Brand Building In Rural India – A Road MapAn Article written by Mr. R Seshadri, Dy. Managing Director, Anugrah Madison (Jan 1, 2005) The day after Dr. Manmohan Singh was elected as the Prime Minister of India soon after the last Lok Sabha Elections, the newspapers across the nation carried excerpts from his Press Conference with the Headlines blaring “Manmohan promises a new deal for Rural India” (or something to this effect). Surely the new Government seemed to have seen the writing on the wall… the fact that two other Chief Ministers from the South had lost their jobs because it was alleged that they did not pay enough attention to the development of their rural masses. When mighty politicians fall because they did not nurture their rural constituency, can you imagine the plight of a poor Brand Manager in a company who chooses to ignore Rural India!! Well, much has been said and written about the ‘rural awakening’ among the denizens of Corporate India. Reams and reams of statistics has been churned out to prove what a Golden opportunity rural India offers to those willing to walk the dusty rural path and soil their hands amidst simple rural masses whose hopes and aspirations have been raised not only by the media explosion but also by the politicians who do not fail to meet them once in five years on their fancy “Rath Yathras”. However, one must admit that over the years, the politicians and bureaucrats have been doing their bit in terms of improving rural infrastructure rapidly. The Electrification of villages, phenomenal growth in rural telephone density, Gram Sadak Yojana, PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act are sure indicators of the increasing importance being given to Rural India by the Government. On the other hand, the mushrooming of internet kiosks and now the growing presence of Supermarkets and Hypermarkets catering to rural by corporates like ITC and DCL Shriram (Chaupal Sagar, Hariyali) proves that Corporate India too is keen on making its present felt in the countryside. Before I come to the specific issue of Building a Brand in Rural India, let’s look at some pitfalls of building a brand in rural. Most marketing men adopt a few ‘quick-fix’ strategies before venturing into the Rural markets with their brands. They merely strip down all the ‘so-called’ frills from the product currently being sold in urban and believe that the product is ready to go rural. Just extend their brand to low cost packs, thus making it cheaper for rural. All these and more are just short-term measures to enter the rural markets. And if one believes that these will ensure success in the rural markets, it can but remain only as wishful thinking. What then is the route to building a Brand in rural ? A route that is sensitive and appropriate to the needs of the rural consumer. I believe, that you can Build your Brand in Rural only if you build the following five attributes into your product : 1. Build customisation Let’s deal with each one of these issues separately and see how a combination of these measures can truly help Build a Brand in Rural India. BUILD CUSTOMISATION We all know that the rural markets and the rural consumers are quite distinct from their urban counterparts. Customising or reverse-engineering your products to suit the needs of the rural consumers is the key to success in the rural market place. One needs to first go into the rural markets to find out the wants, needs, aspirations and dreams of the rural consumer. One must meet up with the villagers to understand their expectations and create a product that is relevant to their needs. Which means it’s not enough to merely depend on research data or numbers from the air-conditioned comfort of our office. We not only need to ‘engineer’ a product that appeals to him but also need to go back to him for ‘ratification’ of its relevance. The example of ‘RUF & TUF’ ready-to-stitch jeans kit priced at Rs.195/- a few years ago, customised for the rural market comes to mind as a fine example of building relevance for the market place. Despite the Brand’s subsequent decline (for various reasons), their approach to rural India and the phenomenal success they achieved has already become a part of marketing folklore. BUILD EMPATHY / RELEVANCE Building empathy for your brand begins with the Brand name. It is important to seek out a Brand name that is preferably vernacular, that is in tune with the ethos of the market and the social milieu it will sell in. And the same logic applies for the colour, the slogan and every aspect of communication. They must strike the right chord with the rural consumer and cannot be seen wearing urban glasses ! The glitz and glamour of urban advertising, the sophisticated graphics and gimmicks used in the execution of the commercials are beyond the scope of comprehension of an average rural consumer. When Philips launched a Rural thrust for their Audio & Video products in TN some years ago, my Agency created the memorable and eminently successful “Enga Veetu Super Star – Philips” (The Super Star of my Home – Philips) Campaign, which connected well with the rural audience since it was rooted in their culture, habit and attire without trying to make a fashion statement. BUILD RECOGNITION There are two issues that need to be addressed while Building Recognition into a Brand targeting the Rural Market. a. The need for protection against the rampant prevalence of duplicate or parasite brands. Secondly, the unhurried rural consumer, whose pace of life is slow and measured unlike his urban counterpart, has enough time on his hands to take his time in buying a product (particularly Durables). He is certainly not as savvy as an urban consumer in the usage of a product be it a shampoo, detergent powder or a television set. The key to success therefore lies in, clearly demonstrating the use of the Brand, which remains a critical element in the success of a Brand in rural. For example, some years ago, CavinKare found that though their shampoos were getting encouraging trials from the rural consumers, the penetration levels were extremely low. Many rural consumers had no clue how to use a shampoo. CavinKare’s team travelled extensively in rural pockets, caught hold of school boys to demonstrate how to lather, wash and comb hair! This exercise had significant impact and made the rural consumer comfortable with the concept of using a shampoo. BUILD POSITIVE WORD-OF-MOUTH We all know that most villages consist of distinct ethnic or caste groups to which the families belong, forming very strong homogenous rural communities. Here again unlike the urban consumer who tends to be far more ‘individualistic’ in his buying habits, the rural consumer is largely influenced by the reference groups within the family, community or the village. Depending on the type of product being sold, the nature of the individuals driving these reference groups (or opinion leaders) would vary. The marketers targeting rural would do well if they clearly identify these reference groups to build positive word-of-mouth for the brand. Strong word-of-mouth for a brand can be built through executing customized events within the village revolving around the core message of a Brand, appealing to the core target group. BUILD ACCESS Reaching the rural consumer with their products and services remains the biggest challenge to an average marketer. Though on the face of it, the task of distribution to 6.38 lakh villages across the country appears daunting, 60% of rural wealth and 50% of rural population exists in the top 13% of these villages in the 2000 and above population strata. Again, 90% of Consumer Durables purchased by the rural people happen in just 1900 towns located in the 20,000 to 50,000 population strata. The real challenge therefore, lies in accessing the last mile. Here again, if the existing infrastructure consisting of the omnipresent Public Distribution Shops, Post Offices, Mandis, Haats, Melas, etc., are tapped effectively, accessibility to the rural consumer can become less and less of an issue. HLL has already shown the way to marketing men through their SHAKTI Project on the effective use of Self Help Groups to access the last mile. I am sure as the days go by, the compulsive need to enter far flung rural homes will provoke marketing men to come up with more creative solutions for cracking this problem of Building Access. To conclude, Building a Brand in Rural India will continue to pose the biggest challenge to the marketing fraternity in the years to come. Hence, the Art and Science of Brand Building in rural needs to become an integral part of the learning process in the innumerable Management Institutions across the nation. It must become mandatory for every student to spend a few weeks in the midst of his rural brethren as a part of his learning. And for those practicing marketing professionals, it is not too late to go back to the class rooms and spend time in the idyllic rural countryside to understand this enigma called the ‘Rural Consumer’ R. Seshadri
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