Even as far back as the early 1940s, the word ‘kari’ was already making its presence felt across the Atlantic, having merged itself into cultures from Guyana to Singapore to Great Britain.
A curry, by definition, is any stew made using Indian spices. The spread of curry set sail on the seas with the conquistadors who marauded the shores of Eastern India around 1498.
They couldn’t find a word to describe it, so they made one up: ‘carel’, taken from the Tamil word ‘kari’.
The British East India Company changed in to the popularly known version it is today. Slowly but steadily this sweet yet pungent smelling broth found its way into the hearts of many a nation and the rest, as they say, is history.
But the true beauty of curry lies not in the taste but rather in its ability to adapt to any taste palate you will it to.
The same can be said of content.
A study done by CoreDNA pointed out that almost 78 per cent of consumers said that personally relevant content was a key factor in influencing their purchase decisions.
Google’s new research on YouTube’s MENA audience has revealed that the millennial generation is the most researched and the most brand loyal.
On top of that, millennials boast more spending power than any other generation. In 2018, global millennial spending power came in at a cool $2.5 trillion, says Google.
What this means is that this audience is not only thriving on content but also consuming it with intent to spend on brands they love.
Personalising content allows a brand to build a higher degree of relevance, thereby resulting in higher brand trust leading to higher brand love.
Making a content experience interactive and personal allows for it to be seamless and contextual. It’s just like adding local flavours to a foreign recipe.
Engagement has always mattered. However, with algorithms that now stress meaningful interactions, it has become even more important.
“Indian dishes, in the highest perfection… unequalled to any curries ever made in England.” So ran the 1809 newspaper advert for a new eating establishment in an upmarket London square popular with colonial returnees, offering them an experience the likes of which their homeland had never seen before.
Similarly, the new dawn of personalisation promises some meaty treats. By outsourcing to machines what was previously done by humans,
we phenomenally arrive at more personalised, more efficient marketing solutions.
Technology has today opened up the possibility of managing myriad conversations with consumers.
Programmatic media is now a kitchen where hyper-effective communication is being stirred in cauldrons of dynamic creatives, and A/B-tested messaging serving tables of laser-specific audiences.
When asked for a winning recipe for machine learning, Cassie Kozyrkov, chief decision scientist with Google Cloud, said, “Focus on the ingredients, not the kitchen.”
The brave new world of algorithms and technology has replaced good ol’ communication trade craft with posts and pixels.
The best examples of personalisation marry human insight and hindsight with the power of data and algorithms.
Personalised marketing, while an integral part of today’s marketing toolkit, needs to be done right. Brands need to be transparent with consumers and leave space for sighting, serendipity and surprise.
We need to work with the machines and not just let algorithms do all the leg work. The magic cannot happen in silos; it needs to happen when all the ingredients come together to create a sumptuous mix of flavours.
The pot is simmering and the broth smells good.
The key to lip smacking content: serve it hot.
