In an exclusive interview with SME Times, Veerendra Jamdade, CEO of Vritti i-Media said that it is important for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to identify the specific target group on which they would like to focus and then set the short-term and long-term brand objectives without being conservative in choosing the medium.
SMEs need to identify target group for branding: Veerendra Jamdade
September 25th, 2012 | Posted by in Media Coverage - (0 Comments)Consumer Electronics Biggies Switch on Exponential Demand in Rural India
July 20th, 2012 | Posted by in Articles and Opinions - (0 Comments)India’s consumer market has witnessed sea change over the last decade. Like urban markets, consumers in rural markets are now more technology-savvy and are increasingly demanding sophisticated electronic durables and white goods. This trend has been driven by Minimum Support Price incomes to farmers as well as an ameliorating power situation in small towns and villages. In fact, where farmers get facilities like instant payment of cash when they sell their produce at stores like the ITC’s Choupal Saagars, they are empowered to pick up consumer products like washing machines, televisions, refrigerators, DVD players, microwave ovens, etc from that store itself. At these stores, consumer electronics comprise 15% of sales, growing at 40% each year. These factors, along with a growing perception of white goods as assets, has revolutionised the electronics segment in the consumer durables category.
Industry experts say that the consumer durable market, pegged at Rs 50,000 crore, for products like TVs, washing machines, refrigerators and air conditioners is growing between 15-20% annually in urbanIndia; in contrast to the rural market, where growth is much higher – at about 60% a year. With such a clear reason to target rural areas, several electronics big-wigs are charging ahead, and LG electronics is leading the pack. As of May 2011, 21% of this company’s turnover came from the rural market. But success has not come easy to LG, which has tried its hand at a spectrum of activities to build its presence in rural India.
LG Electronics has made use of vans and road shows to showcase their goods to villagers and, local language advertisements to communicate with rural targets. To penetrate the hinterlands, the company set up 45 area offices and 59 remote area offices, in addition to participating in rural haats, melas and mandis. LG has tied up with stalwarts in the rural space, ITC and DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd (DSCL) to employ unconventional distribution modes. The company is now looking to boost promotional efforts in 14 states with high disposable incomes. For this, it will harness the hub-and-spoke model, by roping in distributors of commonly purchased items such as fertilisers and two-wheelers.
Another white goods brand which has always thrived in small town Indiais Philips India. The company has always used local language advertising, graffiti and radio advertising to drive its growth. It has also been reported that the company demonstrates its products to village headmen and pursues a sale to influence buying decisions in villages. Another example is of Godrej Appliances Ltd. A household name in the Indian home appliances space for generations, the company test marketed its battery-powered ChotuKool refrigerator priced at only Rs 3,700 or half the cost of a fridge, in regions that had irregular electricity. For the launch and promotion of this prototype project, locals were employed as entrepreneurs selling ChotuKool in their villages at a fixed commission. Furthermore, a tie-up with India Post helped Godrej sell the product through post offices too, and helped boost distribution and coverage in villages where there were no retailing alternatives.
ChotuKool enabled local vendors and businessmen to engage novel methods of growing their businesses. Rural flower vendors and kirana store owners were able to stock a larger range of goods for longer using this innovation. Having achieved such positive results, the company now hopes to add more low-cost innovations to its ‘Chotu’ family, namely a low-cost washing machine ChotuWash as well as a low-cost water purifier.
Today, like Whirlpool, several electronics companies face traditional hurdles and prejudices regarding the utility of goods like washing machines and refrigerators. Akin to many white goods companies, Whirlpool is already present across price points and is continually strengthening its distribution network. More and more companies are now leveraging their networks and knowledge of rural markets for the next phase of growth. In this way, several behemoths in the space are etching unique growth trajectories for striking it big in the rural India.
RURAL MARKETING: ROCKET SCIENCE OR A DESI FORMULA?
June 27th, 2012 | Posted by in Articles and Opinions - (3 Comments)
What makes the dhoti-clad villager—sipping cutting chai on a chaupaal—an indispensable golden opportunity for the corporate giants? Why are suave city-based marketing personals struggling to formulate strategies to woo and tap such villages when they do not even fully understand their language?
The answer lies in the sheer market size of rural India. A 2011 news report in the Financial Express based on a study by Rural Marketing Association of India (RMAI) highlighted that the rural market accounts for over two-thirds of India’s population, 56% of its income and 33% of its savings. Further, rural India equals 12.2% of the global population and is therefore the world’s single largest high-potential market. It accounts for 53% and 59% of FMCG and durables sales in India, respectively. However, the key concern that confronts every marketer today is reaching the scattered landscape of six lakh villages or a population that is thrice as large as urban India.
A hidden opportunity: Haats or rural hypermarkets?
Weekly markets called haats are strategically located to cover a cluster of villages. They have become the epicentre of economic and social exchange in rural India and in doing so, provide a readymade solution to the problem mentioned above. In a report by RMAI, ‘Haats as marketing hubs,’ published in Financial Express in 2011, some interesting facts about rural India’s shopping patterns were revealed. India’s 43,000 haats generate annual sales of Rs 50,000 crore. Almost 98% of villagers regularly visit haats, while 75% of them are estimated to frequent a specific haat each week. Haats cater to anything between 21–57 villages and host footfall ranging between 5,600 to 12,000 visitors a day, depending upon its size. Anywhere between 327 and 545 stalls may be found in a haat. Two-fifths of total attendees are women.
Haats perfectly sync with villagers’ psyche of making a value-for-money purchase out of a variety of offerings. They offer a touch-and-feel experience of products and drive sales by word of mouth. The favourability of these factors for companies, along with brand awareness, low selling overheads, majority cash sales and redistribution opportunity have prompted telecom majors Nokia and Motorola to augment sales through village haats. Tata Shaktee, which offers roof sheets, has witnessed a 25% rise in sales after they devised a pilot project in 100 haats which comprised setting up direct selling stalls. Similarly, Tata Agrico has rural haats to thank for a significant expansion in their market share from 30–40%.
Festive melas and road-shows
The eponymous Kumbh Mela has become a favoured destination for MNC 
FMCG behemoths like Colgate-Palmolive that distributes free tubes of herbal toothpaste or for Hindustan Lever that markets its Lifebuoy soap. Similarly, Samsung’s road-show for its ‘Dream Home’ campaign constituted trips across 48 small towns in 100 days were aimed at augmenting brand awareness for its electronic offerings.
The road ahead
It’s high time that marketers evolved their notions regarding the emerging rural class in villages. From being aspirants of roti, kapda and makaan, to becoming brand and value conscious buyers, the rural consumer market is seeing sea-change. By communicating with consumers at the venues they frequent, marketers can hope to make their fortunes in markets beyond metros.
Vritti i-Media helps effectively reach tier II & tier III cities
May 11th, 2012 | Posted by in Media Coverage - (0 Comments)In an exclusive interview with Mr. Veerendra Jamdade, CEO, Vritti i-Media, Exchange4Media understands the potential of Vritti’s service offerings in effectively reaching the potential consumers of tier II and tier III cities.
Vritti i-Media’s audio advertising network across public bus stands and unique audio-visual advertising at highway food malls forms an innovative platform of OOH advertising for advertisers in India. While the audio advertising network is used as an efficient tool of rural advertising by a vast array of brands, the audio-visual signages at highway food malls are becoming a excellent OOH advertising tool for marketers to connect with the niche consumer segment.
Get more insights right from the founder, Mr. Veerendra at http://www.exchange4media.mobi/Story.aspx?news_id=46153§ion_id=26
Kiosks: An effective mode of promotion in small towns
April 25th, 2012 | Posted by in Articles and Opinions - (0 Comments)Last year, a study conducted by professors at Sam M Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas, revealed that internet-enabled kiosks that provided valuable information on prenatal and postnatal care for mothers and babies have helped reduce infant, child and maternal mortality rates in ruralIndia. It was seen that these kiosks were more effective than socio-cultural networks in positively influencing rural women to seek and obtain medical care. The assessment was conducted on women across 20 villages, where 10 villages had internet kiosks and 10 did not. About 300 women participated in each village.
The government has already recognised the virtues of this medium in educating rural folk. Welfare efforts are evident in the ‘Gyandoot’ project of the Madhya Pradesh government that disseminated information like agricultural produce rates, land records and offered grievance services to villagers. In Maharashtra’s Warana village, kiosks are being used by sugarcane farmers to receive payment slips. Clearly, these sketches speak of the effectiveness of kiosks in the rural context.
As the first anecdote suggests, kiosks proved to be more adept at providing the requisite information to rural folk than the socio-cultural network itself. The retail sector may learn from this example. In villages that remain more or less media dark, word-of-mouth has an important role to play, where a consumer having used a product/service, informs his social circle about its positive qualities. Since retail and FMCG companies may find it difficult to interact with such far-flung populations through salespeople, a kiosk becomes an interesting and appealing way to interact with village-folk.
Today, several companies have jumped into the kiosk bandwagon to enhance their brand goodwill. ICI India has kiosks to enable customers to choose and mix colours for their paints. In the past, Hindustan Lever used attractive, transportable kiosks to promote Pepsodent. The set-up comprised two monitors, one used as a touchscreen interface and the other for larger audience coverage. For instance, about ten children could watch the kiosk display in action. ITC’s e-Choupal kiosks have long revolutionised the process of purchasing farm-produce like soya from farmers, while offering them information on weather, latest farming techniques and crop insurance. This initiative has created unlimited brand value for the company through 6,500 e-Choupal centres spread across 40,000 villages.
However, the most significant use of kiosks is seen in the BFSI sector. In 2010, ICICI partnered with enterprises to build a network of internet-enabled kiosks in rural areas. The company planned to leverage these kiosks for promoting its banking services in these areas by leveraging its savings and loan offerings. For this, it trained kiosk operators as agents or placed a basic ATM in proximity. To make the kiosks really popular, ICICI also extended loans to farmers via the mentioned e-Choupal network, while at EID Parry sugar factories, farmers were able to buy crop inputs and pay for them on having received payments for their crops.
Another interesting move by a BFSI company in this area is internet-enabled kiosk banking by State Bank of India. These kiosks cover all the basic banking functions, such as cash and check deposits that work like ATMs. A prominent advantage of the kiosk banking system is that it has reduced the account opening cost from Rs 200, which it would cost at a branch office, to a minimal Rs 20 at a kiosk. Previously, it was seen that LIC used kiosks to enable customers in far-flung areas to check the status of their premiums by entering their policy numbers into the system. Banks like HDFC Bank are increasingly setting up self-service kiosks around their premises in small towns to educate customers about their range of offerings.
Financial inclusion remains among the most critical concerns for India’s villages today. A strong and reliable monetary system in the hinterlands will enable India’s growth engine to draw from a strong and well-entrenched consumer base. By promoting banking services, the BFSI sector, along with some retail giants has laid the foundations for a medium that promises to enrich the lives of rural people in a holistic way.
Telecom giants’ unique advertising ideas impress rural markets
April 13th, 2012 | Posted by in Client campaigns - (1 Comments)India’s ever-growing telecom market is currently pegged at 770 million subscribers as per the latest data from TRAI. Yet, much more opportunity prevails in rural areas today, as opposed to big cities that are nearly totally saturated. With rural India being highly media-dark for mainstream advertising promotions, the telecom industry has always scouted for innovative media platforms that can quickly and effectively communicate the uniqueness of new products and services to the rural youth and working-class segments.
To this end, Airtel tied up with Rediffusion Y&R to extend the philosophy ‘Atoot bandhan. Atoot Network’ in 2009. The ad campaign which starred actor Shreyas Talpade depicted him as a nervous MLA entering the Parliament for the first time. Carrying the collective hopes of his village, he assures his father that he would never forget his roots. In the true flavour of rural advertising, the campaign hoped to establish an emotional connect with the native population. Similarly, in 2010, Vodafone created a product ‘Ultra-Pocket Sized Tariff at just Rs. 4’ with the rural audience in mind and coupled it with a memorable advertisement featuring an animated talking parrot. By arguing that nothing can be purchased for Rs 4 in today’s day and age, the argumentative parrot drives the point home; another witty attempt by the telco brand that gave the advertising industry ‘Zoozoo’ and the ‘Hutch dog.’
On the other hand, Idea Cellular’s approach to reach rural India included wall
paintings and on-vehicle advertising. In addition, the company also attempted to gain some brand exposure through ‘haats’ and ‘melas’ in the past. The company’s focus on this population is reflected in the recent introduction of its pan-India interactive voice response-based value added service (VAS) in association with Handygo, a provider of software and system-enabling VAS called ‘Behtar Zindagi.’ This service provides everyday information to rural India in areas like health, education, finance, weather updates, mandi rates, livestock, agriculture and fisheries.
Yet, although every telco chooses a different approach to communicate with rural India, they have something in common. Idea Cellular, along with Maxx Mobile, Tata Indicom, Lemon Mobile and several other telecom brands have started using Vritti i-Media’s DW+, a technology-enabled media solution, to market their latest products and services to an audience that represents the most important markets for telcos in the imminent years. Maxx Mobile has engaged itself in a 6-month campaign that used Vritti i-media’s audio advertisement across more than 65 ST bus-stands inMaharashtra. This has helped the teleco penetrate and establish its brand in small towns and rural markets in a big way.
Vritti i-Media’s DW+ is a cutting-edge technology used in Vritti i-Media’s audio and audio-visual network. The DW+ system runs on a software platform that was developed in-house and is fully controlled from Vritti’s control room at Pune. Due to the use of sophisticated technology in this innovative advertising solution, there is complete transparency and flexibility in its use. Therefore, there is full assurance that the advertisement will be done at the promised rate, which is a rare case when it comes to rural advertising. By digitalising the entire process, the content can be changed at the drop of a hat and go on-line within 30 minutes. Due to the mandatory listening format, this medium ensures that brand communication penetrates the depths of the market. It enables brands to break through existing media clutter and connect effectively with local audience, which is generally oblivious to media such as newspapers, TV or hoardings, due to unreliable power supply or illiteracy.
Vritti I-Media Enables KBC to Entice Aam Aadmi
April 10th, 2012 | Posted by in Client campaigns - (0 Comments)Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), the Indian counterpart of the UK-origin game show, ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ has captured the fancy of the nation since 2000. Every season that has followed was viewed with rapt interest. In fact, foreseeing high viewership for the fifth season of the series that unfolded last year, advertisers are reported to have invested Rs 3.5 lakh for every 10-second ad slot. Sony Television expected a 70% increase in the show’s ad revenue that season over the previous year.
It is obvious that high viewership was expected to justify such ad spends. But achieving a viewership size that could substantiate this hype was impossible without roping in viewers in India’s far-flung corners. With a view to penetrate populations in Tier 2 and 3 cities as well as regions that are cut off from mainstream media, Sony Television has joined hands with Vritti i-Media to promote KBC Season 5. This initiative was in line with the newly adopted credo of the show, which declared that ‘Koi insaan chota nahi hota.’
In turn, the initiative looked at exponentially increasing the viewership base of the show by attracting people residing inIndia’s semi-urban and rural regions. Through Vritti i-Media’s award-winning audio advertising network, a promotional effort took shape in the form of the eponymous KBC jingle coupled with a reminder for people to catch the show. The jingle was played at regular intervals at MSRTC’s district-level ST bus-stations inMaharashtra.
This medium enabled KBC to reap clear benefits. Since ST buses are the primary mode of transport for non-metro folk, each bus-stand is frequented by around 40,000 people a day or 2-3 times a week. A commuter is expected to spend about 20-25 minutes at an average in his wait for a bus; at this point, he is eager and receptive to audio announcements. So, playing the KBC advertisements along with the bus arrival and departure announcements on regular basis on Vritti i-Media’s audio network made perfect sense.
As a result of combining Amitabh Bachchan’s booming voice with a memorable jingle and a compulsory listening format, the audio announcement was adjudged the most popular and highest recalled ad in ruralMaharashtra. These were the findings of a survey by Vritti i-Media, which is the only agency authorised by MSRTC to run audio advertisement at more than 80 bus depots across Maharashtra. This medium is estimated to reach an excess of 10.3 crore people a month in the state.
Bolstering Retail at the Grassroots
March 30th, 2012 | Posted by in Articles and Opinions - (0 Comments)It is well-known that rural consumption is fast catching up with urban consumption. Yet, the scale at which rural markets are expanding can still make any marketer’s heart skip a beat. A recent study by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has revealed that the Indian consumer market will grow almost 3.6 times between 2010 and 2020, and further that 24% of this number will comprise small towns and villages. In fact, small towns and rural consumers will become the largest market segment at 36% by 2020.
Going by this rate of expansion, the non-metro consumer market is an opportune space for numerous FMCG companies thriving in India. Yet, for a company that is looking to take its business forward aggressively, it is essential to treat this market differently. This can only be done by perfectly understanding the behaviour of consumers based beyond metros.
These consumers aspire for higher standards of living. Since literacy levels and disposable incomes have risen, the demand for consumer goods have increased too in these areas. FMCG is seeing growth in the male grooming sector, in addition to the women’s grooming category. This change is driven by the media and advertising fuelling aspirations for a better lifestyle. Until now, companies like US-based Colgate faced the primary problem of getting people to migrate from neem twigs to dental-care products like tooth-powders. Today, the use of toothpastes is on the rise.
Indeed, offering low-cost products to these parts of India is not the key. Since lifestyles are changing, there is increasing demand for the brands seen on TV. The opportunity to create loyalty is rife and companies can make the most of it by simply cashing in through smaller quantities of sale. For instance, HUL discovered that such consumers use shampoos on special occasions, so bottles became expensive. By introducing single-use pouches, the company was able to tide over this peculiar difficulty. Such kind of affordability is what brands need to highlight today. Consumers would need to know that these FMCG products have been packaged especially for them.
To connect with co
nsumers, HUL launched ‘Project Shakti’ in 2001 as an important part of its strategy. It roped in self-help groups of these areas to educate women and bring them into the company’s marketing network. By doing this, they not only converted these women into ‘direct-to-home’ distributors and promoters for relevant FMCG items, but allowed their families to live better. For HUL, this method proved to have low risks and high returns.
Another example is of ITC’s eChoupal kiosks, launched in 2000, which were initially planned for easy and transparent procurement of soybean from farmers. ITC drew two-pronged benefits from this scheme. Not only were they able to cut out middlemen through direct purchase, but also strengthen channel efficiency and thus create value for all stakeholders. Similarly, Mumbai-based Godrej Consumer Products Ltd is setting up 1,000 stores under the label Godrej Aaadhaar over five years to strengthen its network in areas beyond metros, while Delhi-based Bharati Airtel plans to flex its rural supply-chains to support Wal-Mart’s ventures in India.
In a nutshell, for FMCG companies, the strategy should revolve around efforts to create reliable and resilient distribution and promotion channels. Advertising should emphasise on low product pricing and limiting margins. The bottlenecks of low income and inadequate infrastructure are reducing now, while lifestyles are evolving for the better. To cash in on this invaluable opportunity for growth, companies need to communicate to their prospective customers that markets beyond metros are their priority and thus, such customers gain importance and will be catered in the best possible fashion.
LUX Discovers Its Limitless Potential beyond Metros
March 21st, 2012 | Posted by in Articles and Opinions - (2 Comments)In November 2010, HUL and their 
agency Portland which is part of Group M, strategised the launch of an outdoor campaign across Maharashtra to generate interest for a new variant of Lux soap, Lux Sandal and Cream. With a view to reach out to urban, semi-urban and rural markets, they decided to bring Vritti i-Media on board for audio advertisements as well as hoardings at Maharashtra State Road Transport Service’s ST bus stands, for which they are the only authorised agency.
Vritti i-Media was approached about a month before the campaign’s launch, which was scheduled to run for 30 days at 85 bus-stands at urban, semi-urban and rural locations. They availed 30 spots a day at per bus-stand for audio advertisements, mainly to target women in the 18–35 year age-bracket. The objective was simply to communicate that Sandal or chandan makes skin soft. This belief is already popular since any chandan soap sells easily in Maharashtra, especially during festive times.
Challenges
Since it was discovered that average waiting time at bus-stands is less than 30 minutes, it was decided to play ads at 20-minute intervals. Despite this, it was adjudged that only 20–25% of the masses were impacted by the campaign. Additionally, the word ‘sandal’ used in the jingle could be mistaken as the footwear variant and confuse the audience.
Execution and Impact
Vritti i-Media played a hands-on role in developing the jingle used in the audio ad along with the Portland team. This jingle ran from December 15th to January15th, 2010, 30 times a day. To evaluate the effectiveness of this medium on the audience, Vritti i-Media joined up with research agency, Genesis Management and Market Research, to study its impact on female passengers at the bus-stands. It was found that 67% respondents were aware of the ad. Recall was higher for Lux Sandal & Cream as compared to Santoor soap ads. 71% respondents were using Lux Sandal & Cream and were aware of its beneficial properties; while 29% respondents among non-users showed interest in using the soap in the future. Aided response was highest for Lux Sandal and Cream among respondents at 86%.
Learnings and Outcome
In retrospect, it was learnt that the jingles could have been played more frequently for better recall. Also, with a view to increase audio impact, HUL should have avoided playing distracting music in between messages; in fact, the ad would have worked better without any music. In small towns where the ads were played, they were more effective than hoarding or print ads due to the high percentage of under-literate people there.
Lux Sandal and cream was able to emotionally connect with women. Triggers like fragrance, colour and affordability, which this soap satisfied, can help the brand become a 100% market-leader in the rural and semi-urban segments. As a result of this success, Vritti i-Media received enquiries for similar campaigns of HUL brands Pepsodent and Vim. They were also appreciated by Portland and roped in for a pilot project for ‘Wheel’ at a location in Nashik.
Watch how the advertising campaign was carried out at the MSRTC bus stands:
Rural marketing offers limitless opportunities for innovation
December 1st, 2011 | Posted by in Articles and Opinions - (0 Comments)Take a dive into an intense 
rural marketing session with the Rural Marketing Guru- Mr. Pradeep Kashyap, founder, MART, a consulting practice on emerging markets specialising in understanding of ‘base of the pyramid’ markets.
Can you explain what you do and what your organisation MART is all about?
I have worked with the corporate sector for 20 years. I eventually recognized my strength in the marketing area and observed that its application was completely missing in the social and developmental sector. Initially nobody believed that you needed marketing in the social sector. This led me to establish MART as an organization in 1993. It became a partnership in 2003. At MART we follow the philosophy of a ‘social heart’ and a ‘business mind’.
Where does rural marketing fit into the grand scheme of things today?
Rural marketing has already arrived in the world of business and is one of the single largest segments of activity. Previously, we faced the challenge of making the corporate world accept the importance of rural marketing. However, today companies are taking pains to tap into unexplored sections of the Indian society.
What changes have you observed in rural markets over the past two decades?
A visible microfinance movement is the one major change in the rural sector, which has helped empower rural women. The second major change is that women have been given 30% reservation in village panchayats. Improvement in road connectivity is the third major change in villages. While the first 50 years of independence saw only 40% road connectivity between villages, an additional 30% road construction has happened over the past ten years. Education has increased in villages. Finally, technology and media reach in villages has also experienced a dramatic rise.
How are companies responding to this?
Although global companies are not yet ready to reach out to Indian rural markets, local companies have started various schemes to tap the market. For example, because electricity is one of the major problems faced in rural India, local companies such as Jolly TV in Uttar Pradesh are producing televisions which run on rechargeable battery systems. Such innovations help rural consumers use products even during electricity cuts, thus expanding the scope of marketing in rural areas.
How does rural marketing help in empowering women in villages?
In most cases, rural women do not work, and even if they do, they are involved in seasonal activity making for low income. Through MART, we help these women gain bargaining power so that they can get appropriate prices for their produce. The first step towards this objective is to organise the women into collectives by identifying definite clusters based on the products they make, the consumers for the products, etc. This helps them aggregate their produce. Also, we teach them value addition by helping them understand the importance of drying, cleaning, sorting and packaging their products. All these aspects ultimately provide them access to wider markets.
If a young management graduate were to join the rural marketing profession today, what kind of a work scope is he looking at?
Rural marketing is the single largest sector today in terms of population it impacts. It caters to roughly 800 million people in India. The opportunity in the field is great and companies across the world are beginning to understand it. While the urban market deals majorly with a replacement policy, where old branded products are continuously replaced with new branded products, the rural market is still untapped. There is no penetration of any sort of brands into these markets. This offers great scope to companies.
What are the most challenging aspects of working in rural marketing?
Firstly, most of us are still victims to an urban mindset. We tend to not understand the mindset of the rural consumer. Secondly, even if companies reach close to understanding rural consumers, they face great difficulty in finding distribution options to the rural sections. Finally, 50% of the rural markets are still media-dark sections of the society. The people living in these areas do not have access to televisions or newspapers. This makes the consumer unaware of what new innovative things the world has to offer.
As the country undergoes urbanisation, will rural marketing become irrelevant over time?
When we got our independence, the census survey claimed that 84% of the country’s population was living in rural areas. In the 1991-2001 census the number came down to 74% and the recent 2011 census marks it at 68%. Despite all the big talk about urbanisation, 62% of the country’s population will still be living in villages by 2021. It is also a myth that the country is urbanising rapidly. In most metropolitan cities, population growth is slowing down. While Delhi saw a population growth of 32% in the 2001 census, the growth came down to 20% in 2011. Most people who migrate prefer to shift to smaller cities since there are more growth options there.
How will the proposed Foreign Direct Investment in Retail change rural marketing?
According to the draft policy, big retailers cannot enter towns and villages where the population is less than 5 lakhs. Since most of the rural population lives in small clusters, FDI will have zero impact on the 800 million people in rural markets.
For youngsters looking to join rural marketing, what are the three big opportunities waiting to be tapped?
Firstly, for the next 10 years, the rural segment is going to literally drive the Indian markets. That translates to great opportunity. Secondly, there is not enough knowledge generation within rural marketing today. As educated young graduates enter rural marketing, the amount of knowledge of various practices inside the discipline will increase. Finally, and most importantly, rural marketing offers limitless opportunities to youngsters in terms of innovation in rural distribution, promotion and so on. It is a virgin market which will provide youngsters an opportunity to innovate.
Source: Pagal Guy
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