Being Vocal for Local Brands: A New Mantra of Success for Indian FMCG Companies

Abstract

On the call of our Prime Minister to be ‘Vocal for Local’, many Indian companies which are having strong consumer base and presence in Indian market have started incorporating ‘vocal for local’ themes across all advertising drives. They are proudly highlighting the Indian roots and promoting the products with a strong message of ‘Made in India’. As far as preference of consumers is concerned after suffering from economic loss during lockdown period, they are also demanding swadeshi products to boost the economy. This change in consumer perception has been observed due to increased awareness about strengthening the Indian economy and understanding of minimizing the dependency on foreign countries. We may easily observe the visible difference in economic slowdown due to nationwide lockdown induced by COVID-19 pandemic.All major manufacturers are focusing on establishing their brand into the consumers’ mind as an ‘Indian Product’ or product labelled as a ‘Made in India’ more specifically rather than ‘Made in China’. Since liberalization in 1990, Indian Government opened the doors for foreign companies to enter and invest in Indian market but this fact is more disturbing that now Indian market is filled with low cost Chinese products and people prefer those products without realizing that they are actually creating financial crunches for Indian producers. Now after getting the slogan of becoming ‘Atma-Nirbhar’ to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, it seems that in future ‘Made in India’ will be a significant factor to influence the consumer buying behaviour. This paper tried to explore the changes in advertising campaigns adopted by selected FMCG companies to boost the Indian economy and common themes to support the ‘Vocal for Local’ movement.