 session back to the future and that's a new Indian in town. Keeping up the momentum going up next we have PT Reddy, CEO South Asia, who is a strong proponent of technology-driven innovation in the search, adoption of new, non-conscious methods of understanding consumers and applying sophisticated analytical capabilities to integrate data to help transform consumer insights into business impact for clients. She's somebody who over the last three decades of experience in consumer marketing, consulting and research, helping leading Indian and multinational companies make informed decisions using consumer understanding. Well, thank you so much, Ms. PT, for joining us and giving us your valuable time today and being a part of the E4M Please, with this, I'd now like to pass on the stage and screen over to you. Thanks Pavna and hello everybody. I have a presentation. So I'm going to share my screen and I'm also going to switch off my video because so that I don't distract you from the truths that the pandemic has revealed in every facet of human life. And we at Cantor have been, even despite the social distancing, we've been listening to and observing people across the country trying to understand how Indians have reacted and adapted to these unprecedented times. And so, you know, I wanted to give you a sense of the path that the consumers have traveled and what lies ahead in 2021 because a lot of what has happened in 2020 will endure and will continue in 2021. So let's look first look back and reflect on 2020. So the pandemic has, first of all, it's taught us a new language. There are, you know, clearly new words and phrases that describe the sentiments of last year and new phrases include, you're on mute. What has been overwhelming actually is the change that it brought on us. We were forced to learn, we were forced to adapt, we were forced to equip ourselves with several new things, whether it's the way we lived or the way we thought or the way we behaved. But there are some common themes that played out this year. One was, one, the first is one of apprehension. We were all anxious and to a great extent, even despondent and we still are. The second is that we are worried about the future, the uncertainty and the helplessness about what the future has in store. The third is, as consumers, a new way of living and a continuous re-engineering that you've had to do to adopt ever evolving situations. And finally, social distancing with heightened concern and on health and immunity. Now, the pandemic has impacted not only consumers, but also brands and businesses, because they've had to re-evaluate and reject strategies and the way of doing business and marketing. They've had to battle changing buying patterns, brand preferences, loyalties, handle supply chain, as well as trade and distribution setups and to rethink their communications, like being caught up in a never ending storm. The Indian economy actually shrank almost 24% in the second quarter year on year in the second quarter of 2020, just much worse than what originally been forecasted of about 18% drop. When an economy contracts by nearly a fourth, it is bound to affect all our lives, one way or the other. We at Canada had done us a survey, a large scale survey in urban India covering about 10,000 consumers, 15 to 55 years old in the top 35 cities. And we spoke to them about their brand usage, attitudes, demographics, a whole host of topics. And that survey revealed that a staggering 72% of India's urban population actually claims to have been economically impacted by the pandemic. And when we slice this further, we sought to India's emerging. One is that one that is highly impacted. And another, which is a little more insulated, the highly impacted are the lower socioeconomic classes, the smaller towns and the eastern south zooms, where the extent of loss is higher and the worries were much greater. This in turn then led to financial prudence. No wonder that consumers are more fearful of the economic impact of COVID than its impact on their health and well being. The overall sentiment now is largely negative and cautious. And that's a difference from what we saw in the beginning months of the pandemic when consumers were hopeful that it would all end quickly and they'd be back at work by July and things will be fine. They now realize that this is going to go on. And they actually believe that the situation will worsen in time, both in terms of the overall economy and their personal finances. And as is a general tendency during a crisis, consumers are focusing on buying of essentials, purchases that they believe are discretionary are being deferred. And this is typically large ticket durables, homes, larger appliances. And even among those who are investing during the crisis, we see a change in the way they select investment vehicles. Today's safety and security of capital seems to be the key decision criteria. They would rather protect capital than chase higher returns. And this obviously has implications for BFSI brand and the communication clients that they employ. Not everything was really was so bad. One of the interesting things that happened was that although social distancing encouraged people to stay apart, it actually brought people together in many new ways. And it strengthened family and community bonds. They felt consumers felt a greater connection with their families and their extended communities. And they expect these connections to stay intact long after the virus has actually been contained. Shrinking personal spaces is one of the biggest challenges of today. Consumers are prisoners at home with limited space and a whole host of discrete activities, such as working, learning, shopping, socialization, all of that has to be done at home. This is really an analogy really is you have so many needs and wants, but you have limited resources. You only had that one house or those few rooms. I mean, let's take the case of a housewife from an earlier happy situation of being alone at home for a large part of the day. She's today a hassle and overworked individual. Earlier kids and husbands would be away for most of the day. Now with school from home, work from home, she not only has to ensure that they are kept busy and doing what they're supposed to do, but they have to ensure that they're constantly fed. And in the bargain, she has lost her space and time, you know, maybe just watching her afternoon TV or stepping out in the evening to meet friends or buy her vegetables. And she's actually feeling the pressure of loss of personal space. Today, consumers consciously want to do a lot more for their health. Pre COVID when we spoke to consumers, we always found a gap between desire and action. Almost 50% of individuals would say I want to lose weight or I want to be healthier. But actually actualizing that desire never really happened. It happened to very few. The pandemic has changed that health has now come to core focus. And consumers are trying different means to ensure they stay healthy and fit. It could be therefore really pillars that they're looking at nutrition, hygiene, fitness and the usage of supplements to build immunity. And while we've spoken about the concerns and worries due to COVID, it's also led to some positive changes in that it has given all of us some much needed time for personal pursuits and self education. 72% of Indians claim that they have learned new skills over the past few months. And these skills range from cooking to more artistic pursuits, learning new languages, enhancing technology skills, a whole host of activities. Consumers have also learned to improvise when there are constraints. You know, when maids could not come, they discovered robots. In the post process, existing habits have been discarded and new ways to consume are invented. Indians and safety are most important. And that which is why online shopping, for instance, has seen an unprecedented surge. However, because of restricted movements, cautious spending, and availability being a concern, brand loyalty slowly taking a beating. Brands will have to work that much harder to actually retain consumers, you know, because consumers no longer have the only place where they can browse actually is online. They don't, they don't browse in stores. Their shopping behavior has changed completely. Digital, of course, we know many people have said this was a lifeline. It's now a digital life. Online education tops the list when it comes to usage of the internet, followed by online entertainment and then you following news online. And as with all other aspects, entertainment is tilting towards digital. There's a huge growth in engagement levels for online videos. And it also offers much needed personal space and an otherwise congested life. So all that I've said is I think really reiteration of of what many of us know is just exemplified and there are numbers behind it. But maybe now with this understanding of what happened in 2020 to the new to the Indian consumer, it's time to do some future gazing. So the next part of my session, I will actually try and give you a sense of the part that lies ahead in 2021. 10 trends that we are seeing. First is that the early days of quarantine life were seen as an opportunity to nurture family relationship, shared times, shared space, shared responsibility. But today, almost 60% want to actually get back to their colleges and workplaces. Kids have started feeling claustrophobic at home. Men cannot be men as they cannot go out in the mother field. She's growing unpopular every day because she has to play the bad cop ever so often. So that helly sense of togetherness is actually really losing its sheen. They're together, but they're alone. And they're yearning for that lost my space. The other is that we said, I said earlier, there was this growing sense of community and, you know, coming together on Zoom calls and all of that. But today, people are actually physically restricting themselves to smaller siloed personal circle. There's a hesitation to return to broad socio economic, socio cultural groups. We're basically making our own small tribes. If I don't know you, I don't want to know you, because you might put me at risk for contracting the virus. In fact, 68% said that they will continue to practice social distancing and keep avoiding unknown people and busy places in the future. There's a return to the tribe. This is an interesting one in that gender narratives are going back in time, because COVID-19 has raised really difficult questions on gender roles. Men have faced an exposure of their domestic inexperience, even as they stayed home, under the shadow of a loss of income. About a third lack has lacked a sense of job security and many had actually lost jobs. And that anxiety was really high, particularly high among the 35 plus providers. So this led men to this feeling of helplessness and melancholy. On the other hand, managing elasticity of home and work is not new for the woman. She's experienced in expanding and contracting her roles. The economic uncertainty forced her to become creative. You've seen the number of home cooks, the number of women entrepreneurs that have come up and how they're focusing on new skills for themselves and for their staff and monetizing those skills. So women are facing yet another crisis with agility and intelligence and resilience. This I spoke about earlier and this is going to continue that it has the pause during the pandemic has given us the time and motivation for self-improvement. 72% believe that the coronavirus emergency gave them an opportunity to learn something new. Half want to focus on their personal development. More than half are eating healthier. They're claiming to be exercising or reading more. But they're doing it with discipline and the rigorous discipline in pursuing these activities has actually provided meaning and purpose to people's lives. I'm becoming a better person. I'm improving myself. There is meaning to my life. Fifth one is that the race for immunity. It has become an obsession to build immunity as everybody rated anxiously for a vaccine. Now the vaccine has come hopefully there will be some loosening of this. But right now, categories that have focused on immunity have grown significantly because immunity and building that as I said, become an obsession. Chab and Prash we know doubled its volumes. Adult wellness drinks have experienced 50% growth in volume. And what has started off as a race to build immunity is now emerging as a long-term consciousness of health and hygiene. And this is one behavior that they say they will continue to maintain in the future. The home is losing its innocence. It's no longer a place of refuge. Spaces at home are being redefined. The bedroom is doubling as a gym. The dining table is a desk or a boardroom. Home objects and spaces are like multipurpose Swiss knives. Retailers have actually reported a search in demand for office furniture. Personal zones are being carved and the same physical space is being used for retreat, for work, and for study. And this is the new coping mechanism because the home is no longer a refuge or a coping or something that helps protects you from what happens outside. Seventh trend we picked up. The economic immunity is the new sense of nationalism. The financial suffering that consumers have seen during the pandemic has set a belief that beyond health, the nation needs economic immunity. Therefore, a protectionist sentiment towards buying made in India to support the community economy. 61% are buying more local brands. 79% are in favor of buying Indian-made products, even as they may not be able to or willing to pay more for the same. But that sentiment is one of, you know, protect our economy. For companies and brands, being Indian is not only about being about the origin. It is also about the economic contribution to India and making India Asma Nirbha. And that is one sentiment that is really, what shall I say, has really evoked and has really resonated with consumers. The eighth trend we've seen, one is that brands must solve, not sell. Customer expectations from brands have evolved. Today, brands need to be there for a purpose. They have to give you emotional support, but they also have to be there like a friend to give you practical utility and to help you in navigating this new life that we are having to adapt to constantly. So purpose is important. Purpose remains important, but purpose coupled with utilitarian, practical help and friendship for the consumer. Social media, we know, has found its soul. In the pandemic, the social media provided both emotional and professional support. On one hand, it was a platform for business, and on the other hand, it was a source of hope, love, courage to face the crisis. And social media actually captured the emotional roller coaster of the country beautifully. We do an analysis of sentiment on social media. And we found that what we call net sentiment, which is positive minus negative sentiment, the net sentiment dropped to its lowest point of minus 18% in March. The consumer sentiment was at its absolute lowest. Then it went down to minus 1% January and finally ended in plus 6% in December. So with news of the vaccine, with things opening up, sentiment has improved. But social media has been a great harbinger and a bellwether of what consumers are feeling and how they are absorbing news, entertainment, video, audio content, all of that. Finally, we found new heroes. This is the rise of simple human souls who put others before self. Shy of narcissism, shy of being in the limelight. People are embracing these new heroes who may not rule the silver screen or not be celebrities or stars, but help when people are in distress. Thousands of Indians are finding ways to help those who are more vulnerable. I mean, they're publishing data, they're launching donation drives, they are sewing masks, they are video chatting with senior citizens, they're mobilizing support for migrant workers, they're countering fake news. They're making, you know, they're inviting people to do simple things like washing their hands. These are today's heroes, more than anybody else. Therefore, to end, I just want to say that 2020 was an unforgiving year that has revealed our fears and perhaps will remain a reflection of the reassurances we see. And we look forward to 2021 with a line from the Woodstock era, Peace Activist Wavy Gravy said, dare to struggle, dare to grin. We will see some of both. Thank you. Thank you so much, Priti, for giving us your valuable time and being here at the E4M Conclave. Well, we really valued what you said today and I'm sure these learnings are going to go a long way for a lot of years ahead. Thank you once again for sharing your expertise. Thank you. So ladies and gentlemen, also, if you may have any questions directed to our speakers, please do type it in the Q&A tab as we'd love to take it on with our speakers and joining us at 4 for CPM Indian Standard Time is going to be our next speaker. So we do have some time in hand where an ad request, if you know our attendees, we'd give you some time, Priti's still around. If you have any questions, please do type it in the Q&A tab and do let us know if we can direct the same to her so that we could have an engagement with Q&A as well. So ladies and gentlemen, this is all happening right now at the E4M Conclave and all we've got to do is keep a hashtagging E4M Conclave. And for all the viewers, remember that this is going live on Facebook, on Twitter, as well as on LinkedIn. So we're going to give you some time to type in certain questions if you do have for Ms. Reddy, and we would direct the same in that. But meanwhile, if I could request the team, since we do have time in hand, if you could have one of our AVs being played for our audience, while as we get, also there are a few questions, you know, which are there. Ms. Reddy, if you'd be open to that, there are certain questions which have been coming, but unfortunately due to time, we couldn't ask them to our previous speakers. So would you be there open for that? For questions asked to other speakers? No, no, no, not to the other speakers. They've just that we've not gotten time to take on the questions since our afternoon. This is the open interest of the audience. So if there's any questions, yeah, I have a little time here. Okay, sure. So also there is one question is that, you know, how would you look at media and business growth, reviving to pre-COVID levels, or at least begin looking at a similar growth trajectory? A tough question because different sectors are behaving differently. I don't think there is a universal one size fits all growth pattern. I mean, we have seen FMCG others, you know, other speakers have said this is coming back, personal care, but we know that travel and hospitality will take time to come back. Our prognosis is that it will take at least to till the first quarter of 2022 for us to come back to 2019 kind of levels. I may be wrong, but this is what we have, what our clients have told us and what we have seen in terms of consumer behavior, et cetera. So consumer behavior is coming back, buying is coming back, but it's nowhere near yet the levels of 2019. The pandemic has been a shock to the system. I think we have to be pretty clear about that. Absolutely. Also, one question has just come in. It says that what are the three biggest trends that you think have changed in the consumer behavior? I know you did speak a lot about the trends and basics, but if you could just say about the trends which have changed in the consumer behavior currently. See one and the one most important thing is that shopping behavior has changed. It's a very, very, very distinct difference you can see. We still haven't gone back to going to malls. We are, but most of our shopping is actually now done online. There are two or three kinds of shopping behavior that consumers are following. One is all the browsing and regular stuff, et cetera, is bought online or actually online means on the phone really. Then there is fresh, which you just go outside the store and you pick up or an emergency. Then there is the indulgence, experience, shopping, et cetera, which still has to come back. That hasn't done it. Shopping behavior has changed. The other is that I mean, the way we work and the way we interact has definitely changed. Many companies are saying, for instance, they're not going to go back to, they will always have a hybrid model. That's a fundamental change in the way we work. We have a system by which it was an industrial era system of offices and cabins and all that, some of that changed, but now that has dramatically changed. And I think the third thing is the, especially for Indians, the concern with health and hygiene has definitely changed. As a nation, we are quite cavalier with our health and our hygiene levels. I think they say that has given us the immunity that we need also, but it is now, it's very top of mind, health and hygiene. And one more fourth one is that the our spending has, you know, until 2019, we were, I mean, the economy was slowing down, 17 people are still spending. They are spending now, but slowly and on not on indulgence category so much. A barrel is not being bought so much. Large ticket items are not being bought so much. That is, I would say those are the four most significant things that have changed. Absolutely. Ms. Reddy has another question which is coming from one of our attendees, Neha, and she asked that, what do you think about the growth, the trajectory for the luxury sector? What kind of media spend trends to you for three? For the luxury sector? Yes, luxury sector in particular. I think the luxury sector will take the longest to come back, take absolutely the longest to come back. The ones who were already in the long, you know, I mean, it's in India, it was what we called affordable luxury was growing. So it was move, luxury was growing from the absolute top niche. You know, it was moving down a socioeconomic tier. The ones who could afford luxury will continue to be able to do so, but that movement down to a larger base of affordable luxury that has stopped. I don't think that will come back in a hurry. Sure. Ms. Reddy, would you be open to just two more questions if you do have time? We do have certain questions. Yeah, yeah, Ms. Reddy, one of the questions from our attendees is that, how do you see brand bifurcating their marketing budgets across advertising mediums and channels? Advertising mediums and channels, I'm not sure I'm the best qualified to answer that. I think we should have somebody from the media business do that. I see Srinni or somebody in the audience of PK who will probably give you more honest and correct answers. The only thing that I think everybody has spoken about is that, you know, this is the age of digital and digital has who I think Mark Reed himself is saying it's no longer a lead generation medium. It's a very mainstream medium now. Sure. Also, Ms. Reddy, there's one question which is common, is that in the backdrop of pandemic, what are some of the suggestions that you'd like to give it to the brand currently? Your top few suggestions which you'd like to pass it on to the brand? Couple of things. One is that you must remain salient. You must not say that, you know, this is a pandemic and therefore I can shut shop for some time and then come back. Consumers remember, you know, consumers forget easily and consumers remember. So you should continue to be present. The second is that the tonality of your communication, you have to be careful about it now. There were some brands that did it exceedingly well during the pandemic, some who actually got it quite wrong. And the third is that I was as I was saying that your brand loyalty will come from brands, from consumers feeling that you were there for them when they needed you, you know. And a prime example I give is for instance, the telecom industry, you know, at a time when the only linkage that you had with the outside world was your internet and your mobile phone, they didn't, you know, and consumers were really vulnerable. They didn't take advantage of that. They were there, their services worked. They did all kinds of things to make life easier for consumers. Similarly, the food delivery guys, when you know you couldn't get, you literally had to, you know, you couldn't go out, somebody had to come and give you food. And many times, you know, I was in Bombay at that time, and many times in that, in the building that I live, the only other human being I ever saw was the Swiggy guy, you know, and that's how you build emotional connect with your, with your consumers. My advice would be, you know, be there, stay salient and, and also, you know, be agile, because what did the, what did these guys do? What did the telecom guys do? What did the food aggregators do? They discovered new needs and new, new consumer tensions, which they took advantage of. And that's, I think, has paid off for them. Sure. And just for the final question, Mr. Eddy, otherwise I'm sure our conversations will keep continuing because a lot of questions are coming from our attendees. Sure. One which has just come in at 440 PMISP is that with frequent changes every month in the consumer behavior and preferences due to COVID, how validated are the insights found from the recent researches? Well, the, you know, I mean, consumer behavior changes all the time, consumer attitudes change all the, that is why we need to keep abreast of what consumers are doing and thinking and, and, you know, that's what good marketers do. They don't assume that something that they did 15 years ago is still valid. The only thing is that what the pandemic has done is that it has made the, the, the frequency of consumer behavior change or consumer attitude change more faster or, you know, the shorter in that sense. So yes, absolutely. You, you have to keep abreast of consumer changing behavior. I mean, what was true in March last year is probably not true. A lot of it is not true in March this year and, you know, good marketers recognize that and, and keep abreast of that. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Mr. Eddy. Though there are many more questions coming in, but we'd really like to value your time and thank you for joining us, Abhi, for our conclusive. Thank you. Thank you for having me.