundamentals or facts. Sentiments are important — man is an emotional animal and, if not mentally and emotionally secure, is likely to react the way foreigners have. However finally, commonsense will prevail. The global community — leisure and business — recognizes and will realize that India has so much to offer that a few terrorist strikes, however ghastly, should not deter them from coming to the country again and again. The traditional Indian hospitality and friendliness will always keep Brand India a welcoming place to come to. The same English team is returning for a test series next week!
Does this mean that November 26 is just another date in the Indian calendar? That’s something custodians of Brand India need to guard against. Brand India has a lot of inherent product equity and strength that will see it through this upheaval. But it needs to be viewed as a wakeup call for brand custodians. If nothing tangible and concrete is done to prevent such recurrences, then a couple of more such incidents — at the same intensity and in the heart of the country — and faith in the brand globally will decline; and the resilience of the people will break. It’s heartening to see that the violent repercussions of the 1993 blasts were not repeated this time. Indian society has matured and learnt to handle the crisis intelligently. They have successfully developed the softer skills to look at such incidents rationally and not let emotions lead them astray. However, the time has come for the custodians of Brand India — the government and the bureaucrats — to invest in and develop hardware and systems to protect the public from such happenings. It’s a time to recognize that we are in crisis. And a crisis needs to be addressed head-on. Corrective actions need to be taken and the concerned stakeholders — domestic and international — need to be made aware of such steps to build confidence that last month’s incident was an aberration and not an endemic system problem that will recur. Unfortunately, the past terror strikes have not elicited strong action by the administration. This has resulted in some level of scepticism.
Country brand equity is built by both the citizens and the administrators. The softer skills of the country brand are demonstrated and delivered by the citizens and India has plenty of equity there. However, in today’s day and age, the more tangible side — the infrastructure and the systems that are set up by the administration — are also important in doing business and building relationships. This needs to keep pace with the expectations of a global world and a globalizing Indian public. You can’t always depend on the softer skills— resilience, co-existence, love for peace — of the Indian people to keep Brand India going. Brands can’t survive on emotional power alone. Indian brand custodians need to take note of this and act… fast. Time might run out.
Something worth thinking about.
The author is Country Head-Planning and Discovery, Ogilvy India. Views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at madhukar.sabnavis@ogilvy.com
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