The FOMO Economy

 

There has been quite a hullabaloo about the growing Concert Economy in India. A few music concerts in the past few weeks have been extremely popular and have raked in good moolah for the organizers. Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Bryan Adams, Dua Lipa, and our own singers like Dilit Dosanjh and many others performed to an overflowing crowd. A few analysts, however, have attributed this to the FOMO (Fear of missing out) factor.

There are legions of genuine music enthusiasts who live and breathe these artists.  At the same time, there also are many piled-on audiences who have little or no interest in music. They are there just to enjoy the extravaganza and experience the other surrounding fun and frolic associated with these events. The investment of time and money is worth the Instagram-worthy moments that it offers.  Over the last few years, enough has been spoken and written about the experiential holidays and experiential gifts. This is just a part of such an experiential event that no one wants to miss out.

The current craze of experiencing the mega mahakumbh event is another such example. Yes, there is a religious sanctity attached to the event. Yes, some devout believers would have never missed even the 12-year occurrences over their lifetime and this was a rare 144-year event.  But going by the current number of devotees who have already taken a dip in the holy confluence of rivers over the last one month, it is much beyond that. Many are otherwise faith agnostic but have not missed this opportunity to be part of this. Just because they wanted to be in the count and didn’t want to miss an opportunity to secure social media hits.  And then more followed, perhaps, due to the same FOMO factor.

Last week, another familiar event took place. The delightful spectacle of state elections in the national capital. And as it happens, the media circus of the counting of votes and the announcement of results was no less than a gala event. From high-decibel anchors to mild-mannered philosophical experts and from sagacious psephologists to political rivals at each other’s throats – they were all there on the TV to make their points. For some, it was an intellectual feast and for others, it was pure entertainment. In India, we carry strong opinions on our cricketers and the judgment of the selection committee as also on the polity and the broader voter response during elections. Therefore, an election doesn’t pass off merely as a process, it evokes emotions for some and provides validation of stand for others.

I was wondering, if there will be a time when even the election result analysis will not be limited to the TV audience, it may well become another extravaganza hosted by these anchors in large arenas. The euphoria involving such detailed analysis, the leads, the ups and downs, and the results will all be watched live by the audience. Like the award functions, the event will blend politics with other fun, frolic, food, and drinks to keep everyone engaged. Social media posts and the relentless FOMO will ensure the cash registers keep ringing. Who said democracy couldn’t be entertaining?

O Marketing!

The other day, while driving, I was trying to change the channels on my car stereo to listen to some good songs but all that I got was the standard FM channels that mostly played the latest sponsored songs and tunes. Not to take away anything from the new tracks and their composers but listening to the same tunes the entire day, across different channels, was too overwhelming. I longed for the old Vivid Bharati kind of broadcast that played popular songs on listeners’ requests. Unfortunately, the Vivid Bharati channel was playing a talk show then. 

Branding and Advertising always existed in my childhood but Marketing as a skill and a critical function emerged more prominently in the post-Manmohan era. Over the years, corporate marketing has moved from a tentative experiment to assuming a CXO-level function across organizations. Be it an everyday selling of consumer goods or a niche software product, the marketing function plays an important strategic role. 

In the current digital era, however, the lines between marketing, influencing, and lobbying have kind of blurred. The marketeers today seem to be taking an easier path by relying heavily on influencers and lobbyists – who seem to be playing a larger role than the pure marketeers. Do a Google search on any product or service, you invariably find a few sponsored offerings matching your search. The social media influencers have created such an aura around them that the otherwise well-educated and skilled youth also consider switching their careers to this new-found profession that gets them a much higher and seemingly easy buck. 

The lobbyists have existed for long – to influence the policymakers at corporate levels. It is legal in some countries, while in others it is a covert operation. But social media influencers are all in open. Be it page-3 of a local daily, a book review, a health column, a new launch brand, a new-found super food, a new restaurant in your neighborhood, a new fashion trend or a new weekend tourist destination – all of these are pushed by a bunch of social media influencers. The new term for them is ‘content creator’ and I read somewhere that we have 2.5 to 3.5 million of these content creators in the country now.  And you don't even take it with a ‘pinch of salt’ as another influencer told you that it was not good for your BP.  While genuine marketing is like going to a well-stocked and attractively colourful fresh vegetable market in the morning, the influencer-led business is like going to a dimly lit vegetable vendor at night and getting a few rotten pieces passed on with your buy.  There is no accountability whatsoever. The influencers don’t overtly represent their recommendations but they do have a vested interest most of the time. 

As late as this morning, a cousin of mine shared in the family whatsapp group, the details about a temple in Bithoor – an obscure little town near my birthplace Kanpur – and asked me if I knew about it. Frankly, in my 20 years of childhood and schooling days, I had heard of Bithoor only in the context of Nana Sahib and Rani Laxmi Bai. But surely, it is the social media influencers who had pulled out ostensibly an architectural and religious gem from the hinterland up north and presented that to my cousin down south in Chennai. So, it is not all bad with the social content creators, perhaps. Building a base of followers is the stepping stone of an influencer – and that’s where, possibly, some genuine knowledge sharing or marketing happens. 

Like the might of a crowd-pulling politician or a movement, the power of an influencer with millions of followership cannot be undermined. And, like the dread of a hafta-seeking local goon, the million-followed influencer shouldn’t become an all-powerful hafta-seeking digital goon. The authorities need to streamline this new skillset of influencers before it becomes a menace, and the genuine marketeers should draw their territory to stay clear of the thin bordering line.