VERNACULAR, A game-changer for digital platforms

A country with 1.3 billion people, but only 125 million can speak English, which is comparatively a smaller number. According to recent statistics, 66% of India’s literate population consume content in their local language. Therefore it is high time, brands start targeting their audience based on the regional languages.

Insights

As per the Google KPMG report of 2017, the Indian internet user base will increase to 735 million in number by 2021. Also, 70% of Indians find regional language digital content more reliable. Furthermore, 88% of Indian language internet users are more likely to respond to a digital ad in their local language as compared to English.

Also, the recent reports says there will be 442 million smartphone users by 2022, and currently, 99% of internet users are accessing the internet using their phones. Which will mainly be through apps like Youtube, Daily Hunt, and other entertainment apps. All thanks to Jio and budget-friendly smartphones. Therefore brands can target these users programmatically through these apps and show them vernacular ads which will increase the chance of a conversion.

This is also because people find vernacular content very relatable. But this will not be the case if the brand is just translating the content from one language to another. Rather, they should transcreate the entire communication based on the location. As, the vernacular is not just based on the language, but also based on the instances and the occasion for which the content is created.

Have brands got them right?

In the offline space also, brands have miserably failed in getting the communication out in the right way. The best example is the Uber Eats Moment campaign, which is a subpart of the famous “Tinda” campaign, where they had a set of newspaper ads in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, and Kochi. Here instead of Tinda, they used other vegetables in vernacular languages to create some context in the respective states like Pavakka in Kerala and Podalanga in Tamil Nadu. But my question is how many people from these states know the context behind using vegetables such as Tinda (round gourd), Pavakka (bitter gourd), and Podalanga (snake gourd)?

But in the case of TVS Motor Radeon, their communication is well crafted in such a way that the context remains the same in all languages, but is not a mere translation, though the TVC creative remains the same. In Hindi, it is: “Jio Buland, Badho Buland”, in Tamil it is: “Urudhiyana Vazhkkai, Urudhiyana Valarchi” and in Malayalam, it is: “Nenjurappode Jeevikkoo, Nenjurappode munneroo”. Here we can see how tactically the brand has used regional languages.

When we look at the pharmacy brand, Pankajakasthuri, they make everything vernacular when it comes to speaking to their consumers. They have videos and creatives made in every language based on the demographics there, so that the content made is relatable and at the same time is reliable.

Scope in new-age digital platforms

Being vernacular will help brands to generate more UGCs (user-generated content) through most of the new age social media platforms, which will make the consumer an advocate of the product itself.

Knowing the scope of vernacular, brands are now getting into creating more branded content, which will create an IP and also is an easier medium to improve brand awareness and engagement. The best examples can be how Swiggy partnered with AIB to create content in Hindi and with Karikku to create content in Malayalam which shows the effect and reach of vernacular approach.

Also, an increase in influencer outreach campaigns during these times, shows that brands have realized how vernacular communication can increase brand recall as well along with improving awareness. 

The vernacular approach has changed the way how hyperlocal sales function. For instance, we can search in 7 different languages on Bigbasket, and also, Amazon has enabled multilingual services for its sellers. This helps us realize that beyond just communication, brands should also focus on multilingual web platforms to reach out to a larger set of audience.

What brands can achieve in the long run?

The recent Gartner survey forecast that 30% of web browsing sessions will happen through voice search by 2020, with ‘voice-first’ interactions” audio content is undoubtedly the next big step on the internet, riding steadily on the vernacular wave as well. And brands have already invested in Voice-based, and Vernacular SEO.

Smartphone users consume regional language predominantly through messaging/chat applications like WhatsApp, which helps us realize that brands can look at having Whatsapp and other related chatbots to do lead generation, as it can be in regional languages and will be conversational which will increase the reliability as well. After messaging apps it is the entertainment platforms that are in second place. Social media comes in third place. People consume so much regional content through local OTT platforms today like Zee5, Sun NXT, ALT Balaji, Manorama Max, etc. To reemphasize this point, today there was an article that said even, Book My Show is also launching their streaming platform. This helps us know that vernacular content on the internet has so much scope that brands can leverage during these times to improve brand affinity and recall.

Conclusion

Speaking about regional language and micro-content, we cannot forget TikTok, which is one of the best platforms for rural centric brands, but due to the ban, I hope their alternatives like Mitron, Chingari, and Hipi (by Zee5) will help brands achieve that goal. Let’s hope, brands will utilize all these opportunities to transcreate content and not just translate them.