Article in The Financial Express, Feb 5, 08Survival, Pleasure, Power, Love, Creative Expression, Transcendence, Spirituality: these are the seven basic life themes - based on the seven major chakras in the human body - that drive all human behaviour.
Seeing India through the seven chakras
Seeing India through the seven chakras
Whether it is the student who is stressing about admissions. Or teenage girls with typical vulnerabilities of their age who are trying to reconcile the gap between what they actually are and the bold media portrayals of women today. Or lower SEC mothers who are pinning their every hope on their children to bring them better futures. Or the thousands of Indians striving to learn English so that they are not left behind. Large numbers of Indians are on self-preservation mode, looking for security, stability, grounding – these are the Muladhara, or Survival Chakra people.
These are the people who were particularly restricted in the past and had diminished self-images but have caught attention by their determined effort to redefine goals, raise the level of persistent efforts and have managed to raise their lifestyles and self-esteem despite inadequacies. Witness the endless stories on the rise of Indian women, the rise of small town people and the rise of the lower SEC. Rags to riches, sudden fame and wealth through hard won contests and revival or comeback stories capture public imagination.
People in this chakra are – naturally – deeply worried about the future. They are of two types – the Anxious Survivor and the Buoyant Survivor. While some remain anxious, get bogged down, and feel an inability to get out of circumstances, others are buoyant and lively with more faith in their abilities, and drive themselves to come out of adversities unscathed. Most consumers in this chakra are conscious of their strengths and weaknesses, tend to set manageable goals and hope that persistent effort in place of brilliance will see them through. Anxious Survivors choose stagnancy over risk, and find security in maintaining the status quo. They need the cushion of certainty and predictability, even if it is limiting. Buoyant Survivors, on the other hand, are determined to climb out of their current situation and are in search for positions of power and influence, almost with a vengeance. These are people who feel more pressured to keep pace with change and are not willing to accept things as they are. The “do tharah ke log” that the famous Bunty aur Babli dialogue described so evocatively.
A recent JWT Brand Chakras™ study, Mother India showed that many mothers are in survival mode, but the fact that they want their children to reach high positions of power and influence and make them famous, shows that they are wanting to move up to the Power Chakra. These are mothers who feel their husbands are unlikely to improve their lives any further, and pressured by fast upgrading neighbours and relatives, are pinning their hopes on their children to lift them from a life of oblivion and transform their fortunes. Children by nature are said to be in survival, as in the early years we are still learning our way around the world.
Muladhara brands can cater to these emotional needs with brand benefits and promises that enhance the will to live, offer energy, fearlessness, stability, freedom from drudgery, bring abundance and physical strength, and support the urge to survive. Brands offering physical strength and love of outdoors operate in this space.
Thumbs Up and Mountain Dew would be examples here, as well as health food drinks, energy foods, immunity and health protection or illness prevention brands. Insurance is mostly a survival benefit, with its promise of security and stability in case of misfortune. The diffident girl of the earlier fairness cream commercials, and some of the teary, self effacing characters in the soaps who never speak up and are forever victims of circumstance are excellent examples of Anxious Survivors or a deficient Survival Chakra. On the other hand, the WWF characters with their extremely well developed bodies and driven by aggression are examples of excessive Survival Chakra.
Action movies too operate in this space, in a totally different way. Malamaal Weekly, Gangster, Provoked, even Chak De for example appeal to our survival intincts, (as against Guru which clearly celebrates the journey of an individual from the Survival Chakra to the Power Chakra).
Therefore, key brand payoffs that appeal to and arise out of Muladhara people and their needs include payoffs like: fills me with a will to win, reflects my spirit of persistence, helps me to face difficult situations, makes me feel energetic and dynamic, and makes me feel safe and secure.
The interesting thing of course is that even the rich and famous – CEOs or cricketers, not to mention the Parvathis and Tulsis of our serials or our politicians or corporations struggling in the market or facing hostile takeovers - fight survival battles, even if it is at a totally different level and of a totally different kind!
These are the people who were particularly restricted in the past and had diminished self-images but have caught attention by their determined effort to redefine goals, raise the level of persistent efforts and have managed to raise their lifestyles and self-esteem despite inadequacies. Witness the endless stories on the rise of Indian women, the rise of small town people and the rise of the lower SEC. Rags to riches, sudden fame and wealth through hard won contests and revival or comeback stories capture public imagination.
People in this chakra are – naturally – deeply worried about the future. They are of two types – the Anxious Survivor and the Buoyant Survivor. While some remain anxious, get bogged down, and feel an inability to get out of circumstances, others are buoyant and lively with more faith in their abilities, and drive themselves to come out of adversities unscathed. Most consumers in this chakra are conscious of their strengths and weaknesses, tend to set manageable goals and hope that persistent effort in place of brilliance will see them through. Anxious Survivors choose stagnancy over risk, and find security in maintaining the status quo. They need the cushion of certainty and predictability, even if it is limiting. Buoyant Survivors, on the other hand, are determined to climb out of their current situation and are in search for positions of power and influence, almost with a vengeance. These are people who feel more pressured to keep pace with change and are not willing to accept things as they are. The “do tharah ke log” that the famous Bunty aur Babli dialogue described so evocatively.
A recent JWT Brand Chakras™ study, Mother India showed that many mothers are in survival mode, but the fact that they want their children to reach high positions of power and influence and make them famous, shows that they are wanting to move up to the Power Chakra. These are mothers who feel their husbands are unlikely to improve their lives any further, and pressured by fast upgrading neighbours and relatives, are pinning their hopes on their children to lift them from a life of oblivion and transform their fortunes. Children by nature are said to be in survival, as in the early years we are still learning our way around the world.
Muladhara brands can cater to these emotional needs with brand benefits and promises that enhance the will to live, offer energy, fearlessness, stability, freedom from drudgery, bring abundance and physical strength, and support the urge to survive. Brands offering physical strength and love of outdoors operate in this space.
Thumbs Up and Mountain Dew would be examples here, as well as health food drinks, energy foods, immunity and health protection or illness prevention brands. Insurance is mostly a survival benefit, with its promise of security and stability in case of misfortune. The diffident girl of the earlier fairness cream commercials, and some of the teary, self effacing characters in the soaps who never speak up and are forever victims of circumstance are excellent examples of Anxious Survivors or a deficient Survival Chakra. On the other hand, the WWF characters with their extremely well developed bodies and driven by aggression are examples of excessive Survival Chakra.
Action movies too operate in this space, in a totally different way. Malamaal Weekly, Gangster, Provoked, even Chak De for example appeal to our survival intincts, (as against Guru which clearly celebrates the journey of an individual from the Survival Chakra to the Power Chakra).
Therefore, key brand payoffs that appeal to and arise out of Muladhara people and their needs include payoffs like: fills me with a will to win, reflects my spirit of persistence, helps me to face difficult situations, makes me feel energetic and dynamic, and makes me feel safe and secure.
The interesting thing of course is that even the rich and famous – CEOs or cricketers, not to mention the Parvathis and Tulsis of our serials or our politicians or corporations struggling in the market or facing hostile takeovers - fight survival battles, even if it is at a totally different level and of a totally different kind!
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