usiness Line (Oct 18, 2001)

Understanding rural marketing

On 5th October 2001, Anugrah Madison
Advertising, the rural advertising arm of Madison
Communications, in collaboration with Asian
Media Information and Communication Centre, a
Singapore based NGO, organised a one-day
seminar titled 'Rural marketing for Competitive
Advantage in Globalised India' at Hotel GRT
Grand Days in Chennai.
N.Murali, Joint Managing Director of The Hindu, inaugurated the seminar, which saw an
overwhelming participation from corporates.

The event aimed to demystify the subject, with topics ranging from the evolution of rural
markets, to an understanding of the rural consumer and the role of technology in rural
marketing.

Speakers included D.Shivakumar, Business Head - Hair, Personal Products Division, HLL;
Sankara Pillai, General manager, ORG-MARG; Francis Xavier, MD, Francis Kanoi
Marketing Services and V.Sekar, Senior Vice President, BPL, among a host of others.

Shivakumar, who took the inaugural session, highlighted that rural demands could be
influenced on four fronts - access, awareness, attitudes and affluence.

He emphasized that access would have to be in terms of physical infrastructure as well as

entry into markets. Concurrently, awareness levels would need to be raised in rural areas
through media reach and literacy programmes. He pointed out that attitudes would need to
be moulded for a greater acceptance of products and services.

"Finally, affluence in rural markets could come from real income growth, especially in
families where there are multiple wage earners." He said.
 

 
The Hindu - Business Line,(October 06, 2001)

Marketers need to participate in rural growth

The rural market presents a significant opportunity for marketers to sell their goods but they
would need to influence and participate in rural growth. Delivering the keynote address at a
seminar on 'Rural Marketing for Competitive advantage', Mr.D.Shivakumar, Business
Head (Hair), Personal Products Division, Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL), said rural demand
could be influenced on four fronts - in access, awareness, attitudes and affluence.

Dwelling on these four aspects Mr. Shivakumar said access would have to be in terms of
physical infrastructure as well as in access to the markets. The distribution channel in India
is among the cheapest in the world and can be set up even with low literacy levels and with
low investment. As the economy develops, more people will come in to distribution
channel, especially from the rural areas, pointed out Mr. Shivakumar.

Concomitant to access, awareness levels would need to be raised in rural areas through
media reach and literacy programmes. The last ten years have seen the reach of radio and
cinema dwindle and that of television shoot up and exert a powerful influence.

Marketers would also need to make more on- ground contact with their target audience as
well as in demonstration of products as consumers in rural markets rely on the 'touch and
feel' experience, he said. Attitudes too would need to be moulded as rural markets set store
by social norms. Higher literacy levels too influence attitudes to products and services that
marketers have to offer.

Affluence in rural markets could come from real income growth, especially in families
where there are multiple wage earners. Mr. Shivakumar pointed out that marketers would
need to aid rural growth and one could then really see the benefits flowing.

He cited the shampoo sachet revolution as a good example of technology adaptation. It was
in Thailand and the Philippines, two cash-strapped economies that the sachet was used to
effect in market penetration.

Today, in India, 70 percent of the shampoo market is in sachets. Forty percent of rural
workers are daily wage earners and have a daily purchase habit and could do so because of
low unit price packs. Mr. Shivakumar said that in real terms because of these packs,
shampoos cost less than 14 years ago.

Speaking on the rural markets of the future, Mr. Shivakumar said agriculture contributed 61
percent of the work force, where as only 16 percent was in industry, compared to 24 percent
in China. He said there was a need for a structural shift in the market.

Globalisation would also have its impact on rural markets because of three aspects -
information access, connectivity and governance.

It would influence farmers, youth and women. The globalisation effect meant that animal
feed manufacturers, for example, need no longer look at a neighbouring state for supplies
but could even look overseas.

Similarly, oil prices are influenced by developments in Malaysia or potatoes could be

sourced at international prices. Mr.Shivakumar gave the example of Kerala's fisherman
whose first purchase of a durable was not a TV or a washing machine but a cell phone to be
in touch with markets on shore after the catch.

As far as other target group of women goes, Mr. Shivakumar said woman's literacy was a
better predictor of growth contribution to poverty alleviation than men's literacy. When
financial needs and socio-cultural norms are flexible, more women could be found at work.
Mr. Shivakumar said the rural markets would benefit if only the country's current assets
were leveraged greatly. A large, deeply entrenched postal system with 1.38 lakh rural post
offices could provide communication links with the remotest corners, whereas a vast
network of over 22,000 PHCs could be an effective focal point for educating and informing
rural customers.

A well-established wholesale system could also emerge as an efficient and effective channel
for distribution.

Earlier, inaugurating the seminar, Mr.N.Murali, Joint Managing Director, The Hindu, said
rural marketing has taken centre-stage in the discourse on marketing.

Rural marketing has become the buzzword and agencies too have been forced to look at
rural markets by their clients. Urban markets too have been saturated and marketers are
forced to look at rural markets. Mr.Murali said it was a big challenge for marketers and they
could not expect short-term gains.

Ad agencies involved in communicating to the rural consumers also cannot dumb down
their communication to rural markets and would need to work out a comprehensive
communication package.

The one-day seminar was organised by the Asian Media Information & Communication
Centre in association with Anugrah Madison Advertising Pvt. Ltd., the rural advertising
unit of Madison Communications.
 

 
The Hindu - Business Line, (October 06, 2001)

Rural markets need a dedicated structure

Rural marketing requires every element of marketing, but with the focus on rural customers,
and must be implemented by a marketing structure dedicated to this segment. This was a
thrust of a presentation made by Mr. Francis Xavier, Managing Director, Francis Kanoi
Marketing research, at a one-day seminar on 'Rural Marketing for Competitive Advantage
in Globalised India', organised by AMIC India in association with Anugrah Madison
Advertising Pvt. Ltd.

In his presentation, titled, 'The revolution that is underway in rural India and its marketing
implications'. Mr. Xavier said that despite the recognition of the importance of the rural
markets, there was no 'stampede' to enter this market. This was because rural markets were
still very alien to most marketers, he added.

Mr. Xavier said social patterns in rural India had changed significantly over the last decade
or so. This has resulted in a situation where rural youth are playing an increasing active role
in the decision-making process, he added.
He also said these youth are exposed to urban influences and hence have attitudes and
aspirations similar to those of the urban youth, leading to a situation where villages are
getting urbanised.

According to Mr. Xavier, these "urbanised people living in villages" are the segments
marketers should target. "If the consumers of relevance in villages are urbanised, why not
look at villages as scattered suburbs of districts?" Mr. Xavier asked.

He said rural marketing would become truly meaningful only when marketers look at
having separate structures for catering to urban and rural centres.
 

 
The Hindu - Business Line, (October 06, 2001)

Urban bias shows in rural ads

"When you are not a rural person, you cannot think rural or emote rural," said Mr. Harish
Bijoor, CEO, Zip Telecom, referring to the handicap most marketers have when they want
to sell their products in the rural market.

Participating in a panel discussion on FMCGs in rural markets, he said there was an "urban
hegemony" in marketers carrying out rural marketing activities. This is because people who
planned rural campaigns were those educated in urban areas.

Mr. Bijoor also emphasised the need to understand the rural consumer. Products needed to
be tailor-made for the rural consumer and re-versioning "urban products" will not work.

On advertising to the rural consumer, Mr. Bijoor said agencies must begin to think in the
regional language. "This translation culture must go," he added.

He believes the conventional urban-rural divide is diminishing. "A farmer in North India
lives in a palatial bungalow and there is also a farmer on Airport Road in Bangalore. So
which is rural and which is urban?" he asks.

He explains that 'rural' is a psychographic factor and not a demographic or a geographic

factor.

Mr. P.Easwaradas, Executive Vice-president, Amrutanjan, said the aspirational levels of the
rural consumers had increased. He also said there had been a rise in the disposable incomes
of the rural consumer. He pointed out that geographical reach was the biggest hurdle for a
marketer to sell his products.

In his presentation, Mr. Nirupam Sahay, Marketing manager, Asian paints, said logistics
was not the only problem marketers faced when they attempted to sell in the rural market.
 Understanding the rural market was even tougher because of its complexity.

He claimed that Asian Paints' Utsav brand of distemper had successfully penetrated the rural
market by following a well-planned strategy of understanding the consumer's need and
communicating the product's benefit effectively.
Top
 

Copyright © 2006 ANUGRAH MADISON

WALL PAINTING – An Economical and best Media in Rural Marketing

Wall Paintings are an effective and economical medium for advertising in rural areas. They are
silent unlike traditional theatre .A speech or film comes to an end, but wall painting stays as long
as the weather allows it to. Retailer normally welcomes paintings of their shops, walls, and name
boards. Since it makes the shop look cleaner and better. Their shops look alluring and stand out
among other outlets. Besides rural households shopkeepers and panchayats do not except any
payment, for their wall to be painted with product messages. To get one's wall painted with the
product messages is seemed as a status symbol.

The greatest advantage of the medium is the power of the picture completed with its local touch।
The images used have a strong emotional association with the surrounding, a feat impossible for
even a moving visual medium like television which must use general image to cater to greatest
number of viewers.A good wall painting must meet some criteria to generate awareness and
remind consumer about the brand. The wall should :The most frequented shops can be painted
from inside also one feet above the ground level. It is courteous to take the verbal permission of
owner .

The permission is normally given। However by taking the permission of the rural retailers or
house owners, one gets the owner morally committed to taking care of wall painting। The
message should be simple, direct and clear .
A definite way of arresting is to use bright colors and these do not fade away easily। A good
paint will survive the ravages of dust, sand and rainstorms for about three years। Paintings must
be taken after rainfall. It should be peaked up during the festival and post harvest season. To
derive maximum mileage their usage needs to be planned meticulously.
Published by Renown Advertising & Management Group at 2:16 AM 0 Advertising Comments

Labels: Wall Painting

MOBILE VAN

MOBILE VAN – An Effective way of Communication

The wastage of conventional media is often masked by statistics of coverage based on published
data on reach. In reality, the actual reach of conventional media in the rural segment is very low
and there fore cost-ineffective.

This is particularly true of print media – viz newspapers and magazines; Female readership of
the print media is low even in the urban market: in rural market, it is virtually negligible. The
reach of TV in the rural segment is limited and largely restricted to Black & White sets. In
addition to clutter, the viewer is subject to vagaries in power supply in the rural environment
leading rural marketers have depended a great deal on outdoor media, particularly wall painting.
With a limitation of visual communication MIS believes this medium is basically unreliable and
messages are often over- painted with other messages almost immediately.
It is also important to consider the state of the mind when messages are beamed to a target
segment. In conventional media, your message will be one of several messages received, often
barely subliminally by the viewer/reader.

The video van is a medium that reaches the target segment and has his/her undivided attention
and more so provides an opportunity for 2 way communications. An opportunity to create a multi
media blitz for the product and highly focused advertising targeted at the interior village
consumer.

MOBILE VIDEO VANS- MODULATES of OPERATIONVAN WORKING:

A Video van covers 2 /3 villages in a day to cover up to 22 to 78 villages in one route cycle of 26
operating days. 2/3 shows are screened on each operating day. One shows in the day time and
one show after undown through 21” colour TV or projection on 100” screen. Each show is one
hour in duration consisting of film songs, dialogs & dharmik serials interspersed with advertising
time.Shows are preceded by day time activity to include extensive audio publicity coupled with
distribution of printed publicity materials, sport sales, retailing, merchandising, Attractive games
and market survey can also be conducted during the day time.

OPERATING SCHEDULES:

The operating schedules along with the detailed route plane is finalized at least 15 days before
commencement. Route plane specifies movement of a mobile video van for one cycle of 26
operating days.

EQUIPMENT & PERSONNEL:

Each video van has a colour TV/ PROJECTION System consisting of a VCD/VCR, audio
support system with cassette player, microphone, horns / Sound box, an on-board self generating
UPS system or a genset for power supply. A crew of 3 trained personnel consisting of a van
supervisor, an equipment operator and a driver com helper. A megaphone is provided with the
van to facility audio publicity.

MOBILE HOARDING:

Hoarding space available on sides of the video vans is utilized to paint your advertising message
or product visual.

MONITERING AND CONTROL:

Daily feedback reports are prepared for each show are submitted on weekly basis and the
monthly reports are completion of each van cycle. Internal inspections are conducted regularly to
keep checks on proper functioning of the equipment and personnel.
MAINTENANCE:

Video vans operate on continuous basis. Maintenance of the equipment is done on board.
Schedules of preventive maintenance of the van are intimated in advance to ensure minimal
disruption in the publicity program. Van crew and software are replaced on board without
disruption to program.

ALTERNATES IN MOBILE VIDEO VANS:

The options are video vans in form of matador and those vans built on LCV chassis. In both case
the projection is done on 100” screens. LCV vans have a collapsible screen fixed on the rear side
of the van. Matadors have a portable screen structure operation of Matadors provides the
flexibility to position the van in interior of villages, which is rendered inaccessible to LCV vans
because of narrow approach roads and multiple overhang structures. LCVs offer a larger
hoarding space Matadors while having. A smaller hoarding space can move through a village for
audio publicity obviating the need for a moped. This movement enhances van publicity to the
target segment and offset reduction in hoarding space. It also increases efficacy of audio
publicity towards garnering consumer participation in van activities.

HOW DO WE OPERATE?

It’s all start after understanding the clients’ requirement. Then the solutions come by
conceptualizing the story line and translate into live models.

Renown Advertising
HOME → The Microtelecom Revolution Blog → Impact of Mobile Telephony on Rural
Marketing

Impact of Mobile Telephony on Rural Marketing 25 Feb, 2009

India’s overall economic growth has dramatically increased rural India’s purchasing
power. Marketers are now looking at smart ways to reach the rural market. Some Indian
companies have modified their offerings specifically for the needs of rural markets.

Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) is a good example with successful rural marketing projects
like ‘Project Shakti’ and ‘Operation Bharat’. The main emhasis of HLL’s strategy has been to
focus on penetrating the market down the line and focusing on price point. Hindustan Lever
relies heavily on its own company-organised media. These are promotional events organised by
stockists.

Coca Cola India entered the rural market by introducing bottles priced at Rs. 5. The
campaign was backed with ads featuring well-known actor Aamir Khan. During the Aamir Khan
ad-campaign, they also used local language in advertising. A combination of TV, cinema and
radio was used to increase the reach to rural consumers. Coca Cola have also used banners and
posters, and tapped many local forms of entertainment. Because of the common lack of
electricity and refrigerators in rural areas, Coca Cola provides low-cost ice boxes — a tin box for
new outlets and thermocool box for seasonal outlets.

A thorough understanding of the rural consumer is a crucial key to rural marketing success.
Rural marketeers also need to take the large diversity of customs and language into account.
Ideas and techniques used in urban areas just won’t work for rural consumers.

Mobile telephony can better enable rural marketing in the following ways:

1. Better understanding of the rural consumer – Marketers need to understand the psyche of the
rural consumers and then act accordingly. Traditional broadcast media (television, radio etc.) is
not interactive, which means you can’t get any inputs from the consumers. Mobile media can
change this and help marketers in better understanding of the rural consumer. With the advent
of rural telephony, market research companies can conduct telephonic surveys and interact
directly with rural consumers.
2. More effective marketing communication – This includes messages and related media used to
communicate with the market. Television has made a great impact and a large audience has
been exposed to this medium. But since TV programmes are also produced for the urban
population, marketers have to make a choice between rural and urban. With the advent of
mobile telephony in rural markets, marketers can use this channel to provide customized
communication directly to their target markets. One example solution is to send voice-SMS in
the regional language.
Clearly there are many advantages to marketers if the mobile telephone density increases in
rural India. With VNL’s solar powered GSM system – WorldGSM™ – mobile operators can
finally provide rural mobile telephony services to India’s villages. This will in turn will enable
better rural marketing specifically designed for rural consumers.