Brand Building in Rural India By R.V. Rajan, CMD,

Anugrah Madison Advertising P. Ltd. Rural Summit Magazine (Mar 1, 2005)

A few months ago, I met the Chief of an FMCG company, which is marketing a well known foreign brand of products, but a brand, fairly new in the country. When I asked him if his company has got any plans to go rural, he said that his company does not have deep pockets like HLL or ITC to go rural and that his brand is yet to be well established in urban markets before they can think rural.

“But what about all those successful regional brands which are giving a run for their money to the likes of HLL – they didn’t start with deep pockets, and in fact most of them exploited the bottoms up approach, starting from rural markets and moving up” I said. The success of Cavincare that started with a 50 paise Chic shampoo in rural markets, and the Power brand of soap in South, and even brands like Ajanta, Anchor and Gadi prove the point.

When I started analysing the reasons for the success of these brands, I realised that they all started with products which had the right appeal to the smaller/rural markets, they were priced right and their dealer margins were generous. Most important, they all touched a chord in the minds of the targeted customers with a communication package which was highly local and which created an empathy with their audiences.

Is there a lesson in all these for marketers going rural? I believe so. Instead of considering rural marketing as some kind of “necessary evil”, to be taken up only in an hour of crisis, it would be worthwhile getting into it with proper understanding, if necessary with professional help.

I would like to list below a few fallacies or myths about rural marketing, which is preventing marketers from achieving full success from their rural marketing efforts.

a. Many of them think that rural markets are homogenous – rural market is heterogeneous and with India’s diversity we are realizing that the learnings from experiments in a small market need not necessarily be applicable to the rest of the country.
b. Doing just a van campaign, once in a blue moon, is no rural marketing. Marketers should realize that tactically used vans can be effective “Mobile Marketing Tools” instead of just propaganda vehicles. The success of Eveready with a very large fleet of sales cum promotional vans, is a case in point.
c. Conducting below the line activities as short term sales promotional efforts do not help build brands. While anyone can think of ideas for below the line activities, it requires conscious effort by professionals to connect with the audience with the right communication package – which takes the core message of the brand and communicates it in a language and style and situations, which is easily understood by the target audience. In other words, it is very important to invest in developing the right communication package aimed at the rural audience, if it is expected to build a brand, over the years. Also remember that for sustained results, it is important to plan an integrated campaign covering both mass media and below the line activities.

Ground Realities

It will be also good to understand some ground realities about rural marketing before marketers venture into rural markets with their brands.

a. Though a rural consumer gets information on product or services through multiple sources of communication, when it comes to a brand decision (especially in the durable category) he always consults others in the community. Opinion leaders continue to play a key role in the decision making process of a rural consumer. But interestingly the composition of opinion leaders has undergone a change over the years. Instead of only the village elders, today the educated youth of the village also play an important role.

Like in urban areas, children who watch TV in rural areas, also influence the choice of many personal care products that enter the household.

b. In communicating with rural India today, please remember, you are dealing with two distinct audiences:
- Rural rich as well as the growing breed of educated, upwardly mobile, middle class with aspirations, with exposure to mass media and with purchasing power almost akin to his urban counterpart.
- A vast majority of illiterate masses who are poor and who cannot be easily reached through mass media.

c. Another fact which is often overlooked is that television does not distinguish between urban and rural.

You may be able to get away with a common TVC for both urban and rural audience particularly for FMCG products provided your communication is not gimmicky or suggestive and is easy to comprehend. But when it comes to durables where rational decisions are involved, it is advisable to target the opinion leaders first. While the urban oriented TVC may register with opinion leaders and help create awareness, for real impact down the line, a region specific and need specific communication programme has to be devised which provides for demonstration and touch and feel of the products.

Rural Specialists

This brings me to the role of the so called “Rural Specialists”. Though there are any number of vendors with a couple of vans and with local contacts masquerading as rural specialists, there are just a handful of organisations which really understand the subject who can offer professional advice for a rural strategy which will help build brands in rural India. Unfortunately, most of the time, clients approach such specialists with preconceived ideas or with a lot of restrictions including low budgets. This is like ordering a soldier to fight a battle with his one hand tied up.

While all studies indicate that in many FMCG and Durable categories, rural markets account for more than 50% of market share, the annual spend specifically on rural marketing efforts is minimal. As against an estimated ad spend of Rs.10000 crores plus spent on organised media annually, there is a guesstimate that only Rs.500 crores per annum is specifically spent on rural marketing efforts.

Unless this anomaly is rectified and marketers listen to specialists for advice, or atleast take an integrated approach to rural marketing, their hopes of building brands in rural India, will remain just wishful thinking.

(The author can be contacted at rvrajan42@rediffmail.com)