Rural Advertising Strategies

Rural Communication,Advertising,

Promotions and BrandingProf S P Garg

Jaipuria Institute of ManagementJaipur (India)

[email protected]

Rural Communication,Advertising, Promotions and Branding

A key challenge for companies :communication with

RURAL Consumers.


• Customer• Connectivity and Contact

• Constant• Clear cut and Cohesive

• Creative• Content

• Communication• Commonsense


• In rural India, the challenge is:,as neither print nor television reaches over 40% of the rural population.

• Creating direct consumer contact and communication

• Use of Common Sense: • Common sense- a very potent measure in rural

communication


• Understand the Audience:• The audience :completely different, different

approaches.• consumers in each region have their own set of customs.• what would apply to one would in all certainty not apply

to another set of consumers in a different rural region.• rural consumers upgrade in a fashion similar to their

urban counterparts as well as opt for premium products in smaller formats,

• rural buyers :sustainable advantage as they take to brands slowly and give them up slowly.


• Media for Rural Communication:Among the mass media at some point of time in the late 50's and 60's radio was considered to be a potential medium for communication to the rural people. Another mass media is television and cinemas.


• Language and content as per the suitability of rural environment.

Background figures are also a deterministic factor. Special promotion measures :strong applicable factors

• Focus on reverse innovation


• "Building a rural brand is a difficult task• Rural consumer environment to be understood

before the creation of ads.• Rural mindset accepts the brands easily, which are

close to their culture. • This point to be reflected in ads for rural markets. • Sponsorships to Melas and Hats • Selection of brand ambassadors and their

Admissibility• lyrics not be ignored• Linking for folk culture as an effective utilization of

brand promotions.


• Branding Objects:• While devising the communication strategy for an

audience that has a different way of viewing and perceiving things, it is the behavior that need to be addressed and not just mere superficial needs.

• outline very exact specifications of what they hope to accomplish.

• The company to predict the outcome, should do professional services and introspection, long term vision, and initiate steps to dedicate for the Rural customers.


• Creativity:

• As people in each region have their own cultures and rituals, this implies they have their set of symbols or identifiers which once identified could be used in a very effective manner.

• Reverse Innovation


• A reverse innovation means any innovation that's likely to be adopted first in the developing areas.

• In this process, develop products in smaller towns and villages and then distribute nationally.

• Kashyap, who is known as the father of rural marketing in India, is also the brain behind a large number of rural marketing initiatives by leading corporates believe there is a lot to be done by corporates who have been slow on capturing the rural heartland.


BY CHANGING PERCEPTIONvillagers using Toothpaste, even when they can use Neem

or Babool sticks, villagers using soapslike Nima rose, Breeze, Cinthol etc.

even when they can use locally manufactured nvery low priced soaps.

Villagers are constantly looking forward for new branded products.

What can one infer from these incidents, is the paradigm changing and customer no longer price sensitive?

They want value for money. They are ready to pay premium for the product if the

product is offering some extra utility for the premium.


• BY UNDERSTANDING CULTURAL AND SOCIAL VALUES

• recognize that social and cultural values have a very strong hold on the people.

• Social Dynamics and attitudes play an important role in Indian Rural Markets

• Cultural values play major role in deciding what to buy.

• Moreover, rural people are emotional and sensitive. Thus, to promote brands, FOCUS on social and cultural values.


PROPER COMMUNICATION IN LOCAL LANGUAGE

Realize the importance of proper communication in local language for promoting products.

Main focus is to change the outlook about quality.


• By Providing What Customer Want

• By Developing Rural-specific Products

• By Promoting Products With Indian Models And Actors

• By Associating Themselves With India

• By Promoting Indian Sports Team

• By Talking About A Normal Indian /Family


• Print media

• POP

• Creation of Data Base

• Awards and Appreciation

• By Effective Media Communication

• By Associating Themselves With Indian Celebrities


• Temples and Festivals• Street Festivals• Kirtan/Katha• Film Shows• Puppet Shows• Audio video Vans,Sign Boards, Tree Boards,Bus

Boards• Rural Events• DM Campaigns• Farm to Farm • House to House • Group Meetings


• Haats (42000 )and MELAS• NCAER estimates that around half of items sold in these melas are

FMCG products and consumer durables. • Companies to take advantage of such events to market their

products.• Wall paintings is the good way of communicating. where a colorfully

painted walls become the centre of attraction and as the communities are closed in nature, people passing by the walls notice the product which leads to high brand recall value

• PAINTINGS• The message is simple and clean. • Rural people like the sight of bright colours. • COKE, PEPSI and TATA traders advertised their products through

paintings.


• RURAL ACTIVATION

• BTL

• ATL

• TTL


Advertising & Sales promotional strategies in rural markets


•

• Dabur uses Astra to boost rural sales – Shopkeepers selling Dabur India and

other consumer products would now learn marketing through role-plays staged by professional actors at their shops.

– About 75 per cent of the company sales come form rural areas, hence, it has created the Astra training consultancy module in five vernacular languages, Bengali, Tamil, telungu, Malayalam and Kannada


– recent initiative titled Astra, advanced sales training for rural & retail

– Dabur has recruited 75 sales and HR managers across the country who would educate over 2,000 distribution channel partners of the firm about the complexities of sales and distribution through the audio-visual medium

– Dabur has a distribution reach of 25 lakh retail outlets across the country.


PHILIPS INDIA LTD. • Objective – • to promote Phillips Electronic Entertainment

products, viz., Stereos and CTVs, among the rural population of Tamil Nadu. Communication Strategy - Based on information regarding

buyer behavior. Philips Super Shows ; were conducted in five district

headquarters with the intention of motivating dealers as well as opinion leaders to generate word-of mouth publicity, as a first step.

followed by extensive van operation in 5000+ population areas with audience participation techniques for mouthing the brand, supported by mass media campaign in regional press (district wise edition), rural cinemas, radio, wall painting and intensive merchandising activities.


• Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd (BBLIL) – Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd (BBLIL)

markets its rural brands through magic shows and skits.

Reckitt and Colemen – uses NGO in rural areas to educate

customers about product benefits which establishes one to one communication channels.


Marico Industries - Parachute Coconut Oil Pouches – With the objective of creating awareness for Parachute

Coconut Oil – pouches in towns with less than 20,000 population in

Tamil Nadu, and – in order to convert loose oil buyers into Parachute

pouch customers, – launched a van campaign. – The communication Strategy focused on getting women

out of their homes to participate in the van campaign, which was aimed exclusively for them and for the first time conducted by women.

– Result - A study by Marico showed a 25per cent conversion from loose coconut oil usage to Parachute Pouch Pack, post van campaign and a substantial increase in sales from the campaign areas


– ACC Limited - ACC Suraksha Cement – In a market dominated by graded cements in the semi

urban/rural areas of Karnataka, ACC Cement ventured out to establish the superiority of ACC Suraksha blended cement and build an image of a Premium Cement for the brand.

– To reach the opinion leaders viz. Architects, Engineers, Contractors, etc.,the assistance of the regional local press and other Direct Marketing efforts such as field meetings with small groups of masons & customers.

– Result - A post-campaign study initiated by ACC revealed tangible improvement in off-take in the state of Karnataka and an extremely positive response from dealers, who believed that the campaign helped in strengthening their hands.


• Rural marketing involves a number of strategies:

• Client and location specific promotion • Joint /cooperative promotion.. • Bundling of inputs • Developmental marketing • Unique selling proposition (USP) • Extension services • Business ethics • Partnership for sustainability


• Rural Promotion – . Promotion is the process of marketing communication to inform, persuade, remind and

influence consumers or users in favour of your products and service

• The Promotion Media – Newspaper : Eenadu(A.P), Dina Thanthi ( Tamil Nadu), Punjab Kesari (North), Loksatta

(Maharashtra), Anand Bazaar Patrica (West Bengal), Daink Baskar (North) – Television: Sun TV (Tamilnadu), Asianet (Kerla), Eenadu( AP), Aplha Punjabi (North),

Aplha Mararthi (Maharashtra). – Radio: Radio reach is highest in Kerla (62%) followed by Tamil Nadu (35%) and Karnataka

(32%). Example : Colgate, Jyoti Labs, Zandu Balm are some of the company using radio communication programme.

– A ten second spot in Regional station would cost only about Rs. 2000/- – Cinema :1. Films on products like Vicks, Lifeboy, Colgate and Shampoos are shown in

rural cinemas halls. – 2.LIC and Private insurance companies have been showing short movies in rural theatres

to create awareness about life insurance – Outdoor Advertisement – Form of media which includes signboard, wall painting, hoardings, tree boards, bus

boards etc. – Direct Mail Advertising: – Mailers for seed and pesticides to be sent as per agricultural season. – Direct mailers on consumer durables to be sent during the harvesting season so that

Rural Communication, Advertising, Promotions and Branding

• Farm to Farm / House to House – Many LIC agents and companies dealing with high

value consumer durables have tried this approach with success in rich rural areas.

– ACC representatives retailers make house-to house visit and give information about product stability.

• Group Meeting – The Banker once in a week visit a village get the

villagers in school hall or Panachyat office and explain to the villagers the various financial facilities offered by the bank

– MRF conduct tractor owners meet in association with local distributors.

• Opinion Leaders – Asian Paints promoted its Utasv brand of

paint by painting the village Sarpanch’s house a few months prior to the launch to demonstrate that the paint does not peel off and is an ideal replacement of chuna.

– The health development assistant of HUL regularly meets school teachers to promote Lifebuoy soap in Villages.


• The Melas ( It is estimated that over 20,000 melas are conducted every year) – Paint companies supporting Pola fair in

Maharashtra by painting the horns of the bulls. – Sonepur Mela, Vaisakh Purnima Mela( Bihar). – Navaratri Fair, Ambaji (Gujarat) – Naucahndi Mela, Ramlila Mela(UP) – Kartik Mela, Gawlior Trade Fair( MP)


• Haats ( On certain days of the week , both the sellers and buyers meet in the village to buy and sell goods and services). – Parachut Oil, Nirma washing powder and tiger brand

biscuits have been promoted through haats. – About 40,000 Haats are held in rural areas in our country,

highest number haats in U.P (10,000). • Audio Visual Van ( The van is a mobile promotion station

having facilities for screening films, slides and mike publicity. – Nippo promotes batteries through specially designed vans

called melavans. The van are equipped with TV/VCR for showing products awareness films.

– Colgate India makes extensive use of VANs. – ITC’s mobile Vans take the message of e-choupal to new

village.


• For further details :

• Contact:

• [email protected]

• 09309292080

mailto:[email protected]

Rural Advertising Strategies

Documents

Transcript of Rural Advertising Strategies