For years, as a
marketing professional, the divide of have's and have 'not's' has been big. People always considered the
emerging economies, as we know them today as the laggards in
the world. Innovations happened in the
developed economies, and moved to the developing after some time lag.
The world has changed for ever. As information flow is free, trends and
innovation travel as the speed at 'marketing' all over the world. There is an emergence of global
Indian consumerism! This is true for China or for that matter, any emerging economy today.
When I
Levi's, i wanted to carry 'skinny' jeans for my friends just 1 month after their launch. To my pleasant surprise, when I landed at the airport in
India, women were sporting them along with
tank tops. Walking on the streets, one say see consumers sporting global
brands, launched in India at the same time like anywhere else in the world. Indian consumer is much more aware and savvy, and global.
A lot of this is also driven by the phenomenan called returning Indians. Indians who have lived in other parts of the world, are today coming back to India. Driven by the emerging opportunity this emerging land of opportunity provides, or be just close to the loved ones. Today the visa section of countries like India and China sees a long bee line of aspirants wanting to partake in this growth story.
As people travel across the world, they also bring in thoughts, culture and create a new microculture. Something that happened to new york and london in the 60's.
In this new world of emerging Global Indian's, we can see a fusion of cultures. Indian marketplace in no longer dominated by an
American brand or a European brand, but its a fusion of brands that have caught the fancy of an Indian any where in the world. India (and this is true for China also) is the hot bed of emerging global culture. The population is young, reception and learning quickly. Do we think, that till is where most of the innovations of the world will come out in future?
In One week I traveled New York, Hongkong, Istanbul and Delhi. Travelling three continents, one at the cusp of Asia and Europe, I could not help noticing the how the youth across the world is united by the club. Each city has a Greenwich village, a Taksim, or the latest night club. The experience is almost the same, across the clubs around the world. Loud music, drinks, pretty women and good looking men. The music is mostly a combination of some some global popular artists, spiced with local tunes. It is always hard to get into the popular hot spots. The big burly men outside the doors, make the entry intimidating. Cover charges are often replaced with drinks. As most of the club going crowd is young, I do not really see a difference across the world around the behaviors. The male-female attraction, clubbed with high pitch music and alcohol, is a recipe of an great evening out, among the young across the world. And make sure, when visiting, find such a place. Club-culture is another example of a culture uniting the world - and may be today, this is much bigger than the hippie movement, which was primarily concentrated in the US. Today's clubbers are in all parts of the world, on that one street, which starts to wake up after mid-night. 
