Kaustav Sengupta’s cabin is a contrast to the colourful NIFT campus in Chennai. Three opaque-toned paintings on his cupboard reflect a sense of darkness and ambiguity. “It’s a sign of the times,” says the pony-tailed professor. “There’s a growing trend towards occultism, noir and the dark side of mysticism among young people in some parts of the country. Soon, manufacturers of merchandise ranging from nail colour to tees will take the cue.”
A professor by day and trend-tracker by night, Sengupta navigates the changes sweeping across metros, unravels trends and tries to analyse their social dynamics through INgene, a youth trend insights blog, and other social media platforms on which he connects with over a thousand youngsters from various Indian campuses. “Barring a few established companies, we don’t have a consolidated trend-tracking system. India is multiple countries within a country. What works in New Delhi will not work in Chennai. It took many failures before top brands gave up their homogenous approach to markets and started focussing on the local.”
Having offered his expertise to big names like Lenovo, Mountain Dew, Sony, Asian Paints, Nokia and Skullcandy, Sengupta believes that consumer choices are not always age-based. “It’s mindset driven. Psychographics plays a pivotal role. Today, I see 30-plus as a big category. It’s when people settle in their careers and are virtually out of what I call ‘parents-imposed, pressure-cooker days’. They are in a mood to relive old experiences and relish new ones.”
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Nevertheless, it’s hard to ignore the 15-25 age group. Sengupta categorises them into Bharat-iyas, Indians and Inglodians (a term he has copyrighted). “These are broad divisions based on socio-psychological factors. The Bharat-iyas account for 67 per cent of the young crowd and hail from the rural areas. They are traditional, untouched by globalisation and the least economically privileged of the three categories. The Indians constitute 31.5 per cent and belong to urban and semi-urban areas. Though aware of global trends, they remain rooted to their ethos. The Inglodians comprise the creamy layer — 1. 5 per cent — but this is a rapidly growing category. They are affluent, trend-conscious, tech-savvy, open to different cultures and believe the world is a global village.”
Tracking trends isn’t easy. But the associate professor and HOD at the Lifestyle and Accessory Design Department at NIFT has help from students across campuses. “I have more than 1, 500 trend-spotters to provide me with data from colleges/universities in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Kerala, Bangalore, Goa and Chennai. I also get hints from zeitgeists. Trend-spotters are trained to record ‘cues of change’ in a professional manner. My work is to analyse trends and make forecasts. I also collaborate with youth trend agencies in the U.K., the U.S., Indonesia, Brazil, China and France and share data relating to the global scene. Identifying a trend isn’t easy. We engage in qualitative socio-analysis and delve deep into group psychology. People’s mindset, attitude and what’s working at the subconscious level play a big role in any emerging trend,” explains Sengupta, who is also on the advisory panel in Goa University and an Expert Member in the Board of Studies at PSG College of Technology.
Sengupta is in the process of writing a book on brands, their geographical thresholds and relation to youth social psychology. He has also founded Inklink Collective Unschool to provide a platform for creative learning outside the classroom using social media. “Students have very little attention span and are not ready to listen to hours of lectures. They are comfortable on social media, so why not? Classrooms must not be a passive learning space. It’s good to give students the relevant material and encourage discussions in class. At Inlink, we throw topics relating to art and design at our users and ask our experienced panellists to respond and mentor students. We answer anything from design to job-related queries.”
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Navigating an environment of constant change, identifying and evaluating the next big thing, Sengupta asserts social media is an emerging platform for pedagogy. “We have over 3,000 participants on Inklink. Youngsters seeking exposure put up their designs/ideas for evaluation and we help them out. There’s the dozen-word explanation for those who want just a gist on Twitter. There’s Pinterest for those who want to learn with visuals and there’s YouTube for those seeking demonstrations. It’s an age of choices and trend-trackers like me are constantly identifying game-changers.”