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Social marketing in India has become increasingly focused on gender roles, family hierarchy, and traditional marriage practices. Different forms of femvertizing female empowerment through socially-focused marketing has taken hold there in unexpected ways.

To illustrate how this is happening, we selected for this article three emblematic advertisements that not only challenge but also reverse the traditionally dominant roles that Indian fathers, sons, and husbands assume with the women in their lives.

Role inversion

Role inversion highlights men acting out of script to improvise a new way of assuming inherited, highly codified familial roles. In these ads, Indian men, like their western counterparts, appear to have grown weary of the limiting script and role thats been passed down to them.

The Ariel detergent ad opens with an older gentleman sitting at a dinner table, observing his grown daughter performing a dizzying array of evening tasks while her husband sits watching television, calling out for his evening tea, oblivious to her multi-tasking a work call, preparing dinner, and supervising kids homework.

Her fathers off-screen voice reads a Dear Daughter letter in Hindi as he witnesses the gaping disparity of her duties during the unpaid portion of her work day. Stunned by the pressures his baby girl is facing, the lamenting dad acknowledges his direct responsibility for this state of affairs.

Admitting that he provided the example that she internalised, the dad resolves to change this once hes back home with mom, confiding that he is so very sorry for not having provided a different role model.

Cut to the next scene and dad is loading the machine with his dirty laundry, much to moms surprise, and the viewer is left with Ariels parting slogan Share the load because why should laundry be a mothers job?

Gendered script

When we act out our roles in everyday life, we internalise received information on our identity in the form of social scripts that we repeat and perfect over time. Ever since sociologists John Gagnon and William Simons landmark work on sexual scripts and the learned predictable sequences of gender identity construction, Sexual Conduct: The Social Sources of Human Sexuality, was published, researchers have been applying the idea of scripting practices to a variety of fields.

Popular culture often provides striking examples of such gendered scripts, as evident from studies on television and advertising as well as in social media and music. The advertising culture in India seems ripe for revisiting these scripts, as our current research on Indian womens identity has revealed.

In many homes, the kitchen still embodies gender segregation. Research into gender choice and domestic space suggests that kitchen design preferences are gendered and linked to professional status: women versus men, working versus non-working.

The womens clothing company BIBA questioned this gendered space in a popular 2016 advertisement that went viral in India and beyond.

In the opening scene, a young woman is preparing for a family encounter between intended fiancs in the typical arranged marriage scenario. The boys family has arrived for tea and samosas. Now is the time to verify the girls cooking and home-making abilities; nothing new here so far.

In the course of the discussion, the girls father asks about the boys cooking ability. His smiling mother retorts proudly that he cannot even boil water microwaved noodles are his speciality. Father then informs the potential in-laws that his daughter deserves better than noodles, getting a surprise smile from his appreciative daughter.

The groom-to-be responds by inviting his in-laws to come to over for dinner in 10 days, to give him time to learn how to cook.

A somewhat contrived, albeit hopeful subversion of the norm, Indian feminist critics such as Shamolie Oberoi underscore the ads perpetuation of female passivity and lack of autonomy, noting that the ability to feed oneself shouldnt depend on ones gender.

Regardless, the ads popularity shows that incremental change in Indias gender relations is already in motion.

Discussing sensitive issues

Along this continuum of change, the BIBA brands role-reversing approach to womens issues can be seen in another ad, which also went viral.

In this ad, dowry negotiation is being discussed. Illegal since 1961, dowry continues to be a widespread and fraught practice across all strata of Indian society. It is seen as compensation to the parents taking on the bride-to-be, who is considered a burden and the property of the husbands family.

This practice is often intergenerationally and violently perpetuated.

In the discussion between a middle-aged man and his mother about his own sons marriage, it becomes clear that he supports the exchange of dowry but as long as he is, in fact, paying it. To his mothers astonishment, he explains his logic: since they are obtaining something precious, the bride, they should be paying.

Gender bias is by no means unique to India, and unconscious gender bias research shows us that its particularly prevalent when women shift into power or authority positions.

In India, the prevalence of femvertising is not yet sufficiently impacting entrenched inequities. A 2016 UN report on gender inequality ranks India at 131st out of 185 countries overall. Other studies and indicators of gender discrimination in India show theres a lot of room for new initiatives in areas, such as female entrepreneurship, where gender balance remains among the lowest in the world.

We are also seeing new feminist films from India that are challenging scripted stereotypes with intelligent, thoughtful, and rebellious female voices.

This is a significant development, especially since a 2014 UN-sponsored study on women in film indicates that men receive a strong preference in leading roles across the world.

As director Alankrita Shrivastava lamented in a June interview : multi-dimensional roles that project women as complex characters are mostly absent from mainstream Bollywood. Women are largely given roles as sexual objects.

Shrivastavas recent film Lipstick Under my Burkha, which challenges many norms, is struggling to get a release certification from the Indian censor board.

Involving men

Indian men are showing increasing signs of involvement in the conversation about the nations gender divide. An episode from Bollywood star Aamir Khans popular social-issues talk show Satyadmev Jayate, for instance, examined how Masculinity Harms Men, revealing that many men in India still feel societal pressure to act tough, never cry, and treat women as less than equal.

A combination of patriarchal culture, religion, Bollywood and TV shows share the responsibility. Thats why the impact of femvertising in India should not be underestimated.

Traditional scripts require rewriting to fit new and previously unimagined situations. A new generation of feminist Indian marketers are using publicity to reach larger consumer audiences and to reframe the dominant gender discourse, recognising the hugely important role that women play in global consumption.

Socially-sensitive advertisers and filmmakers are shaping a new vision that will hopefully cascade to the millions who may be observing, but are not yet part of the conversation.

Although much remains to be done, in India today things are changing in essential ways, and the above examples do manage to get a message across to the millions in the audience. Thats something to not be sorry about.

Michelle Mielly, Associate Professor in People, Organizations, Society, Grenoble cole de Management (GEM) and Nandita Sood Perret, Visiting Lecturer at Universit Grenoble Alpes and Consultant in Multicultural Managment and Communications

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Michelle Mielly, Nandita Sood Perret | The Conversation

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'I'm so sorry': when Indian advertisements turn around sexism - Business Standard

Astro has launched its digital marketing arm Blaze Digital to offer integrated digital-first solutions for marketers across Astros 21 digital brands. These brands include Malay entertainment portal Astro Gempak, news portal Astro Awani, Chinese lifestyle portal Xuan, Rojak Daily which offers entertainment and lifestyle updates, as well as 11 independent digital publications.

The team from Blaze Digital will comprise creative directors, producers and digital marketing experts and aims to provide digital marketing solutions via branded content, videos, social marketing, programmatic ads, display, as well as bespoke packages. Astro said Blaze Digital enables it to deliver digital first marketing solutions, offering personalised customer engagement and better value for marketers. It will also leverage on its advantage across TV, radio and digital.

On social media front, Astro said Blaze Digital has an average of 20 million users and a reach of over 100 million people on Facebook monthly, in which itll help marketers connect directly with a growing socially-connected and tech-savvy population.

We will continue to introduce new and innovative digital content that can travel regionally to both users in Malaysia and Southeast Asia to ensure that Blaze Digital stays ahead of the curve, said Astro, in a press statement.

Jayaram Nagaraj (pictured), general manager of Blaze Digital said, We saw an opportunity in the market to create an independent media solution to provide better value to brands by leveraging all of Astros strength.

Blaze Digital, Nagaraj said, is a local platform designed for local brands, and it has signed up popular local publishers such asSiakap Keli, Siakap Keli TV, Makchic, Nak Bebel, Tongue in Chic, Islam ItuIndah, Poskod.my, and Amanz.my, enabling these independent publishers to connect with marketers. The partnership between Blaze Digital and the 11 independent digital publishers coupled with Astros own digital brands, is expected to enhance content and technology opportunities as well.

We aspire to be a key player in the digital space, as digital is currently the fastest growing category,TH Chong, group director at Astros media sales said, adding that the local digital ADEX is dominated by global players at present.

On that, Chong said the company has every intention to rise to the challenge and put together a strong Malaysian digital offering, to grow faster than the industry norm and see the local digital offering gain a significant share.

Astro also said, as a mobile and cloud-first organisation, it has also put in place a robust data analytics system to provide marketers with the ability to match the right audience to the right content.

The launch comes hot in the heels of Astros financial reports where total ad spend (Adex) fell 5% year-on-year for its first quarter of its financial year, ending January 2018 (Q12018), against the backdrop of a broader market decline of 10%.

In a statement, Astro said its currently operating in a very challenging environment. This has also impacted revenues which fell 3% on-year to RM1.33billion in 1Q2018, due to lower licensing income with its B2B sports channel sub-licensing also ended. This was on top of lower subscription and home shopping revenue.

Astro said, it will continue to invest for future revenue growth by embracing three key imperatives under its digital transformation programme namely. These are digitalising its dominant legacy businesses, scaling digital start-ups and deepening its strength in verticals and building a robust innovation pipeline.

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Astro launches digital marketing arm Blaze Digital - Marketing Interactive

Kristina: What trends are you watching in social media now?

Ben Cockerell, Director, Global Marketing, Crimson Hexagon: More and more people are including images in their social media posts and this could be attributed to the fact that tweets with images are noticed more. A recent report found social posts that include a picture receive 150 percent more retweets than those that don't and marketers definitely shouldn't overlook this. Brands may not always be mentioned in the text portion of a tweet, but their logos or products may be featured. Without image analysis, brands may miss a huge part of the conversation - and marketing opportunity. Marketers are also able to capture deeper sentiment and context by looking at more than just the text.

Kristina: We're still hearing a lot of buzz about the importance of influencer marketing. Part of the influencer trend is knowing what is "hot" at a given moment. How can brands better use social as a barometer for these trending issues/products?

Ben: When it comes to social media, most marketers focus on the numbers. They're typically trying to figure out things like, "How many people interacted with this social post about our product?" and "Which demographic did this message resonate with most?" Yet, they often forget they can uncover much deeper and qualitative insights beyond volume data by looking at emotions and sentiments referenced in social posts. It's important to remember people aren't making buying choices based on how many of their friends mention a certain product or company. Instead, it's based on what their friends actually say. Sorting through individual posts based on specific emotions can provide much more context to help determine what's trending - and what's not.

Kristina: Could you give us an example?

Ben: For example, my company Crimson Hexagon recently released a report on most discussed consumer trends. One finding that we found interesting was that, while a hot topic in the media, autonomous vehicles actually evoke a lot of fear in consumers. Brands should use this detailed information (not just the fact that people are talking about self-driving cars) to better shape their messaging and address consumers' concerns.

More from Ben and Crimson Hexagon later this week, including his top 3 tips for a better social strategy.

Tags: advertising, Crimson Hexagon, ecommerce, Social marketing, social marketing tips, social marketing trends

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Trends to watch in social - BizReport

Social media marketing is a rapidly changing landscape, but perhaps nothing these days changes faster than video. As I wrote a few months ago, video is the medium for social in 2017. Internally, weve given a lot of thought this year to the best ways to approach video and execute for a wide range of formats, from Facebook Live to Snapchat.

So, when I came across this new high-level infographic about marketing in a video-first world, I knew Id have to share. In a world where over 500 million people watch Facebook videos every day, video marketing is too important to be glossed over. This new infographic looks at video from every angle through the lens of a survey of 1,000 consumers and 500 marketers.

Weve reposted the entire infographic below, as well as some key insights for those of you who just want the highlights (because this infographic is a long one!).

Nearly two-thirds of consumers say theyve bought something in the last month as a direct result of watching a marketing video on Facebook.

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When do they watch?

Approximately 84% watch on mobile devices. Mobile is huge. For video creators, this is important. Heres what you can do to better serve this audience:

The majority of your videos should be 60 seconds or less and have a strong hook as early as possible. As far as what types of videos you should create, heres how consumers are likely to respond:

Check out the full infographic below, and let us know in the comments: are you using video for your marketing?

Bob Hutchins (Franklin, TN) runs Buzzplant (www.buzzplant.com), A 12+ year old Internet marketing agency targeting the faith/family market. His team was an integral part of the online campaign for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, The Chronicles of Narnia, Soul Surfer, and many other movies, books, music releases, and Viewfullprofile

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Everything You Need to Know NOW About Social Video Marketing - Business 2 Community

Influencer marketing sprang from the idea that social platform stars with loyal followings would be able to market more effectively to their fans. But now, like all marketing, the area is becoming more standardized.

Brands are taking advantage of a growing number of self-serve ad tools in the market. Heres how it works: An advertiser creates a list of influencers, usually about 20 that it wants to work with. Theyre determined by a host of attributes, from whether they speak to a market the company wants to reach, to brand-safety issues, to, of course, price. Most of the time, these influencers are so-called micro-influencers, who have smaller followings and theoretically more engagement.

Then, the advertiser provides creative assets to the influencers so theyll post it on their own social platforms. Its closer to a publisher relationship than a creator one and a far cry from the beginnings of the influencer marketing industry.

This is the most cost-effective way for us, said Jane Tattersall, vp of marketing at LottoGopher, a lottery ticket e-commerce advertiser, which is using engage:BDRs IconicReach self-serve platform for its advertising. The company has an in-house creative agency, so it didnt want to hire influencers for long-term relationships to make creative. Ive been using influencers a long time. When you need many of them, it takes a long time. Then, you have to negotiate a bunch of contracts.

The self-serve ad method is closer to a platform-style relationship: Brands only need to choose where to spend their money. At LottoGopher, the company has a program running with 20 influencers, and its hoping to add up to 20 more. It wants to reach more luxury and aspirational customers people who like expensive stuff and may play the lottery to get it and is supplying creative. This is much more cost-effective for us, said Tattersall.

There are other benefits: Brands have long bought into the wisdom that influencers with giant numbers of followers see less engagement. A survey of 2 million social media influencers by influencer marketing platform Markerly showed that for unpaid posts, Instagram influencers with fewer than 1,000 followers have a like rate of about 8 percent, while those with 1,000 to 10,000 followers have a like rate of 4 percent.

But working with small influencers sacrifices on reach. Combine the two, and it works out. Its like media. We cant afford or have aspiration to go with the No. 1 TV network. We get a cross-section of people who have a total audience across the broad base.

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The biggest volume of things on Instagram are actually advertiser-supplied creative now, said engage:BDR CEO Ted Dhanik. That already exists. All we did was automate the process. An advertiser uploads a creative, and an influencer posts it.

Prices are determined mostly by time. Influencers can leave posts up for between one and 12 hours. If its a big influencer, brands will pay a fee upfront. Others most influencers under 100,000 followers get performance-based coupon codes. If the post performs, they get paid.

Its notable because its in some ways the inverse model of brands using influencers like agencies. As Digiday reported earlier, major brands have begun going straight to social stars to make their creative for them. It marked a sea change: Cheaper and faster, influencers are essentially replacing agencies as content arms, a far cry from the early days when influencers entered into creator relationships or at least endorsement contracts with brands.

At Urban Floor, a national flooring company, the brand wanted to reach more luxury customers to break into the luxury homes and luxury living space. The company now supplies content to 10 influencers, each of whom has 500,000 followers, and they post them on their Instagrams, according to marketing head Jordan Sandoval. Its a very new concept right now, said Sandoval. But well try it out and see if it works.

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Influencer marketing is becoming more standardized - Digiday