Rural

Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
Prof S P Garg
Jaipuria Institute of Management
Jaipur (India)
[email protected]
Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding

A key challenge for companies

:communication with RURAL
Consumers.
Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• Customer
• Connectivity and Contact
• Constant
• Clear cut and Cohesive
• Creative
• Content
• Communication
• Commonsense
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• In rural India, the challenge is:,as neither print
nor television reaches over 40% of the rural
population.
• Creating direct consumer contact and
communication
• Use of Common Sense:
• Common sense- a very potent measure in rural
communication
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• Understand the Audience:
• The audience :completely different, different
approaches.
• consumers in each region have their own set of
customs.
• what would apply to one would in all certainty not apply
to another set of consumers in a different rural region.
• rural consumers upgrade in a fashion similar to their
urban counterparts as well as opt for premium products
in smaller formats,
• rural buyers :sustainable advantage as they take to
brands slowly and give them up slowly.
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• Media for Rural Communication:
Among the mass media at some point of
time in the late 50's and 60's radio was
considered to be a potential medium for
communication to the rural people.
Another mass media is television and
cinemas.
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• Language and content as per the
suitability of rural environment.

Background figures are also a

deterministic factor.
Special promotion measures :strong
applicable factors
• Focus on reverse innovation
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• "Building a rural brand is a difficult task
• Rural consumer environment to be understood
before the creation of ads.
• Rural mindset accepts the brands easily, which are
close to their culture.
• This point to be reflected in ads for rural markets.
• Sponsorships to Melas and Hats
• Selection of brand ambassadors and their
Admissibility
• lyrics not be ignored
• Linking for folk culture as an effective utilization of
brand promotions.
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• Branding Objects:
• While devising the communication strategy for an
audience that has a different way of viewing and
perceiving things, it is the behavior that need to
be addressed and not just mere superficial needs.
• outline very exact specifications of what they
hope to accomplish.
• The company to predict the outcome, should do
professional services and introspection, long term
vision, and initiate steps to dedicate for the Rural
customers.
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• Creativity:
• As people in each region have their own
cultures and rituals, this implies they have
their set of symbols or identifiers which
once identified could be used in a very
effective manner.
• Reverse Innovation
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• A reverse innovation means any innovation
that's likely to be adopted first in the developing
areas.
• In this process, develop products in smaller
towns and villages and then distribute nationally.
• Kashyap, who is known as the father of rural
marketing in India, is also the brain behind a
large number of rural marketing initiatives by
leading corporates believe there is a lot to be
done by corporates who have been slow on
capturing the rural heartland.
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
BY CHANGING PERCEPTION
villagers using Toothpaste, even when they can use Neem
or Babool sticks,
villagers using soapslike Nima rose, Breeze, Cinthol etc.
even when they can use locally manufactured nvery low
priced soaps.
Villagers are constantly looking forward for new branded
products.
What can one infer from these incidents, is the paradigm
changing and customer no longer price sensitive?
They want value for money.
They are ready to pay premium for the product if the
product is offering some extra utility for the premium.
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• BY UNDERSTANDING CULTURAL AND
SOCIAL VALUES
• recognize that social and cultural values have a
very strong hold on the people.
• Social Dynamics and attitudes play an important
role in Indian Rural Markets
• Cultural values play major role in deciding what
to buy.
• Moreover, rural people are emotional and
sensitive. Thus, to promote brands, FOCUS on
social and cultural values.
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
PROPER COMMUNICATION IN LOCAL
LANGUAGE
Realize the importance of proper
communication in local language for
promoting products.
Main focus is to change the outlook about
quality.
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• By Providing What Customer Want
• By Developing Rural-specific Products
• By Promoting Products With Indian
Models And Actors
• By Associating Themselves With India
• By Promoting Indian Sports Team
• By Talking About A Normal Indian /Family
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• Print media
• POP
• Creation of Data Base
• Awards and Appreciation
• By Effective Media Communication
• By Associating Themselves With Indian
Celebrities
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• Temples and Festivals
• Street Festivals
• Kirtan/Katha
• Film Shows
• Puppet Shows
• Audio video Vans,Sign Boards, Tree Boards,Bus
Boards
• Rural Events
• DM Campaigns
• Farm to Farm
• House to House
• Group Meetings
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• Haats (42000 )and MELAS
• NCAER estimates that around half of items sold in these melas are
FMCG products and consumer durables.
• Companies to take advantage of such events to market their
products.
• Wall paintings is the good way of communicating.  where a colorfully
painted walls become the centre of attraction and as the
communities are closed in nature, people passing by the walls
notice the product which leads to high brand recall value
• PAINTINGS
• The message is simple and clean.
• Rural people like the sight of bright colours.
• COKE, PEPSI and TATA traders advertised their products through
paintings.
Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• RURAL ACTIVATION
• BTL
• ATL
• TTL
Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding

Advertising & Sales promotional

strategies in rural markets
Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
•  

• Dabur uses Astra to boost rural sales

– Shopkeepers selling Dabur India and
other consumer products would now learn
marketing through role-plays staged by
professional actors at their shops.
– About 75 per cent of the company sales
come form rural areas, hence, it has
created the Astra training consultancy
module in five vernacular languages,
Bengali, Tamil, telungu, Malayalam and
Kannada
Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
– recent initiative titled Astra, advanced
sales training for rural & retail
– Dabur has recruited 75 sales and HR
managers across the country who
would educate over 2,000 distribution
channel partners of the firm about the
complexities of sales and distribution
through the audio-visual medium
– Dabur has a distribution reach of 25
lakh retail outlets across the country.
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
PHILIPS INDIA LTD.
• Objective –
• to promote Phillips Electronic Entertainment
products, viz., Stereos and CTVs, among the rural
population of Tamil Nadu.
Communication Strategy - Based on information regarding
buyer behavior.
Philips Super Shows ; were conducted in five district
headquarters with the intention of motivating dealers as well
as opinion leaders to generate word-of mouth publicity, as a
first step.
followed by extensive van operation in 5000+ population areas
with audience participation techniques for mouthing the
brand, supported by mass media campaign in regional press
(district wise edition), rural cinemas, radio, wall painting and
intensive merchandising activities.
Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd (BBLIL)
– Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd (BBLIL)
markets its rural brands through
magic shows and skits.
Reckitt and Colemen
– uses NGO in rural areas to educate
customers about product benefits
which establishes one to one
communication channels.
Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
Marico Industries - Parachute Coconut Oil Pouches
– With the objective of creating awareness for Parachute
Coconut Oil
– pouches in towns with less than 20,000 population in Tamil
Nadu, and
– in order to convert loose oil buyers into Parachute pouch
customers,
– launched a van campaign.
– The communication Strategy focused on getting women out
of their homes to participate in the van campaign, which
was aimed exclusively for them and for the first time
conducted by women.
– Result - A study by Marico showed a 25per cent conversion
from loose coconut oil usage to Parachute Pouch Pack,
post van campaign and a substantial increase in sales from
the campaign areas
Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
– ACC Limited - ACC Suraksha Cement
– In a market dominated by graded cements in the semi
urban/rural areas of Karnataka, ACC Cement ventured
out to establish the superiority of ACC Suraksha
blended cement and build an image of a Premium
Cement for the brand.
– To reach the opinion leaders viz. Architects, Engineers,
Contractors, etc.,the assistance of the regional local
press and other Direct Marketing efforts such as field
meetings with small groups of masons & customers.
– Result - A post-campaign study initiated by ACC
revealed tangible improvement in off-take in the state
of Karnataka and an extremely positive response from
dealers, who believed that the campaign helped in
strengthening their hands.
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• Rural marketing involves a number of
strategies:
• Client and location specific promotion
• Joint /cooperative promotion..
• Bundling of inputs
• Developmental marketing
• Unique selling proposition (USP)
• Extension services
• Business ethics
• Partnership for sustainability
 Rural Communication,Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• Rural Promotion
– . Promotion is the process of marketing communication to inform, persuade, remind and
influence consumers or users in favour of your products and service

• The Promotion Media

– Newspaper : Eenadu(A.P), Dina Thanthi ( Tamil Nadu), Punjab Kesari (North), Loksatta
(Maharashtra), Anand Bazaar Patrica (West Bengal), Daink Baskar (North)
– Television: Sun TV (Tamilnadu), Asianet (Kerla), Eenadu( AP), Aplha Punjabi (North), Aplha
Mararthi (Maharashtra).
– Radio: Radio reach is highest in Kerla (62%) followed by Tamil Nadu (35%) and Karnataka
(32%). Example : Colgate, Jyoti Labs, Zandu Balm are some of the company using radio
communication programme.
– A ten second spot in Regional station would cost only about Rs. 2000/-
– Cinema :1. Films on products like Vicks, Lifeboy, Colgate and Shampoos are shown in rural
cinemas halls.
– 2.LIC and Private insurance companies have been showing short movies in rural theatres to
create awareness about life insurance
– Outdoor Advertisement
– Form of media which includes signboard, wall painting, hoardings, tree boards, bus boards
etc.
– Direct Mail Advertising:
– Mailers for seed and pesticides to be sent as per agricultural season.
– Direct mailers on consumer durables to be sent during the harvesting season so that
Rural Communication, Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• Farm to Farm / House to House
– Many LIC agents and companies dealing with high
value consumer durables have tried this approach
with success in rich rural areas.
– ACC representatives retailers make house-to
house visit and give information about product
stability.
• Group Meeting
– The Banker once in a week visit a village get the
villagers in school hall or Panachyat office and
explain to the villagers the various financial
facilities offered by the bank
– MRF conduct tractor owners meet in association
with local distributors.
• Opinion Leaders
– Asian Paints promoted its Utasv brand of
paint by painting the village Sarpanch’s
house a few months prior to the launch to
demonstrate that the paint does not peel
off and is an ideal replacement of chuna.
– The health development assistant of HUL
regularly meets school teachers to
promote Lifebuoy soap in Villages.
Rural Communication, Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• The Melas ( It is estimated that over 20,000 melas are
conducted every year)
– Paint companies supporting Pola fair in
Maharashtra by painting the horns of the bulls.
– Sonepur Mela, Vaisakh Purnima Mela( Bihar).
– Navaratri Fair, Ambaji (Gujarat)
– Naucahndi Mela, Ramlila Mela(UP)
– Kartik Mela, Gawlior Trade Fair( MP)
 Rural Communication, Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• Haats ( On certain days of the week , both the sellers and
buyers meet in the village to buy and sell goods and services).
– Parachut Oil, Nirma washing powder and tiger brand
biscuits have been promoted through haats.
– About 40,000 Haats are held in rural areas in our country,
highest number haats in U.P (10,000).
• Audio Visual Van ( The van is a mobile promotion station
having facilities for screening films, slides and mike publicity.
– Nippo promotes batteries through specially designed vans
called melavans. The van are equipped with TV/VCR for
showing products awareness films.
– Colgate India makes extensive use of VANs.
– ITC’s mobile Vans take the message of e-choupal to new
village.
Rural Communication, Advertising,
Promotions and Branding
• For further details :
• Contact:
• [email protected]
• 09309292080