1. RURAL
COMMUNICATION
By Ashiya, Deepa, Reenu

2. SUMMARY
Definition of rural market
Nature of the market
Factors affecting consumer behavior
Communication strategies
Communication media
Cases

3.  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)

4.  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.

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

6. 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.

7.  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

8. 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)

9. • 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 Jingle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-sx_NduQZs
Eg. Johnson & Johnson getting into rural markets through radio ads
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYqK4Vy67Ns

12. INFORMAL/ RURAL SPECIFIC MEDIA
source: 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

13.  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)

14.  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

15.  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

16.  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.

17.  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.

18.  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

19. ITC e- choupal
ITC’s rural networking project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx4guk

20. • 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.

21. • 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.

22. 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.

23. • 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.

24. • 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.

25. Selling Health: Hindustan Lever
Limited and the Soap Market

26. 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.

27. • 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.

28. • 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.

29. • 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

30. • 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.

31. • 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.

32. 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

33. 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

34. • 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’

35. India’s
Thirst for Rural Market
K subhadra & Sanjib Dutta. -ICFAI University
press

36. 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

37. 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

38. Hoardings and wall painting
• Put up hoardings in the
villages
• Painted the name Coca cola
on the compounds of the
residences in the villages

39. 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

40. 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)

41. 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’.

42. • 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.

43. • 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.