Why an asinine 'Dhoom 3' and a starkly real 'Drishyam' makes money

How can an asinine movie like 'Dhoom 3' make the money its made? You can't answer that question until you ask another. Why are audiences in Kerala flocking to 'Drishyam'?

The answers to these questions don't bring to the surface what may seem like a contradiction simply because the co-existence of opposite impulses must by default be assumed as being part of human nature. Such 'non-contradictory contradictions' are best seen and understood when we turn consumers.

Parking our brains at the door so we can live a fantasy is what we do when we step in to a 'Dhoom 3'. Keeping our real selves intact is how we approach 'Drishyam'. Now it is possible some audiences take more to asinine fantasy where others crave reality, but combinatory-contradictory impulses by default exist within all of us.

The lesson here for marketers is they mustn't mis-assume people are led only by a particular impulse. For example, its easily assumed the middle class in India is price conscious because its always rational consumption acts they engage in. Wrong. The middle class in India is as irrational as any other cohort. So for them, as for others, fantasies work as do doses of reality. Of course, the challenge for marketers is to read the context right so they know what the drivers of consumption are, in relation to their target audience.

Its should be no surprise that juvenile nonsense like 'Dhoom 3' makes money. Equally, it should not baffle when you see a 'Drishyam' running to packed theaters.

Now if you get what isn't really a contradiction, you'll have deciphered human nature. Plus you'll be on your way to eternal bliss.

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