India: Creating an urban legend

HSBC bank and their advertising agency have taken my ideas into the realm of what one might call Urban Legend.

In the marketing chapter of my book (Doing Business in 21st Century India) , I quote Micky Pant, formerly a Unilever executive, who was surprised to learn that 70% of washing machine sales in India at one time were into the state of Punjab, which accounts for less than 8 percent of India’s population. But these washing machines weren’t being used for clothes and Lever’s detergents weren’t going to have a market here.

In fact, Pant’s team found that the machines made for great lassi-makers. Lassi is a popular blended yoghurt drink, and a favorite among Punjabis.

So imagine my surprise when I find a full page  HSBC bank print advertisement describing this novel use of washing machine.  And then I received a You Tube video from a reader, take a look below. I guess items from my book are crossing over into urban legend territory.

And there is already buzz on the net about this. This site offers some testimony from those who have seen washing machines used in this manner. In fact one post-er claims to have seen washing machine used to knead dough in Gujarat.

The Indian word for this kind of innovation is “jugaad” roughly translated as the nautical term “jury-rigging“