rural advertising

RURAL ADVERTISING

INTRODUCTION

“Come with us to the fields, or go with our brothers to

the sea and cast your net. For the land and the sea

would be bountiful to you even as to us”- Kahlil

Gibran

The footfalls in the villages are getting louder and louder as companies scramble

to woo the rural consumers. Villages are no longer an abstraction, but

fashionable in marketing terms.

From talking endlessly about potential growth, companies are now actively

cultivating the rural markets. And why not?

Consider the market; out of five lakh villages in India only one lakh have been

tapped so far.

What has made the rural consumers so attractive to companies now? After all,

the 122-million village households were not created overnight.

The answer is simple. The urban market is getting saturated while villagers are

flush with 'disposable income' thanks to bountiful harvests in the last four years. It

is this income that the companies are raring to cash in on. The estimate speaks

of the potential volume of business that can be generated in rural Indian markets.

The estimate is about three times that of the European market.

Hindustan Lever's 'Operation Bharat' will reach 22 million new

households in the villages by the end of the year.

MAKING INROADS INTO THE HINTERLANDS. 1

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Every area that has a police station will soon boast a Godrej dealer &

service centre.

BPL is planning to add 13,000 active dealers this year to its existing

network of 15,000 throughout the country.

A dramatic change is in progress. Villagers who used to crack open peanut

candies, eat the nut and throw away the shell are now demanding chocolate

candies that will melt in their mouths, not in their hands. Charcoal-cleaned teeth

are a rare sight; so is the case with twigs of niim (neem) and babul (babool) tree.

Today, the ultra bright shine of Colgate or some other international brand of

toothpaste holds more appeal than the traditional methods of cleaning teeth.

Even the native expressions of cleaning teeth, such as daatun karnaa and

musaag lagaanaa, are endangered to being replaced by new expressions such

as paste karnaa, 'to brush teeth with paste'. Even a simple query such as: Where

are you from? Is not free from the overtones of marketization and globalization in

rural discourse. Consumerism and globalization is invading parts of India where,

as some would venture to say, time seems to have ceased for centuries. Yet

there has not been substantial progress in this area.

The hurdles that pose a challenge to the companies in rural marketing are

as follows:

Seasonal Market: The rural market is typically a seasonal market. The

consumption level goes high post-monsoon and dries up during the non-crop

period.

Disposable Income: The unit disposable consumption level is very low and the

assortment has to be made in a different size compared to the urban market to

suit it to the rural customer's pocket. Multiplicity of assortment adds up to the cost

level of the product and works against adding experience effect to the production.

Furthermore, the distributed settlement and high transportation cost makes it


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potentially less feasible for many companies to launch products for rural

consumption.

Literacy level: Low level of education creates problem in brand identification.

Since rural consumers often cannot read the brand names and price tags, it

makes it easier for the clones to launch brands similar in label and design and

spoil the brand image of the so-called successful urban brands.

Unscrupulous retailers are taking the benefit and damaging the perception of the

brands before they actually enter the rural market. So marketers and advertisers

are looking for an alternative medium to promote brands through advertising. The

success of a business in India will be decided in future by its success in the heart

of India, i.e., the rural market.

Rural marketing in India needs some innovative and alternative media to woo

the customers. The conventional wisdom of glossy urban advertising and fantasy

mix through television is not going to work in the rural markets.

Marketing communication challenges: Marketing communication and

promotion poses a lot of problems in rural India. There are many constraints

emanating from the profile of the audience and the availability of media.

The literacy rate among the rural consumers being low, the printed word has

little use in the rural context.

In addition to the low level of literacy, the tradition bound nature of rural

people, their cultural barriers and taboos and their overall economic

backwardness add to the difficulty of the communication task.

The situation is further compounded by linguistic diversity. Rural

communication has to necessarily be in the local language and idiom. The

constraints of media further compound the difficulty. It has been estimated

that all organized media put together can reach only 30% of the rural


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population of India. TV is an ideal medium for communicating with the rural

masses. But its reach in rural areas is restricted even today. As regards the

print media, the various publications reach only 18% of the rural population.

Even in areas reached, the circulation is limited. The low literacy level of the

rural population still acts as an inhibitor in the use of print media in rural

communication. Cinema is relatively more accessible. It has been estimated

that 33% of total cinema earnings in the country come from rural India.

Rural communication has also become relatively more expensive. For rural

communication to be effective, repeat exposures is a must; and if gap between

exposures is long, the message losses its edge during this period. These factors

make rural communication more expensive. Rural communication has to go

through all the time consuming stages of creating awareness, altering attitudes

and changing behaviour. In addition it also has to work against deep-rooted

behaviour patterns.

In short the crux of the marketing communication in the rural context is one of

finding a media mix that will deliver the required message in a cost effectively

with the rural target audience that is predominantly illiterate.


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ADVERTISING

“ Advertising is 85% confusion and 15% commission”

- Allen Fred

The word ‘advertising’ has been derived from the latin word ‘advertere’ which

means to turn people’s attention to a specific thing. Production of goods without

their sales would amount to wastage of national resources. Goods are always

produced in anticipation of demands.

Success of a company depends upon fast sales and repeat order.

Every businessman, therefore, tries to, maximise his sales. In order to obtain

higher sales turnover, business now uses various methods of persuading the

consumer to buy their products. Advertising is the art of making yourself and your

product known to the world in such a way that a desire for buying the product is

created in the hearts of the people. Advertising is therefore essential for creating

and maintaining demand for your products. It informs the customers of new

products. It educates people and spreads knowledge.

Today we are bombarded on all sides by many types of advertising. No matter

whether we walk on the streets, drive an automobile on the highways, ride a bus,

watch television, read a newspaper or magazine or open our mail, we are

brought face to face with advertising. This creates a difficult situation for the

manager, for he must determine what advertising on his part would justify its cost

amid the bewildering array of advertisements by other companies. The major


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questions of policy with reference to advertising that the manager must answer

are (a) the purposes for which it is to be used; and (b) the media employed to

accomplish these purposes.

Analysis shows that advertising is used for numerous purposes. It also shows

that many companies have not given adequate thought to the question of exactly

what they are trying to accomplish with their advertising.

Bringing customers to the place where goods are sold, Retail stores frequently

use advertising for this purpose. In such cases the display of merchandise and

the efforts of salesmen are depended upon to close the transaction. We are all

familiar with advertisements of special drugstore sales that feature twenty-five of

fifty different items. The store usually hopes to sell substantial quantities of the

merchandise advertised; but more important, it hopes to get customers into the

stores so that they will buy other types of merchandise and will develop habit of

coming to that establishment for their subsequent requirements.

Department stores use advertising in a similar manner. Those stores that feature

price appeal undertake extensive advertising of "economy day", "president's

birthday", and pre-season or post-season sales. Stores desiring to use a prestige

appeal may have the author of a popular book give a lecture or secure designers

of furniture, dinnerware, or clothing to talk about these particular products. A

number of stores provide space for local art exhibits or a showing of crown

jewels; a pair of unusual and very expensive fur pelts or the elaborate doll

houses of a well-known T. V. actress may be featured for the purpose of

attracting customers to the store.

The point is well illustrated by a story told of two keen partners operating a store

located in very low-income neighborhood. Upon observing that large number of

customers was patronizing their nearby competitors, they set up a table filled


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with small articles, such as pickle forks, saltshakers, and cigarette holders. This

table was placed near the front door where everyone entering or going out of the

store would pass it. The sales of the articles proved to be very unprofitable,

however, since they could easily be slipped into a pocket and the near-by door

allowed easy escape for would be purchasers. According to the story , however,

there was a substantial increase in customer traffic. When asked to explain the

situation one of the partners said, "We call that our steal table. We place ten

Rupees" worth of merchandise on the table each morning and know that most of

it will have disappeared by evening, but when people come in to steal from this

table, they have to act like customers and look at other merchandise, and

sometimes they buy. “ They like to come to the store because they can go home

with an extra ten paise article that probably cost us three paise. All for ten rupees

a day it's cheap advertising."

Persuading the Customer to Ask for a Specific Product: Retailers use

advertising for this purpose to some degree, but it is probably used to the

greatest extent by a manufacturer who wishes to create consumer demand, or at

least consumer acceptance, for his brand of products.

For example, a number of children's television programmes are sponsored by

manufacturers of food products. The programme may consist of adventures in

space, a detective serial, or anything that arouses the intense interest of a child.

Somewhere in the programme the youngsters are instructed to insist that their

mothers buy the product of the sponsoring manufacturer. This kind of advertising

has proved very effective under certain conditions. In fact, almost the entire

advertising programmes of the large cereal companies are directed towards the

ultimate consumer for a purpose of getting her to ask for that specific product.

Although the goods are usually sold through a jobber, who in turn sells them to a

retailer and then to the consumer, it is the policy of these companies to advertise

only to the consumer and thereby create such an active consumer demand that

the retailer and the jobber will be glad to carry the products and benefit from the

quick turnover resulting from the strong demand.


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Any of a number of advertising techniques are used to induce the customer to

purchase specific products. Some have a rational basis while others are largely

psychological or emotional. Thus, when you buy aspirin, you are to insist on a

given brand because it is pure, it dissolves, and it acts more quickly. At other

times reliance is placed primarily upon repetition of the brand name so that the

consumer will automatically select that particular product. The Coca Cola

Company follows this technique extensively. Whatever the technique, the

purpose is to get the consumer to ask for, or at least willingly accept, a particular

brand of product.

Assisting the Salesman in Making Sales when He Calls on the Customer:

The manufacturer uses advertising extensively for this purpose. He seeks to

familiarize the customer with his products and create a favourable attitude toward

his company before the salesman approaches the customer. For example,

concerns producing basic metals frequently advertise in trade papers that are

read by their customers. The advertisement itself will not induce the potential

customer to take any action, but it is hoped that the salesman will receive a more

cordial welcome as a result. A firm manufacturing a line of luggage had for

several years advertised extensively in national magazines. This was

discontinued when a special study convinced the management that style, design,

quality, and price were so much more important to the ultimate consumer than a

particular brand name that directing its advertising toward the ultimate consumer

was not economical. Nevertheless this company does a limited amount of

national advertising because retailers are more inclined to stock a product that

can be said to be nationally advertised. Thus the primary purpose of the national

advertising campaign of this company is to assist the salesman in his

negotiations with the retailer. Other companies provide the retailer with attractive

window displays and store decorations that serve the dual purpose of creating

consumer interest and providing the salesman with a favourable reception by the

retailer.


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Producing Direct Sales:

In some circumstances advertising is used for the purpose of persuading the

customers to submit an order as a direct result. The catalogues of mail-order

houses. For instance, present merchandise in such a way that the customer can

write out or telephone an order without going to a shopping centre and without

further promotional effort on the part of the vendor. One company has been

successful in selling men's shirts as a result of direct-mail advertising to the

consumer. This company stresses a price appeal that, it claims. is justified by its

distribution "direct from the factory to you." How-to-do-it and reference books that

appeal to a particular type of reader are often sold by direct mail or magazine

advertising.

Budding Institutional Goodwill:

Practically all advertising is expect-ed to build institutional goodwill to some

degree, but in some cases this may be the primary objective. The advertising by

telephone companies is largely for this purpose. One of the leading small-loan

companies has made extensive research on the problems of consumer buying

and distributes a large number of pamphlets guiding housewives in the selection

of merchandise. Intelligent expenditure of a limited income is, of course, related

to the collection of small loans made to individuals for personal use.

Nevertheless, the primary purpose of the distribution of these pamphlets is the

development of goodwill toward the company. Enough illustrations have been

given to indicate that advertising may be undertaken for widely different

purposes. Central management normally does not become involved in detailed

aspects of advertising, but it can and should exercise a significant influence on

company advertising by setting policies regarding the purpose of the expenditure.


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L.G. sells ‘Sampoorna’ a television model for rural homes at about Rs.10,000,Samsung and BPL have similar models targeted towards rural markets as well.

RURAL ADVERTISING

Choice Of Advertising Media:

After the company has decided on the purposes of it’s advertising, the media

must be determined.

The principle media include:

Magazines

Newspapers

Trade papers

Television and radios

Billboards

Direct mail.

This list is not intended to be complete. Other types of sales promotion

may also be included under the general heading of advertising are display,

dealer’s help and sampling.

Rarely does a single company use all of these media. It must select those that

will accomplish its objectives most economically.

For example, one large hosiery company that used advertising primarily to

influence retailers formerly spent approximately Rs800,000 annually advertising

in magazines having a national circulation. A survey among retailers showed that

dealers liked nationally advertised products, but that they were influenced to a

greater degree by dealer helps such as counter displays and leaflets and by co-

operative advertising in local newspapers in which the name of the local dealer

was mentioned along the company’s products. The expenditure of the company

on advertising is less than Rs50,000 per year.

An airline company faced a serious problem in the selection of media to build

familiarity and goodwill among a large number of people. Advertising that would

produce traffic on it’s planes immediately was also wanted. For this later purpose

expenditure were confined primarily to direct mail letters, circulars and

announcement to business executives and other people believed to be potential

passengers in the near future. Considerable effort is directed towards

passengers on its planes because these passengers as a general rule do not


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travel by air as much as they might, and the fact that they do use planes

occasionally indicates they are interested in this method of transportation. The

institutional program consists largely of magazine advertisements and general

newspaper publicity.

We see in both these cases the need to catch media and purpose carefully. Too

often the virtues of a particular media are advanced without reference to the

mission of the advertising.

Other Advertising Problems

Problems of advertising are by no means limited to a determination of the major

purposes and selection of media. In addition, decisions must be made as to the

general type of advertising to be used. Some companies feature testimonials

others employ cartoons to a large extent. Some use flashy advertisements and

large prints; others make their advertising more dignified. The use of premiums

and of contests can open up many additional possibilities for the imaginative

copywriter. Then there are numerous questions regarding such things as layouts.

Primarily these are questions of advertising techniques rather than general sales

promotion policies.


Qualis, a Rs.5.67 lakh, multi-utility vehicle manufactured by Toyota is preferred over Mahindra and Mahindra’s ‘Armada’ priced at Rs.4.32 lakh.

RURAL ADVERTISING

RURAL MARKET ENVIRONMENT

“No great marketing decisions have ever been made on quantitative data”

- John Scully

In India, rural advertising is increasingly evident throughout the

countryside. The majority of advertisements and hoardings are for fertilizers,

hybrid seeds, diesel pumps and pesticides, not to mention the message of family

planning. Therefore advertising in the Indian rural context must be seen as

consisting of techniques for improving economic mobility within the country. The

emergence of an active cash economy is bound to create a strong rural demand

and promote rural consumption. The traditional growth and dominance of urban

industrial centres is undergoing rapid changes. A more equitable distribution in

rural areas would also help in slowing down the rapidly increasing influx of

people from rural into urban centres.

There two sections of rural population:

A large portion have a low income and low consumption levels;

The rest are rural rich

The rural population forms a major portion of the Indian population as seen

below:


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About 75 % of the Indian people reside in rural areas. In other words, for every

consumer in urban area, there are three of them in rural areas. Though the

proportion of rural population is showing a slight decrease over the years, but in

absolute numbers, the rural population is growing at a higher rate than the urban

population. This large population will require a wide range of consumable and

durable goods and services. At the same time the need of the rural areas does

not automatically guarantee a market, unless it is backed by income and the

resultant purchasing power.

For a vast majority of the rural population, the main occupation is agriculture and

allied activities. The bar graph below gives the distribution of rural population as

per their occupation pattern.

About half of the rural population own or lease land to cultivate it for their

livelihood. Another 27% are dependent on these cultivators for their jobs as

agricultural labourers. Thus, a total of 77% of rural population depend on land

only for their living and land is the source of their living.

There are others, constituting a small proportion, who are engaged in business

like petty shopkeepers or merchants and salary earners like teachers, health


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workers and village level officials. The implication of this is that the income

generation in rural areas entirely depends on how the land is used, what crops

are cultivated, how much is marketed, how much is consumed and the marketing

arrangements for the production. If rainfall is adequate, weather conditions are

favourable and appropriate technology is available, the rural areas prosper as it

has happened in states like Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh. So the

disposable income in the hands of the rural people is very much conditioned by

the status of agriculture and other allied activities. This also indicates that major

part of income generated is a source of agriculture. Seventy five percent of

income generation in rural areas is from agriculture and agriculture-related

activities.

One of the deterrents for marketers to exploit the rural market potential has been

the vastness of the rural market in terms of areas covered and the location of the

rural population. It is much easier to cater to the needs of the urban population

because of their concentration, but it is very difficult in the case of rural

population because of their widespread nature.

The villages are also not uniform in size. Nearly 48% of the villages have a

population of less than 500 persons or about 100 households, which is probably

of no consequence to marketers. This may be acceptable since the proportion of

population covered by these 48% of villages account for only 12% of the total

population. Yet it should also be borne in mind that the people of these villages

also have land and cultivate and generate some income.

Thus the location and size of population of villages throw a challenge to

marketers. This phenomenon is not true for the whole country and there are wide

variations among the different states. In states with high irrigation facilities and

fertile lands, the concentration of population is more when compared to states

with low irrigation facilities and lack of arable land.


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Given the distribution of rural and urban population, it can be seen that the

number of literates in rural areas are more than in urban areas. It is interesting

got note that there has been a considerable increase in the number of literate

persons in rural areas since the last two decades. This has its implication in

communicating with the rural population. It appears that communication should

not prove to be such a big hurdle. Today, television has proved to be an effective

medium for communication with the rural masses. The telecasting network in the

country today covers about 93% of the population.

Assuming that the entire urban population is covered by the television, which is

only 23%, then nearly 67% of the rural population is covered by television. Thus,

television reaches a larger segment of rural population than any other form of

mass media. Though radio is also very popular, people like to see to believe.

The above factors point that the potential for marketing of goods and services

depends heavily on agriculture, since it is the main occupation in rural areas. The

market for agricultural inputs – fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, tractors,

irrigation equipment and seeds – has been expanding over the years in rural

areas as the Indian farming is fast becoming market-oriented. But the rural

market has remained a dark area for those manufacturing and marketing

consumables and consumer durables. To successfully exploit the potential

offered by rural market, there is a need to first understand the rural market in

terms of the characteristics mentioned above. Only a few established companies


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– Hindustan Lever, Lipton, Brooke Bond, TOMCO, Procter & Gamble – have

been tapping the potential of the rural market for a long time. But these are

exceptions.


Titan industries sold three million pieces of its ‘Sonata’ brand watches in B and C cities and towns, at prices less than Rs 1,000. It has become the preferred brand, taking over from long-favourite HMT.

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Distribution of Rural Demand

From the above chart, interesting inference can be drawn. The total expenditure

on food items is higher than any other expenditure. Majority of the non-food items

include the consumer durables like television, washing machines, etc. but the

higher expenditure on food items show that the chances of a food item being

successful in the rural market is than the chances of non-food items. Companies

like Parle have penetrated the rural markets long time ago followed by Britannia

in the food category. They have offered food items like biscuits, namkeens and

their like at a cheaper price than in the urban areas and have captured a niche

market of sorts in the rural market. Most of the rural people make their own food

items at home and do not purchase snacks from shops. But the trend of ready-

made food items is catching up and the rural population is increasingly

purchasing such products. The Parle-G brand of biscuit has been successful in

the rural as well as urban areas. But the biscuits introduced by Britannia in the

rural market failed because of their high price. This shows that the rural

consumers are price sensitive in the case of food items also.

Literacy and media habits

Despite the low level of literacy in rural areas, the growth between 1971 and

1981 is significant. More than five crore people have become literate in the

course of the last decade, a figure almost equal to the entire population of

France. Growth in literacy levels is expected to continue and this, in turn, will lead


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to greater awareness of the products on the part of rural people. Some market

research studies on media habits of Andhra, Haryana and Punjab are quite

revealing. They clearly show that, contrary to popular belief, organized media

play a significant role in supplementing the efforts to reach the rural customer.

Other 70% of the population listen to the radio, about 65% in Andhra goes to the

cinema. The corresponding figure for Punjab and Haryana is 26%. In booth these

areas about 30% read newspapers regularly.

FEATURES OF RURAL MARKET

1. Large and scattered market:

The rural consumer market consist of over 63 crores consumers. The rural

consumers are scattered over 576000 villages. The consumer market of non-

foods market is over Rs 20000 crores

2. Demand related to agriculture

Rural demand is linked to agriculture. Most of the purchases are made after

harvest season. If the is a good harvest purchases will be more and vice

versa.

3. Low Standard Of Living;

Consumes in rural areas do have a low standards of living this is because of

low literacy, social backwardness, low per capita income, low savings, low

purchasing power and hence low standard of living

4. Great Diversity:

India is a land of great diversity. Multi language, multi religious and multi

cultural. The consumption habits vary from place to place, religion wise and

social customs wise


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5. Traditional outlook:

An average rural consumer is traditional in outlook. They value old customs

and traditions. However, a slow change is beginning to take place in their

outlook, maybe because of the growth in literacy rate and the on slaught of

TV and other mass media in rural areas.

6. Steady growth rate:

The growth rate for consumer goods is study and infact increasing at a rapid

pace. This is because of number of factors contributing to the change in

outlook and purchasing power of rural consumers.


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PROFILE OF RURAL DEMAND

In this connection the following points are to be noted:

Size of Rural Demand:

The size of rural market in the non-food items is in the range of

Rs.20000 crore in 1990 as compared to Rs.5000 crore in 1970. This means there

is a four-fold increase in the consumption of non food consumer items in the rural

areas in the last two decades.

Composition Of Rural Demand:

The composition of demand in rural areas is changing

significantly. A large number of new consumer items are added to the rural

consumer list. This includes shampoos, toothpastes, premium bathing soap,

scooters/motor-bike, television sets and so on. The following aspects are to be

noted:

1. Product category that are already well established in rural

market-

a. Means of transportation such as bikes, motorcycles and

scooters

b. Irrigation and agricultural machinery

c. Agricultural inputs like fertilizers, pesticides etc.

d. Entertainment goods such as radios.

e. Beverages including alcoholic beverages.

f. Tobacco and tobacco products

g. Furniture and cooking utensils

h. Medicines and hygiene products.

i. Bathing soaps and washing soaps

j. Textiles


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k. Ornaments and jewelry

2. Products that have entered the rural market in recent times:

Toiletries, Cosmetics, Ready-made garments, Baby care

products, Packaged food stuffs and Modern consumer durables

3. Consumer products where rural consumption is more than

urban:

PRODUCTS % SHARE OF RURAL MARKETS

Bicycles 80

Safety Razors 6

Silk Clothing 59

Books and Stationary 55

Woollen Clothing 53

Consumer durables 53

4.Products where rural consumption growth rate is higher as compared

to urban markets.

a. Packaged tea

b. Analgesic tablets

c. Detergent powder

d. Soaps cakes/bar

e. Detergent cakes/bar


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Thus from the above information it is clear that rural market is fast expanding

and it may soon overtake the urban market in all respects.


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ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN RURAL INDIA

In India, the advertising is mostly in English or Hindi. As rural markets widen

beyond the English-and-Hindi knowing people, there are problems of translation

into the vernaculars. Good translations are seldom easy; and there is often the

need for thinking out the advertising concepts and the brand image in the local

language itself. This is a problem for local copywriters to conceptualize in the

vernacular, where necessary. Advertising in the local language in the absence of

shortage of professionals, makes success of rural advertising campaigns difficult.

It is a general assumption of advertising theory that advertising helps to create

demand. It may be worth saying to what extent advertising creates demand,

particularly in our rural society, which is in transition from traditional to modernity

and to what extent it helps only to accelerate demand after the social and

environmental changes have taken place. The basic trends for demand of

products are determined primarily by prevailing social and environmental

conditions.

Advertising itself serves not so much to increase the demand for a product as to

speed up the expansion of demand that may come up from favourable conditions

and to retard advances due to unfavourable conditions. Most rural marketers

treat this as an almost insoluble problem, because other factors also stimulate

demand for e.g. price cuts, quality changes and increasing real incomes.

‘We divert some resources from advertising to market research even at the risk

of under advertising in rural areas’

This is essential because the basic marketing problem is the absence of

elementary market research data individual rural areas. Individual fact, we do not

know where we are going. Over planning leads to over-capitalization, from which

it is very had to retreat. The five-year plans have been a classic exercise

individual bad demand forecasting with sophisticated methods and poor data;

and it has been compounded by business managements accepting national


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planning targets as gospel, without undertaking the responsibility of doing a

measure of their own market research, which is an essential for rural markets

individual India.

The rural market information gap is wide enough to justify major collaboration

between governments, universities, independent research organizations and

business. There is very little appreciation of it as a primary investment need, its

very precondition; and very little money is spent by too few on it.

Advertising caters to rural society with divergent life-styles and value systems

presented an unusual challenge between the strategy of homogenization

(overcoming the barriers between segments), and one of heterogenisation

(capitalsing the very existence of many small riches). This sort of advertising

involves constraints individual in the form of cost duplication of facilities and

fragmentation. In such areas, the basic objective of advertising and market

research may be to find and develop products, which may cut across

heterogeneous preferences with common brands and similar or common

advertising.

Our rural marketers should keep an eye on import substitution and upgrade raw

materials on the basis of research and development before they can ensure that

adequate raw materials reach the manufacturing areas for products which would

then reach rural markets individual a steady flow and at relatively stable prices.

Tourist advertising and motivation pose a most fascinating challenge to our

country with its old culture. Foreign tourist can be attracted to rural areas where

historical monuments, game sanctuaries, and mountain and sea resorts exist.

Rural India is a set of regional markets where cultural factors play a very

important role. The raw materials come from the soil; and the relatively low

productivity of Indian farmers is reflected in the low purchasing power of the rural

buyer. The rural advertising problem in a country like India is related to political,


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social and economic problems. With low income from farms the question that

arises is: can we afford the infrastructure of mass media for rural markets?

The Indian rural market is very heterogeneous. Nevertheless, public

advertisement is an important prerequisite for the creation of demand. The

problem of rural consumer in our country is that he is traditional; to some extent,

there is homogeneity and there are high resistance and low resistance products

among the rural buyers. Rural buyers show a great many contradictions; and the

advertising man has to understand them. For example, the poor spend lavishly

on marriages; in certain parts rigid caste systems still exist; the community is

more contended with whatever little it has.

Many preach non-violence and practice violence. For mass media men to

motivate rural buyers to change their lifestyle is not therefore that easy. The

concept of sufficiency is a hurdle to development and the problem of huge

distances and inadequate outlets is quite considerable.

Within a rural market, there are many mini markets based on caste, religion,

language or other differences. All people living in an around these markets have

distinctly different life-styles. The marketing men know that the cost of distribution

increases as the town gets smaller and it is not economical to serve very small

villages. Rural markets are no longer a sellers market now. Many people have

underrated the strength of the market on the assumption that India’s rural poverty

restricts rural purchases only to those items, which are basic necessities. This

has turned out to be a myth now. The social status, needs, expenditure on

weddings and entertainment, have influenced the operations of the rural markets.

Many farmers travel to weekly markets to buy vegetables that they can

themselves grow; but they go in order to have news, stimulation and for

socialization.


RURAL ADVERTISING

The bumper crops and the upturn in agricultural production have resulted in a

considerable increase in the incomes of farmers and in their purchasing power.

The increase in purchasing power in rural areas has generated vast potential

markets for manufactured goods because the people want to raise their standard

of living. New approaches must be evolved to awaken the rural population to the

range of consumption possibilities open to them. Advertising and consumer

research is essential for this purpose; for it must be determined not only what the

villager wants but also what would motivate them to buy. Market research and

consumer surveys are essential and should cover a fairly wide area of rural life,

including the attitudes and aspirations of the rural buyer.

In rural India the role that advertisement plays is major. It will enhance demand

when favourable environment conditions have been created. Advertising does

not create immediate demand. There is always an information gap. The biggest

single advertising problem is the shortness of the reach of mass media. As our

country is large, the problem is complex, for there is a huge potential rural

market. There are not very many dailies in circulation; nor many a radio or

transistor or a TV set. The mass media gap in India is as conspicuous as the

income gap. Therefore, there is a need for extending basic infrastructure with a

view to enlarging the reach of mass media in rural India. Hopefully, the electronic

revolution will follow the green revolution in rural India. The different approaches

to reach rural buyers which may be profitably utilised include mobile publicity-

cum-sales stalls, sales and cinema vans, participation in rural fairs and festivals.


RURAL ADVERTISING

The value of this direct personal propaganda and selling cannot be

overestimated, especially in the rural markets. These are often a potent means of

changing habits by means of real life demonstrations of the goodness of the

product and its utility, and by the invaluable personal link established between

the seller and the buyer. In rural markets, persuasion by the opinion-makers, by

the “voice of authority” counts; product messages may be conveyed in print, by

the cinema, or in person by teacher, doctor, shopkeeper or village headman. In

rural areas, the effective approach to be employed to reach the buyers is to

establish contacts with local educators who can influence them by word-of-

mouth. Such local educators are government officials, Block Development and

Extension Officers, and Village Pardhans and School Teachers. To the extent

that traditional social institutions like the panchayats still influence social habits,

particularly at the time of marriages and festivals, they can be useful instruments

for mass changes in consumer habits. They are usually strongholds of tradition:

but when the strongholds themselves change, the surrounding societies are

quick to follow suit. This is particularly so when change comes to the culture

center of a community, the center from which new ideas radiate.

According to one study, though most people consider the tradition-directed

leaders to be an impediment in the communication process to induce changes,

this is not necessarily true. The change via such leaders may be slow; but they

(the leaders) reduce the risks and uncertainties of its consequences. They also

help to generate confidence in the slower and later adapters. Both styles, the

progressive and the traditional, may play their roles; and it is for rural marketers

to realize their possibilities. The study also indicates that the influence of opinion

leaders in such non-mass media societies is largely confined to small social

segments and the immediate neighborhood structures. A rapid development,

therefore, calls for the earliest possible extension of the mass media, especially

the radio and TV.


RURAL ADVERTISING

The villagers are slightly hesitant about going to slightly smart looking shops. The

relatively prosperous family generally becomes the trendsetter group in the

village and they must initially receive the advertisers attention. Advertising

research may focus on the sources of awareness in the rural sector-the

influencing the villages. It must concentrate on determining the different

influences the villages are exposed to, either in the village or his visits to the

towns. A villager normally makes his household purchases from a nearby small

town or a fair, but visits a district, town or a still larger market to fulfill his

requirements of consumer durables. It would be useful to ascertain his motivation

in selecting different markets for different purposes.

Seasonality figures prominently rural buying habits on account of harvesting

seasons, fairs, festivals, marriage, etc. these things should be plotted in advance

for sales promotion and advertising information on the styles of rural buyers, his

attitude towards processes durability and the incidence of impulse buying- these

should be checked. The rural buyer in general is price conscious. Chester and

sophisticated models of agricultural machinery, sewing machines etc, should

therefore be more acceptable to rural consumer.

The goods should be made available to the rural consumer at places that are

more convenient to him. Ideally, it is desirable to get down to the village and

combine the sales and advertising effort at that level. But practically this would be

very difficult as selling cost would be very high if we allow this approach. To

expand sales in rural markets, hire purchase facility should be extended.

Effective after sales services should also be extended where a distributor/dealer

has been appointed. Some incentives should be given to dealers to open bank

accounts in nearby banking towns.

Eighty percent of total population is in villages and about 60% of the national

income comes from rural areas. There is an inequitable distribution of rural

income amongst the rural folk.


RURAL ADVERTISING

RURAL ADVERTISING: CURRENT SCENARIO

There have been two schools of thought among Indian advertisers on rural

advertising. The first school believed that products and marketing techniques,

which worked in metro and urban areas, could be transplanted with little or no

modifications to rural India. But the more sophisticated Indian advertisers, quickly

perceiving certain very basic differences between town and country, inaugurated

the second school: the belief that rural marketing required radically different skills

and techniques from its urban counterpart. As a result of the swing of extremities,

which naturally attends such realizations, several new beliefs have become

popular:

The rural market offers a vast market for consumer goods.

The distribution task involves covering several lakh villages.

Low-priced products should be more successful in rural markets because

of the per capita income in rural India.

Rural consumers form one homogenous group with similar needs, values

and aspirations.

Advertising should be simple and unsophisticated and in terms of media,

use local fairs, opinion leaders, etc., as opposed to press, film, radio and

such other ‘urban-oriented’ media. This was deducted from the low

media exposure figures for rural India.


Videocon’s washer, a washing machine without a drier has been launched specifically for the rural areas at Rs8000 a piece. It has registered 100% growth over the past three years.

RURAL ADVERTISING

Underlying these beliefs has been the model of a rural consumer who is relatively

poor and illiterate, whose only media exposure is the local opinion leader, who

remembers brands by picture symbols as opposed to brand names, and who is

unable to comprehend anything other than the most simple of commercial

messages.

The myth of the impoverished rural consumer seems to have some basis,

considering the fact that the vast portion of the rural population spend less than

Rs 43 per month. However assuming that as soon as the per capita expenditure

reaches the level of Rs 100 per month, the consumers become of interest to the

marketers of branded products, we see that more than half of such consumers

are in rural areas. There are more rich consumers in rural India than in urban

India

There is no uniform pattern covering all villages. The structure of competition in

rural India can be classified as follows: competition from other urban national

brands, from regional brands, from unbranded urban products, from unbranded

products of that village and finally indirect competition from substitutes.

a) Other urban national branded products. In certain villages the

proliferation of national brands is quiet evident. This more likely in villages

which are on the periphery of larger towns because of the spill over from

urban centres. There are exceptions to this: certain national brands have

reached the remotest of villages perhaps because of the consistent efforts

made by manufacturers through their marketing and advertising efforts;

this is more striking in case of branded tea.

b) Regional urban branded products. In some villages regional brands or

brands of unorganized sector are quite common. This is so for soaps in

north and south, detergent powders in Gujarat, and talc’s in Tamil Nadu

and Kerala.


RURAL ADVERTISING

c) Unbranded urban products. These products are manufactured at an

urban centre and find their way into rural India through wholesale

channels: they are commonly washing products, confectionery items,

ribbons bangles etc.

d) Unbranded products of village origin. These are products

manufactured in village itself: the hardware of the village smith, the ropes

made in the surrounding fields or the bread and food products made by

local baker or sweetmeat maker.

e) Substitutable products or indirect competition. A further classification

can be made for competitive products, which can be substituted. Such

products are ‘majaans’, neem twigs for the teeth where toothpaste have

not yet entered, or soaps where synthetic detergents are not common. In

villages which are around Banaras, villagers use the mud from the river-

bed to wash their clothes and themselves too!

Central to the current beliefs on rural advertising are as follows:

a) Because of the low literacy level and for other reasons, the rural

consumer has very low exposure to mass media (press, film, radio,

outdoor) normally used in urban India: that communication in rural

India must depend on ‘non-conventional media’ such as drama

troupes, mime groups, personal communication, etc.

b) Because of the lack of sophistication of the rural consumers the

creative treatment must be kept ‘simple’, and depend on visual

treatment more than on copy.


RURAL ADVERTISING

Here again, it is worth examining these beliefs. The first one –that conventional

urban style media are relatively useless for rural India- is so deeply rooted that

many marketing executives are likely to be willing to even discuss it. This belief

squares with our commonsense of the poor illiterate farmer.

However, in the middle of all this conviction, let us stop for a moment and

consider the following fact: though rural population as a whole are poor and

illiterate, what about the rural consuming? As we already demonstrated, 20 to 30

of the rural household come in the affordability range of consumer branded

products. What is the literacy/media exposure of this group, the main group of

concern to marketers of branded consumer products? In any event, there is a

strong case for examining more hard data on this issue.

Similarly it is fairly obvious that the creative content of advertising would depend

on the kind of competition. It is not all that certain that ‘simple’ messages

focusing on brand names/ pack/products-use demonstrations are the most

effective creative style. What is more likely is that the motivations in using

branded products are no different in rural India.


RURAL ADVERTISING

CONSTRAINTS IN MARKETING COMMUNICATION IN RURAL INDIA

Marketing communication and promotion poses a lot of problems in rural India.

There are many constraints emanating from the profile of the audience and the

availability of media.

The literacy rate among the rural consumers being low, the printed word has little

use in the rural context. In addition to the low level of literacy, the tradition bound

nature of rural people, their cultural barriers and taboos and their overall

economic backwardness add to the difficulty of the communication task. The

situation is further compounded by linguistic diversity. Rural communication has

to necessarily be in the local language and idiom. The constraints of media

further compound the difficulty. It has been estimated that all organized media

put together can reach only 30% of the rural population of India. TV is an ideal

medium for communicating with the rural masses. But its reach in rural areas is

restricted even today. As regards the print media, the various publications reach

only 18% of the rural population. Even in areas reached, the circulation is limited.

The low literacy level of the rural population still acts as an inhibitor in the use of

print media in rural communication. Cinema is relatively more accessible. It has

been estimated that 33% of total cinema earnings in the country come from rural

India.

Rural communication has also become relatively more expensive. For rural

communication to be effective, repeat exposures is a must; and if gap between

exposures is long, the message losses its edge during this period. These factors

make rural communication more expensive. Rural communication has to go

through all the time consuming stages of creating awareness, altering attitudes

and changing behaviour. In addition it also has to work against deep-rooted

behaviour patterns.


RURAL ADVERTISING

In short the crux of the marketing communication in the rural context is one of

finding a media mix that will deliver the required message in a cost effectively

with the rural target audience that is predominantly illiterate.


RURAL ADVERTISING

OVERCOMING THE BARRIERS OF COMMUNICATION IN RURAL INDIA

A company that seeks a long term presents in the rural market has to squarely

encounter these constraints and find a way of communicating effectively with the

rural target audience.

Role of media in rural markets

Media can be divided into two variables:

1. Traditional Media

Puppetry, dance-dramas, rural specific art forms like Harikatha

and Villupatu preformed at village melas and temple festivals.

Study classes.

Mike announcements, processions.

Caparisoned elephants, decorated bullock carts carrying ad panels.

Music records.

Folk theatre.

Demonstration, house to house campaigns by special promotion

Squads.

Hoats and Melas.

Information centres on company’s products.

Wall paintings

Posters

Agricultural Games

Postcards

Audio-visual vans or publicity vans


RURAL ADVERTISING

2. Mass Media

Television

Word of mouth

Radio

Cinema halls

POP,s

Press

Other print media

Companies using Traditional Media

Brooke bond India Ltd.

HLL

Rajdoot

Bajaj

Nirma

Colgate Palmolive

Companies using Mass Media

Onida

Videocon

HLL

Eveready Batteries

Eicher Tractors

RCF

Mahindra & Mahindra Tractors


RURAL ADVERTISING

SELECTING THE MEDIA MIX:

Evidently, in the rural context the firm has to choose a combination of

formal and non-formal media. The possibilities are indicated below:

THE FORMAL ORGANISED MEDIA

Among the formal organized media TV, Radio, Cinema, POPS and Outdoors

have a good scope in the rural context.

TELEVISION:

With the increase in coverage and increase in TV ownership in the rural

areas, TV has become the primary media for communication to the rural masses.

Studies reveal that has much has 77% of villages in India now receive TV

transmission and 27% of all rural people actually watch TV. The main advantage

of this medium is that, it is both spoken and visual. The TV viewership

percentage varies from state to state. Television has proven advantageous in

communicating with the rural people due to the low literacy levels. However

while using this medium, the viewer ship habits of people needs to be taken into

consideration.

HLL has been in the forefront in using TV to communicate with the rural

masses. Lifebuoy, Lux, Fair and Lovely and Nihar oil are the products

advertised via television.

Most of the messages of National concern on Family Welfare and Literacy

Campaign by the Government are telecast before the popular programmes with

rural characters.

RADIO:

The radio is a well established medium in rural areas. As one of the

oldest and potential media used for communication with farmers and for diffusing

agricultural technology, radio has yielded significant results. A big expansion in

the broadcasting facilities has taken place in the rural country over the years. The

availability of radio sets has also expanded. Given the reasonable price of a


RURAL ADVERTISING

transistor radio, it can be inferred that, most of the rural families own a radio set.

While radio as a medium cannot match TV in potency and effectiveness, in its

existing context, radio does have a role in rural communication.

There are specific programmes for agriculturists like ‘Farm and Home

Programme’ or ‘Krishi Darshan’ in all regional languages, which are broadcast on

the primary channel. Thus the ownership pattern of radios in the rural areas has

enabled regular listenership and its main advantage is, it is cost effective

medium.

Colgate, Jyoti Laboratories, Zandu Balm, Juari Industries are some

companies using radio for communication. Some of the agencies into radio

advertising are as follows: Rediffusion (for Colgate), O & M (GE worldwide),

Lintas (Juari Industries).

CINEMA:

The cinema is a useful medium in rural context. Most rural villages have

one or more cinema halls. And 29% of all rural people do watch cinema as a

matter of regular lifestyle and habit. Short feature films with disguised

advertisements messages, direct advertisement films and documentaries that

combine knowledge and advertisements, can be employed for rural

communication. Cinemas are more popular medium in southern states like Tamil

Nadu, Andhra Pradesh.

Thumps up telecast their commercials (Sunil Shetty and other commercials

with popular celebrities) during cinemas.

OUTDOORS:

The outdoor also lend itself well to rural communication. In fact,

currently many companies are using the outdoor medium imaginatively in their

rural communication mix, through hoardings, wall paintings, illuminations and

other displays in the rural areas.


RURAL ADVERTISING

POP’s:

The POP’s point of purchase (or point of sales) promotion tools are also

quiet useful in the rural markets. The POP’s meant for rural market should be

specially designed to suit the rural requirements. More than written words,

symbols, pictures and colours should be used in POP’s meant for rural markets.

Colour is of particular importance in the rural context. As a general rule rural

people love bright colours. The effective communicator utilizes such cues.


RURAL ADVERTISING

PRINT MEDIA:

The relevance of print media for rural communication needs careful

examination mainly because the literacy level is low in rural areas. Print media

consist of a wide variety of items – Newspapers (dailies), periodicals (weeklies,

monthlies) and also the literature. Pamphlets, booklet produced my

manufacturers and marketing men. Vernacular periodicals and dailies are very

popular in the southern states. Some of the regional newspapers used for

advertising are as follows:

Maharashtra (Konkan, Ratnagiri) – Badiraja, Krushival

Kerala – Malayala Manorama

Tamil Nadu – Dina Thanthi


RURAL ADVERTISING

MEDIA REACH STATISTICS

The medium in the message" acquires critical importance for advertisers and

marketers in India as different media have varying penetration levels. For

example terrestrial TV has the highest penetration among all types of media

with 78 per cent penetration in urban India and 36 per cent in rural India. It's

reach is the highest in the 14 to 19 age group with 62 per cent. It has an

astonishing 91 per cent penetration in urban Himachal Pradesh.

In contrast satellite TV reaches only 13 per cent of India. The medium's highest

penetration of 52 per cent is in urban Maharashtra. But in the rural parts of the


RURAL ADVERTISING

state it has a penetration of a mere 4 per cent. Similarly in Assam and Orissa

satellite TV reaches only 4 per cent of the population.

Given the high literacy levels it is natural that print media has the highest

penetration in Kerala. It reaches 76 per cent in urban Kerala and 65 per cent in

rural parts of the state. Print media has the lowest reach in Assam with 11

per cent.

DISADVANTAGE OF MASS MEDIA

The Indian society is a complex social system with different castes, classes,

creeds and tribes. The high rate of illiteracy added to the inadequacy of mass

media impedes reach almost to 80% of India's population who reside in village.

Mass media is too glamorous, interpersonal and unreliable in contrast with the

familiar performance of traditional artist whom the villager could not only see and

hear, but even touch. Besides this villagers are more conservative buyers then

their urban counterparts. Their desire to innovate with new product is restricted.

NON-FORMAL/RURAL SPECIFIC MEDIA

Rural specific media can be used to reach these people in the marketing of new

concept. The rural specific media with its effective reach, powerful input and

personalized communication system will help in realizing the goal. Besides this


RURAL ADVERTISING

when the advertisement is couched in entertainment it goes down easily with the

villager.

Advantages of rural specific media :

- The accessibility is high.

- Involves more then one sense.

- Interest arousal capability is high.

- Less operational liability Minimum cost.

A variety of non-formal media have been developed over the years by rural

marketing firms to meet the specific requirements of rural communication. Some

of them are interpersonal media and others are mass media. The more popular

ones among them are:

AUDIO VISUAL PUBLICITY VANS

The A/V unit or the publicity van is very useful for rural communication.

The van is a comprehensive mobile promotion station at the exclusive command

of the concerned firm. The firm can exhibit its films and other audio visual

presentations such as slide shows, sound and sight presentations, puppet shows

etc. from this instant promotion station. A portable shamiana or platform can be

carried in the van and can be used as a stage. Even mini public meetings can be

organized using the shamiana. Portable exhibition kits can be carried in the van

and exhibitions put up instantly. The van can also be used for sales campaigns in

addition to promotion campaigns. It can also be used for other product

demonstrations. In short the van has all the advantages of carrying and

delivering a tailor-made communication program for the chosen target audience.


Nike is easily available in places like Chiplun, Ratnagiri, Jalgaon and Bariely, even though the price range is Rs5200-5900.

RURAL ADVERTISING

Naturally, the A/V vans are quite popular with rural marketing firms. Practically all

the firms in agri-inputs business have their own A/V vans all over their respective

marketing territories. Firms marketing consumer softs come second in the use of

AV vans. Firms marketing consumer durables come third. In the third category

the efforts of Phillips India deserves a special mention. Phillips India has very

successfully used the AV vans for popularizing their radios in rural markets.

While the AV vans are very effective tools in rural promotion, the cost is high as

the target population is scattered. The cost of reaching an individual customer or

prospect through the van works out to be very high. In the early stages of market

development, in particular, the sales generated may not have any relationship

with the cost involved in extensive use of AV vans. But in view of its

effectiveness, big companies with resources make a conscious decision to use

the vans as a long-term market development tool.

SYNDICATED AUDIO VISUAL VANS

In recent years, rural publicity vans have become a purchasable service. Firms

that cannot afford to operate publicity vans of their own can utilize the syndicated

AV vans service offered by independent agencies.

The Joint Publicity Committee of the nationalised banks started rural

advertising through vans in the early '90s. They would make an

announcement in the village about a show of some religious and holy films in the

local language and in between the message would be carried to the audience.


RURAL ADVERTISING

Vidoecon used van demos along with audio visual aids to promote its black

and white colour TV. And its washing machine “Washer”. In addition their

mechanics take a round of the villages twice a week to assure the villagers of

after-sales service, an important component of consumer durables. The company

employs 1,800 engineers and mechanics for this purpose.

Even Ondia uses Demonstration on vans to promote its television. When it

goes to rural areas to promote its product, on both the sides of the van a huge

cut out of their mascot “the Devil “ is put. This attracts the children and others

towards the van. Then a 40 – 45 min educative commercial is run to

promotevthevproduct.

MUSIC RECORDS, HARIKATHA, ETC

Music cassettes and records is another effective medium for rural

communication. It is an appealing medium. One complete language group can be

reached on a low budget through specially developed cassettes or records. They

can be played in cinema houses or in other places where rural people assemble.

Popular entertainment programmes like puppet shows, dance dramas, Villupattu

and Harikathas specially developed for product promotion purpose are now being

used in rural markets. These traditional art forms readily render themselves for

communication in rural society. Sales messages can be beautifully blended with

folklore to capture the imaginations of the rural audiences. Village fairs, festivals

and ‘melas’ are ideal venues for projecting these programmes. In certain context

public meetings are also useful for promotion in rural context.


French cheese ‘The Laughing Cow’ is planning a major thrust in mini metros and rural areas within a month of its national launch.

RURAL ADVERTISING

PUPPETRY

Puppetry is the indigenous theatre of India. From time immortal it has been the

most popular form and well-appreciated form of entertainment available to the

village people. It is an inexpensive activity. The manipulator uses the puppets as

a medium to express and communicate ideas, values and social messages. The

companies can develop a story line relating to the brand and show the characters

using the brands to their advantage. The dresses of the characters could be

those of the brand's packaging.

Types of Puppet theatre in India Contents

String puppets or Kathputlis of

Rajasthan

Heroic deeds of Vikramaditya, Prithviraj

Chouhan, Amar Singh Rathore

String puppets of Orissa Radha-Krishna

Rod puppets from Bengal Mahabharat, Manas , Radha-Krishna

String and Rod puppets of the south

(Tanjavur, Madras and Andhra)

Kathakali

Shadow puppets of Orissa , Kerala,

Andhra, Karnataka

Ramayana.

Thus in rural India puppetry is a source of livelihood, avenue for

entertainment and creative expression which is ritually sacred and meaningful as

a means of social communication and vehicle of social transformation.


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Song and Drama Division of the Government Of India makes wide use of

puppets in its campaigns to promote various government projects. Several other

organizations, government, semi-government and private, have also used

puppets in support of individual schemes.

Life Insurance Corporation of India used puppets to educate rural masses

about Life Insurance; enlisting the help of the literacy house in Lucknow.

These plays were shown to the audience in villages in UP, Bihar, & MP.

The number of inquires at local Life Insurance Companies during the period

immediately following the performance was compared with normal frequency and

found to be considerable higher. The field staff of the corporation also reported a

definite impact on the business.

Thumps Up is another company that has used puppetry to promote its soft

drink. The shows comprises of puppets of Thumps Up and other rival soft drinks.

The thump up puppet comes and strikes down the other soft drinks thus

reinforcing its slogan “taste the thunder”.

Indian Institute of mass communication, N.Delhi made a study of comparative

impact of puppetry and documentary films, in two villages near Delhi. People in

both the villages responded more favorably to the puppet shows then the films.

FOLK THEATRE

Folk theaters are mainly short and rhythmic in form. The simple tunes help in

informing and educating the people in informal and interesting manner. It has

been used as an effective medium for social protest against injustice, exploitation

and oppression.

Folk songs have been effectively used during revolts of Telangana and

Naxalbari and now a days it's best exploiters are Political Parties.


RURAL ADVERTISING

- Government has used this media for popularizing improved variety of seeds,

agricultural implements, fertilizer etc.

Punjab Agricultural University produced Two Audio Cassettes.

Balliye Kanak Biye - Wheat Cultivation.

B) Khiran Kepah Narme - Cotton Cultivation.

Both were well received by farmers.

BBLIL used Magician and skits quite effectively for launch of Kadak ChhapTea in

Etawah.

The folk media such as Ragini in Haryana for communicating qualities of Virat

cement, pala and daskathia in Orissa for promoting safe electricity consumption and

toothpaste of Colgate Palmolive and Baul songs in West Bengal to advertise insecticides.

STATES Folk Theater / Songs Forms In India

Andhra Pradesh Veethi Natakam, Kuchupudi, Burratatha

Assam Ankiya Nat, Kirtania Natak, Ojapali Bihar : Bidesia, Serikela

Chhau, Jat-Jatni Bidpada, Ramkhelia

Gujarat Bhavai

Haryana Swang, Naqqal

Himachal Pradesh Kariyala, Bhagat, Ras, Jhanki, Harnatra Haran or Harin.

Jammu & Kashmir Bhand Pathar or Bhand Jashna, Vetal Dhamali

Karnataka : Yakshagan, Sanata , Doddata-Bayalata,Tala

Maddle or Prasang,Dasarata,Radhna.

Kerala Kodiyattam,Mudiattam,Therayattam,Chavittu Natakam,

Chakiyar Kooth, Kathakali

Madhya Pradesh Maanch, Nacha

Orissa Pala Jatra, Daskathia, Chhau Mayurbhanj, Mangal Ras,


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Sowang

Punjab Nautanki, Naqaal, Swang

Rajasthan Khyal, Rasdhari, Rammat, Turra Kilangi, Gauri, Nautanki,

Jhamtara

Tamilnadu Therukuttu, Veethi Natakam, Bhagwat Mela Natakam,

Kurvaanji, Pagal Vasham, Kavadi Chindu

Uttar Pradesh Ram Leela, Ras Leela, Nautanki, Bhagat, Sang-Swang,

Naqqual

Maharashtra : Tamasha, Lalit Bharud, Gondha, Dashavatar

INTERPERSONAL MEDIA

Interpersonal media have a special merit in rural context as they facilitate

two-way communication/interaction. They also bring market feed back to

the firm. In many cases rural people prefer face-to-face communication to mass

communication. Their confidence in the product the firm and their goodwill

towards the firm becomes stronger through interpersonal approach. Interpersonal

media have their unique advantages; they are segment specific, market specific

and score high when it comes to involvement and participation of the audience.

In the effort to reach out and go beyond them mass media, a firm can establish

contact with the audience through fairs and festivals, folk performances and other

special events. These points of contact also provide multimedia opportunities.

For example at any fair various media like audio, audio-visual and interpersonal

communication should be used.

Group meetings, Demonstrations, and House-To-House Campaigns


RURAL ADVERTISING

Group meetings of customers and prospects are important components of

interpersonal media. The sales man or the promotion staff of the firm can

effectively carry the product messages to the target audience at these meetings.

House to house campaign constitutes a handy tool in the rural market. In these

campaigns, small squads of staff or persons specially hired for specific promotion

make house-to-house visits in the rural areas. Several independent teams may

be at work at the same time in different parts of the village. The teams usually

carry with them product promotion literature/handouts/product samples, etc.

These campaigns are different from door to door selling campaigns. The

promotion squads do not engage in the selling job, they only propagate the

product. As companies may normally find it difficult to spare their own staff of

such elaborate and time consuming work, they may hire the required people on

daily wage basis, train them briefly and use them under the supervision of the

company staff. In demonstrations, help of audio -visual media can add value

The five steps to make any demonstration effective are below:

- Information about people

- Objectives to be accomplished

- Demonstration plan & Execution of the plan

- Evaluation of the demonstration

- Reconsideration after evaluation.

Opinion Leaders

Rural consumers place more emphasis on the experience of others who

have used the brands to make their purchase decision. Opinion leader in rural

area can be defined as a person who is considered to be knowledgeable and is

consulted by others and his advice is normally followed. Opinion leaders could be

big landlords, teachers, social workers etc. They become important especially in

the marketing of consumer durables.


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Asian Paints promoted its Utsav range of paints by painting Mukhiya's

house or Post office 6 months prior to the launch of the paint to demonstrate that

paint does not peel off.

For propagating ‘Surf’, HLL brought out a rural specific film, where they

took particular care to demonstrate step by step method of washing with Surf to

get the best whitening effect. They knew that an elaborate demonstration was

essential for the rural audience.

Reckitt and Colemen, Colgate and Samsung uses NGO's in rural areas to

educate customers about product benefits. Colgate with the help of NGO’s

carry out free dental check up camps where literature on dental care (in local

language), and oral care products are distributed.

Mahindra Tractors use bankers as opinion leaders or influencers for their

prouduct.

HLL’S ‘Operation Bharat’ is largest sampling exercises in recent times.

Before Phase- I of Operation Bharat, HLL was present in about 9 million

households in rural India. Operation Bharat introduced it to another 16 million

households. With 30 per cent of these coming back to Lever, it’s now bought 3.6

million more households into its fold. And the gains are evident in Lever’s topline

too. On the back of rural growth, the PPD’s sales grew from Rs 884 crore in 1997

to Rs 1,526 crore in 1998. The division now contributes 17 per cent to HLL’s

turnover, up from 11 per cent in 1997. The countries oldest tradition holds the

key to solving the rural marketing problems. The mobile supermarkets of rural

India – Haats/ Melas/ Shandies.


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HAATS AND MELAS

WHY MELAS ?

Over 25000 Melas and 47000 Haats are held annually

Annual sales at Melas amount to Rs. 3,500 Crore

More than 10000 melas draw visitors from all over India

Half the outlets at Melas are for manufactured goods

Melas organised after harvest season, so the villager has enough money

to spend.

Demonstration at Haat is essential to convert customers at haats since their

aptitude is far more utilitarian than that of visitors to a fair. Through this


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arrangement they can break the saddle of scant geographical distribution of

customers in rural markets as people of number of villages assemble to

participate in the fair. It is a good ground for building brand awareness, trial sales

and sampling. It provides a wider audience at a fairly low cost. Companies such

as Hindustan Lever, Titan and Colgate Palmolive use occasions such as Rath

Yatra, Kumbh Mela and Onam for brand promotion. These companies are

following a typical media schedule and are always in a march from one place to

the other with the festival calendar and a collapsible arrangement of the

exhibition set-up.


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KUMBH MELA – A classic example of effective rural specific marketing.

The Kumbh Mela 2001-which is offering a 7.5 crore consumer attraction

opportunity-is being exploited to the fullest by FMCG majors like Hindustan Lever

Ltd (HLL), Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd, Coca Cola, Pepsi Co., Marico

Industries, Godrej Soaps, Britannia Industries and Dabur to promote mass-

appeal brands.

While official estimates on the total expenditure are not available, industry

analysts estimate the promotional expenditure among the FMCG majors to be in

the range of Rs 5-7 crore. Be it hoardings, stalls, film sponsorships or kundali

branding, POPs, mass media, and even new product launches, brand

promotions are visible all over the place to woo the captive audience over the

next 40 days.

Soft drinks major Pepsi Co, for one, has tied up with UP Tourism and the various

food stalls and restaurants to quench the thirst of all and sundry. But more than

just a window for sales, the Kumbh Mela is turning out to be a platform for

strategy.

In tune with the spirit of the mega event, HLL is using this opportunity to change

hand-washing and bathing habits in rural IndiaThe Mahakumbh at Allahabad is


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the biggest mela in India and, with its focus on `cleansing' is a good fit for the

`Lifebuoy for health' message of the brand,"

Even though Lifebuoy is not using mass media for this promotion, innovative

communication tools are being used at the mela to communicate the importance

of health and hygiene. "Large-scale activity has been initiated to explain to the

assembled masses the importance of hand-washing in basic hygiene.

The company has put up 14 stalls at various points in the mela grounds. Some

hand-carts have also been deployed for increasing access. The numbers of both

may be increased based on response. ``The activity aims to build awareness in

the target audience about hygiene and health through product demonstrations,"

the spokesperson said.

Colgate-Palmolive is concentrating on promoting its products, mainly through

ground activities. The products include the flagship brand, Colgate Dental

Cream, Colgate Cibaca Top, ZigZag toothbrush, Colgate Super Flex, Palmolive

Naturals range and Colgate Herbal. Balloon blow-ups is one popular mode which

is being used to advertise the brands.

Dabur India too sees a major marketing opportunity at the on-going Kumbh Mela.

Apart from using outdoor advertising media such as hoardings and hotair

balloons, the company is actively promoting its 400-strong product portfolio at its

40ft by 15 ft stall in the commercial area of the venue. To attract consumers, an

Ayurvedic physician has been deputed to provide free consultation at the stall.

As companies are not allowed to open shop in the main arena, Dabur has also

employed about 30 `jumpboys' who mingle along with the crowd and hence are

the walking window shops for the company. These boys carry Dabur's smaller

SKUs such as Hajmola sachets or Pudinhara sachets in trays and also have a

audio player which runs jingles of various Dabur products. ``The idea behind this

initiative is to reach out to the audience rather than wait for them to come to the


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stall,'' says a Dabur source. Dabur will also air about 12,000 commercials on the

15-video walls placed at the mela during the length of the festival.

Titan adopting a railway station during the Kumbh Mela helped them to generate

a high brand recall.

WALL PAINTINGS

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 BE:

1) The most frequented shops can be painted from inside also one feet above

the ground level.

2) 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.

3) The message should be simple, direct and clear.


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4) 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.

5) Paintings must be taken after rainfall.

6) It should be peaked up during the festival and post harvest season. To derive

maximum mileage their usage needs to be planned meticulously.


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To attract rural buyers advertisers use simple films showing how a product is

to be used. Rajdoot Paints issues such functional advertising very effectively. A

company has to keep in mind religion, festivals and local sentiments.

While Nirma makes extensive use of wall paintings, a soil conditioner called

Terracare uses images of Sita, Luv and Kush to attract the rural consumer.

Companies like Coke, Pepsi, agricultural implement companies HMT tractors,

TAFE also use wall paintings. However the company that has very widely used

this medium in Thumps up.

POSTERS AND STICKERS

Posters are a short-term promotional media because the maximum life of a

poster on the walls in one day. This medium is usually used during the launch of

a product.

Seed companies like Nath Seeds, Mahyco and FMCg like HLL use this

strategy.

There is an example in innovative media which was used by HLL to push

products in personal wash like Lux and Lifebuoy and fabric wash items like Rin

and Wheel.

For both, washing and for taking bath - one requires water. Now for rural markets

there are three sources of water - wells, handpumps and ponds. For the first in

the history of advertising - these were branded. Special stickers were put on the

handpumps, the walls of the wells were lined with advertising tiles and tinplates

were put on all the trees surrounding the ponds. The idea was to advertise not

only at the point of purchase but also at the time of consumption.

So the customer could also see the advertising when he was bathing or washing.

Now, the customers who bought these brands got a sense of satisfaction by

seeing their choice being advertised in these places while a question was put in

the minds of the customers who had bought other brands.


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OTHER RURAL SPECIFIC MEDIA

POSTCARDS

The extensive network of post throughout the country can be used as an

alternative vehicle for brand promotion in the rural areas. Postbox’s, post office

walls and the post cards carry the logo and brand names of companies.

Videocon was the first company to use this strategy. LIC is another company

that has adopted this strategy.

AGRICULTURAL GAMES

The ad agencies design various games and competitions in which the rural

masses participate. The winners are then awarded the companies product.

Following are some of the agricultural games organized:

Rajdoot 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 i.e ruggedness.

Philips conducts jigsaw puzzle games consisting of their logo and

punch line “Lets make things better “ usually for the youth to create brand

awareness. The winner is given a Philips transistor.

Other Rural Media

The extensive network of postal and medical workers throughout the country can

be used as an alternative vehicle for brand promotion in the rural areas. The

days are not far off when the postbox, post office walls and the postman's

uniform will carry the logo and brand names of companies and the walls of the

rural primary health centres and schools will be covered by suitable brand

advertising catering to the taste of the rural target market. Once this innovation of


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reaching markets through alternative cost effective media starts, rural

consumption will go high making it potentially more attractive than the urban

market.

DISADVANTAGES OF TRADITIONAL MEDIA

* Range of mode choice is narrow.

* Potential for cognitive gain retention is possible but restricted.

* Depends on the skill of the performer, but for optimum effect all elements in the

rural communication system will have to be orcheastered into a united whole.

* Extensive research of each and every village is needed.


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LG expects 40% of it’s colour television sales to come from rural markets. The company has priced it’s colour television’s in the range of Rs10,000-Rs60,000 for sizes ranging from 14” to 29”. Washing machine are priced from Rs 20,000 to Rs37,000 and refrigerators from Rs 27,000 to Rs 60,000.

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COMPANIES WHICH HAVE USED TRADITIONAL MEDIA

EFFECTIVELY

The Strategy: Dabur address the rural marketing for its Gripewater to both

men and women.

The Lesson: Rural women make the decisions .Its the men who buy.

The Strategy: Reckitt and Colemen uses NGO's in rural areas to educate

customers about product benefits.

The Lesson: Establishes one to one communication channels.

The Strategy: BBLIL markets its rural brands through magic shows and

skits.

The Lesson: Use local idioms to convey your message in a meaningful

context.

The Strategy: Hero Honda has established mobile service centers to take

care of rural customers.

The Lesson: Reinforce product quality through service indicators.

MAKING INROADS INTO THE HINTERLANDS. 63Improved rural distribution system has helped Godrej consumer products achieve a distribution reach of more than a million retail outlets for its brands, Cintol Fresh toilet soaps and Godrej Powder Hair Dye sachet and also increase overall distribution for its key brands by 20-30 percent since September 2000.

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CASE STUDIES

COCA – COLA INDIA

The Coca-Cola Company is the global soft-drink industry leader, with

world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. The Company and its subsidiaries

employ nearly 30,000 people around the world. Syrups, concentrates and

beverage bases for Coca-Cola, the Company's flagship brand, and over 160

other Company soft-drink brands are manufactured and sold by The Coca-Cola

Company and its subsidiaries in nearly 200 countries around the world.

During the past decade, the Coca-Cola system has invested more than US$ 1

billion in India. Coca-Cola is one of the country's top international investors.

In 2003, Coca-Cola India pledged to invest a further US$100 million in its

operations. Coca-Cola business system directly employs approximately 6,000

local people in India. In India, it indirectly create employment for more than

125,000 people in related industries through our vast procurement, supply and

distribution system. Virtually all the goods and services required to produce and

market Coca-Cola locally are made in India. The Coca-Cola system in India

comprises 27 wholly-owned company-owned bottling operations and another

17 franchisee-owned bottling operations. A network of 29 contract-packers

also manufactures a range of products for the Company. The complexity of the

Indian market is reflected in the distribution fleet, which includes 10-tonne

trucks, open-bay three-wheelers that can navigate the narrow alleyways of

Indian cities, and trademarked tricycles and pushcarts. The Company

ranking up "firsts" in the introduction of Canned and PET soft drinks, vending

machines and backpack dispensers for crowds of cricket supporters.


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A common trend that is seen in the promotional advertisement campaigns of soft

drinks, is the presence of popular film stars and celebrities – right from Amitabh

Bacchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Shahrukh Khan for Pepsi, Hritik Roshan, Aamir

Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Sunil Gavaskar for Coca-Cola, Salman Khan, Sushmita

Sen for Thumps-Up to sonali Bendre for Limca, the trend continues. This is

probably because the Indian consumers are very influenced by film stars and are

big cricket fans and marketers still prefer to rely on building top-of-the-mind

advertising. Also, most marketing people tend to get evaluated on parameters

like brand noticeablity and brand preference. That is why most of them eventually

fall back on celebrity driven advertising, which quickly improves noticeablity.

As 30% of Coca-Cola’s sales comes from the rural markets where the potential

for growth is still high compared with a relatively saturated urban market, the

company wanted a separate rural strategy, hence the Aamir Khan-featured

commercial “ Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola” ( a campaign that immediately

provoked a retaliatory campaign from pepsi staring Rahul Khanna and Fardeen

Khan ). The “Thanda….” campaign was conceived during a brainstorming

session when someone pointed out that “thanda” (cold) is the soft term for soft


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drinks in local paralance – especially in the rural and moffusil areas. This

campaign intends to push the recently introduced 200ml Coca-Cola pack which

is increasingly becoming accepted in rural areas.

Coca-Cola has however undertaken a different set of advertising campaigns in

the Southern market ( as the south is a big cola market ). The four southern

states are in really different countries. For example there is a promotion going in

the North which will start soon, it will not be implemented in Tamil Nadu or Kerala

where they will have their own promotions. The things that work well in the rest of

the country do not work well in Tamil Nadu, Kerala or Andhra. For example when

they did tie-ups with movies like Hum Saath Saath Hain and Kaho Na Pyar Hai,

starring big names from Bollywood they didn’t do well in Tamil nadu nd all the

activities they did around these movies, also didn’t fare well. The people here do

not relate to these stars. In Tamil Nadu it is always believed that movies and

music have a large following. The trend is similar throughout the country, but

accentuated more in Tamil Nadu. If you take the case of Vijay, when Coca-Coal

finished the ad, many of his fan clubs came and took his Coca-Cola posters to be

displayed at vantage places in and around theatres screening his recent movies.


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CASE STUDY II

TATA SALT

Tata Chemicals’ salt story began in 1983, when it needed fresh water for

the boilers that produced soda ash at its Mithapur plant. Fresh water was scarce,

so the company set up a process to generate it by using seawater, a freely

available resource. Salt, of high quality and purity, was a by-product. Both

UNICEF and the Indian government were promoting the intake of iodine for

health reasons. ‘Salt is the most economical and convenient dietary vehicle for

iodine consumption’. Hence, these factors led Tata Chemicals to take up salt

production. Ever since its launch in 1983, Tata Salt has been synonymous with

iodized salt in India.

The positioning statement used earlier was ‘Namak ho Tata ka, Tata namak’."

The communication was built around the fact that Tata Salt, India’s first iodized

salt, was manufactured by a Tata company.

Tata appreciated that in order to sustain a competitive advantage over a long

period of time, what is needed is for the consumer to perceive the company to be

different from others. The best way to differentiate is to connect with the

consumer at an emotional level.

The challenge was to take purity, a rational product benefit, and create an

emotional link with the consumers. A new agency, Bates India, was chosen to

work on the communication. A strong fact that emerged from the research was

that consumers were troubled about the gradual erosion of nation’s value

system. Another factor was that salt is deeply rooted in grassroots values.


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Tata salt spends about 15-18% of their sales revenue on promotion. The

promotional strategy used by Tata salt is Pull Strategy. It is based on the Brand

equity appeal and Tata brand name. “Tata Salt” is India’s fourth most trusted

brand. This was highlighted by the study of reputed Market Research Agency

A.C. Neilson.

Tata Group follows the policy to give returns to the nation. Therefore,

along with the ‘Desh Ka Namak’ ad they came out with the ‘Desh Ko Arpan’

programme last year in 2002. The company decided to contribute 10 paise on

every packet of Tata Salt which is sold between August 15 and September 15’

2003 and also January – February ‘2004, towards the education of deprived girl

children. The ‘Desh Ko Arpan’ programme encouraged ordinary individuals to

make a difference. Over Rs 35 lakh was collected in 2002 and given to Child

Relief and You through this initiative. The Promotional tools adopted by the

company include advertising and sales promotion.

Advertising:

The amount spent on advertising accounts for 7 to 8% of the sales revenue.

They use mass media communication like Television Ads, Print Ads, etc.

Print Ads:


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They are printed in regional language newspaper and in the magazines in the

regional language. Like, The ‘Desh Ko Arpan’ Programme is been promoted

through print media advertisements in 5 regional languages (Hindi, Marathi,

Bengali, Tamil and Telugu).

Media Vehicles

Conventional Media-

(a) Television: For rural market they don’t have a separate advertisement but

they play the same advertise in the regional language.

Doordarshan- Tata Salt’s around 40% reach is because of its advertisements on

Doordarshan.

It also advertises on Star Plus, NDTV, etc.

Regional Channels like- Alfa, Sun, Surya, etc. depending upon the State

Language.


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(b) Wall paintings: They also communicate to rural market through the wall

paintings in Haats. Urban consumers shop daily and have 365 opportunities a

year to switch brands while the rural purchasers who buy their goods in weekly

haats have only 54. Considering this Tata Salt makes ultimate use of this

opportunity to educate the customers about the product.

(c) Video on Wheels: Tata Salt uses van marketing to reach the satellite

villages.

Non-Conventional Media-

Kalnirnaya: Tata Salt advertises on Kalnirnay Calendars which are printed in 8

languages. Out of the 1.2 crores calendars issued, 50 lakh are sold in

Maharashtra. This advertising is a reminder to the consumer of the Brand- Tata

Salt which is in its Maturity stage.

CASE STUDY III

COLGATE

Colgate Polmolive (India) Ltd.(CPIL), a wholly owned subsidiary of

Colgate Polmolive Company, US and a leading FMCG company in India is

engaged in oral care and personal care business.

CPIL incorporated in 1937 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of its US parent was

forced to offload 60% of its equity in compliance with FERA. But with policy

change allowing 100% FDI in industry the parent company has again hiked its

stake to 51% Oral Care Business CPIL market leader in (he oral care business in

India offers wide range scientifically proven oral care products (with multiple

benefits) i.e. toothpaste, toothpowders, and toothbrushes at various price points

under its flagship brand “Colgate”. The company dominates the Rs.1000 crore

Indian toothpaste market by commanding 50% of the market share.


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The umbrella oraleare brand of the company ‘Colgate’ is a very popular name in

the Indian household and has a good brand loyalty. The company has launched

more variants apart from the flagship brand Colgate Dental Cream like Colgate

Herbal Toothpaste, Colgate Fresh Energy Gel and was well received in the

market backed by aggressive promotions like ‘Talk to Me’ campaign for ‘Colgate

Fresh Energy Gel’ The company also markets its tooth brushes under the

umbrella brand ‘Colgate’. The recent launch in this segment is Colgate Navigator

toothbrush. In June 2001, CPIL rolled out in India, Colgate Actibrush, an

imported battery-powered toothbrush at a price of Rs. 999, It will be available at

select outlets. Will) this launch, the toothbrush market of India is now

segmented into manual and battery operated. Personal Care Business CPIL

which owns world renowned personal care brand ‘Polmolive’ is also a significant

player in the Indian personal care business by its offering of an array of bath

soaps, liquid hand washers, Shave preps and Skin care products. The Palmolive

Shaving Cream is a Market leader in its segment.

PALMOLIVE used mostly television and radio for the purpose of

promotion lather than cinema and print media. Because literacy level is low and

frequency level of audience in cinema theater is also low.


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PALMOLIVE used other means of mass media such as hoardings, wall paintings,

posters, banners, gift schemes and jathras & melas for the purpose of

promotion.

PALMOLIVE also runs special campaigns during crop harvest and marketing

seasons. It is beneficial lo take up special campaign in rural areas in these

periods. Appropriate timing of these campaigns is more important since the

promotion should not only result in awareness but also in adoption and

purchases.

First a decision has to be made with regards to the product and then the brand

choice has to be made. In such cases personal selling and opinion leaders play a

major role. PALMOLIVE promotes their product through opinion leaders.

One of the important Promotion Strategies was to launch campaigns and

programmes mainly on the awareness & diseases caused due to bad teeth.

Colgate did it with Rs. 8 crore ‘Operation Jagruti’ -an awareness programme &

strong distribution network. Network of super stockist & rural stockist helped to

the reach over 55000 villages.


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CASE STUDY IV

CASPER

Tainwala has carved a niche in human hearts by providing protection and

comfort. The buzz of mosquitoes changes ZZZ of sleep as Tainwala switches on

a world of protection for you and your loved ones. That’s the power of CASPER –

world’s largest range of mosquito repellents which comprises of coil, mat. Liquid


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Vaporiser and wide models of machines. Tainwala pioneered the concept of wet

wipes in India, by manufacturing Wet cleansing tissue in the brand name of

Fresh Ones. When its hot and humid, Fresh Ones cares by reviving sagging

feeling and flagging moods.

Tainwala also manufactures pre-injection swabs, wound cleansing tissues, germ

free tissues to wipe spectacles and many more special purpose tissues for

hospitals, pharmaceuticals, hotels, airlines etc. Tainwala has forged an alliance

with Samsonite Corp, USA, a world leader in luggage industry and is also

involved in making life more comfortable for people with jawan tuf top quality,

factories, warehouses etc.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

They have also painted many PANWALA shops of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar

Pradesh with their CASPER mosquito coil brand. This gives them visibility for a

period of 6 months. Numerous number of people come to the shop and they

notice the advertising. This helps them encourage brand recall.

Their main means of promotion is advertising through Doordarshan. Their

television ads normally emphases on a good night sleep with your family. They

basically try and emotionally appeal the mothers, since they show a doting

mother in the ads.

They provide large amount of promotion through word of mouth by giving larger

margins to distributors and retailers, in the rural market the word of these people

makes an impact on the buying decision of the people in rural areas.

Their aggressive advertising marketing include:


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Advertising in local newspaper.

Stressing in trade related activities.

Making mosquito mats machine available at electronic shops, painting shops for

free gifts.

They carry out product distribution through vans and educate the rural markets

about anti-mosquito solutions.

They also advertise in between various local events in the rural areas.


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The use of local newspapers to advertise the product is widely used by many

companies. The various newspapers used by companies are

North:

Punjab Kesari, Amar Ujjala

East:

Anand Bazar Patrika, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bartaman

South:

Enadu, Malayalam Manorama, Kumudum

West:

Loksatta, Tarun Bharat, Sakal, Sayakaleen, Shetkari(for farmers)

The company also use posters to a great extent in their promotions.

They also do a lot of advertising through stickers, danglers etc.

Also the companies use non-conventional sources of advetising like

Role-plays.

Wall paintings

Local bus back panels etc


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CONCLUSION

Growing at an annual rate of 4% the rural market introduces 1.2 million

consumers every year. Rural consumer is no more looked upon as the distant

cousin of the urban consumer by the Indian corporates and multinationals. The

rural customer has found his own place under the sun. More and more villages

are incorporated in the scheme of things as FMCG companies and MNC’s

scramble to woo the rural consumer.

As a result of the promotions drive launched by the agencies, most consumers

have become extremely brand conscious and loyal. No longer is every washing

powder Surf and every bathing soap Lux.

Promotions in rural areas need to be carried out very carefully as the people are

very brand loyal. It has been seen often enough that in one village only one

brand is prevelant. This is not due to lack of supply of other competing brands

but simply because the brand entered the market first. But the flip side of this is

that if one brand turned out to be faulty in one household, it would be boycotted

by the whole village.

Carrying out promotions in rural India is no mean task. As technology has not

been used extensively to cover this market, it is the knowledge base that is more

critical.

Rural people associate a brand image with what they think of themselves.

Therefore, using pictures of semi-nude women would amount to asking them to

not use the product at all. The rural communication strategy has to be very well

planned and implemented and the rural consumer’s sentiment has to be taken

into consideration while planning and executing the strategy.

Several other features need to be kept in mind for rural marketing. For one, the

rural consumer is extremely price conscious. For him, savings are critical and not

product usage. Consequently a discount would be more effective than an


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increase in the size of the product. Which is why sachets achieve maximum

usage in rural areas.

There used to be a time when foreign companies and MNC’s would give this

market a pass thinking their ‘sophisticated’ products would not sell there.

Companies such as Reckitt and Coleman, P&G, domestic FMCG Tata tea, Titan

industries, pharma giants Ranbaxy and Glaxo and innumerable electronic

manufacturers like Videocon, Godrej, BPL, Samsung, LG and automobile majors

such as Ford, Toyota, Daewoo have suddenly discovered the hidden mass of

rural India. Most have launched brands suited to rural India and have gone

aggressive in their marketing and advertising strategies.

In the coming years, it may well be the rural consumer that accounts for most of

an organizations sale. With so much of activity in the rural sector, all one can say

is “the rural customer has arrived”.


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BIBLOGRAPHY

Books

Advertising Management- B.S.Rathore.

Marketing In India- S.Neelamegham

Marketing Management- Ramaswamy & Nambhkumari

Rural Marketing- Gopalaswamy

Business World’s Marketing White book 2003-04

Magazines and Newspaper

Business World

Business India

Internet Sites

www.indiatimes.com.

www.coca-colaindia.com

www.onlinequotes.com

www.hll.com

www.indiainfoline.com.


http://www.indiainfoline.com/

http://www.onlinequotes.com/

http://www.coca-colaindia.com/

http://www.indiatimes.com/

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