By TARO W
Indiantelevision.com Team

(20 May 2006 8:00 pm)

BANGALORE: Could rural really be the next real deal in marketing? That's a question on many a marketers mind and Anugarh Madison Advertising CMD RV Rajan recently gave a presentation that sought to provide some answers. One common strand running throughout was this - there are no shortcuts and without a long term view, failure is almost as good as guaranteed.

Titled Don't Flirt with Rural Marketing, the presentation analyzed the current scenario and offered useful tips for marketers to help build their brands in rural India.

According to Rajan, there has been too much stress on the short term in rural marketing (RM). Except for a few like HLL with their Project Shakti and ITC with their E-Chaupal, which are rural initiatives with clear long term objectives, RM still means a van campaign, a few badly made commercials, etc, Rajan opined

Different organizations classify rural differently. For companies into durables, it could range from places with population of less then 500,000 while for the FMCG industry it would imply places with populations of less than 50,000.

While many companies do commence RM initiatives, most end up with road-blocks in the pilot stage itself because of reasons ranging from operational, to inadequate budgets, for the pilots themselves - that most often what is being tested is not the final representation of what needs to be rolled out later.

Rajan claims that as per the Rural Marketing Agencies Association of India (RMAAI) estimates, only Rs 5 billion is spent annually in India towards RM as opposed to Rs 130 billion (and the number is growing year on year) allotted to mass-media, especially television. Rajan says that clients are reluctant to spend money in RM because there is no established yardstick to gauge the efficacy of RM initiatives, as is the case of TV and press which have TRP and NRS/IRS data which help in decision making. According to Rajan, the RMAAI plans to address this issue by undertaking studies to develop some guidelines in this field.

Most companies have no long term strategy or RM team or RM budget, Rajan argues, because no manager is willing to stake his career by thinking long term when his survival depends on mandatory quarterly results. This has resulted in the ratio between abandoned and successful RM projects being high. Only a holistic approach to an RM effort can ensure its success he declares, while citing examples of a few successful regional brands that have given a run for the money to multinational companies. These being Cavin Care Chik Shampoo, Meera Herbal Powder, Fairever Cream, Anchor (100 per cent vegetarian toothpaste), Gadi detergent powder, Power brand soaps in the south and of course the oft repeated text book case of Nirma which has become a giant from a small regional brand and forced HLL to launch low cost Wheel as a counter measure.

Rajan's analysis of the success of these brands has attributed the following factors to their success:

(1) Most of them identified a segment which was vacant in terms of product and area of operation.

(2) They all started in small concentrated markets, appealing to the local ethos and aspirations of the targeted area.

(3) Their communications, be it a simple radio spot or a wall painting or a theater film, touched a chord in the target audience.

(4) Most importantly, their policies were flexible and they could adapt to the fast changing market situations.

Rajan says that most multinationals that entered India to exploit the burgeoning middle class have come to realize that that they can no longer demand a higher price for their product based on brand name alone, or because their products have a better quality. The Indian consumer have come of age and are much wiser. He cites an example of a consumer's response on being asked to pay a higher price for a famous brand of toothpaste - "Why should I pay more, when my local brand is also recognized by the Indian Dental Association (IDA), and is offering the same quality?"

Rajan has evolved a ten step approach to counter the many myths and problems that come in the way of RM and exhorts every company that has RM plans to follow. They are:

(1) Commitment from the top management. This must be total and management must realize that it is long haul and an investment into the future, otherwise RM will not give long term results. He sites HLL and ITC examples.

(2) Getting a dedicated task force. Rajan says that RM requires a dedicated mindset which many urban oriented MBA's don't possess. He suggest hiring of the RM team from students from RM institutes like IIRM or students with fire in their belly about RM from second level institutes, those who have taken RM as an elective course. He also advocates treating and paying such employees well and giving them an indication of their career graphs in the company. He reverts to an old saying - You pay peanuts, you get monkeys. He also advises putting such employees in the field after they get a thorough in-house training, and ensuring the consistency of the team involved in any project until the completion of a specific task.

(3) Setting Clear Objectives. It is important to clearly define, in the early stages, the goals for the RM initiative and whether the initiative is

(a) A tactical effort to achieve increased sales in specific areas during specific time, or

(b) To build strong equity for the brand in Rural India.

Rajan says that many companies come only with the first objective. The companies have tried vendors, who implement vans campaigns or BTL activities, but no effort is made to have a RM tailored mass media communication, and this has led to unsatisfactory results in terms of long term brand awareness and long term impact on the targeted markets.

The second alternative calls for research of the target audience and market with a comprehensive brand building strategy for Rural India.

(4) Understanding the Mindset of Consumers: Understanding of the mindset of the rural customer is important for the rural specialist to come up with a customized plan of action. The Rural market is heterogeneous with traditions and cultures that vary from state to state, even region to region in some cases. Most companies equate their findings from studies based on urban India to the rural segment and initiate a strategy based on this. Rajan says that his experience shows that the attitudes, fears, expectations, aspirations, comprehensions of rural customers to products and brands are different from urban customers. Advantages of such research are manifold because they give valuable ideas for new product development to suit the market - (a case in point a refrigerator with a twelve hour battery backup to take care of the power outages in rural areas), or new methods of physically reaching out to rural folks, along with insights into the right communications strategy and delivery (media) strategy.

(5) Ensuring availability. In most cases, distribution is one of the biggest nightmares; the task of reaching products to 600,000 plus villages is a challenge. TVC's have raised the aspirations of the rural customer and makes him demand the product from the local shopkeeper, who then buys the required quantity from the nearest feeder, markets that he visits regularly for his supplies. Hence feeder markets such as towns and villages having populations of 10,000 to 15,000 initially must be provided for to start the first steps towards RM.

Rajan says that studies have indicated that the rural consumer prefers shopping in the nearest town or big city with the belief that he will get a better choice of brands, prices and guarantee services for consumer durables like TV, automobiles, appliances, etc. In the case of consumer durables distribution reach to towns with populations of 50,000 plus would do the job of reaching the brand to RM.

Last mile connectivity such as those achieved by E-Choupal and Project Shakti should be left to later stage after the larger markets have been exhausted.

(6) Evolving a Comprehensive strategy. A comprehensive strategy involving multimedia (including mass media, where necessary) has better results as compared to those one-off projects with limited goals.

Rajan cited examples of his company getting total freedom for campaigns such as MRF (Farm Tyre Division), Philips (Consumer Electronics), ACC Suraksha Cement, Shriram Truck Finance and Marico Pouch Pack which proved to be very successful and helped clients achieve their objectives.

It is vital that RM efforts are integrated with overall marketing and communication strategy. In the case of FMCG brands this can be easily addressed if the TVC appeals to the rural masses as much s they appeal to the urban audience - A case in point the current Colgate ad featuring a dentist's children claiming that they would never suffer from tooth-decay.

Rajan cautions that televisions do not discriminate between urban and rural. There is a vast audience in rural India which is exposed to TVC's, and the latest NRS survey shows that growth of television in rural India is more than urban growth. So why not ensure, even if it means pre-testing the spots, that TVC's create as much impact among the rural audience as they do among the urban audiences? questions Rajan.

Recent studies have also shown that children and village youth in rural India do influence the choice of brand of personal care and life style products as much as their urban counterparts do, and this must be remembered when developing communications aimed at Rural India.

Rajan also advises that BTL communications aimed at RM must be adapted to suit local ethos and culture of the targeted audience. He cites examples of HLL and Colgate Palmolive doing very well in the rural markets because they have realized that TVC's are a great tools to reach both urban and rural markets, and though their spots may not win many awards, they work hard in the market place.

According to Rajan, companies must trust rural specialists and ensure that their creative agencies take help from these specialists with language skills for rural communication.

7. Involve the Region. RM is a highly regional subject, with a company's regional teams being specialists in their respective regions. Involving them from the word go to ensure ownership of the campaign by the region, and also getting their insights and inputs in the development implementation of the campaign is essential.

8. Developing full proof plan implementation. Conducting a pilot in one taluk in one district of a state to gain insights from it, before a national roll out of a rural campaign is not realistic. To get meaningful results, both in terms of impact and sales, the pilot must cover at least as few districts' of the state, if not the whole state. The implementation plan must be as comprehensive as possible to ensure that all the elements to be checked out are included in the plan.

Implementation of any rural campaign requires meticulous ground level planning and a thorough briefing and training of the field level people before execution. Sufficient time must be given to the agency to check out all the elements, before getting into the field.

9. Provide adequate budget. A decent budget could be spelt out by a rural specialist, depending on the task and the region. If the budget is limited, it should not be spread thin by trying to look at too many markets. If a company feels that it has a bright future in rural markets or would like to target the rural markets, then it is better to invest today so that the early mover advantage is gained to reap rich rewards in the future. But miracles should not be expected overnight, neither should hope be lost.

10. Evaluating the Results. The three areas that should be studied to understand that impact of a Rural campaign, according to Rajan are:

(a) Brand awareness

(b) Brand Conversion

(c) Increase in sales.

Ideally a benchmark study could be done before the start of the campaign to check the above parameters and do a post study to find out if the desired targets have been achieved. A campaign should not be judged only on a cost per contact approach. It could vary depending upon the task and the support given to the efforts. An assessment of the approximate number of eyeballs and ears that a campaign could be getting while going around in a village or en route to a market is also important while estimating the cost per contact.

Rajan also stresses the importance of archiving case studies in RM-the lessons learnt from various efforts in the form of reports must be available for future brand managers so that mistakes are not repeated.

Rajan concluded by saying that RM is a marriage, which to be successful needs sustained efforts and long term investment in terms of the company's resources to keep it going. If it is treated as a flirtation or a one-night stand, the results reaped will be temporary and unsustainable.