Rural advertising

1. RURAL ADVERTISING
INTRODUCTION
“Come with us to the fields, or go with our brothers to the sea and cast
your net. For the land and the sea would be bountiful to you even
as to us”- Kahlil Gibran
The footfalls in the villages are getting louder and louder as companies scramble
to woo the rural consumers. Villages are no longer an abstraction, but
fashionable in marketing terms.
From talking endlessly about potential growth, companies are now actively
cultivating the rural markets. And why not?
Consider the market; out of five lakh villages in India only one lakh have been
tapped so far.
What has made the rural consumers so attractive to companies now? After all,
the 122-million village households were not created overnight.
The answer is simple. The urban market is getting saturated while villagers are
flush with 'disposable income' thanks to bountiful harvests in the last four years. It
is this income that the companies are raring to cash in on. The estimate speaks
of the potential volume of business that can be generated in rural Indian markets.
The estimate is about three times that of the European market.
Hindustan Lever's 'Operation Bharat' will reach 22 million new
households in the villages by the end of the year.
Every area that has a police station will soon boast a Godrej dealer &
service centre.
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2. RURAL ADVERTISING
BPL is planning to add 13,000 active dealers this year to its existing
network of 15,000 throughout the country.
A dramatic change is in progress. Villagers who used to crack open peanut
candies, eat the nut and throw away the shell are now demanding chocolate
candies that will melt in their mouths, not in their hands. Charcoal-cleaned teeth
are a rare sight; so is the case with twigs of niim (neem) and babul (babool) tree.
Today, the ultra bright shine of Colgate or some other international brand of
toothpaste holds more appeal than the traditional methods of cleaning teeth.
Even the native expressions of cleaning teeth, such as daatun karnaa and
musaag lagaanaa, are endangered to being replaced by new expressions such
as paste karnaa, 'to brush teeth with paste'. Even a simple query such as:
Where are you from? Is not free from the overtones of marketization and
globalization in rural discourse. Consumerism and globalization is invading parts
of India where, as some would venture to say, time seems to have ceased for
centuries. Yet there has not been substantial progress in this area.
The hurdles that pose a challenge to the companies in rural marketing are
as follows:
Seasonal Market: The rural market is typically a seasonal market. The
consumption level goes high post-monsoon and dries up during the non-crop
period.
Disposable Income: The unit disposable consumption level is very low and the
assortment has to be made in a different size compared to the urban market to
suit it to the rural customer's pocket. Multiplicity of assortment adds up to the cost
level of the product and works against adding experience effect to the production.
Furthermore, the distributed settlement and high transportation cost makes it
potentially less feasible for many companies to launch products for rural
consumption.
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3. RURAL ADVERTISING
Literacy level: Low level of education creates problem in brand identification.
Since rural consumers often cannot read the brand names and price tags, it
makes it easier for the clones to launch brands similar in label and design and
spoil the brand image of the so-called successful urban brands.
Unscrupulous retailers are taking the benefit and damaging the perception of the
brands before they actually enter the rural market. So marketers and advertisers
are looking for an alternative medium to promote brands through advertising. The
success of a business in India will be decided in future by its success in the heart
of India, i.e., the rural market.
Rural marketing in India needs some innovative and alternative media to woo
the customers. The conventional wisdom of glossy urban advertising and fantasy
mix through television is not going to work in the rural markets.
Marketing communication challenges: Marketing communication and
promotion poses a lot of problems in rural India. There are many constraints
emanating from the profile of the audience and the availability of media.
The literacy rate among the rural consumers being low, the printed word has
little use in the rural context.
In addition to the low level of literacy, the tradition bound nature of rural
people, their cultural barriers and taboos and their overall economic
backwardness add to the difficulty of the communication task.
The situation is further compounded by linguistic diversity. Rural
communication has to necessarily be in the local language and idiom. The
constraints of media further compound the difficulty. It has been estimated
that all organized media put together can reach only 30% of the rural
population of India. TV is an ideal medium for communicating with the rural
masses. But its reach in rural areas is restricted even today. As regards the
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4. RURAL ADVERTISING
print media, the various publications reach only 18% of the rural population.
Even in areas reached, the circulation is limited. The low literacy level of the
rural population still acts as an inhibitor in the use of print media in rural
communication. Cinema is relatively more accessible. It has been estimated
that 33% of total cinema earnings in the country come from rural India.
Rural communication has also become relatively more expensive. For rural
communication to be effective, repeat exposures is a must; and if gap between
exposures is long, the message losses its edge during this period. These factors
make rural communication more expensive. Rural communication has to go
through all the time consuming stages of creating awareness, altering attitudes
and changing behaviour. In addition it also has to work against deep-rooted
behaviour patterns.
In short the crux of the marketing communication in the rural context is one of
finding a media mix that will deliver the required message in a cost effectively
with the rural target audience that is predominantly illiterate.
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ADVERTISING
“ Advertising is 85% confusion and 15% commission”
- Allen Fred
The word ‘advertising’ has been derived from the latin word ‘advertere’ which
means to turn people’s attention to a specific thing. Production of goods without
their sales would amount to wastage of national resources. Goods are always
produced in anticipation of demands.
Success of a company depends upon fast sales and repeat order.
Every businessman, therefore, tries to, maximise his sales. In order to obtain
higher sales turnover, business now uses various methods of persuading the
consumer to buy their products. Advertising is the art of making yourself and your
product known to the world in such a way that a desire for buying the product is
created in the hearts of the people. Advertising is therefore essential for creating
and maintaining demand for your products. It informs the customers of new
products. It educates people and spreads knowledge.
Today we are bombarded on all sides by many types of advertising. No matter
whether we walk on the streets, drive an automobile on the highways, ride a bus,
watch television, read a newspaper or magazine or open our mail, we are
brought face to face with advertising. This creates a difficult situation for the
manager, for he must determine what advertising on his part would justify its cost
amid the bewildering array of advertisements by other companies. The major
questions of policy with reference to advertising that the manager must answer
are (a) the purposes for which it is to be used; and (b) the media employed to
accomplish these purposes.
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6. RURAL ADVERTISING
Analysis shows that advertising is used for numerous purposes. It also shows
that many companies have not given adequate thought to the question of exactly
what they are trying to accomplish with their advertising.
Bringing customers to the place where goods are sold, Retail stores frequently
use advertising for this purpose. In such cases the display of merchandise and
the efforts of salesmen are depended upon to close the transaction. We are all
familiar with advertisements of special drugstore sales that feature twenty-five of
fifty different items. The store usually hopes to sell substantial quantities of the
merchandise advertised; but more important, it hopes to get customers into the
stores so that they will buy other types of merchandise and will develop habit of
coming to that establishment for their subsequent requirements.
Department stores use advertising in a similar manner. Those stores that feature
price appeal undertake extensive advertising of "economy day", "president's
birthday", and pre-season or post-season sales. Stores desiring to use a prestige
appeal may have the author of a popular book give a lecture or secure designers
of furniture, dinnerware, or clothing to talk about these particular products. A
number of stores provide space for local art exhibits or a showing of crown
jewels; a pair of unusual and very expensive fur pelts or the elaborate doll
houses of a well-known T. V. actress may be featured for the purpose of
attracting customers to the store.
The point is well illustrated by a story told of two keen partners operating a store
located in very low-income neighborhood. Upon observing that large number of
customers was patronizing their near- by competitors, they set up a table filled
with small articles, such as pickle forks, saltshakers, and cigarette holders. This
table was placed near the front door where everyone entering or going out of the
store would pass it. The sales of the articles proved to be very unprofitable,
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7. RURAL ADVERTISING
however, since they could easily be slipped into a pocket and the near-by door
allowed easy escape for would be purchasers. According to the story , however,
there was a substantial increase in customer traffic. When asked to explain the
situation one of the partners said, "We call that our steal table. We place ten
Rupees" worth of merchandise on the table each morning and know that most of
it will have disappeared by evening, but when people come in to steal from this
table, they have to act like customers and look at other merchandise, and
sometimes they buy. “ They like to come to the store because they can go home
with an extra ten paise article that probably cost us three paise. All for ten rupees
a day it's cheap advertising."
Persuading the Customer to Ask for a Specific Product: Retailers use
advertising for this purpose to some degree, but it is probably used to the
greatest extent by a manufacturer who wishes to create consumer demand, or at
least consumer acceptance, for his brand of products.
For example, a number of children's television programmes are sponsored by
manufacturers of food products. The programme may consist of adventures in
space, a detective serial, or anything that arouses the intense interest of a child.
Somewhere in the programme the youngsters are instructed to insist that their
mothers buy the product of the sponsoring manufacturer. This kind of advertising
has proved very effective under certain conditions. In fact, almost the entire
advertising programmes of the large cereal companies are directed towards the
ultimate consumer for a purpose of getting her to ask for that specific product.
Although the goods are usually sold through a jobber, who in turn sells them to a
retailer and then to the consumer, it is the policy of these companies to advertise
only to the consumer and thereby create such an active consumer demand that
the retailer and the jobber will be glad to carry the products and benefit from the
quick turnover resulting from the strong demand.
Any of a number of advertising techniques are used to induce the customer to
purchase specific products. Some have a rational basis while others are largely
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8. RURAL ADVERTISING
psychological or emotional. Thus, when you buy aspirin, you are to insist on a
given brand because it is pure, it dissolves, and it acts more quickly. At other
times reliance is placed primarily upon repetition of the brand name so that the
consumer will automatically select that particular product. The Coca Cola
Company follows this technique extensively. Whatever the technique, the
purpose is to get the consumer to ask for, or at least willingly accept, a particular
brand of product.
Assisting the Salesman in Making Sales when He Calls on the Customer:
The manufacturer uses advertising extensively for this purpose. He seeks to
familiarize the customer with his products and create a favourable attitude toward
his company before the salesman approaches the customer. For example,
concerns producing basic metals frequently advertise in trade papers that are
read by their customers. The advertisement itself will not induce the potential
customer to take any action, but it is hoped that the salesman will receive a more
cordial welcome as a result. A firm manufacturing a line of luggage had for
several years advertised extensively in national magazines. This was
discontinued when a special study convinced the management that style, design,
quality, and price were so much more important to the ultimate consumer than a
particular brand name that directing its advertising toward the ultimate consumer
was not economical. Nevertheless this company does a limited amount of
national advertising because retailers are more inclined to stock a product that
can be said to be nationally advertised. Thus the primary purpose of the national
advertising campaign of this company is to assist the salesman in his
negotiations with the retailer. Other companies provide the retailer with attractive
window displays and store decorations that serve the dual purpose of creating
consumer interest and providing the salesman with a favourable reception by the
retailer.
Producing Direct Sales:
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9. RURAL ADVERTISING
In some circumstances advertising is used for the purpose of persuading the
customers to submit an order as a direct result. The catalogues of mail-order
houses. For instance, present merchandise in such a way that the customer can
write out or telephone an order without going to a shopping centre and without
further promotional effort on the part of the vendor. One company has been
successful in selling men's shirts as a result of direct-mail advertising to the
consumer. This company stresses a price appeal that, it claims. is justified by its
distribution "direct from the factory to you." How-to-do-it and reference books that
appeal to a particular type of reader are often sold by direct mail or magazine
advertising.
Budding Institutional Goodwill:
Practically all advertising is expect-ed to build institutional goodwill to some
degree, but in some cases this may be the primary objective. The advertising by
telephone companies is largely for this purpose. One of the leading small-loan
companies has made extensive research on the problems of consumer buying
and distributes a large number of pamphlets guiding housewives in the selection
of merchandise. Intelligent expenditure of a limited income is, of course, related
to the collection of small loans made to individuals for personal use.
Nevertheless, the primary purpose of the distribution of these pamphlets is the
development of goodwill toward the company. Enough illustrations have been
given to indicate that advertising may be undertaken for widely different
purposes. Central management normally does not become involved in detailed
aspects of advertising, but it can and should exercise a significant influence on
company advertising by setting policies regarding the purpose of the expenditure.
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10. RURAL ADVERTISING
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L.G. sells ‘Sampoorna’ a television model for rural homes at about
Rs.10,000,Samsung and BPL have similar models targeted towards rural markets
as well.

11. RURAL ADVERTISING
Choice Of Advertising Media:
After the company has decided on the purposes of it’s advertising, the media
must be determined.
The principle media include:
Magazines
Newspapers
Trade papers
Television and radios
Billboards
Direct mail.
This list is not intended to be complete. Other types of sales promotion
may also be included under the general heading of advertising are display,
dealer’s help and sampling.
Rarely does a single company use all of these media. It must select those that
will accomplish its objectives most economically.
For example, one large hosiery company that used advertising primarily to
influence retailers formerly spent approximately Rs800,000 annually advertising
in magazines having a national circulation. A survey among retailers showed that
dealers liked nationally advertised products, but that they were influenced to a
greater degree by dealer helps such as counter displays and leaflets and by co-
operative advertising in local newspapers in which the name of the local dealer
was mentioned along the company’s products. The expenditure of the company
on advertising is less than Rs50,000 per year.
An airline company faced a serious problem in the selection of media to build
familiarity and goodwill among a large number of people. Advertising that would
produce traffic on it’s planes immediately was also wanted. For this later purpose
expenditure were confined primarily to direct mail letters, circulars and
announcement to business executives and other people believed to be potential
passengers in the near future. Considerable effort is directed towards
passengers on its planes because these passengers as a general rule do not
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12. RURAL ADVERTISING
travel by air as much as they might, and the fact that they do use planes
occasionally indicates they are interested in this method of transportation. The
institutional program consists largely of magazine advertisements and general
newspaper publicity.
We see in both these cases the need to catch media and purpose carefully. Too
often the virtues of a particular media are advanced without reference to the
mission of the advertising.
Other Advertising Problems
Problems of advertising are by no means limited to a determination of the major
purposes and selection of media. In addition, decisions must be made as to the
general type of advertising to be used. Some companies feature testimonials
others employ cartoons to a large extent. Some use flashy advertisements and
large prints; others make their advertising more dignified. The use of premiums
and of contests can open up many additional possibilities for the imaginative
copywriter. Then there are numerous questions regarding such things as layouts.
Primarily these are questions of advertising techniques rather than general sales
promotion policies.
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Qualis, a Rs.5.67 lakh, multi-utility vehicle manufactured by Toyota is preferred
over Mahindra and Mahindra’s ‘Armada’ priced at Rs.4.32 lakh.

13. RURAL ADVERTISING
RURAL MARKET ENVIRONMENT
“No great marketing decisions have ever been made on quantitative
data”
- John Scully
In India, rural advertising is increasingly evident throughout the
countryside. The majority of advertisements and hoardings are for fertilizers,
hybrid seeds, diesel pumps and pesticides, not to mention the message of family
planning. Therefore advertising in the Indian rural context must be seen as
consisting of techniques for improving economic mobility within the country. The
emergence of an active cash economy is bound to create a strong rural demand
and promote rural consumption. The traditional growth and dominance of urban
industrial centres is undergoing rapid changes. A more equitable distribution in
rural areas would also help in slowing down the rapidly increasing influx of
people from rural into urban centres.
There two sections of rural population:
·A large portion have a low income and low consumption levels;
·The rest are rural rich
The rural population forms a major portion of the Indian population as seen
below:

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Division of Population in India
Urban
26%
Rural
74%
Rural
Urban

14. RURAL ADVERTISING
About 75 % of the Indian people reside in rural areas. In other words, for every
consumer in urban area, there are three of them in rural areas. Though the
proportion of rural population is showing a slight decrease over the years, but in
absolute numbers, the rural population is growing at a higher rate than the urban
population. This large population will require a wide range of consumable and
durable goods and services. At the same time the need of the rural areas does
not automatically guarantee a market, unless it is backed by income and the
resultant purchasing power.
For a vast majority of the rural population, the main occupation is agriculture and
allied activities. The bar graph below gives the distribution of rural population as
per their occupation pattern.
About half of the rural population own or lease land to cultivate it for their
livelihood. Another 27% are dependent on these cultivators for their jobs as
agricultural labourers. Thus, a total of 77% of rural population depend on land
only for their living and land is the source of their living.
There are others, constituting a small proportion, who are engaged in business
like petty shopkeepers or merchants and salary earners like teachers, health
workers and village level officials. The implication of this is that the income
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Occupation Pattern of Rural India
2%
2%
9%
10%
27%
50%
Agric ulture
Agric ultural
labour
Business
Non-agric ultural
labour
Salary earners
Not gainfully
employed

15. RURAL ADVERTISING
generation in rural areas entirely depends on how the land is used, what crops
are cultivated, how much is marketed, how much is consumed and the marketing
arrangements for the production. If rainfall is adequate, weather conditions are
favourable and appropriate technology is available, the rural areas prosper as it
has happened in states like Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh. So the
disposable income in the hands of the rural people is very much conditioned by
the status of agriculture and other allied activities. This also indicates that major
part of income generated is a source of agriculture. Seventy five percent of
income generation in rural areas is from agriculture and agriculture-related
activities.
One of the deterrents for marketers to exploit the rural market potential has been
the vastness of the rural market in terms of areas covered and the location of the
rural population. It is much easier to cater to the needs of the urban population
because of their concentration, but it is very difficult in the case of rural
population because of their widespread nature.
The villages are also not uniform in size. Nearly 48% of the villages have a
population of less than 500 persons or about 100 households, which is probably
of no consequence to marketers. This may be acceptable since the proportion of
population covered by these 48% of villages account for only 12% of the total
population. Yet it should also be borne in mind that the people of these villages
also have land and cultivate and generate some income.
Thus the location and size of population of villages throw a challenge to
marketers. This phenomenon is not true for the whole country and there are wide
variations among the different states. In states with high irrigation facilities and
fertile lands, the concentration of population is more when compared to states
with low irrigation facilities and lack of arable land.
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16. RURAL ADVERTISING
Given the distribution of rural and urban population, it can be seen that the
number of literates in rural areas are more than in urban areas. It is interesting
got note that there has been a considerable increase in the number of literate
persons in rural areas since the last two decades. This has its implication in
communicating with the rural population. It appears that communication should
not prove to be such a big hurdle. Today, television has proved to be an effective
medium for communication with the rural masses. The telecasting network in the
country today covers about 93% of the population.
Assuming that the entire urban population is covered by the television, which is
only 23%, then nearly 67% of the rural population is covered by television. Thus,
television reaches a larger segment of rural population than any other form of
mass media. Though radio is also very popular, people like to see to believe.
The above factors point that the potential for marketing of goods and services
depends heavily on agriculture, since it is the main occupation in rural areas. The
market for agricultural inputs – fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, tractors,
irrigation equipment and seeds – has been expanding over the years in rural
areas as the Indian farming is fast becoming market-oriented. But the rural
market has remained a dark area for those manufacturing and marketing
consumables and consumer durables. To successfully exploit the potential
offered by rural market, there is a need to first understand the rural market in
terms of the characteristics mentioned above. Only a few established companies
– Hindustan Lever, Lipton, Brooke Bond, TOMCO, Procter & Gamble – have
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Literacy Levels in India
45
73
55
27
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Rural Urban
Illiterate
Literate

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been tapping the potential of the rural market for a long time. But these are
exceptions.
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Titan industries sold three million pieces of its ‘Sonata’ brand watches in B and C
cities and towns, at prices less than Rs 1,000. It has become the preferred brand,
taking over from long-favourite HMT.

18. RURAL ADVERTISING
Distribution of Rural Demand
From the above chart, interesting inference can be drawn. The total expenditure
on food items is higher than any other expenditure. Majority of the non-food items
include the consumer durables like television, washing machines, etc. but the
higher expenditure on food items show that the chances of a food item being
successful in the rural market is than the chances of non-food items. Companies
like Parle have penetrated the rural markets long time ago followed by Britannia
in the food category. They have offered food items like biscuits, namkeens and
their like at a cheaper price than in the urban areas and have captured a niche
market of sorts in the rural market. Most of the rural people make their own food
items at home and do not purchase snacks from shops. But the trend of ready-
made food items is catching up and the rural population is increasingly
purchasing such products. The Parle-G brand of biscuit has been successful in
the rural as well as urban areas. But the biscuits introduced by Britannia in the
rural market failed because of their high price. This shows that the rural
consumers are price sensitive in the case of food items also.
Literacy and media habits
Despite the low level of literacy in rural areas, the growth between 1971 and
1981 is significant. More than five crore people have become literate in the
course of the last decade, a figure almost equal to the entire population of
France. Growth in literacy levels is expected to continue and this, in turn, will lead
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Value of Consumption per person per month
in rural India in Rupees
122
68
Food items
Non-food items

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to greater awareness of the products on the part of rural people. Some market
research studies on media habits of Andhra, Haryana and Punjab are quite
revealing. They clearly show that, contrary to popular belief, organized media
play a significant role in supplementing the efforts to reach the rural customer.
Other 70% of the population listen to the radio, about 65% in Andhra goes to the
cinema. The corresponding figure for Punjab and Haryana is 26%. In booth these
areas about 30% read newspapers regularly.
FEATURES OF RURAL MARKET
1.Large and scattered market:
The rural consumer market consist of over 63 crores consumers. The rural
consumers are scattered over 576000 villages. The consumer market of non-
foods market is over Rs 20000 crores
2.Demand related to agriculture
Rural demand is linked to agriculture. Most of the purchases are made after
harvest season. If the is a good harvest purchases will be more and vice
versa.
3.Low Standard Of Living;
Consumes in rural areas do have a low standards of living this is because of
low literacy, social backwardness, low per capita income, low savings, low
purchasing power and hence low standard of living
4.Great Diversity:
India is a land of great diversity. Multi language, multi religious and multi
cultural. The consumption habits vary from place to place, religion wise and
social customs wise
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5.Traditional outlook:
An average rural consumer is traditional in outlook. They value old customs
and traditions. However, a slow change is beginning to take place in their
outlook, maybe because of the growth in literacy rate and the on slaught of
TV and other mass media in rural areas.
6.Steady growth rate:
The growth rate for consumer goods is study and infact increasing at a rapid
pace. This is because of number of factors contributing to the change in
outlook and purchasing power of rural consumers.
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PROFILE OF RURAL DEMAND
In this connection the following points are to be noted:
Size of Rural Demand:
The size of rural market in the non-food items is in the range of
Rs.20000 crore in 1990 as compared to Rs.5000 crore in 1970. This means there
is a four-fold increase in the consumption of non food consumer items in the rural
areas in the last two decades.
Composition Of Rural Demand:
The composition of demand in rural areas is changing
significantly. A large number of new consumer items are added to the rural
consumer list. This includes shampoos, toothpastes, premium bathing soap,
scooters/motor-bike, television sets and so on. The following aspects are to be
noted:
1.Product category that are already well established in rural
market-
a.Means of transportation such as bikes, motorcycles and
scooters
b.Irrigation and agricultural machinery
c.Agricultural inputs like fertilizers, pesticides etc.
d.Entertainment goods such as radios.
e.Beverages including alcoholic beverages.
f.Tobacco and tobacco products
g.Furniture and cooking utensils
h.Medicines and hygiene products.
i.Bathing soaps and washing soaps
j.Textiles
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22. RURAL ADVERTISING
k.Ornaments and jewelry
2.Products that have entered the rural market in recent times:
Toiletries, Cosmetics, Ready-made garments, Baby care
products, Packaged food stuffs and Modern consumer durables
3.Consumer products where rural consumption is more than
urban:
PRODUCTS % SHARE OF RURAL MARKETS
Bicycles 80
Safety Razors 6
Silk Clothing 59
Books and Stationary 55
Woollen Clothing 53
Consumer durables 53
4.Products where rural consumption growth rate is higher as compared
to urban markets.
a.Packaged tea
b.Analgesic tablets
c.Detergent powder
d.Soaps cakes/bar
e.Detergent cakes/bar
Thus from the above information it is clear that rural market is fast expanding
and it may soon overtake the urban market in all respects.
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23. RURAL ADVERTISING
ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN RURAL INDIA
In India, the advertising is mostly in English or Hindi. As rural markets widen
beyond the English-and-Hindi knowing people, there are problems of translation
into the vernaculars. Good translations are seldom easy; and there is often the
need for thinking out the advertising concepts and the brand image in the local
language itself. This is a problem for local copywriters to conceptualize in the
vernacular, where necessary. Advertising in the local language in the absence of
shortage of professionals, makes success of rural advertising campaigns difficult.
It is a general assumption of advertising theory that advertising helps to create
demand. It may be worth saying to what extent advertising creates demand,
particularly in our rural society, which is in transition from traditional to modernity
and to what extent it helps only to accelerate demand after the social and
environmental changes have taken place. The basic trends for demand of
products are determined primarily by prevailing social and environmental
conditions.
Advertising itself serves not so much to increase the demand for a product as to
speed up the expansion of demand that may come up from favourable conditions
and to retard advances due to unfavourable conditions. Most rural marketers
treat this as an almost insoluble problem, because other factors also stimulate
demand for e.g. price cuts, quality changes and increasing real incomes.
‘We divert some resources from advertising to market research even at the risk
of under advertising in rural areas’
This is essential because the basic marketing problem is the absence of
elementary market research data individual rural areas. Individual fact, we do not
know where we are going. Over planning leads to over-capitalization, from which
it is very had to retreat. The five-year plans have been a classic exercise
individual bad demand forecasting with sophisticated methods and poor data;
and it has been compounded by business managements accepting national
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24. RURAL ADVERTISING
planning targets as gospel, without undertaking the responsibility of doing a
measure of their own market research, which is an essential for rural markets
individual India.
The rural market information gap is wide enough to justify major collaboration
between governments, universities, independent research organizations and
business. There is very little appreciation of it as a primary investment need, its
very precondition; and very little money is spent by too few on it.
Advertising caters to rural society with divergent life-styles and value systems
presented an unusual challenge between the strategy of homogenization
(overcoming the barriers between segments), and one of heterogenisation
(capitalsing the very existence of many small riches). This sort of advertising
involves constraints individual in the form of cost duplication of facilities and
fragmentation. In such areas, the basic objective of advertising and market
research may be to find and develop products, which may cut across
heterogeneous preferences with common brands and similar or common
advertising.
Our rural marketers should keep an eye on import substitution and upgrade raw
materials on the basis of research and development before they can ensure that
adequate raw materials reach the manufacturing areas for products which would
then reach rural markets individual a steady flow and at relatively stable prices.
Tourist advertising and motivation pose a most fascinating challenge to our
country with its old culture. Foreign tourist can be attracted to rural areas where
historical monuments, game sanctuaries, and mountain and sea resorts exist.
Rural India is a set of regional markets where cultural factors play a very
important role. The raw materials come from the soil; and the relatively low
productivity of Indian farmers is reflected in the low purchasing power of the rural
buyer. The rural advertising problem in a country like India is related to political,
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25. RURAL ADVERTISING
social and economic problems. With low income from farms the question that
arises is: can we afford the infrastructure of mass media for rural markets?
The Indian rural market is very heterogeneous. Nevertheless, public
advertisement is an important prerequisite for the creation of demand. The
problem of rural consumer in our country is that he is traditional; to some extent,
there is homogeneity and there are high resistance and low resistance products
among the rural buyers. Rural buyers show a great many contradictions; and the
advertising man has to understand them. For example, the poor spend lavishly
on marriages; in certain parts rigid caste systems still exist; the community is
more contended with whatever little it has.
Many preach non-violence and practice violence. For mass media men to
motivate rural buyers to change their lifestyle is not therefore that easy. The
concept of sufficiency is a hurdle to development and the problem of huge
distances and inadequate outlets is quite considerable.
Within a rural market, there are many mini markets based on caste, religion,
language or other differences. All people living in an around these markets have
distinctly different life-styles. The marketing men know that the cost of distribution
increases as the town gets smaller and it is not economical to serve very small
villages. Rural markets are no longer a sellers market now. Many people have
underrated the strength of the market on the assumption that India’s rural poverty
restricts rural purchases only to those items, which are basic necessities. This
has turned out to be a myth now. The social status, needs, expenditure on
weddings and entertainment, have influenced the operations of the rural markets.
Many farmers travel to weekly markets to buy vegetables that they can
themselves grow; but they go in order to have news, stimulation and for
socialization.
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26. RURAL ADVERTISING
The bumper crops and the upturn in agricultural production have resulted in a
considerable increase in the incomes of farmers and in their purchasing power.
The increase in purchasing power in rural areas has generated vast potential
markets for manufactured goods because the people want to raise their standard
of living. New approaches must be evolved to awaken the rural population to the
range of consumption possibilities open to them. Advertising and consumer
research is essential for this purpose; for it must be determined not only what the
villager wants but also what would motivate them to buy. Market research and
consumer surveys are essential and should cover a fairly wide area of rural life,
including the attitudes and aspirations of the rural buyer.
In rural India the role that advertisement plays is major. It will enhance demand
when favourable environment conditions have been created. Advertising does
not create immediate demand. There is always an information gap. The biggest
single advertising problem is the shortness of the reach of mass media. As our
country is large, the problem is complex, for there is a huge potential rural
market. There are not very many dailies in circulation; nor many a radio or
transistor or a TV set. The mass media gap in India is as conspicuous as the
income gap. Therefore, there is a need for extending basic infrastructure with a
view to enlarging the reach of mass media in rural India. Hopefully, the electronic
revolution will follow the green revolution in rural India. The different approaches
to reach rural buyers which may be profitably utilised include mobile publicity-
cum-sales stalls, sales and cinema vans, participation in rural fairs and festivals.
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27. RURAL ADVERTISING
The value of this direct personal propaganda and selling cannot be
overestimated, especially in the rural markets. These are often a potent
means of changing habits by means of real life demonstrations of the
goodness of the product and its utility, and by the invaluable personal link
established between the seller and the buyer. In rural markets, persuasion by
the opinion-makers, by the “voice of authority” counts; product messages
may be conveyed in print, by the cinema, or in person by teacher, doctor,
shopkeeper or village headman. In rural areas, the effective approach to be
employed to reach the buyers is to establish contacts with local educators
who can influence them by word-of-mouth. Such local educators are
government officials, Block Development and Extension Officers, and Village
Pardhans and School Teachers. To the extent that traditional social
institutions like the panchayats still influence social habits, particularly at the
time of marriages and festivals, they can be useful instruments for mass
changes in consumer habits. They are usually strongholds of tradition: but
when the strongholds themselves change, the surrounding societies are
quick to follow suit. This is particularly so when change comes to the culture
center of a community, the center from which new ideas radiate.
According to one study, though most people consider the tradition-directed
leaders to be an impediment in the communication process to induce changes,
this is not necessarily true. The change via such leaders may be slow; but they
(the leaders) reduce the risks and uncertainties of its consequences. They also
help to generate confidence in the slower and later adapters. Both styles, the
progressive and the traditional, may play their roles; and it is for rural marketers
to realize their possibilities. The study also indicates that the influence of opinion
leaders in such non-mass media societies is largely confined to small social
segments and the immediate neighborhood structures. A rapid development,
therefore, calls for the earliest possible extension of the mass media, especially
the radio and TV.
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28. RURAL ADVERTISING
The villagers are slightly hesitant about going to slightly smart looking shops. The
relatively prosperous family generally becomes the trendsetter group in the
village and they must initially receive the advertisers attention. Advertising
research may focus on the sources of awareness in the rural sector-the
influencing the villages. It must concentrate on determining the different
influences the villages are exposed to, either in the village or his visits to the
towns. A villager normally makes his household purchases from a nearby small
town or a fair, but visits a district, town or a still larger market to fulfill his
requirements of consumer durables. It would be useful to ascertain his motivation
in selecting different markets for different purposes.
Seasonality figures prominently rural buying habits on account of harvesting
seasons, fairs, festivals, marriage, etc. these things should be plotted in advance
for sales promotion and advertising information on the styles of rural buyers, his
attitude towards processes durability and the incidence of impulse buying- these
should be checked. The rural buyer in general is price conscious. Chester and
sophisticated models of agricultural machinery, sewing machines etc, should
therefore be more acceptable to rural consumer.
The goods should be made available to the rural consumer at places that are
more convenient to him. Ideally, it is desirable to get down to the village and
combine the sales and advertising effort at that level. But practically this would be
very difficult as selling cost would be very high if we allow this approach. To
expand sales in rural markets, hire purchase facility should be extended.
Effective after sales services should also be extended where a distributor/dealer
has been appointed. Some incentives should be given to dealers to open bank
accounts in nearby banking towns.
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29. RURAL ADVERTISING
Eighty percent of total population is in villages and about 60% of the national
income comes from rural areas. There is an inequitable distribution of rural
income amongst the rural folk.

RURAL ADVERTISING: CURRENT SCENARIO
There have been two schools of thought among Indian advertisers on rural
advertising. The first school believed that products and marketing techniques,
which worked in metro and urban areas, could be transplanted with little or no
modifications to rural India. But the more sophisticated Indian advertisers, quickly
perceiving certain very basic differences between town and country, inaugurated
the second school: the belief that rural marketing required radically different skills
and techniques from its urban counterpart. As a result of the swing of extremities,
which naturally attends such realizations, several new beliefs have become
popular:
·The rural market offers a vast market for consumer goods.
·The distribution task involves covering several lakh villages.
·Low-priced products should be more successful in rural markets because
of the per capita income in rural India.
·Rural consumers form one homogenous group with similar needs, values
and aspirations.
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Videocon’s washer, a washing machine without a drier has been launched
specifically for the rural areas at Rs8000 a piece. It has registered 100%
growth over the past three years.

30. RURAL ADVERTISING
·Advertising should be simple and unsophisticated and in terms of media,
use local fairs, opinion leaders, etc., as opposed to press, film, radio and
such other ‘urban-oriented’ media. This was deducted from the low
media exposure figures for rural India.

Underlying these beliefs has been the model of a rural consumer who is relatively
poor and illiterate, whose only media exposure is the local opinion leader, who
remembers brands by picture symbols as opposed to brand names, and who is
unable to comprehend anything other than the most simple of commercial
messages.

The myth of the impoverished rural consumer seems to have some basis,
considering the fact that the vast portion of the rural population spend less than
Rs 43 per month. However assuming that as soon as the per capita expenditure
reaches the level of Rs 100 per month, the consumers become of interest to the
marketers of branded products, we see that more than half of such consumers
are in rural areas. There are more rich consumers in rural India than in urban
India
There is no uniform pattern covering all villages. The structure of competition in
rural India can be classified as follows: competition from other urban national
brands, from regional brands, from unbranded urban products, from unbranded
products of that village and finally indirect competition from substitutes.
a)Other urban national branded products. In certain villages the
proliferation of national brands is quiet evident. This more likely in villages
which are on the periphery of larger towns because of the spill over from
urban centres. There are exceptions to this: certain national brands have
reached the remotest of villages perhaps because of the consistent efforts
made by manufacturers through their marketing and advertising efforts;
this is more striking in case of branded tea.
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31. RURAL ADVERTISING
b)Regional urban branded products. In some villages regional brands or
brands of unorganized sector are quite common. This is so for soaps in
north and south, detergent powders in Gujarat, and talc’s in Tamil Nadu
and Kerala.
c)Unbranded urban products. These products are manufactured at an
urban centre and find their way into rural India through wholesale
channels: they are commonly washing products, confectionery items,
ribbons bangles etc.

d)Unbranded products of village origin. These are products
manufactured in village itself: the hardware of the village smith, the ropes
made in the surrounding fields or the bread and food products made by
local baker or sweetmeat maker.
e)Substitutable products or indirect competition. A further classification
can be made for competitive products, which can be substituted. Such
products are ‘majaans’, neem twigs for the teeth where toothpaste have
not yet entered, or soaps where synthetic detergents are not common. In
villages which are around Banaras, villagers use the mud from the river-
bed to wash their clothes and themselves too!
Central to the current beliefs on rural advertising are as follows:
a)Because of the low literacy level and for other reasons, the rural
consumer has very low exposure to mass media (press, film, radio,
outdoor) normally used in urban India: that communication in rural
India must depend on ‘non-conventional media’ such as drama
troupes, mime groups, personal communication, etc.
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32. RURAL ADVERTISING
b)Because of the lack of sophistication of the rural consumers the
creative treatment must be kept ‘simple’, and depend on visual
treatment more than on copy.
Here again, it is worth examining these beliefs. The first one –that conventional
urban style media are relatively useless for rural India- is so deeply rooted that
many marketing executives are likely to be willing to even discuss it. This belief
squares with our commonsense of the poor illiterate farmer.
However, in the middle of all this conviction, let us stop for a moment and
consider the following fact: though rural population as a whole are poor and
illiterate, what about the rural consuming? As we already demonstrated, 20 to 30
of the rural household come in the affordability range of consumer branded
products. What is the literacy/media exposure of this group, the main group of
concern to marketers of branded consumer products? In any event, there is a
strong case for examining more hard data on this issue.
Similarly it is fairly obvious that the creative content of advertising would depend
on the kind of competition. It is not all that certain that ‘simple’ messages
focusing on brand names/ pack/products-use demonstrations are the most
effective creative style. What is more likely is that the motivations in using
branded products are no different in rural India.
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33. RURAL ADVERTISING
CONSTRAINTS IN MARKETING COMMUNICATION IN RURAL INDIA
Marketing communication and promotion poses a lot of problems in rural India.
There are many constraints emanating from the profile of the audience and the
availability of media.
The literacy rate among the rural consumers being low, the printed word has little
use in the rural context. In addition to the low level of literacy, the tradition bound
nature of rural people, their cultural barriers and taboos and their overall
economic backwardness add to the difficulty of the communication task. The
situation is further compounded by linguistic diversity. Rural communication has
to necessarily be in the local language and idiom. The constraints of media
further compound the difficulty. It has been estimated that all organized media
put together can reach only 30% of the rural population of India. TV is an ideal
medium for communicating with the rural masses. But its reach in rural areas is
restricted even today. As regards the print media, the various publications reach
only 18% of the rural population. Even in areas reached, the circulation is limited.
The low literacy level of the rural population still acts as an inhibitor in the use of
print media in rural communication. Cinema is relatively more accessible. It has
been estimated that 33% of total cinema earnings in the country come from rural
India.
Rural communication has also become relatively more expensive. For rural
communication to be effective, repeat exposures is a must; and if gap between
exposures is long, the message losses its edge during this period. These factors
make rural communication more expensive. Rural communication has to go
through all the time consuming stages of creating awareness, altering attitudes
and changing behaviour. In addition it also has to work against deep-rooted
behaviour patterns.
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34. RURAL ADVERTISING
In short the crux of the marketing communication in the rural context is one of
finding a media mix that will deliver the required message in a cost effectively
with the rural target audience that is predominantly illiterate.
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35. RURAL ADVERTISING
OVERCOMING THE BARRIERS OF COMMUNICATION IN RURAL INDIA
A company that seeks a long term presents in the rural market has to squarely
encounter these constraints and find a way of communicating effectively with the
rural target audience.
Role of media in rural markets
Media can be divided into two variables:
1.Traditional Media
Puppetry, dance-dramas, rural specific art forms like Harikatha
and Villupatu preformed at village melas and temple festivals.
Study classes.
Mike announcements, processions.
Caparisoned elephants, decorated bullock carts carrying ad panels.
Music records.
Folk theatre.
Demonstration, house to house campaigns by special promotion
Squads.
Hoats and Melas.
Information centres on company’s products.
Wall paintings
Posters
Agricultural Games
Postcards
Audio-visual vans or publicity vans
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36. RURAL ADVERTISING
2.Mass Media
Television
Word of mouth
Radio
Cinema halls
POP,s
Press
Other print media
Companies using Traditional Media
·Brooke bond India Ltd.
·HLL
·Rajdoot
·Bajaj
·Nirma
·Colgate Palmolive
Companies using Mass Media
·Onida
·Videocon
·HLL
·Eveready Batteries
·Eicher Tractors
·RCF
·Mahindra & Mahindra Tractors
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37. RURAL ADVERTISING
SELECTING THE MEDIA MIX:
Evidently, in the rural context the firm has to choose a combination of
formal and non-formal media. The possibilities are indicated below:
THE FORMAL ORGANISED MEDIA
Among the formal organized media TV, Radio, Cinema, POPS and Outdoors
have a good scope in the rural context.
TELEVISION:
With the increase in coverage and increase in TV ownership in the rural
areas, TV has become the primary media for communication to the rural masses.
Studies reveal that has much has 77% of villages in India now receive TV
transmission and 27% of all rural people actually watch TV. The main advantage
of this medium is that, it is both spoken and visual. The TV viewership
percentage varies from state to state. Television has proven advantageous in
communicating with the rural people due to the low literacy levels. However
while using this medium, the viewer ship habits of people needs to be taken into
consideration.
HLL has been in the forefront in using TV to communicate with the rural
masses. Lifebuoy, Lux, Fair and Lovely and Nihar oil are the products
advertised via television.
Most of the messages of National concern on Family Welfare and Literacy
Campaign by the Government are telecast before the popular programmes with
rural characters.
RADIO:
The radio is a well established medium in rural areas. As one of the
oldest and potential media used for communication with farmers and for diffusing
agricultural technology, radio has yielded significant results. A big expansion in
the broadcasting facilities has taken place in the rural country over the years. The
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38. RURAL ADVERTISING
availability of radio sets has also expanded. Given the reasonable price of a
transistor radio, it can be inferred that, most of the rural families own a radio set.
While radio as a medium cannot match TV in potency and effectiveness, in its
existing context, radio does have a role in rural communication.
There are specific programmes for agriculturists like ‘Farm and Home
Programme’ or ‘Krishi Darshan’ in all regional languages, which are broadcast on
the primary channel. Thus the ownership pattern of radios in the rural areas has
enabled regular listenership and its main advantage is, it is cost effective
medium.
Colgate, Jyoti Laboratories, Zandu Balm, Juari Industries are some
companies using radio for communication. Some of the agencies into radio
advertising are as follows: Rediffusion (for Colgate), O & M (GE worldwide),
Lintas (Juari Industries).
CINEMA:
The cinema is a useful medium in rural context. Most rural villages have
one or more cinema halls. And 29% of all rural people do watch cinema as a
matter of regular lifestyle and habit. Short feature films with disguised
advertisements messages, direct advertisement films and documentaries that
combine knowledge and advertisements, can be employed for rural
communication. Cinemas are more popular medium in southern states like Tamil
Nadu, Andhra Pradesh.
Thumps up telecast their commercials (Sunil Shetty and other commercials
with popular celebrities) during cinemas.
OUTDOORS:
The outdoor also lend itself well to rural communication. In fact,
currently many companies are using the outdoor medium imaginatively in their
rural communication mix, through hoardings, wall paintings, illuminations and
other displays in the rural areas.
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39. RURAL ADVERTISING
POP’s:
The POP’s point of purchase (or point of sales) promotion tools are also
quiet useful in the rural markets. The POP’s meant for rural market should be
specially designed to suit the rural requirements. More than written words,
symbols, pictures and colours should be used in POP’s meant for rural markets.
Colour is of particular importance in the rural context. As a general rule rural
people love bright colours. The effective communicator utilizes such cues.
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40. RURAL ADVERTISING
PRINT MEDIA:
The relevance of print media for rural communication needs careful
examination mainly because the literacy level is low in rural areas. Print media
consist of a wide variety of items – Newspapers (dailies), periodicals (weeklies,
monthlies) and also the literature. Pamphlets, booklet produced my
manufacturers and marketing men. Vernacular periodicals and dailies are very
popular in the southern states. Some of the regional newspapers used for
advertising are as follows:
Maharashtra (Konkan, Ratnagiri) – Badiraja, Krushival
Kerala – Malayala Manorama
Tamil Nadu – Dina Thanthi
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41. RURAL ADVERTISING
MEDIA REACH STATISTICS
The medium in the message" acquires critical importance for advertisers and
marketers in India as different media have varying penetration levels. For
example terrestrial TV has the highest penetration among all types of media
with 78 per cent penetration in urban India and 36 per cent in rural India. It's
reach is the highest in the 14 to 19 age group with 62 per cent. It has an
astonishing 91 per cent penetration in urban Himachal Pradesh.
In contrast satellite TV reaches only 13 per cent of India. The medium's highest
penetration of 52 per cent is in urban Maharashtra. But in the rural parts of the
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42. RURAL ADVERTISING
state it has a penetration of a mere 4 per cent. Similarly in Assam and Orissa
satellite TV reaches only 4 per cent of the population.
Given the high literacy levels it is natural that print media has the highest
penetration in Kerala. It reaches 76 per cent in urban Kerala and 65
per cent in rural parts of the state. Print media has the lowest reach
in Assam with 11 per cent.
DISADVANTAGE OF MASS MEDIA
The Indian society is a complex social system with different castes, classes,
creeds and tribes. The high rate of illiteracy added to the inadequacy of mass
media impedes reach almost to 80% of India's population who reside in village.
Mass media is too glamorous, interpersonal and unreliable in contrast with the
familiar performance of traditional artist whom the villager could not only see and
hear, but even touch. Besides this villagers are more conservative buyers then
their urban counterparts. Their desire to innovate with new product is restricted.
NON-FORMAL/RURAL SPECIFIC MEDIA
Rural specific media can be used to reach these people in the marketing of new
concept. The rural specific media with its effective reach, powerful input and
personalized communication system will help in realizing the goal. Besides this
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43. RURAL ADVERTISING
when the advertisement is couched in entertainment it goes down easily with the
villager.
Advantages of rural specific media :
- The accessibility is high.
- Involves more then one sense.
- Interest arousal capability is high.
- Less operational liability Minimum cost.
A variety of non-formal media have been developed over the years by rural
marketing firms to meet the specific requirements of rural communication. Some
of them are interpersonal media and others are mass media. The more popular
ones among them are:
AUDIO VISUAL PUBLICITY VANS
The A/V unit or the publicity van is very useful for rural communication.
The van is a comprehensive mobile promotion station at the exclusive command
of the concerned firm. The firm can exhibit its films and other audio visual
presentations such as slide shows, sound and sight presentations, puppet shows
etc. from this instant promotion station. A portable shamiana or platform can be
carried in the van and can be used as a stage. Even mini public meetings can be
organized using the shamiana. Portable exhibition kits can be carried in the van
and exhibitions put up instantly. The van can also be used for sales campaigns in
addition to promotion campaigns. It can also be used for other product
demonstrations. In short the van has all the advantages of carrying and
delivering a tailor-made communication program for the chosen target audience.
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43
Nike is easily available in places like Chiplun, Ratnagiri, Jalgaon and Bariely, even
though the price range is Rs5200-5900.

44. RURAL ADVERTISING
Naturally, the A/V vans are quite popular with rural marketing firms. Practically all
the firms in agri-inputs business have their own A/V vans all over their respective
marketing territories. Firms marketing consumer softs come second in the use of
AV vans. Firms marketing consumer durables come third. In the third category
the efforts of Phillips India deserves a special mention. Phillips India has very
successfully used the AV vans for popularizing their radios in rural markets.
While the AV vans are very effective tools in rural promotion, the cost is high as
the target population is scattered. The cost of reaching an individual customer or
prospect through the van works out to be very high. In the early stages of market
development, in particular, the sales generated may not have any relationship
with the cost involved in extensive use of AV vans. But in view of its
effectiveness, big companies with resources make a conscious decision to use
the vans as a long-term market development tool.
SYNDICATED AUDIO VISUAL VANS
In recent years, rural publicity vans have become a purchasable service. Firms
that cannot afford to operate publicity vans of their own can utilize the syndicated
AV vans service offered by independent agencies.
The Joint Publicity Committee of the nationalised banks started rural
advertising through vans in the early '90s. They would make an
announcement in the village about a show of some religious and holy films in the
local language and in between the message would be carried to the audience.
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45. RURAL ADVERTISING
Vidoecon used van demos along with audio visual aids to promote its black
and white colour TV. And its washing machine “Washer”. In addition their
mechanics take a round of the villages twice a week to assure the villagers of
after-sales service, an important component of consumer durables. The company
employs 1,800 engineers and mechanics for this purpose.
Even Ondia uses Demonstration on vans to promote its television. When it
goes to rural areas to promote its product, on both the sides of the van a huge
cut out of their mascot “the Devil “ is put. This attracts the children and others
towards the van. Then a 40 – 45 min educative commercial is run to
promotevthevproduct.
MUSIC RECORDS, HARIKATHA, ETC
Music cassettes and records is another effective medium for rural
communication. It is an appealing medium. One complete language group can be
reached on a low budget through specially developed cassettes or records. They
can be played in cinema houses or in other places where rural people assemble.
Popular entertainment programmes like puppet shows, dance dramas, Villupattu
and Harikathas specially developed for product promotion purpose are now being
used in rural markets. These traditional art forms readily render themselves for
communication in rural society. Sales messages can be beautifully blended with
folklore to capture the imaginations of the rural audiences. Village fairs, festivals
and ‘melas’ are ideal venues for projecting these programmes. In certain context
public meetings are also useful for promotion in rural context.
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French cheese ‘The Laughing Cow’ is planning a major thrust in mini metros and
rural areas within a month of its national launch.

46. RURAL ADVERTISING
PUPPETRY
Puppetry is the indigenous theatre of India. From time immortal it has been the
most popular form and well-appreciated form of entertainment available to the
village people. It is an inexpensive activity. The manipulator uses the puppets as
a medium to express and communicate ideas, values and social messages. The
companies can develop a story line relating to the brand and show the characters
using the brands to their advantage. The dresses of the characters could be
those of the brand's packaging.
Types of Puppet theatre in IndiaContents
String puppets or Kathputlis of
Rajasthan
Heroic deeds of Vikramaditya, Prithviraj
Chouhan, Amar Singh Rathore
String puppets of Orissa Radha-Krishna
Rod puppets from Bengal Mahabharat, Manas , Radha-Krishna
String and Rod puppets of the south
(Tanjavur, Madras and Andhra)
Kathakali
Shadow puppets of Orissa , Kerala,
Andhra, Karnataka
Ramayana.
 Thus in rural India puppetry is a source of livelihood, avenue for
entertainment and creative expression which is ritually sacred and meaningful as
a means of social communication and vehicle of social transformation.
Song and Drama Division of the Government Of India makes wide use of
puppets in its campaigns to promote various government projects. Several other
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47. RURAL ADVERTISING
organizations, government, semi-government and private, have also used
puppets in support of individual schemes.
 Life Insurance Corporation of India used puppets to educate rural masses
about Life Insurance; enlisting the help of the literacy house in Lucknow.
 These plays were shown to the audience in villages in UP, Bihar, & MP.
The number of inquires at local Life Insurance Companies during the period
immediately following the performance was compared with normal frequency and
found to be considerable higher. The field staff of the corporation also reported a
definite impact on the business.
Thumps Up is another company that has used puppetry to promote its soft
drink. The shows comprises of puppets of Thumps Up and other rival soft drinks.
The thump up puppet comes and strikes down the other soft drinks thus
reinforcing its slogan “taste the thunder”.
Indian Institute of mass communication, N.Delhi made a study of comparative
impact of puppetry and documentary films, in two villages near Delhi. People in
both the villages responded more favorably to the puppet shows then the films.
FOLK THEATRE
Folk theaters are mainly short and rhythmic in form. The simple tunes help in
informing and educating the people in informal and interesting manner. It has
been used as an effective medium for social protest against injustice, exploitation
and oppression.
 Folk songs have been effectively used during revolts of Telangana and
Naxalbari and now a days it's best exploiters are Political Parties.
- Government has used this media for popularizing improved variety of seeds,
agricultural implements, fertilizer etc.
 Punjab Agricultural University produced Two Audio Cassettes.
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48. RURAL ADVERTISING
 Balliye Kanak Biye - Wheat Cultivation.
B) Khiran Kepah Narme - Cotton Cultivation.
Both were well received by farmers.
BBLIL used Magician and skits quite effectively for launch of Kadak ChhapTea in
Etawah.
 The folk media such as Ragini in Haryana for communicating qualities of
Virat cement, pala and daskathia in Orissa for promoting safe electricity
consumption and toothpaste of Colgate Palmolive and Baul songs in West
Bengal to advertise insecticides.
STATES Folk Theater / Songs Forms In India
Andhra Pradesh Veethi Natakam, Kuchupudi, Burratatha
Assam Ankiya Nat, Kirtania Natak, Ojapali Bihar : Bidesia, Serikela
Chhau, Jat-Jatni Bidpada, Ramkhelia
Gujarat Bhavai
Haryana Swang, Naqqal
Himachal PradeshKariyala, Bhagat, Ras, Jhanki, Harnatra Haran or Harin.
Jammu & KashmirBhand Pathar or Bhand Jashna, Vetal Dhamali
Karnataka : Yakshagan, Sanata , Doddata-Bayalata,Tala
Maddle or Prasang,Dasarata,Radhna.
Kerala Kodiyattam,Mudiattam,Therayattam,Chavittu Natakam,
Chakiyar Kooth, Kathakali
Madhya Pradesh Maanch, Nacha
Orissa Pala Jatra, Daskathia, Chhau Mayurbhanj, Mangal Ras,
Sowang
Punjab Nautanki, Naqaal, Swang
Rajasthan Khyal, Rasdhari, Rammat, Turra Kilangi, Gauri, Nautanki,
Jhamtara
Tamilnadu Therukuttu, Veethi Natakam, Bhagwat Mela Natakam,
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49. RURAL ADVERTISING
Kurvaanji, Pagal Vasham, Kavadi Chindu
Uttar Pradesh Ram Leela, Ras Leela, Nautanki, Bhagat, Sang-Swang,
Naqqual
Maharashtra : Tamasha, Lalit Bharud, Gondha, Dashavatar
INTERPERSONAL MEDIA
Interpersonal media have a special merit in rural context as they facilitate
two-way communication/interaction. They also bring market feed back to
the firm. In many cases rural people prefer face-to-face communication to mass
communication. Their confidence in the product the firm and their goodwill
towards the firm becomes stronger through interpersonal approach. Interpersonal
media have their unique advantages; they are segment specific, market specific
and score high when it comes to involvement and participation of the audience.
In the effort to reach out and go beyond them mass media, a firm can establish
contact with the audience through fairs and festivals, folk performances and other
special events. These points of contact also provide multimedia opportunities.
For example at any fair various media like audio, audio-visual and interpersonal
communication should be used.
Group meetings, Demonstrations, and House-To-House Campaigns
Group meetings of customers and prospects are important components of
interpersonal media. The sales man or the promotion staff of the firm can
effectively carry the product messages to the target audience at these meetings.
House to house campaign constitutes a handy tool in the rural market. In these
campaigns, small squads of staff or persons specially hired for specific promotion
make house-to-house visits in the rural areas. Several independent teams may
be at work at the same time in different parts of the village. The teams usually
carry with them product promotion literature/handouts/product samples, etc.
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50. RURAL ADVERTISING
These campaigns are different from door to door selling campaigns. The
promotion squads do not engage in the selling job, they only propagate the
product. As companies may normally find it difficult to spare their own staff of
such elaborate and time consuming work, they may hire the required people on
daily wage basis, train them briefly and use them under the supervision of the
company staff. In demonstrations, help of audio -visual media can add value
The five steps to make any demonstration effective are below:
- Information about people
- Objectives to be accomplished
- Demonstration plan & Execution of the plan
- Evaluation of the demonstration
- Reconsideration after evaluation.
Opinion Leaders
Rural consumers place more emphasis on the experience of others who
have used the brands to make their purchase decision. Opinion leader in rural
area can be defined as a person who is considered to be knowledgeable and is
consulted by others and his advice is normally followed. Opinion leaders could be
big landlords, teachers, social workers etc. They become important especially in
the marketing of consumer durables.
Asian Paints promoted its Utsav range of paints by painting Mukhiya's
house or Post office 6 months prior to the launch of the paint to demonstrate that
paint does not peel off.
For propagating ‘Surf’, HLL brought out a rural specific film, where they
took particular care to demonstrate step by step method of washing with Surf to
get the best whitening effect. They knew that an elaborate demonstration was
essential for the rural audience.
Reckitt and Colemen, Colgate and Samsung uses NGO's in rural areas to
educate customers about product benefits. Colgate with the help of NGO’s
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51. RURAL ADVERTISING
carry out free dental check up camps where literature on dental care (in local
language), and oral care products are distributed.
Mahindra Tractors use bankers as opinion leaders or influencers for their
prouduct.
 HLL’S ‘Operation Bharat’ is largest sampling exercises in recent times.
Before Phase- I of Operation Bharat, HLL was present in about 9 million
households in rural India. Operation Bharat introduced it to another 16 million
households. With 30 per cent of these coming back to Lever, it’s now bought 3.6
million more households into its fold. And the gains are evident in Lever’s topline
too. On the back of rural growth, the PPD’s sales grew from Rs 884 crore in 1997
to Rs 1,526 crore in 1998. The division now contributes 17 per cent to HLL’s
turnover, up from 11 per cent in 1997. The countries oldest tradition holds the
key to solving the rural marketing problems. The mobile supermarkets of rural
India – Haats/ Melas/ Shandies.
HAATS AND MELAS
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52. RURAL ADVERTISING
WHY MELAS ?
 Over 25000 Melas and 47000 Haats are held annually
Annual sales at Melas amount to Rs. 3,500 Crore
More than 10000 melas draw visitors from all over India
Half the outlets at Melas are for manufactured goods
Melas organised after harvest season, so the villager has enough money
to spend.
Demonstration at Haat is essential to convert customers at haats since their
aptitude is far more utilitarian than that of visitors to a fair. Through this
arrangement they can break the saddle of scant geographical distribution of
customers in rural markets as people of number of villages assemble to
participate in the fair. It is a good ground for building brand awareness, trial sales
and sampling. It provides a wider audience at a fairly low cost. Companies such
as Hindustan Lever, Titan and Colgate Palmolive use occasions such as Rath
Yatra, Kumbh Mela and Onam for brand promotion. These companies are
following a typical media schedule and are always in a march from one place to
the other with the festival calendar and a collapsible arrangement of the
exhibition set-up.
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53. RURAL ADVERTISING
KUMBH MELA – A classic example of effective rural specific marketing.
The Kumbh Mela 2001-which is offering a 7.5 crore consumer attraction
opportunity-is being exploited to the fullest by FMCG majors like Hindustan Lever
Ltd (HLL), Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd, Coca Cola, Pepsi Co., Marico
Industries, Godrej Soaps, Britannia Industries and Dabur to promote mass-
appeal brands.
While official estimates on the total expenditure are not available, industry
analysts estimate the promotional expenditure among the FMCG majors to be in
the range of Rs 5-7 crore. Be it hoardings, stalls, film sponsorships or kundali
branding, POPs, mass media, and even new product launches, brand
promotions are visible all over the place to woo the captive audience over the
next 40 days.
Soft drinks major Pepsi Co, for one, has tied up with UP Tourism and the various
food stalls and restaurants to quench the thirst of all and sundry. But more than
just a window for sales, the Kumbh Mela is turning out to be a platform for
strategy.
In tune with the spirit of the mega event, HLL is using this opportunity to change
hand-washing and bathing habits in rural IndiaThe Mahakumbh at Allahabad is
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54. RURAL ADVERTISING
the biggest mela in India and, with its focus on `cleansing' is a good fit for the
`Lifebuoy for health' message of the brand,"
Even though Lifebuoy is not using mass media for this promotion, innovative
communication tools are being used at the mela to communicate the importance
of health and hygiene. "Large-scale activity has been initiated to explain to the
assembled masses the importance of hand-washing in basic hygiene.
The company has put up 14 stalls at various points in the mela grounds. Some
hand-carts have also been deployed for increasing access. The numbers of both
may be increased based on response. ``The activity aims to build awareness in
the target audience about hygiene and health through product demonstrations,"
the spokesperson said.
Colgate-Palmolive is concentrating on promoting its products, mainly through
ground activities. The products include the flagship brand, Colgate Dental
Cream, Colgate Cibaca Top, ZigZag toothbrush, Colgate Super Flex, Palmolive
Naturals range and Colgate Herbal. Balloon blow-ups is one popular mode which
is being used to advertise the brands.
Dabur India too sees a major marketing opportunity at the on-going Kumbh Mela.
Apart from using outdoor advertising media such as hoardings and hotair
balloons, the company is actively promoting its 400-strong product portfolio at its
40ft by 15 ft stall in the commercial area of the venue. To attract consumers, an
Ayurvedic physician has been deputed to provide free consultation at the stall.
As companies are not allowed to open shop in the main arena, Dabur has also
employed about 30 `jumpboys' who mingle along with the crowd and hence are
the walking window shops for the company. These boys carry Dabur's smaller
SKUs such as Hajmola sachets or Pudinhara sachets in trays and also have a
audio player which runs jingles of various Dabur products. ``The idea behind this
initiative is to reach out to the audience rather than wait for them to come to the
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55. RURAL ADVERTISING
stall,'' says a Dabur source. Dabur will also air about 12,000 commercials on the
15-video walls placed at the mela during the length of the festival.
Titan adopting a railway station during the Kumbh Mela helped them to generate
a high brand recall.
WALL PAINTINGS
Wall Paintings are an effective and economical medium for advertising in rural
areas. They are silent unlike traditional theatre .A speech or film comes to an
end, but wall painting stays as long as the weather allows it to.
Retailer normally welcomes paintings of their shops, walls, and name boards.
Since it makes the shop look cleaner and better. Their shops look alluring and
stand out among other outlets. Besides rural households shopkeepers and
panchayats do not except any payment, for their wall to be painted with product
messages. To get one's wall painted with the product messages is seemed as a
status symbol. The greatest advantage of the medium is the power of the picture
completed with its local touch. The images used have a strong emotional
association with the surrounding, a feat impossible for even a moving visual
medium like television which must use general image to cater to greatest number
of viewers.
A good wall painting must meet some criteria to generate awareness and remind
consumer about the brand.
THE WALL SHOULD BE:
1) The most frequented shops can be painted from inside also one feet above
the ground level.
2) It is courteous to take the verbal permission of owner .The permission is
normally given. However by taking the permission of the rural retailers or house
owners, one gets the owner morally committed to taking care of wall painting.
3) The message should be simple, direct and clear.
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56. RURAL ADVERTISING
4) A definite way of arresting is to use bright colors and these do not fade away
easily. A good paint will survive the ravages of dust, sand and rainstorms for
about three years.
5) Paintings must be taken after rainfall.
6) It should be peaked up during the festival and post harvest season. To derive
maximum mileage their usage needs to be planned meticulously.
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To attract rural buyers advertisers use simple films showing how a product is
to be used. Rajdoot Paints issues such functional advertising very effectively. A
company has to keep in mind religion, festivals and local sentiments.
While Nirma makes extensive use of wall paintings, a soil conditioner called
Terracare uses images of Sita, Luv and Kush to attract the rural consumer.
Companies like Coke, Pepsi, agricultural implement companies HMT tractors,
TAFE also use wall paintings. However the company that has very widely used
this medium in Thumps up.
POSTERS AND STICKERS
Posters are a short-term promotional media because the maximum life of a
poster on the walls in one day. This medium is usually used during the launch of
a product.
Seed companies like Nath Seeds, Mahyco and FMCg like HLL use this
strategy.
 There is an example in innovative media which was used by HLL to push
products in personal wash like Lux and Lifebuoy and fabric wash items like Rin
and Wheel.
For both, washing and for taking bath - one requires water. Now for rural markets
there are three sources of water - wells, handpumps and ponds. For the first in
the history of advertising - these were branded. Special stickers were put on the
handpumps, the walls of the wells were lined with advertising tiles and tinplates
were put on all the trees surrounding the ponds. The idea was to advertise not
only at the point of purchase but also at the time of consumption.
So the customer could also see the advertising when he was bathing or washing.
Now, the customers who bought these brands got a sense of satisfaction by
seeing their choice being advertised in these places while a question was put in
the minds of the customers who had bought other brands.
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OTHER RURAL SPECIFIC MEDIA
POSTCARDS
The extensive network of post throughout the country can be used as an
alternative vehicle for brand promotion in the rural areas. Postbox’s, post office
walls and the post cards carry the logo and brand names of companies.
Videocon was the first company to use this strategy. LIC is another company
that has adopted this strategy.
AGRICULTURAL GAMES
The ad agencies design various games and competitions in which the rural
masses participate. The winners are then awarded the companies product.
Following are some of the agricultural games organized:
Rajdoot 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.
 Philips conducts jigsaw puzzle games consisting of their logo and
punch line “Lets make things better “ usually for the youth to create brand
awareness. The winner is given a Philips transistor.
Other Rural Media
The extensive network of postal and medical workers throughout the country can
be used as an alternative vehicle for brand promotion in the rural areas. The
days are not far off when the postbox, post office walls and the postman's
uniform will carry the logo and brand names of companies and the walls of the
rural primary health centres and schools will be covered by suitable brand
advertising catering to the taste of the rural target market. Once this innovation of
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reaching markets through alternative cost effective media starts, rural
consumption will go high making it potentially more attractive than the urban
market.
DISADVANTAGES OF TRADITIONAL MEDIA
* Range of mode choice is narrow.
* Potential for cognitive gain retention is possible but restricted.
* Depends on the skill of the performer, but for optimum effect all elements in the
rural communication system will have to be orcheastered into a united whole.
* Extensive research of each and every village is needed.
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60. RURAL ADVERTISING
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LG expects 40% of it’s colour television sales to come from rural markets. The
company has priced it’s colour television’s in the range of Rs10,000-Rs60,000 for
sizes ranging from 14” to 29”. Washing machine are priced from Rs 20,000 to
Rs37,000 and refrigerators from Rs 27,000 to Rs 60,000.

61. RURAL ADVERTISING
COMPANIES WHICH HAVE USED TRADITIONAL MEDIA
EFFECTIVELY
The Strategy: Dabur address the rural marketing for its Gripewater to both
men and women.
The Lesson: Rural women make the decisions .Its the men who buy.
The Strategy: Reckitt and Colemen uses NGO's in rural areas to educate
customers about product benefits.
The Lesson: Establishes one to one communication channels.
The Strategy: BBLIL markets its rural brands through magic shows and
skits.
The Lesson: Use local idioms to convey your message in a meaningful
context.
The Strategy: Hero Honda has established mobile service centers to take
care of rural customers.
The Lesson: Reinforce product quality through service indicators.
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Improved rural distribution system has helped Godrej consumer products achieve a
distribution reach of more than a million retail outlets for its brands, Cintol Fresh
toilet soaps and Godrej Powder Hair Dye sachet and also increase overall
distribution for its key brands by 20-30 percent since September 2000.

62. RURAL ADVERTISING
RURAL ADVERTISING
CASE STUDIES
COCA – COLA INDIA
The Coca-Cola Company is the global soft-drink industry leader, with
world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. The Company and its subsidiaries
employ nearly 30,000 people around the world. Syrups, concentrates and
beverage bases for Coca-Cola, the Company's flagship brand, and over 160
other Company soft-drink brands are manufactured and sold by The Coca-Cola
Company and its subsidiaries in nearly 200 countries around the world.
During the past decade, the Coca-Cola system has invested more than US$ 1
billion in India. Coca-Cola is one of the country's top international investors.
In 2003, Coca-Cola India pledged to invest a further US$100 million in its
operations. Coca-Cola business system directly employs approximately 6,000
local people in India. In India, it indirectly create employment for more than
125,000 people in related industries through our vast procurement, supply and
distribution system. Virtually all the goods and services required to produce and
market Coca-Cola locally are made in India. The Coca-Cola system in India
comprises 27 wholly-owned company-owned bottling operations and another
17 franchisee-owned bottling operations. A network of 29 contract-packers
also manufactures a range of products for the Company. The complexity of the
Indian market is reflected in the distribution fleet, which includes 10-tonne
trucks, open-bay three-wheelers that can navigate the narrow alleyways of
Indian cities, and trademarked tricycles and pushcarts. The Company
ranking up "firsts" in the introduction of Canned and PET soft drinks, vending
machines and backpack dispensers for crowds of cricket supporters.
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A common trend that is seen in the promotional advertisement campaigns of soft
drinks, is the presence of popular film stars and celebrities – right from Amitabh
Bacchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Shahrukh Khan for Pepsi, Hritik Roshan, Aamir
Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Sunil Gavaskar for Coca-Cola, Salman Khan, Sushmita
Sen for Thumps-Up to sonali Bendre for Limca, the trend continues. This is
probably because the Indian consumers are very influenced by film stars and are
big cricket fans and marketers still prefer to rely on building top-of-the-mind
advertising. Also, most marketing people tend to get evaluated on parameters
like brand noticeablity and brand preference. That is why most of them eventually
fall back on celebrity driven advertising, which quickly improves noticeablity.
As 30% of Coca-Cola’s sales comes from the rural markets where the potential
for growth is still high compared with a relatively saturated urban market, the
company wanted a separate rural strategy, hence the Aamir Khan-featured
commercial “ Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola” ( a campaign that immediately
provoked a retaliatory campaign from pepsi staring Rahul Khanna and Fardeen
Khan ). The “Thanda….” campaign was conceived during a brainstorming
session when someone pointed out that “thanda” (cold) is the soft term for soft
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drinks in local paralance – especially in the rural and moffusil areas. This
campaign intends to push the recently introduced 200ml Coca-Cola pack which is
increasingly becoming accepted in rural areas.
Coca-Cola has however undertaken a different set of advertising campaigns in
the Southern market ( as the south is a big cola market ). The four southern
states are in really different countries. For example there is a promotion going in
the North which will start soon, it will not be implemented in Tamil Nadu or Kerala
where they will have their own promotions. The things that work well in the rest of
the country do not work well in Tamil Nadu, Kerala or Andhra. For example when
they did tie-ups with movies like Hum Saath Saath Hain and Kaho Na Pyar Hai,
starring big names from Bollywood they didn’t do well in Tamil nadu nd all the
activities they did around these movies, also didn’t fare well. The people here do
not relate to these stars. In Tamil Nadu it is always believed that movies and
music have a large following. The trend is similar throughout the country, but
accentuated more in Tamil Nadu. If you take the case of Vijay, when Coca-Coal
finished the ad, many of his fan clubs came and took his Coca-Cola posters to be
displayed at vantage places in and around theatres screening his recent movies.
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CASE STUDY II
TATA SALT
Tata Chemicals’ salt story began in 1983, when it needed fresh water for
the boilers that produced soda ash at its Mithapur plant. Fresh water was scarce,
so the company set up a process to generate it by using seawater, a freely
available resource. Salt, of high quality and purity, was a by-product. Both
UNICEF and the Indian government were promoting the intake of iodine for
health reasons. ‘Salt is the most economical and convenient dietary vehicle for
iodine consumption’. Hence, these factors led Tata Chemicals to take up salt
production. Ever since its launch in 1983, Tata Salt has been synonymous with
iodized salt in India.
The positioning statement used earlier was ‘Namak ho Tata ka, Tata namak’."
The communication was built around the fact that Tata Salt, India’s first iodized
salt, was manufactured by a Tata company.
Tata appreciated that in order to sustain a competitive advantage over a long
period of time, what is needed is for the consumer to perceive the company to be
different from others. The best way to differentiate is to connect with the
consumer at an emotional level.
The challenge was to take purity, a rational product benefit, and create an
emotional link with the consumers. A new agency, Bates India, was chosen to
work on the communication. A strong fact that emerged from the research was
that consumers were troubled about the gradual erosion of nation’s value
system. Another factor was that salt is deeply rooted in grassroots values.
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Tata salt spends about 15-18% of their sales revenue on promotion. The
promotional strategy used by Tata salt is Pull Strategy. It is based on the Brand
equity appeal and Tata brand name. “Tata Salt” is India’s fourth most trusted
brand. This was highlighted by the study of reputed Market Research Agency
A.C. Neilson.
Tata Group follows the policy to give returns to the nation. Therefore,
along with the ‘Desh Ka Namak’ ad they came out with the ‘Desh Ko Arpan’
programme last year in 2002. The company decided to contribute 10 paise on
every packet of Tata Salt which is sold between August 15 and September 15’
2003 and also January – February ‘2004, towards the education of deprived girl
children. The ‘Desh Ko Arpan’ programme encouraged ordinary individuals to
make a difference. Over Rs 35 lakh was collected in 2002 and given to Child
Relief and You through this initiative. The Promotional tools adopted by the
company include advertising and sales promotion.
Advertising:
The amount spent on advertising accounts for 7 to 8% of the sales revenue.
They use mass media communication like Television Ads, Print Ads, etc.
Print Ads:
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They are printed in regional language newspaper and in the magazines in the
regional language. Like, The ‘Desh Ko Arpan’ Programme is been promoted
through print media advertisements in 5 regional languages (Hindi, Marathi,
Bengali, Tamil and Telugu).
Media Vehicles
Conventional Media-
(a) Television: For rural market they don’t have a separate advertisement but
they play the same advertise in the regional language.
Doordarshan- Tata Salt’s around 40% reach is because of its advertisements on
Doordarshan.
It also advertises on Star Plus, NDTV, etc.
Regional Channels like- Alfa, Sun, Surya, etc. depending upon the State
Language.
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(b) Wall paintings: They also communicate to rural market through the wall
paintings in Haats. Urban consumers shop daily and have 365 opportunities a
year to switch brands while the rural purchasers who buy their goods in weekly
haats have only 54. Considering this Tata Salt makes ultimate use of this
opportunity to educate the customers about the product.
(c) Video on Wheels: Tata Salt uses van marketing to reach the satellite
villages.
Non-Conventional Media-
Kalnirnaya: Tata Salt advertises on Kalnirnay Calendars which are printed in 8
languages. Out of the 1.2 crores calendars issued, 50 lakh are sold in
Maharashtra. This advertising is a reminder to the consumer of the Brand- Tata
Salt which is in its Maturity stage.
CASE STUDY III
COLGATE
Colgate Polmolive (India) Ltd.(CPIL), a wholly owned subsidiary of
Colgate Polmolive Company, US and a leading FMCG company in India is
engaged in oral care and personal care business.
CPIL incorporated in 1937 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of its US parent was
forced to offload 60% of its equity in compliance with FERA. But with policy
change allowing 100% FDI in industry the parent company has again hiked its
stake to 51% Oral Care Business CPIL market leader in (he oral care business in
India offers wide range scientifically proven oral care products (with multiple
benefits) i.e. toothpaste, toothpowders, and toothbrushes at various price points
under its flagship brand “Colgate”. The company dominates the Rs.1000 crore
Indian toothpaste market by commanding 50% of the market share.
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The umbrella oraleare brand of the company ‘Colgate’ is a very popular name in
the Indian household and has a good brand loyalty. The company has launched
more variants apart from the flagship brand Colgate Dental Cream like Colgate
Herbal Toothpaste, Colgate Fresh Energy Gel and was well received in the
market backed by aggressive promotions like ‘Talk to Me’ campaign for ‘Colgate
Fresh Energy Gel’ The company also markets its tooth brushes under the
umbrella brand ‘Colgate’. The recent launch in this segment is Colgate Navigator
toothbrush. In June 2001, CPIL rolled out in India, Colgate Actibrush, an
imported battery-powered toothbrush at a price of Rs. 999, It will be available at
select outlets. Will) this launch, the toothbrush market of India is now
segmented into manual and battery operated. Personal Care Business CPIL
which owns world renowned personal care brand ‘Polmolive’ is also a significant
player in the Indian personal care business by its offering of an array of bath
soaps, liquid hand washers, Shave preps and Skin care products. The Palmolive
Shaving Cream is a Market leader in its segment.
PALMOLIVE used mostly television and radio for the purpose of
promotion lather than cinema and print media. Because literacy level is low and
frequency level of audience in cinema theater is also low.
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PALMOLIVE used other means of mass media such as hoardings, wall
paintings, posters, banners, gift schemes and jathras & melas for the purpose of
promotion.
PALMOLIVE also runs special campaigns during crop harvest and marketing
seasons. It is beneficial lo take up special campaign in rural areas in these
periods. Appropriate timing of these campaigns is more important since the
promotion should not only result in awareness but also in adoption and
purchases.
First a decision has to be made with regards to the product and then the brand
choice has to be made. In such cases personal selling and opinion leaders play a
major role. PALMOLIVE promotes their product through opinion leaders.
One of the important Promotion Strategies was to launch campaigns and
programmes mainly on the awareness & diseases caused due to bad teeth.
Colgate did it with Rs. 8 crore ‘Operation Jagruti’ -an awareness programme &
strong distribution network. Network of super stockist & rural stockist helped to
the reach over 55000 villages.
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71. RURAL ADVERTISING
CASE STUDY IV
CASPER
Tainwala has carved a niche in human hearts by providing protection and
comfort. The buzz of mosquitoes changes ZZZ of sleep as Tainwala switches on
a world of protection for you and your loved ones. That’s the power of CASPER –
world’s largest range of mosquito repellents which comprises of coil, mat. Liquid
Vaporiser and wide models of machines. Tainwala pioneered the concept of wet
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72. RURAL ADVERTISING
wipes in India, by manufacturing Wet cleansing tissue in the brand name of
Fresh Ones. When its hot and humid, Fresh Ones cares by reviving sagging
feeling and flagging moods.
Tainwala also manufactures pre-injection swabs, wound cleansing tissues, germ
free tissues to wipe spectacles and many more special purpose tissues for
hospitals, pharmaceuticals, hotels, airlines etc. Tainwala has forged an alliance
with Samsonite Corp, USA, a world leader in luggage industry and is also
involved in making life more comfortable for people with jawan tuf top quality,
factories, warehouses etc.
COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
They have also painted many PANWALA shops of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar
Pradesh with their CASPER mosquito coil brand. This gives them visibility for a
period of 6 months. Numerous number of people come to the shop and they
notice the advertising. This helps them encourage brand recall.
Their main means of promotion is advertising through Doordarshan. Their
television ads normally emphases on a good night sleep with your family. They
basically try and emotionally appeal the mothers, since they show a doting
mother in the ads.
They provide large amount of promotion through word of mouth by giving larger
margins to distributors and retailers, in the rural market the word of these people
makes an impact on the buying decision of the people in rural areas.
Their aggressive advertising marketing include:
Advertising in local newspaper.
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73. RURAL ADVERTISING
Stressing in trade related activities.
Making mosquito mats machine available at electronic shops, painting shops for
free gifts.
They carry out product distribution through vans and educate the rural markets
about anti-mosquito solutions.
They also advertise in between various local events in the rural areas.
The use of local newspapers to advertise the product is widely used by many
companies. The various newspapers used by companies are
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74. RURAL ADVERTISING
North:
Punjab Kesari, Amar Ujjala
East:
Anand Bazar Patrika, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bartaman
South:
Enadu, Malayalam Manorama, Kumudum
West:
Loksatta, Tarun Bharat, Sakal, Sayakaleen, Shetkari(for farmers)
The company also use posters to a great extent in their promotions.
They also do a lot of advertising through stickers, danglers etc.
Also the companies use non-conventional sources of advetising like
Role-plays.
Wall paintings
Local bus back panels etc
CONCLUSION
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No.of People
Ads
Newspaper
Friends
Shopkeeper
Others

75. RURAL ADVERTISING
Growing at an annual rate of 4% the rural market introduces 1.2 million
consumers every year. Rural consumer is no more looked upon as the distant
cousin of the urban consumer by the Indian corporates and multinationals. The
rural customer has found his own place under the sun. More and more villages
are incorporated in the scheme of things as FMCG companies and MNC’s
scramble to woo the rural consumer.
As a result of the promotions drive launched by the agencies, most consumers
have become extremely brand conscious and loyal. No longer is every washing
powder Surf and every bathing soap Lux.
Promotions in rural areas need to be carried out very carefully as the people are
very brand loyal. It has been seen often enough that in one village only one
brand is prevelant. This is not due to lack of supply of other competing brands
but simply because the brand entered the market first. But the flip side of this is
that if one brand turned out to be faulty in one household, it would be boycotted
by the whole village.
Carrying out promotions in rural India is no mean task. As technology has not
been used extensively to cover this market, it is the knowledge base that is more
critical.
Rural people associate a brand image with what they think of themselves.
Therefore, using pictures of semi-nude women would amount to asking them to
not use the product at all. The rural communication strategy has to be very well
planned and implemented and the rural consumer’s sentiment has to be taken
into consideration while planning and executing the strategy.
Several other features need to be kept in mind for rural marketing. For one, the
rural consumer is extremely price conscious. For him, savings are critical and not
product usage. Consequently a discount would be more effective than an
increase in the size of the product. Which is why sachets achieve maximum
usage in rural areas.
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There used to be a time when foreign companies and MNC’s would give this
market a pass thinking their ‘sophisticated’ products would not sell there.
Companies such as Reckitt and Coleman, P&G, domestic FMCG Tata tea, Titan
industries, pharma giants Ranbaxy and Glaxo and innumerable electronic
manufacturers like Videocon, Godrej, BPL, Samsung, LG and automobile majors
such as Ford, Toyota, Daewoo have suddenly discovered the hidden mass of
rural India. Most have launched brands suited to rural India and have gone
aggressive in their marketing and advertising strategies.
In the coming years, it may well be the rural consumer that accounts for most of
an organizations sale. With so much of activity in the rural sector, all one can say
is “the rural customer has arrived”.
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BIBLOGRAPHY
·Books
Advertising Management- B.S.Rathore.
Marketing In India- S.Neelamegham
Marketing Management- Ramaswamy & Nambhkumari
Rural Marketing- Gopalaswamy
Business World’s Marketing White book 2003-04
·Magazines and Newspaper
Business World
Business India

·Internet Sites
www.indiatimes.com.
www.coca-colaindia.com
www.onlinequotes.com
www.hll.com
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78. RURAL ADVERTISING
www.indiainfoline.com.
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