The Art of Parallel Referencing

‘Every living form is connected on Pandora’ said Dr Grace in the movie Avatar. Upon further thought, on Earth too; we’re all connected, distant at best by six degrees of separation. The seemingly random dots of population on the globe can be linked to one another in some form or bond. A keen mind just has to find the connection. Therein lie the fundamentals of Parallel Referencing.

“Parallel Referencing can help overcome the void created due to lack of data.”

“Parallel Referencing is the Art of being able to paint the Big Picture”,

using techniques of correlation between two seemingly random aspects to yield meaningful and relevant insights that lead to quantifiable actions.

As Marketers, we often face situations where we fall short on data to substantiate an action plan. In these cases, we pursue solutions with our ‘gut feeling’ also often referred to as ‘practical experience’. This may or may not yield the most favorable outcomes. In these situations, Parallel Referencing can help overcome the void created due to lack of data. It enables a person to see or build correlation between two seemingly unrelated aspects; connected together, by the individual at the centre of these two aspects. The challenge is in being able to narrow down on aspects that can impart a decision-making insight into the unrelated situation or problem at hand.

Let us try and understand this with an example. Lets’ take two products; an OTC cough syrup and a lubricating oil. What do they have in common? At first glance, probably nothing; but upon second thought both companies may have identical target audiences both preferentially and location wise.

Now suppose you have to choose the locations where you’d like to launch your product; either the cough syrup or the lubricating oil. Conventional wisdom would coax you to choose top 20 cities and run with it, right? But is it the right approach? Lets’ analyze it a bit & evaluate the feasibility by asking

• What is the market size of these top 20 cities; broken up in terms of Men / Women, Age ranges of 5 years, population estimation based on SEC classification, etc
• Do we have an estimation of retail universe in these cities?
• Do we have an idea of the Gross Commerce Potential of the city? In other words, do we have any estimation to suggest the buying power of residents of the city

At the first attempt, you’d try and work out the above numbers and get into the decision-making phase such as target reach & penetration, sales volume estimation, communication road map, etc. But, ask yourself is there a better way of going about it?

What if you could take the methodology for the above aspects and customize it to cities where the air quality is really poor? Wouldn’t that be a better market to target? Wouldn’t residents of those cities have negligible to no barriers to adoption or purchase of the product?  Below data is from World Air Quality Report 2018, which states that India has 15 of the top 20 most polluted cities in the world.

As a marketer for OTC cough syrup or lubricating oil, wouldn’t you want to focus on Jodhpur or Agra over Mumbai or Hyderabad to get you accurate picture of the market dynamics and potential of your product?

A bit of intelligent research can go a long way in pointing you in the right direction. In the above example, if research indicated that

• Primary cause of pollution in these cities was vehicles followed by industrial emissions
• Primary cause of pollution is PM 2.5; which means that pollutants get absorbed in the blood stream from lungs and not just get restricted in the lungs

Population density of these cities is at least 3 times more than the national average of 460 persons / sq km

Think of the gold mine of information you can arrive at. Bronchi respiratory aid products such as OTC medication, breathing masks, ENT infection combatants, ENT specialty doctors & hospitals, 2-wheeler brands, lubricating oil brands, vehicle loan products, accessories such as helmets brands, FM radio stations, Location based Apps, Navigation apps, etc are all the right fit for these cities to explore.

The above example only scratches the surface of what parallel referencing can achieve, not only for a better understanding of the market, but also for a plethora of creative outputs and solutions across industries.