Is There a Marketing Lesson from Slumdog Millionaire?
The success of Slumdog Millionaire, which won Best Picture at the Academy Awards on Sunday night, is the a perfect storm of marketing memes in India. The movie’s fairy tale plot, its focus on youth, celebrity and television, and, ultimately, the transcultural nature of its fame are the very things also driving success stories in advertising and branding in India today. Marketing professor Gita Johar, who recently moderated a panel at the “Branding in China and India: The Reality and the Future” symposium, said that the panelists concluded that the biggest trends in advertising are the size of the youth market — 40 percent of the population is less than 20 years old — and the role of television and celebrity advertising, particularly as aspirational messaging. “[Younger consumers] are confident, articulate and looking for brands that have some meaning for them,” Johar said about the panel discussion on the success of celebrity endorsements. “Storytelling is appealing to them.” The panel
