"Modern" and "Classic" brands

A lingering question often is what is the difference between ‘modern’ brands and ‘classic’ brands. Well there are dimensions to these archetypes, but we will touch just one aspect this time.
Well, in a sense it is like the difference between air travel and train travel. At one level, both serve the same purpose of reaching a far away destination. Still they are different. In fact, very different.

When we travel by air, we actually formally dress up for the occasion. We reach the airport well before time and immediately on entering, the procedures rule and we have no control. Processes and systems effectively take us to the plane.We are part of a queue. Our baggage is whisked away. We know (almost!) that it is safe and it will reach. We are now on an assembly line of sorts with one person behind us and one in front. At the entrance the ID and ticket is checked. After this, it is one section or one counter after another in a defined fashion. Once inside the airplane, the seatbelt and lights take charge. Funnily we don't really talk to the person in the neighbouring seat.

This is a very western journey - very formal and precise. But then when we buy an airline ticket, this is what we sign up, because we like it. It is quick,efficient, systematic, fast, hassle free and also aspirational.The service is squeaky clean. It is silent and smiling. Few words are exchanged. Everything is automated. Even when we get into the plane, we barely talk to our neighbour on the adjoining seat. In effect, when we travel by air, we consume a western type of accessible luxury that efficiently gets us to our destination. It is transactional in flavour. Conversation is minimum.

Ditto with modern and transactional brands. From the time the customer touches them till the time he exists, everything is almost automated. It is a modern world with western efficiency. This is quick and efficient and to the point.

Contrast this with a comfortable air conditioned (AC) train travel. The same person traveling by train undergoes and in fact seeks a different experience.

Sometimes, speed is not so important. Or the journey we seek is not much less than the destination. There is no need for hurry and a train will do. Nobody bothers to dress up formally for a train journey. In fact, the kurta pajama seems just fine! What's more there are hardly any procedures here. One doesn't even enter a highly westernised environment. One does not dress up for the occasion. One talks a lot. There is no whispered service here. Conversations between strangers are common. It is clean but not squeaky clean. It is not silent. It is not just metal and glass. It is aesthetically Indian. It is talkative and free. Conversations are long. And loud. In a train, we are in small town India. It's a world we sometimes miss and sometimes seek. The western world is now nowhere in sight, in look, feel or behaviour. Nothing is automated. There is no conveyor belt or assembly line here. You can board a moving train and jump out of a moving one! This experience is very interactive. The journey occupies a large slice of the experience.

In these ‘classic’ brands, there are no transactions on offer. There is a pleasant journey to reaching the destination that the brand promises. It is high on conversation. It is high on relationships. Silence is out of place here. These brands have a 'small town soul'. They are almost avuncular. That’s why they are inviting.

Are you wondering why this email was long? Well, because no one talks to people who speak sparingly. People like talking to talkative people. People from small towns.