The Mother of all Lassi makers

At the lunch table today, Ali, one of my colleagues, was extolling the virtues of Punjabis. Manoj pitched in with this amazing piece of information. In Punjab they use Washing Machines to make Lassi. I was floored. That is a great product idea there ('large-scale lassi maker'!). I got curious and googled on it and ended up with this:

"With a queer psychology of purchase and usage, Indian rural market is still a puzzle to marketers. In many a case, it stretches its imagination to find surprisingly different uses of some of the products. And the red-faced marketers admit that they actually sell their products in areas they would otherwise find difficult, simply because there are other uses for them. For instance, in parts of Northern India, condoms are used by weavers as gloves on their fingers to weave fine threads. Lubrication on condoms allows them fine control on threads and protects their sensitive fingers. Buffaloes displayed at the haats for sale are dyed an immaculate black with Godrej hair dye. Horlicks is used as a health beverage to fatten up cattle in Bihar. In villages of Punjab, washing machines are being used to make frothy lassi in bulk. Paints meant for colouring up the rich-smooth walls are used to paint the horns of cattle to make identification easier and to achieve a long-term protection from theft. Iodex is rubbed into the skins of animals after a hard day?s work to relieve muscular pain. The organizations in question might not be pleased with such usage. However, their moneybags keep on jingling." (via Strategic Marketing)

Maybe our marketers should stop indulging in bubbly ads for a while, and go perform a contextual inquiry in the rural areas. That may just give them some great product ideas.

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