Why KYC (Know Your Customer) is Fundamental to Any Brand: The Tanishq Controversy

Marketing circles are usually rife with light-hearted analogies of who marketers are and what they do. Some jest that they are twisted glib-talkers who can make you feel good about the pineapple in your pizza, sell a Manchester City jersey to a Manchester United fan and worst of all, make you believe that six-year-olds need to learn to code on WhiteHat Jr or risk missing the bus to the IITs and MITs of the world. Others weigh in more seriously. “Marketing is a fundamental understanding of human nature and a marketer is someone who applies this understanding to profitable business ends” is the standard substance of their answer that comes in various lengths and sizes. Such definitions are usually dismissed for being too textbook-ish in favor of more practical, humorous, and street-smart notions such as the former. Yet, as the recent row over Tanishq’s well-meaning advertisement demonstrates, all cheeky copy and politically correct messaging fall flat in the absence of a basic understanding of one’s audience.

Let’s get down to what transpired. In early October, the advertisement by Tanishq premised on interfaith marriage and contextualized in the background of religious harmony spread like wildfire on social media, for all the wrong reasons. Instead of striking a chord with the brand’s usual target group (modern and progressive Indians), the content struck a nerve with majoritarian conservatives who perceived it as an endorsement of “love jihad” (a derogatory term for marriage between Hindu women and Muslim men which is viewed as a deliberate perversion of religious sanctity) under the garb of secular values. What was supposed to be merely a brand-recall exercise ahead of the country’s festival season, turned into a burning national debate. It was not the debate that really presented the problem, but the symbolic actions in its aftermath: the fury of social media trolls, the agenda-driven hashtag campaigns by grandstanding news anchors, and even anonymous threats of violence directed at the employees of the company. The company subsequently retracted the advertisement and apologized for any sentiments it might have pricked.

It appears that Tanishq’s brand managers forgot who they are for a while i.e., fundamental analysts of human nature. Or did they? Did they or did they not know their customer well enough? To be honest, it almost blasphemous to assume that Tanishq targeted the wrong target group with its secular message. What is more probable is this: the advertisement was created for the right target group and did end up reaching them, but the appreciation of this small cohort was drowned out by the noise of other agitating segments. Think of it this way — the jewelry market can be segmented into two based on opinion clusters. On one end you have the young, progressive, and modern buyers of jewelry, and on the other, the traditional, dogmatic, and intensely-religious customers who are responsible for a bulk of sales during Dhanteras or festival/wedding season. Now, brand analysts can contend that Tanishq knew its customers perfectly well and executed an advertisement commensurate with its liberal positioning, but in my opinion, they missed out on or decided to overlook something more fundamental: roles in a purchase journey. While the TVCs may have been targeted at young, forward-looking people, more often than not these individuals are only influencers or part-buyers in the purchase journey. There is a sufficient probability that the actual purchase may be made by comparatively aged members of the upper-middle-class family (the core consumer of the brand) who preside over the finances. Alienating this cohort, who are conservatively inclined, at the risk of conveying purpose was business suicide. There is no denying the fact that positive sentiment did come Tanishq’s way (liberal circles vehemently defended the brand’s intention and major advertising bodies came out in support) but such benefits do not weigh out the cost the brand probably paid: a possible purchase-intent decline. With the advertisement being taken down not being well received by its initial supporters (correlated to a lack of “spine” in the company’s management), a probable double whammy was caused.

There’s one silver lining though. Through controversy and negative publicity, Tanishq’s impressions on the digital front were over the roof. With the exception of active antagonists in the saga with an avowed boycott of the brand, Tanishq has achieved a massive recall potential in the minds of its customers. One can argue that this can offset any harm done, but then again, recall is futile towards purchase if the consumer erects a barrier undergirded on personal values. Tanishq will be sure to learn from this experience that teaches all marketers to go beyond one’s target market and gain insights into consumers across the board. Attractive messaging to one group should not be at odds with the value systems and lifestyle choices of another group that affects the revenue.

That being said, we ought not to forget one critical purpose at the heart of marketing — marketing is not just about business ends (though this is the necessary threshold for any strategy) but about making lives better through a greater comprehension of consumer needs. In that, sometimes marketers need to take risks by catering to what we call “latent needs”. Yes, sometimes a marketer understands a consumer even before he/she understands himself/herself. Tanishq has taken the risk with yet another advertisement and this has paid off. The narrative in this one follows the man’s acceptance of his wife’s daughter from her first marriage. Although it appears to be a perilous conversation to have, a column from Business Today provides a fresh perspective:

“I am sure the boldness of this was debated extensively in the Tanishq management offices as this was a risky step. The core consumer for Tanishq, after all, is the salaried middle class of India. Second marriages — with a child in tow, are still not the norm. And that too the woman’s child!”

But the brand seemed to understand that what constituted people’s fears was not actually what was in their hearts. To quote once again from this column:

“The Tanishq audience has been middle-class India — wishing more for their daughters, becoming more understanding of their daughters-in-law, and more tolerant of changing traditions, particularly for women.”

In this, the brand emerged not only as a “listener” who understands the tribulations of women in Indian society but also as an agent of change that knows its customers.

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Author: Soumyadeep Saha
Editorial and Digital Marketing Team, NjM
Class of 2022, NMIMS Mumbai