RURAL COMMUNICATIONBy Ashiya, Deepa, Reenu

SUMMARY Definition of rural market

Nature of the marketFactors affecting consumer behavior

Communication strategiesCommunication media

Cases

Census definition: ‘that which is not urban’• Urban areas are all locations with a municipality/corporation or a notified town

area• Urban areas are all other locations satisfying the following criteria A minimum population of 5000 At least 75% of male working population engaged in non agricultural activities A population density of over 400 per sq km

Rural market: The set of consumers who are located in rural area and who exhibit behavior that is different from those of consumers in urban areas. (Rural marketing opp. & challenges by sanal kumar velayudhan)

Large but scattered population 69.9% of Indians in rural areas as of 2010 (world bank report 2012) 700 million people spread around 6,27,000 villages. 87.5% of the rural population belongs to bottom of the pyramid (Dr. Simon j

Evenet) More than 16 scheduled languages and 114 vernaculars

Income Average income of less Rs.2000/- per month Rising monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) increase of 64.6% in 2004-10

period.  (National Sample Survey) 54 % to GDP About 50% of income comes from agriculture.

Value consciousness Increasing literacy levels (10%) Accessibility and connectivity (273.5 million mobile connections), acceptance of technology brand consciousness

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

Education instead of promotion Interactive interesting and entertaining How benefits outweigh the costs Benefits in accordance with the needs and lifestyle. Demonstrations will help in achieving the purpose

Regionalization of the advertisement Perceptions traditions and values vary from state to state MRF bullock cart tyres: in west UP bullock carts were small pulled by single bullock:

East UP, bigger pulled by two bullocks: West UP spoke Hindusthani while east UP spoke Bhojpuri.

Emami signed Amithabh and Madhuri for north, but in Andhra they signed Chiranjeevi.

Philips radio: TN -enga veetu super star (Rajanikant), AP- Maa inti mega star (Chiranjeevi). Has they used superstar it would have meant late N.T. Rao

Philips used photo of villages own girl – to sell transistor TV’s so that rural audience can relate and perceives that product is for them

Customisation of promotional message Use of Human elements Life stories having characters that customer can identify with Using aspirational urban model, but simple and direct communication Local language and dialect

Role of mass media (reaches around 57% rural population) Cinema reaches 26% 2 out of 5 Indians are unreachable by mass media

FORMAL/ CONVENTIONAL MEDIA

Do not provide the touch and feel of the product TV

• Tv is the most preferred (36% access to TV, 60% B&W) – power cuts are common and this restricts viewing time.

• Doordarshan most popular channel Print media (Print media reaches 23%) Radio (Reaches20.5% of rural population) Cinema (reach 26%) Outdoor (wall paintings, hoardings, tree boards)

• Radio can reach a large number of poor people because it is

affordable and uses little electricity. • In 2000, AIR programmes could be heard in two-third of all Indian

households in 24 languages and 146 dialects, over some 120 million radio sets.

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

• Thus there is regular listener ship • The main advantage is that it is cost effective medium.• Colgate, Jyoti Laboratories, Zandu Balm, Juari Industries are

somecompanies using radio for communication. Eg. Nirma Jinglehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-sx_NduQZsEg. Johnson & Johnson getting into rural markets through radio adshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYqK4Vy67Ns

INFORMAL/ RURAL SPECIFIC MEDIAsource: rural marketing: concepts and practices by Dogra

• Farm to farm/ house to house Hindustan lever (fair and lovely) in villages with population of 2000+ to

expand user base Reached 10% of villages and 17% of households in MP,UP and Bihar 46% brand conversions (35% was from non users)

• Group meetings MRF tractor owners meet (TOMEE) TAFE (direct contact exercises in 9 states – 44 centres): sales growth of

12% after one month of campaign

Audio Visual publicity vans

• Create word of mouth publicity

• HLL (fair and lovely) home to home campaign was supported by Audio visual show and product demonstrations

• Costly to hire and maintain

• Cost per contact is more than conventional media

Demonstrations

• Dalda launch, fed pakodas on street corner to convey that they can use it for frying (method demonstration)

• Hero, TVS and Kinetic gave live demonstrations in Kolhapur for Maharashtra sugar co operative (they got 400 orders)

Opinion leaders Asian paints launched Utsav range during pre Diwali season. Painted house of pardhaan Paints doesn’t peel off Necessary for high value consumer durables and agricultural inputs.

Mandis These are agricultural markets set up by govt. to procure agri. Produce

from farmers Serve as a platform for product demo and on the spot sales In areas with population of 10000+ mandies can cater to 136000 people Used for promoting durables and agricultural products

Haats Mobile supermarkets (75% are held once a week, 20% twice a week and

the rest are organised daily) There are around 42000 haats catering to daily needs. Number of visitors on an average per haat is 4500+ Good platform for demonstrations

Melas Around 25000 melas in india (90% are religious and one day affairs) About 5000 are commercial in nature, used for brand promotions Women folk are present in large number Kumbh mela (Haridwar, Allahabad, Ujjain, Nasik) Sonepur mela (Bihar) HLL, P&G set up kiosks. Mahindra & Mahindra set up information counter for its tractor at Pushkar

mela (rajasthan) Nesle arranges coffee and maggie shop

Good for introducing new brands and building brands When MART and IDE (International development enterprises) used haats

and melas to promote and demonstrate treadle pumps and minor irrigation devices

Sale went up by from less than 10000 to more than 100000

Product display contests The manufacturer informs retailers about the contest in advance The best displays win prizes. Encourage stocking of the merchandise

Pilgrim sites, Rural games etc are other avenues which can be utilized.

Folk dances By Ogilvy rural for breeze soap (HLL) Rose was the symbol and was attack from Nirmas rose Breeze had essence of rose Wall paintings not effective (difficult to paint a realistic rose) Wheeled in an outsized bar of breeze (thermo Cole) on stage and smashed

it and heaps of roses fell out Message went through

Puppetry Popular in Rajasthan LIC uses it to educate masses in UP, Bihar and MP The number of inquiries at LIC offices after the show was higher.

Street theatre• Deeply rooted in the Indian tradition. • This form is used to propagate social and political messages and to create

an awareness regarding critical issues. • Street theatre breaks the formal barriers and approaches the people directly.Eg.• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsWzWCFvVyA

Games• Rajdoot (Yamaha) 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

ITC e- choupal

ITC’s rural networking project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx4gukMYTGA

• Initiative by ITC (2000)• directly links the rural farmers with the company for the

procurement of agriculture and aquaculture products, such as soybeans, coffee, and prawns

• Traditionally, these commodities were procured by such companies from mandis .

• The long supply chain resulted in high procurement costs for ITC and in lost profit opportunities for the farmers and reduction in quality.

• The PCs and Internet access at certain centres enable the

farmers to obtain information on mandi prices , good farming practices, and to place orders for agricultural inputs, such as seeds and fertilizers.

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

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

How they did it

• A choupal was converted into an e-choupal by setting up a computer and Internet connectivity. An investment of

• Rs 40,000 was needed to establish an e-choupal with dial-up connectivity.

• E-choupals are operated by a sanchalak (operator), a literate person who is elected from among the farmers of the village

• ITC covers the cost of equipment, the sanchalak pays for day-to-day operational costs, such as electricity and Internet charges.

• Training is given to the sanchalak, who also act as an ITC salesman. He is paid a commission

• Roles of Intermediaries were redefined as samayojaks (coordinators), who assist ITC in setting up new e-choupals by conducting village surveys and by identifying the best sanchalaks.

• These coordinators earn a commission on product processed.

• The farmer carries a sample of his produce to a local kiosk and receives a spot quote from the sanchalak.

• If the farmer accepts the quote, he can then transport the produce directly to an ITC collection center and get payment within two hours.

• ITC coordinates its activities with institutions such as the national meteorological department ,several universities and and with companies supplying agricultural inputs to enable e commerce.

• The farmers prefer this system to the mandi system, where they had to wait for hours, or even days, before the produce was sold.

• Transaction costs such as bagging, transportation, loading, and unloading had to be incurred by the farmers.

• Access to information, inclusion of the representative and accountability of the system made this system very successful.

• covers 1,300 choupals, links 7,500 villages, and serves almost 1 million farmers.

• ITC sourced US$15 million worth of commodities from e-choupals in 2001.

• The substantial quantity, already procured through this channel has resulted in overall savings of more than US$1 million. These savings are shared between ITC and the farmers.

Selling Health: Hindustan Lever Limited and the Soap Market

Health Messages and the Rural Consumers

• HLL researched hygiene and hand washing practices and the trigger points for using soap among rural consumers.

• HLL determined the trigger for a consumer to wash his or her hands was to remove unpleasant contaminants, not to kill germs that cause infections.

• It was also found this perception of “visual clean is safe clean” leads to infrequent hand washing and limited use of soap.

• Results of research done among focus group in rural areas.

– 5 of 13 washed their hands before eating– 10 of 18 washed their hands before preparing food– If they did wash hands, often used water or a proxy product

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

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

• HLL decided it would have to educate customers about germs

and the consequences of germs on health to increase soap usage as a means of deterring bacterial infection.

• HLL teamed up with the rural India outreach arm of Oglivy & Mather to design a behavioral-change education campaign focused on uniting the health attributes of Lifebuoy soap with health messages of germ eradication.

• Firstly, HLL and Mather brainstormed a way to

communicate the negative effects of “invisible” germs in an easily understandable and relevant message to the rural consumer.

• Highlighted the unique attribute of Lifebuoy soap, Active-B.

• HLL and Oglivy & Mather outlined the following key messages:

– Invisible germs everywhere

• Germs cause diseases common to rural families including painful stomach, eye,and skin infections

• Lifebuoy soap with Active-B can protect you from germs.

• Wash your hands with Lifebuoy soap to prevent infection.

• HLL next embarked on the creation of a comprehensive

program aimed at reaching all members in a rural village to create a sustained behavioral change.

• HLL titled the program Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetna, or Lifebuoy Glowing Health.

• HLL hoped to change the trigger for washing hands from “visual clean is safe clean” to social convention of frequent hand washing.

School and village presentation

• Children aged 5- 13

• Through stories

• Learn about germs how they cause diseases

• Importance of using soap and when to use

• Demonstration to show that Visual clean is not safe clean

Lifebuoy village health day

• Health camp and check up

• Village doctor as opinion leader

• Healthy child award

• Health skits and poems by kids to gain involvement

• Demonstrations and awards for best presenters

Diarrhea management workshop• For young mothers and pregnant women• Dangers of diarrhea • Health checks

Launch of the Lifebuoy health club• Formation of health club which includes activities centered

on hygiene and keeping the village clean• Facilitators return 4-6 times more

• HLL created health based brand differentiation• Increased the sale of its low cost mass market soap• Built new habits, involving its brand• Built brand loyalty• Fulfilling its corporate purpose ‘to raise the quality of life’

India’s

Thirst for Rural MarketK subhadra & Sanjib Dutta. -ICFAI University

press

Coca cola India’s Rural Marketing Strategy

• Based on three A’s

1. Availability : availability of the product to customer

2. Affordability: Product Pricing

3. Acceptability : convincing the customer to buy the product

Acceptability

Extensive marketing in the mass media and outdoor advertising

Aggressive rural communication campaign consisting of

Hoardings

Participation in weekly mandis and annual haats

3 TV commercials

Print Advertisement in several regional newspapers

Hoardings and wall painting

• Put up hoardings in the villages

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

Weekly mandies and haats

• Weekly Mandies :Weekly fairs where villages gather and sell their produce

• Annual Haats: Annual exhibitions conducted during festival season

major sources of business activity and entertainment in Rural India

By setting up temporary outlets

TV commercials• Targeted at Rural consumers• Increased Ad- spend on Doordarshan• 2002

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

2003 March- September• To strengthen the brand image- aimed at making Coke a generic name for “thanda”- a popular

dialect of North.

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

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

• 1st Ad- Amir khan as Street smart (‘tapori’)

The connection of coke with “thanda” was made.

• 2nd Ad –Amir Khan as shop keeper

There is a subtle difference with the shop keeper asking customers to ask for Thanda instead of Coke.

• 3rd Ad- Amir Khan as a Punjabi farmer

It showed when one askd for “thanda”, one would get Coke.

• Analysts says that the three commercials succeeded in making rural consumers connect to Coke

• It increased the brand awareness of the brand Coca cola among them.