JWT Coffee & Donuts: Women on Top: Tista Sen

You see them in office – invariably wearing a T-shirt with a comic figure on it, lanky pair of jeans, coupled with expensive sneakers. From the description it may seem like the specimen under scrutiny is an intern, fresh out of college but, look closely and you’ll realise it’s the head of the digital department or a brand manager exercising his rights to sartorial freedom on a Friday. It is evident from their collection of action figures. It reflects in the kitsch décor at their swanky apartments. On planet Venus, it comes to the fore when wearing a saree becomes a ‘saree day’ worth populating social media with, because you feel so lady-like and dignified, an anomaly from other days. It’s noticeable through their love of pop art accessories – from colourful phone covers to designer laptop sleeves. It is palpable from their ‘I’m not ready to get married yet’ rhetoric. 
A major cultural change is taking shape in India and going by all the forces fuelling it, it wouldn’t be wrong to assume that this change is poised to become harder, better, faster, stronger. Furthermore, given that brands grow when they anticipate and recognize people’s needs arising out of big cultural shifts, it’s time marketers took cognizance of this new thing called Adultescence. 


The Oxford Dictionary defines an Adultescent as “a middle-aged person whose clothes, interests, and activities are typically associated with youth culture”. And that pretty much sums it up. It’s the elongated experience of adolescence that stretches through one’s so called adult years. For some cultures, adultescence has been around for ages. In fact, it’s the code on which their society functions. As Rapaille puts it, ‘Americans are fascinated with youth and the fanciful notion of staying young forever… They are eternal adolescents.” As per culture, Hindus are supposed to believe in four distinct stages of life, namely Brahmacharya (student/ youth), Grihastha (householder), Vanaprastha (retired) and Sannyasa (renunciation), but all this is changing. Not to say that Hindu culture is the only culture that Indians subscribe to, however still, the four stages of life were the guiding principles for many, until now.

Exactly how has this change come about? There a few key factors that are easily identifiable. As economic sociologists would argue, at the heart any cultural change lies an economic force propelling or contracting it. Indeed, after India’s liberalization, with more jobs pouring in, increasing per capita income and higher quantum of disposable income, it has become easier to be self-indulgent and individualistic. Back in the day, with limited jobs and lower per capita income, financial resources were prioritised for the maintenance of the family and there was little room to argue your way out of responsibilities aka adulthood.

Additionally, one was expected to balance family life with professional ambitions. The two were not mutually exclusive. Over the years however, increasing opportunities at the work front has led to increased focus on professionalism, not only from aspiring young Indian men and women but, also from their parents, who are equally keen for their kids to, concentrate on getting their degrees first and starting their careers right, before they ‘settle down’, culminating in the phenomenon of delayed marriages. Indians are taking longer to get married, sometimes extending their bachelorhood well into their 30s. And if in case marriage has occurred, they are taking even longer to take the ultimate step towards adulthood, becoming parents themselves.

Van Gennep, the French Ethnographer who developed the concept of Rites of Passage, explained that all individuals transition from one social status to another, over the course of their social life. Rites of Passage, in a way, prepare them to take up responsibilities of the status they are about to enter. But by the same logic, the reverse is also true. In the event of late marriage, individuals can prolong their status as the youngster/ child within their family unit, thereby also prolonging the privileges that come with it. Which essentially means parents continue performing vital ‘adult roles’ in their lives, sometimes voluntarily and at other times involuntarily. Given that many single adults are continuing to live in their parents’ house, more often than not, the general lay of the land remains the same. Mothers tend to remain the designated leaders of cooking and house-keeping departments while fathers continue their dominance over assets management and financial planning, sometimes at the cost of their adult children picking up such vital life skills, which further reinforces their ‘Adultescent Behaviour’.

Impact of this has already started trickling in on numerous categories. Isn’t this one of the reasons behind the meteoric rise in food services? Given that many women see cooking as a sign of adulthood setting in, apart from alignment with controversial gender roles; Given that not all Indian men are ready to take on daily cooking responsibilities, going forward wouldn’t Adultescents need even more assistance with food?

It’s often said that the choices you make are a reflection of who you are. So if you feel young, wouldn’t you want to dress young? If you dress young, wouldn’t your house décor be young? If you feel young and restless, wouldn’t you travel more often, gather experiences more frequently? If you feel young and impatient, wouldn’t you want a change of jobs regularly? If you have the money, wouldn’t you fructify your love for Toys into buying Big Boy Toys? If you have the money, wouldn’t you want to flaunt your Girl Power? Last but not the least, if India, the second most populated country in the world, starts ‘feeling’ young, wouldn’t it implicate numerous categories – from F&B, Fashion, Home Décor, Travel, Lifestyle; to Jobs, Automobiles and Banking?


Source: Oxford Dictionary Definition of Adultescence - https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/adultescent

- Authored by Noor Samra, Account Planning Director, JWT
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the views of exchange4media.com

In the last decade odd in Hollywood, it’s become important to ask whether Films or TV serials pass the Bechdel test. Not just for campaigners of equal rights but also for seekers of a fair media, to reveal just how biased and stereotyped our gender views are. Also known as the Bechdel–Wallace test, the test is named after the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, in whose comic strip ‘Dykes to Watch Out For’ it first appeared in 1985. Bechdel credited the idea to a friend, Liz Wallace, and to the writings of Virginia Woolf.
The Bechdel test requires a work of fiction to:
1. Feature at least 2 women who are named
2. And talk to each other about something other than a man
It isn’t supposed to be a measure of high-art, a lot of highly rated cinema and literature fail the test. What it does, is encourage us to see Men and Women in equal light, and of course exposes our biases, our shallow stereotypes etc. One would hope that at least in fiction we’d do a better job of representing women. However, only about 50% pass the test. Of those, writer Charles Stross notes that about half of the films that do pass the test, only do so because the women talk about marriage or babies.
This seemed to me an interesting tool to sniff out a bias. So I thought why not create a similar test for advertising. At best it would expose our biases towards how we thought of women and create healthier advertising. At worst, it would help in creating better end of the year stuff for Cannes. 
The Bechdel Advertising Test...
1. Should not show a woman protagonist who is a Mother, Girlfriend or Wife
2. The protagonist above should not be selling Beauty, Fashion or Accessories
3. And should not be a celebrity, who’s adding star Power
(There’s also a good reason, why the rules above makes no mention of models who’re used as drapery or arm-candy. This article is arguing well beyond that kind of objectification.)
On applying this test, nothing popped to mind immediately. Even when I looked at Effie winners, and Abby winners, celebrated advertising, few campaigns passed the test.
Sure, we need to use roles and stereotypes. I understand. How would we know who we were communicating to and create protagonists that appeal across the board, if we couldn’t identify them with some generic qualities, some stereotypical values. But the ease with which I can identify ads where men are just being themselves and not husbands, fathers or boyfriends, and the struggle to find ads that don’t show women only playing roles, perhaps reveals that our stereotypes are a little too stereotypical.
It’s not that women don’t desire cars, or phones, or pizzas, or even Insurance policies. But we’ve made a call on who the primary audience is, and reduced the secondary one to her supporting role. I suppose that couldn’t be helped. But what about categories where the audience is clearly women? I think these categories do a greater disservice. And of these, I think a special place in gender-biased hell is reserved for categories that speak to moms. The pressure advertising puts on moms being super-moms to the exclusion of her romantic life, her own hobbies, her friends is crazy.
It’s not just our ads, even when we paint pictures of the aspirational consumer – a cool mom is not someone who’s learning martial arts three times a week, or whose gang of friends is a riot, but a mom who makes Pasta on weekdays for her hungry kids.
For me, this is a huge indicator of our collective inability to imagine women as anything but beauty evangelists and role-players. And in an age where we find ourselves sharing and commenting on #metoo & #equalpay it’s high time we considered how we portray women as protagonists.
Personally, I’ve been guilty dozens of times for slipping into the easy gender stereotype, and casting every woman in a role, but recently while making an ad, quite by whim, we changed a gang of boys into a gang of girls, and the commercial became much, much cooler. Not just for being less gender biased, but because it was simply a new conversation. It was an eye-opener.
So for expedient reasons, if not more liberated gender-equal reasons, let’s consider the Bechdel test. We do a heck of a lot of Public Service advertising exhorting the world at large on how to treat women, but do little examination on the inside.

- Authored by Shujoy Dutta, VP and Executive Planning Director, JWT
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the views of exchange4media.com.

First off, the consumer will be a woman, because they represent a bigger opportunity than China and India put together.
She will be a digital nomad, part of a flexible international tribe, working in a world where work, travel, freedom and wanderlust collide. She could choose from networks that give her job options in across countries, because anywhere there is wi-fi could be an office. Not just a consumer, she will be a micro influencer or a celeb-preneur herself. She could be living in a ‘second city” that makes urban life affordable. And if she must commute, her commute to work will move from car ownership to shared mobility solutions.
Experience, wellbeing and self-improvement will be the three pillars of her spending.
So what will her shopping look like? It will include AR mirrors where she can try out different looks, and if online, hands free selfies will make smart fashion recommendations. All products she buys will have built in cameras, the internet of eyes, so every sentiment and action can be analysed. While the internet of ears will enhance her consumer journey. Manufacturing at the speed of internet will make possible hyper personalisation of products and products will be manufactured after ordering, further reducing the gap between wanting, ordering and receiving. Retail spaces will allow residence-like experiences. Premium products, brandless, white label goods, will be available at a fraction of the costs, made with millennial friendly values – gluten free, organic, fair trade and more. Products will talk to her about familiar technology, honourable prices, clean and clear packaging, via social media advertising - intimate, inclusive and bff communication rather than traditional. At the payment counter, facial recognition can help her to smile to pay. Or she could pay with a mobile wallet even in an offline store or maybe it’s a staffless stores. And even her thrift shopping will be slick, and tech driven.
5G will allow her to download a full length HD movie in seconds. Movie theatre experiences will reach home while they are still playing in theatres. Alternatively, she can direct the flow of the narrative she is watching – interactive story telling will take entertainment from private to personalised. With more viewer data, more segmentation and micro interest groups, more entertainment will reflect diversity.
Look what she’s wearing: religion literally on her sleeve with fashion taking on the new moral compass, disc shaped tampon alternative for wearing during sex, and if breast feeding, she can wear her breast pump in her bra, it will even track how much collected and length of each session. If dating, it will include ghosting, icing, simmering and “stable ambiguity”. If pregnant she will have a personal doula, for emotional and educational support through the pregnancy.
She will be living in a residence boasting biological living, with circadian lighting, air purifying walls and maybe an indoor vertical farm. She could pick her vegetables off a garden above the store. Her drink could be tasting like a burger. Or if she wants to eat a burger she could be picking up a vegan one. With Silicon Valley getting into food, she could be choosing her wine off an app. Her cake could be made by a former architect who uses algorithmically-generated visual programs to build cakes. Evenings will be in non-alcoholic bars that marry wellness with nightlife. And in an increasingly visual world, she will be swiping her phone on her plate to gather effortless information on what she’s eating. Dessert could be purple sweet potato. Even at the doctor’s, food will also the new medicine, the new prescription.

Her beauty products will likely be created by celebs who were earlier endorsing other brands, but are now using their knowledge and influence to be design disruptors with their own powerhouse lines. Raw, honest, authentic, will rule. Beauty stores will be more like labs, allowing consumers to create their own concoctions. She will expect beauty brands to be fluent in sexual and mental health, spirituality, and nutrition. With skin diagnostic mirrors, and apps to monitor wrinkles and sun exposure … she could end up monitoring herself excessively. Ads portraying women better let her know if the pictures have been retouched.
Holidays? If not around the moon, at least a near space experience 15 miles above the earth’s surface. More purse friendly ways to assuage wanderlust, more airlines in between traditional and low cost. At the same time, at the intersection of luxury and travel, will be lux-peditions, where physical and intellectual challenge - extreme authenticity is the new luxury. While Star Wars, Hunger Games, and the likes of Twilight Saga will be not just movies but experiential hotels.
Luxury brands will have to root themselves in purposeful ethos, and build communities and loyalty around shared values. Everything from leather to diamonds will be chasing environment friendly optional materials.
VR will get into mediation and therapy, and anything can enable wellness including cannabis and micro-dosing of LSD. While store brands in beauty and foods will chase pared down design, health products will get more aesthetic and pharmacies will have to offer a subscription model. If overly stressed, she may look for rage rooms, outlets where stress meets immersive entertainment.
She may well be willing to put a microchip in her body to open a door, pay for food. And of course, we’ll know all this, because she will have an on demand personal videographer, capturing her life for show-casing.

- Authored by Mythili Chandrasekar. 

We are in the midst of a revolution. Women are discovering their power, changing the core institution of family and the world as we know it. Our attempt is to understand the cultural shifts that are unfolding and their consequent impact on communication; has she moved beyond our perspective of her in the mirror we are holding up? 

(Pic: Amruta Patil)


PUSHING BACK PATRIARCHY
While patriarchy may change its shades from strangulating to benign to even empowering; it remains the truth of her environment. The choices she makes are judged by the parameters set by it. Whether it is the more visible ‘strangulating patriarchy’ that restricts her freedom or the more ‘benign patriarchy’ that restricts her ambition.



The woman of today wants to get past the designated role-play to find her own identity. While constructing a family, she is trying to create space for her own ambitions. Her conflict though is in trying to manoeuvre her way towards leading a quality life, while challenging patriarchy. 

Most Indian women believe that they are not barriers to their own success. They acknowledge that it would be their family, parents, or spouse that present barriers to them achieving their full potential. But they are significantly more confident today that they can achieve their goals by rising above patriarchy.

NAVIGATING THE AGGRESSIVE ENVIRONMENT
It’s not just about the patriarchal blocks; as she steps out to carve her desired life, she is faced with a physically unsafe, bullying, aggressive environment. From cat calls to casting couches; she must arm herself with tricks, gumption and a spine of steel deal with it all; to be able to navigate with her dreams unquestioned or even worse, paused. That’s probably why Indian women are feeling the need to be both stronger and bolder in comparison to their global brethren. 




TAKING ON SOCIAL JUDGEMENT
Every push towards a change in narrative is met with judgement. Reasonable enough desires to delay marriage/kids or adopt unconventional careers or even explore her sexual freedom are under scrutiny. To carve out a sense of herself and not be held back by old narratives, she is taking a stance against judgment; only she should have a point of view on how she lives her life.

Women are breaking on through to the other side where they are transforming from victims to heroes. They aren’t going to just save themselves, they are gearing up to save the world. They are on their way to becoming the makers of a positive difference. 

(Pic: Ruby Jagrut)




Enabled by technology and their support in each other, women today are changing the story.

TECHNOLOGY AS THE ENABLER
Technology is a germinating a new revolution. It is enabling Indian women to leap-frog from these barriers to create a new prosperous world. 90% of Indian women believe that technology has given them a voice. Today with technology, she is connected to a community, a country and the world which is empowering her against patriarchy and judgment.
Whether it is entrepreneurs like Richa Kar (founder of Zivame) who changed lingerie shopping or platforms like stayuncle.com (They help unmarried couples find rooms in cities without being harassed) which is enabling them to find a place to explore their relationship freedom ~ technology is emerging as their backer.

THE SISTERHOOD OF REVOLUTION
The second wave of support is coming from other women. 93% believe that it is important for women to help other women advance in their careers and in the workplace.



Platforms like women on wanderlust are enabling women to travel. Kangana Ranaut’s fight for equal pay has found support amongst emerging celebrities. It’s a small start but strong nevertheless.

THE IMPACT ON COMMUNICATION
Women are the largest emerging market in the world. It’s the ‘Dow Jane effect’: The greater the power of women, the greater the country’s economic success. Empowering women in India would add $700 billion of additional GDP by 2025, upping the country’s annual GDP growth by 1.4% (Source: McKinsey). Over the next decade, women will wield enormous influence over politics, sport, business, and society.
THEY ARE RE-DEFINING SUCCESS: For them success means redefining what society and success should look like beyond what has been prescribed. 


FEELING THEIR OWN POWER: 74% Indian women feel it’s never been a better time to be a woman. 92% of women think femininity is a strength not a weakness. 93% claim that they are working to improve the community/world around them. We live in a world where India’s Cabinet Committee on Security has two women out of four members (Sushma Swaraj and Nirmala Sitharaman).
ESTABLISHING EQUALITY: Whether it is in rules that apply or in terms of opportunities.
The aspiration is for a more enlightened, progressive world of tomorrow from a conservative, restrictive one. As they unshackle themselves, they will give us the opportunity to lead a more fulfilling life. Isn’t it then time for us to expand the role and ambition of women in communication? As marketers and advertisers, it is in our interest to inspire, hasten and enable this shift of utmost significance. 
(Co-authored by Shweta Khosla- VP & Strategy Planning Director, JWT Delhi)


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