2 States is a beautiful movie with a beautiful story. With an IMDB rating of 6.9 and a TOI rating of 3.7/5, the movie was a super hit. But that’s not it. It is also a great example of a communication challenge concept. You might be wondering, how? We’ll try to decipher it from the perspective of the movie, but before that let’s understand what is a communication challenge and why it is important for the brands.
A communication challenge is a behavior or the mindset that a brand wants to change in its target consumers with specific communication. It addresses the one factor that aims to drive consumer behavior. It begins with identifying the current mindset and behavior of your consumer coupled with what you want your consumer to think and finally, do. The systematic way to write a communication challenge is to complete the below sentence.
The one thing that I want to convince my Target Consumer of is that “………”
Let’s take the example of "Maggi noodles" and try to figure out its communication challenge. The target consumer for Maggi was primarily the mothers who felt that home-cooked food is superior to anything that was cooked outside.
Current Mindset- The food cooked at home is far better and healthier than the one served in a restaurant.
Current Behavior- My child is adopting unhealthy food habits like chips, salty mixtures, etc.
Desired Mindset- Able to satisfy my child’s untimely hunger with a home-cooked snack.
Desired Behavior- Serve my child with homely and fast to cook food that is delicious at the same time.
Communication Challenge- The one thing that I want to convince my Target Consumer of is that Maggi is the solution for quick hunger fix with a tint of home-cooked food.
Now that we understand what communication challenge is and how to write it, let’s come back to 2 States. The entire movie is built around trying to convince parents of an inter-caste love marriage.
Krish and Ananya are two MBA students at IIM Ahmedabad, who fall in love and decide to get married. Being from different castes, they seek approval from their parents which we know how easy it is (Wink! Wink!). Let’s try to create the communication challenge around it.
Target Consumer- Parents
Current Mindset- I want my son/daughter to marry a well-educated girl/boy, but from the same caste. It ensures compatibility between two families with similar cultures.
Current Behavior- I make certain that my son/daughter chooses a spouse from the same caste or religion.
Desired Mindset- Marriage is a sacred relationship between the two souls. The compatibility must be between the people getting married and not necessarily between the castes.
Desired Behavior- I will allow my son/daughter to choose a life partner by choice regardless of the same caste or not. What matters the most is their happiness.
Communication Challenge- The one thing that I want to convince my Target Consumer of is that in a marriage, the love between two people outshines the caste they belong to.
Well! That depicts how important it is for brands to communicate a message that touches the heart. It is evident from the movie as well, when Krish takes Ananya’s family to lunch and symbolically proposes to the whole family with those rings. A great gesture, isn’t it?
Wait! There’s more.
At a point in the movie, Krish narrates how difficult it is to convince people for a marriage and it goes like this,
“In this world, what's the most important reason to get married? Love? In India, however, there are a few more steps...The girl's family has to love the boy. The boy's family has to love the girl. The boy's family has to love the girl's family...and the girl's family has to love the boy's family. After all this...if the boy and girl still love each other, then they get married.”
Isn’t it the perfect example that the brands are created not just because of their product alone but various other factors like marketing, advertising, public relations, purpose, personality, etc.?