Communication strategies for Communication strategies for rural marketsrural markets

2014

Road map to rural India...!!!

Φ Virtual tourΦ FORMAL/ CONVENTIONAL MEDIAΦ INFORMAL/ RURAL SPECIFIC MEDIAΦ Some Famous Examples:Φ ITC e- choupalΦ Hindustan Lever Limited and the

Soap MarketΦ Coca cola

Come...Lets go to village virtual tour Large but scattered population 69.9% of Indians in rural areas as of 2010 (world bank report

2012) 700 million people spread around 6,27,000 villages. 87.5% of the rural population belongs to bottom of the pyramid Average income of less Rs.2000/- per month 54 % to GDP About 50% of income comes from agriculture.

Estimated annual size of the rural market FMCG Rs. 65,000 Crore Durables Rs. 5,000 Crore Agri-Inputs Rs. 45,000 Crore 2 / 4 Wheelers Rs. 8,000 Crore

FORMAL/ CONVENTIONAL MEDIA

Do not provide the touch and feel of the product Mass media (reaches around 60% rural

population) 2 out of 5 Indians are unreachable by mass media

TV– Tv is the most preferred (40% access to TV):

power cuts are common and this restricts viewing time.

– Doordarshan most popular channelPrint media (Print media reaches 23%) Cinema (reach 30%)Outdoor (wall paintings, hoardings, tree boards)

Radio (Reaches 35% of rural population)Radio can reach a large number of poor people because it

is affordable and uses little electricity.

There are specific programmes for agriculturists like ‘Farm and Home Programme or ‘Krishi Darshan’ in all regional languages,

The main advantage is that it is cost effective medium.

Colgate, Jyoti Laboratories, Zandu Balm, Juari Industries are some companies using radio for communication.

INFORMAL/ RURAL SPECIFIC MEDIA

Haats & MelasOver 47,000 haats and 25,000 melas are held annually.The average daily sale at a Haat isabout Rs.2.25 LacsAnnual sales at melas amount to Rs.3,500 crore.Over half the shoppers at haats have shopping lists.More than 10,000 melas draw visitors from all over

India.Nearly half the outlets at melas are for manufactured

goods.Mobile supermarkets (75% are held once a week, 20%

twice a week and the rest are organised daily)Good platform for demonstrations

Good for introducing new brands and building brands About 5000 are commercial in nature, used for brand

promotionsWomen's are present in large numberKumbh mela (Haridwar, Allahabad, Ujjain, Nasik)

Sonepur mela (Bihar)HLL, P&G set up kiosks.Mahindra & Mahindra set up information counter for its

tractor at Pushkar mela (Rajasthan)Nestle arranges coffee and Maggie shop

Opinion leadersMandis

– These are agricultural markets set up by govt. to procure agri. Produce from farmers

– Serve as a platform for product demo and on the spot sales

– Used for promoting durables and agricultural products

Farm to farm/ house to house– Hindustan lever (fair and lovely) in villages with

population of 2000+ to expand user base– Reached 10% of villages and 17% of households in

MP,UP and Bihar– 46% brand conversions (35% was from non users)

Group meetings– MRF tractor owners meet (TOMEE)– TAFE (direct contact exercises in 9 states – 44

centres): sales growth of 12% after one month of campaign

Audio Visual publicity vans– Create word of mouth publicity– HLL (fair and lovely) home to home campaign was

supported by Audio visual show and product demonstrations

– Costly to hire and maintain– Cost per contact is more than conventional media

Demonstrations– Dalda launch, fed pakodas on street corner to convey

that they can use it for frying (method demonstration)– Hero, TVS and Kinetic gave live demonstrations in

Kolhapur for Maharashtra sugar co operative (they got 400 orders)

Folk MediaFolk theatre

Magic show

Puppet showsPopular in RajasthanLIC uses it to educate masses in UP, Bihar and MPThe number of inquiries at LIC offices after the show

was higher.Interactive games

Street theatreDeeply rooted in the Indian tradition

To propagate social and political messages and to create an awareness regarding critical issues.

Street theatre breaks the formal barriers and approaches the people directly.

GamesRajdoot organizes wrestling competition for the villagers

in which one of the wrestler brought by them. The other one is a villager.

The winner get to test ride their bikes. The wrestling is a symbol of their products USP. That is: ruggedness

ITC e- choupal

Initiative by ITC (2000)

Directly links the rural farmers with the company

Procured by such companies from mandis .

The PCs and Internet access at certain centres enable the farmers to obtain information on mandi prices , good farming practices, and to place orders for agricultural inputs, such as seeds and fertilizers.

This access to information helps farmers in improving the quality of produce and obtaining better prices.

A literate farmer elected from the village acts as the interface between the illiterate farmers and the computer.

Selling Health: Hindustan Lever Limited and the Soap Market

Results of research done among focus group in rural areas.– 5 of 13 washed their hands before eating– 10 of 18 washed their hands before preparing

food– If they did wash hands, often used water or a

proxy product for soap such as mud or ash.– after handling cow dung 5 of 7 rinsed their

hands with water– one washed with mud, and one used soap.

o School and village presentationo Children aged 5-13o Through storieso Learn about germs how they cause diseaseso Importance of using soap and when to useo Demonstration to show that Visual clean is not safe cleano Lifebuoy village health dayo Health camp and check upo Village doctor as opinion leadero Healthy child awardo Health skits and poems by kids to gain involvemento Demonstrations and awards for best presenters

o Diarrhea management workshopo For young mothers and pregnant womeno Dangers of diarrhea o Health checkso Launch of the Lifebuoy health clubo Formation of health club which includes activities centered

on hygiene and keeping the village cleano Facilitators return 4-6 times moreo HLL created health based brand differentiationo Increased the sale of its low cost mass market soapo Built new habits, involving its brando Built brand loyaltyo Fulfilling its corporate purpose ‘to raise the quality of life’

Coca cola: India’s Thirst for Rural Market

Coca cola India’s Rural Marketing StrategyBased on three A’s– Availability : availability of the product to customer

– Affordability: Product Pricing

– Acceptability : convincing the customer to buy the product

Extensive marketing in the mass media and outdoor advertising

Aggressive rural communication campaign

Hoardings

Participation in weekly mandis

TV commercials

Print Advertisement in several regional newspapers

Painted the name Coca cola on the compounds of the residences in the villages

Increased Ad- spend on Doordarshan

2002: Commercial featuring Amir Khan to communicate the message of price cut and launch of Chota Coke (200ml Rs.5 bottle)

To strengthen the brand image- aimed at making Coke a generic name for “thanda”- a popular dialect of North.

Launched 3 commercials with tagline “Thanda matlab Coca- cola”- Aimed to make rural and semi urban consumers connect with Coca- Cola

The 3 commercials showed progression in associating ‘Coke’ with ‘Thanda’.