About INgene blog : First ever Indian Youth trend Insights blog

About INgene : First ever Indian Youth trend Insights blog:
This blog explores the detailed characteristics of Young-India and explains the finer & crucial differences they have with their global peers. The blog also establishes the theory of “adopted differentiation” (Copyright Kaustav SG,2007) and how the Indian & Inglodian youth are using this as a tool to differentiate themselves from the “aam aadmi” (mass population of India) to establish their new found identity.

The term youth refers to persons who are no longer children and not yet adults. Used colloquially, however the term generally refers to a broader, more ambiguous field of reference- from the physically adolescent to those in their late twenties.
Though superficially the youth all over the world exhibits similar [degree of] attitude, [traits of] interests & [deliverance of] opinion but a detailed observation reveals the finer differential characteristics which are crucial and often ignored while targeting this group as a valued consumer base. India is one of the youngest countries in the world with 60% of its population less then 24 years of age and is charted as the most prospective destination for the retail investment in the A. T. Kearney’s Global Retail Opportunity Report, 2007. With the first ever non-socialistic generation’s thriving aspiration & new found money power combined with steadily growing GDP, bubbling IT industry and increasing list of confident young entrepreneurs, the scenario appears very lucrative for the global and local retailers to target the “Youngisthan” (young-India). But, the secret remains in the understanding of the finer AIOs of this generation. The Indian youth segment roughly estimates close to 250million (between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five) and can be broadly divided (socio-psychologically) into three categories: the Bharatiyas, the Indians & the Inglodians (copyright Kaustav SG 2008). The Bharatiyas estimating 67% of the young population lives in the rural (R1, R2 to R4 SEC) areas with least influence of globalization, high traditional values. They are least economically privileged, most family oriented Bollywood influenced generation. The Indians constitute 31.5% (A, B,C, D & E SEC) and have moderate global influence. They are well aware of the global trends but rooted to the Indian family values, customs and ethos. The Inglodians are basically the creamy layers (A1,A SEC) and marginal (1.5% or roughly three million) in number though they are strongly growing (70% growth rate). Inglodians are affluent and consume most of the trendy & luxury items. They are internet savvy & the believers of global-village (a place where there is no difference between east & west, developing & developed countries etc.), highly influenced by the western music, food, fashion & culture yet Indian at heart.








Monday, October 31, 2011

Metallica concert in India

Music is perhaps a quintessential part of youth, and implicit in the development of the notion of the 'teenager', providing a way to sculpt an identity and at once rebel against authority figures, with each generations music being considered better in every way than the predecessor. It should come as no surprise then that the upcoming series of gigs planned by Metallica in India have caused such furore. Not least when the first had to be cancelled due to safety issues.



The audience reacted to the news that the gig was cancelled in a way that is reminiscent of 1969's infamous Hell's Angels plagued Rolling Stones concert, and certainly at odds with the international perception of a skilled, intellectual generation of Indian teens coming through. Could it be that the implied violence associated with the 'Metal' genre inspired such reaction, or could it be the result of a newly established youth conscience within India? What is certain is that the uproar came as a shock to the world observing it eliciting commentary from, amongst others, the Huffington Post. What is undeniable however, is that the event proves Indian teens to be a passionate collective, dedicated to their interests.

As one of the world's youngest, and yet largest countries it stands to reason that India has reached a state of national (and cognitive) maturity to enable the demarcation of a group of individuals that can define themselves in such a way as to spontaneously protest, however, it would be unfair if the world viewed both India, or the individuals involved negatively as a result of them mimicking decades old behaviour of likeminded teenagers.







Additional information: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-10-29/gurgaon/30336704_1_lars-ulrich-metallica-concert-indian-fans

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

the Media consumption of Indian youth


Source: http://www.bytecolumn.com/08/big-digital-launches-youth-online-reality-show/

BIG Digital launches India’s first youth online reality show ‘Transform India- Youth Uncensored’

BIG Digital, the digital content and marketing arm of the Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd., is proud to announce India’s First Youth Online Reality Show, which promises to play the role of a catalyst, in initiating a youth movement in the country. Aptly titled ‘Transform India- Youth Uncensored’, the reality show will empower the youth by providing a platform for them to voice their opinion through an extensive social media initiative.

Consuming information through multiple platforms and translating it into highly opinionated discussion forums either online or with peers, the youth of today have a mind of their own. It is against this milieu that BIG Digital launches ‘Transform India- Youth Uncensored’, a high voltage online reality show which will address social problems ranging from escalating corruption, safe sex, eve teasing to gender discrimination from the perspective of the youth.

This digital reality show will bring over 100 colleges from across the six cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad to fight the battle to Transform India through their innovative ideas, on raising concern for issues and tackling them thereafter. Colleges will compete against each other, as they upload videos on how they believe they can best tackle societal issues. These videos will be judged by an esteemed jury panel, and will then be left open for online voting. Teams will be given a socially relevant topic and will be asked to upload the video of their proposed recommendation to tackle them. It goes without saying that as the show progresses the battle between colleges will be very exciting and audiences the world over can watch its un-edited version online.

Hard pressed for time and a challenging audience base to garner attention from, with 70% of brands in India struggling to communicate and engage with, the youth are a key audience base that marketers today chase. Transform India – Youth Uncensored, brings forth a unique opportunity for both youth and marketers looking to connect. While it offers the youth a platform for expression fuelled by issues that make for serious conversation currency, creating engaging environments leading to a transformation – an India 2.0, it will provide fantastic opportunities to marketers to get associated and play a pivotal role in piloting India's transformation.

BIG Digital will ensure a holistic treatment to this property, across its media verticals ranging radio, television, out of home, on-ground promotions and of course digital.

Soumen. G. Choudhury Business Head, 92.7 BIG FM said “It is our constant endeavour to offer pioneering initiatives, and Transform India: Youth Uncensored is a leap in that direction. We want, through this initiative to galvanize a movement in the youth space as we allow them to focus their energies towards this path-breaking social media initiative. We are confident of the youth coming on board to express their views, while we offer an excellent platform for advertisers to partners with.”

Transform India will culminate in an online reality show which is fun, motivational and educational. Every episode will capture imaginations of millions of youth, featuring unique tasks, controversies, goof-ups and sincerity. The content will be packaged to create a rage among Indian youth. The content will mirror the face of bold Indian youth willing to go to any extent to accomplish tasks that will transform people, the city and India!
About BIG Digital:

BIG Digital, is Reliance Broadcast Network’s initiative in the digital space, creating a surround of innovative digital media integrations on the mobile and online platforms. BIG Digital works with fresh talent across regions, in the music and entertainment space, to create intellectual properties for brands via digital endorsements. It thereby creates platform agnostic ideas bringing brands and content, closer to the consumer.

Source: http://pearlriseentertainment.blogspot.com/2011/08/big-digital-launches-indias-first-youth.html

Most of the Indian youth reads news at the online sites

The year 2010-2011 can very appropriately be termed as ‘The Year of Scams’ for India. From CWG to Adarsh Housing Society, India witnessed scams in almost every major sector. The common man in India who has seen and heard about numerous such scams with regularity that leaves the outside world astonished, is mostly unflustered after any such news breaks. But the sheer number and magnitude of scams those were unearthed before the common man in the past year surprised and generated interest from all in the country.

While television and newspapers have remained the primary source of information for any news, internet has also played its role in creating awareness about these scams and providing readers with more details and facts around these. ViziSense, in its report, analyzed and highlighted that contrary to common perception, a substantial chunk of audience is from the age group of 15-24. The report highlights readers from the 15-24 years age group constitute 24% of the total size of audience that has read scam related news online. But the largest chunk of 40 % is formed by working professionals, the age group of 25-35.




Not to surprise an astonishing 77 % of readers read about the 2G scam on the internet which is said to be one of the biggest scams of recent times. This was followed by the CWG scam read by 16% of readers. Adarsh, land scams and LIC corporate loan scam followed the list.

The data was analyzed and collected basis ViziSense panel’s consumption of news content across top news / web portals.



Source: http://www.indiainfoline.com/Markets/News/Scams...Indian-youth-make-a-beeline-for-online-news-sites/5097947932

Monday, October 17, 2011

facebook brings in "other life" of "romantic utopia" in the life of urban and rual youth in India

The adopted otherness in a SNS away from the conservative society and ever increasing social pressure brings in SNS utopia as a "release point":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=begUTxCzoZw&hd=1

here's a statement from a viewer in youtube:

"I actually had an incident like this happened to me a few months back .. I met this girl from out of town a day before she was leaving... We clicked and I was like ... Shinning .. So i gave her my card and told her to get in touch with me.. She mailed me .. got me on facebook .. We send mails back and forth ... and she told me she would come to town in a few months .. Then a friend who happened to know her.. told me She was married.. She came to town yesterday ... I won't meet her.. :'(" - oooohyaaah100

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=begUTxCzoZw&feature=player_embedded#!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Social life at bangalore for singles

If you’re in Bangalore, single and are looking for a social circle that doesn’t involve married friends, here’s a great new place to hang out. Floh (Find Life Over Here) is a start-up that aims to bring together urban professionals in their twenties and thirties not with the ambition of setting them up, but to give them a platform to mingle and find interesting people outside their immediate social circles.

Siddharth Mangharam, entrepreneur and founder CEO, hit upon this brainwave after meeting his wife at a cheese-tasting event, an interest they both share. Having realized how increasingly difficult it has become for urban, well-settled single men and women to venture out and meet other singles outside of work and the comfort of friends, Siddharth and his wife decided to pitch this idea to singles within their personal networks, i.e., friends and professional contacts who had hit a dead end in dating.

Having said that, Siddharth is quick to assert that Floh is not a dating site or even a matrimonial one even though it has been instrumental in bringing some singles together. His business model works on the premise that singles have as much right to a happening social life as married people do – in fact, being free from rigid commitments and obligations, singles should find it an active social life easier than their not-single counterparts. There is no matchmaking involved, though. Every member is vetted and personally interviewed by a Floh founder and ‘determined’ whether they’d fit in with the network and enjoy interacting with its existing members before they gain entry.

There is also a very thoughtful right-of-admission reserved – access to Floh is on an invite-only basis, where only an existing member can invite you and refer you to Floh. Siddharth insists he doesn’t want this to balloon to unmanageable sizes and says that it’s not at all about the numbers. Considering the number of women members trump the number of men in the Bangalore venture currently, this ‘security’ measure is much welcome.

S, (name withheld on request), a marketing professional in her thirties, vouches for this. Having been a member since its inception, she’s still single, but welcomes the opportunity to meet like-minded people (or otherwise) outside her hectic corporate life once in a while and let her hair down. Her work and lifestyle have included a lot of travel so far, but she’s now in Bangalore for a good while and highly recommends Floh to single women in Bangalore.

Though this network is open to people in their twenties, Joe, an artist in his mid-twenties, found the evening event to cater mostly to the 30+ crowd, something Siddharth says depends on the event you attend, since the network caters to people in the 25-40 age bracket. Floh events are bracketed into 4 categories – food (cook-outs), beverages (trips to vineyards, cocktail events) outdoors (nature sports, heritage walks) and cerebral/artsy (theatre workshops, photography). One can choose the event based on their likes and preferences. This way, the chances of meeting like-minded singles increases dramatically, says Siddharth. He tries to organize at least 4-8 events a month and covers a wide variety of interests including the recently concluded and hugely successful paint ball event for the perennially-young-at-heart populace.

With experience at McKinsey & Co. and Microsoft, Siddharth with his latest initiative seems to be poised on the edge of hitherto uncharted territory in urban India. His mantra is perfectly summed up in his own quote: “Emotions are best expressed when two people meet in a no-pressure, natural environment.”

He hopes to expand this to Delhi and Mumbai soon.

Bangalore’s Floh already has close to a 1000 members in 6 months of existence, but they’re handpicked and have to go through the Floh screen to gain entry. Floh’s only requirement is that if you find someone you’d like to date in their network, you’ll have to quit the network – a small ask for a terrific opportunity to meet interesting people and to skip the odious matchmaking ritual by well-meaning but largely irritating relatives and/or having to register on matrimonial sites with no surety of authenticity of profiles.

Note: Visit the Floh blog for write-ups and articles by members.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Youth in Manipur demands "change"


It's hard to see anything positive coming out of the 60-day economic blockade in Manipur (India). But the blockade and counter blockade by two communities have actually led to a new wave of consciousness in this northeastern state with people, particularly youngsters, getting together and demanding a change in the present state of affairs.

With assembly elections due next year, many people are networking online and off it too to organise themselves and be the arbiters of their own 'destiny' in the Congress-led state wracked by unrest.

Anguished by the poor state of affairs in his home state, Bimol Akoijam has started an online campaign on the social networking site Facebook titled 'People's Campaign for Assembly Election 2012: Deciding Our Destiny'.


'It's time we act in order to have a life with dignity and well-being. The right to choose our political leadership is the basis for the change that we are seeking. The aim is to make the political class accountable for the mess and decadence that we are in today,' Akoijam wrote on his Facebook page.

The economic blockade called by the Sadar Hills District Demand Committee (SHDDC) Aug 1 and a counter blockade called later by the United Naga Council have crippled normal life in Manipur, making prices of household commodities soar and resulting in acute scarcities, including of life-saving drugs.

Among the various activities planned is one on Oct 18 that aims to bring together all those who have moved out of the state for education, employment or other purposes and take their help in spreading awareness about the upcoming assembly elections and urge people to vote for the right candidate and make it an 'issue-based election'.

The meet, which is to take place in different cities across the country, has found many takers.

Yet another online group, 'Debate on Economic Blockade in Manipur' has scores of followers voicing their opinion.

'The economic blockade is happening because some people have political authority over their tribe, but even their own tribe people condemn this (blockade). Majority of people- whatever be their tribe- are suffering because of this,' wrote Achilles Vaiphei.

'The people of Manipur have been taken for a ride for far too long,' said Sharmila Singha, a homemaker from one of the worst affected districts, Chandel. 'Because of the interest of a handful of people, the entire state is in doldrums. And all the while the government has not been able to do anything about it.'

The main bone of contention in the logjam is the demand by the SHDDC for a separate Sadar Hills district, which is strictly opposed by some other sects as the area also includes some ethnic-Naga settled areas.

So, as the clashing communities remain firm on their demands, the rest of the state looks on helplessly and pays a heavy price.

Therefore, even as people in other states protest the rise of petrol prices to Rs.67 per litre, in Manipur it is being sold at around Rs.200 in the black market. An LPG cylinder can cost anywhere between Rs.1,800-2,000.

'We have gone back to using firewood for cooking. How can anyone afford a cylinder at such prices? Whatever be the issue, it's always...always the common man who suffers,' said a bitter Priyanka Yumnam, a homemaker.

Madhu Chandra, who hails from Manipur and is the spokesperson of the Northeast Support Centre in Delhi, told IANS: 'There is a feeling that there is a dearth of things in the state, but these are available in the black market for those who can afford the high prices...the blockade has therefore unleashed corruption in a big way.'

Mandira Singha, a 20-year-old who lost her father to the blockade because of lack of life-saving drugs, added: 'There is government apathy towards our condition. It's been 60 days and nothing has been done by the centre. Why? Had this happened anywhere else in the country would the reaction have been the same?'

(Azera Rahman can be contacted at azera.rahman@gmail.com)
Source: http://in.news.yahoo.com/demand-change-cry-manipur-youth-052243212.html