Communicating to Rural Markets

8/9/2019 Communicating to Rural Markets

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Communicating to Rural Markets

And its challenges


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Rural Market has arrived Some impressive facts about the rural sector

In 2001-02, LIC sold 55% of its policies in

rural India

Of two million BSNL mobile connections, 50%

in small towns / villages

Of the six lakh villages, 5.22 lakh have aVillage Public Telephone (VPT)


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Rural Market has arrived

41 million Kisan Credit Cards issued (against 22million credit-plus-debit cards in urban) withcumulative credit of Rs.977 billion resulting intremendous liquidity

Of 20 million Rediffmail signups, 60% are fromsmall towns, 50% transactions from these townson Rediff online shopping site

42 million rural HHs availing banking services incomparison to 27 million urban HHs

Investment in formal savings instruments: 6.6million HHs in rural and 6.7 million in urban.


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Rural Communication An essential part of Rural Marketing

Given a step motherly treatment


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Challenges of

Rural Communication Low literacy level

Poor media reach

Heterogeneous and diversely spread

audience

Tradition and culture which vary from state

to state and in many cases from region toregion


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Rural Markets - Heterogeneous

National

Languages

Hindi /

English

Scheduled Languages

Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati,

Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani,

Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi,

Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Snaskrit,

Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu

Language with Widespread Use

47 languages used for primary education. 98 used in

print media. 71 used on radio, 13 used in films

17 Major

LanguagesPlus 1650

Dialects


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To be Effective in Rural Important to invest in the right

communication package aimed at specific

target audience.


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Before that

Some Ground Realities

There are states with developed Rural

AP, TN, Kerala, Punjab, Haryana

And states which are undeveloped.

Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Rajasthan, etc.


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Ground Realities In spite of multiple sources of communication

the two step flow of communication continues

to dominate the communication process. Opinion leaders at the top of the hierarchy

continue to play an important role in the

decision making process.


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Opinion

Leaders

AspiringMiddle Class

Bottom of the Pyramid


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Ground Realities However, the composition of the opinion

leaders has changed varies from product to

product, issue to issue. Role of educated village youth as opinion

leaders growing.

Role of women and children in demandgeneration


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Ground Realities

You are dealing with two distinct audiences

in Rural India.


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Ground Realities

A growing breed of

educated, upwardly mobile,

middle class with

aspirations, exposure to massmedia and with purchasing

power almost akin to his

urban counterpart.


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Ground Realities

A vast majority of

illiterate masses who are

poor and who cannot beeasily reached through

mass media.


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Understanding the Characteristics of

the Rural Masses

Very intelligent and clever cannot be easilyhoodwinked.

Understands symbols and colours better.

Pahelwan Chap MRF

Haathi Beedi

Laal Sabun Lifebuoy Peela Powder - Nirma


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the Rural Masses

Very conscious of value for money Does not like to pay extra for frills he cannot use.

(Eg. Colour TV)


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the Rural Masses

Daily activity is routinised

Plenty of time / No Sundays

High involvement in any product purchased (eg.)

durables


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Characteristics Perceptions, traditions, values vary from

state to state and in some cases from region

to region within a state.(MRF Bullock Cart

Tyres)

Divisions based on caste, community and

other hierarchical factors continue to exist.


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So how do we communicate with

the Rural Folks?


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Rural Communication Keep the communication simple

No scope for gimmicks

Take time in communicating the message Quickies have no impact.

Think in the local language to capture the local

spirit in the communication aimed at specificregion.


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Rural Communication

The communication must address the specific

problems, needs, aspirations and hopes of ruralfolks in each region.


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Rural Communication Demonstration - a key element for success.


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Shampoo Demonstration


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DaldaVanaspathi

Demonstration


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Analogies help in better

comprehension.

Examples

MRF Bullock Cart tyre Tafe Tyres


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Rural Communication

Television does not distinguish between

urban and rural

You may be able to get away with a

common TVC for both urban and rural

audience particularly for FMCG products

provided your communication is not

gimmicky, suggestive and is easy tocomprehend.


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Rural Communication

But when it comes to Durables, where rational

decisions are involved, it is advisable to target the

opinion leaders first.

While urban oriented TVC may register withopinion leaders and help create awareness, for real

impact down the line, a region specific and need

specific communication programme has to be

devised which provides for demonstration andtouch & feel of the products.


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Comprehension

Study Results of 4 TVCs

by

The Rural Network


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Communication Comprehension Study

Tested TV commercials of Babool toothpaste,

Navaratna hair oil, Samsung TV and Asian Paints

which were dubbed in regional languages Tested the commercials for overall comprehension,

believability, association, acceptability, emotional

involvement, etc.


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Communication Comprehension Study

Study was conducted in South and North markets

In both urban and rural markets


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Study Results While the comprehension of the overall

message was almost 100% for all the spots

in urban areas, it was only about 50% orless in the rural for every spot


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Study Results Rural people had lot of doubts, questions

Many of them could not believe the

messages

Some of them could not relate to the

products on offer!


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Responses from Rural - Babool

Its too quick and unable to understand.

It could be an ad for toothpaste or shaving

cream No one will dance simply for a toothpaste

What is a dog doing in a toothpaste advt.

Characters are not presenting the product


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Responses from Rural -

Navaratna The advt. does not explain the use, is it for bathing

or is it a hair oil.

If a person is suffering from pain, how can hedance?

Govinda in North and Ramba in South wererecognised and not vice versa

Thanda-Thanda understood in North, ice cubesand music gave a chill feeling in South.

Interesting for North but boring for Southrespondents


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Responses from Rural

Samsung TV Unable to understand anything, we dont

know what it talks about

Why are the couple quarrelling initially

Unable to understand how flowers cancome from a TV

This TV is for rich and educated people

Does not interest, because we dont knowwhat they are saying

R f R l


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Responses from Rural

Asian Paints Every one will become old but the house painted

with Asian Paints will not become old.

But, a paint will remain for 2 to 3 years and notfor generations, as shown

Why should the person on the motor cycle cometo his friends house again and again

If in the end, Asian Paint was not mentioned, wewouldnt have understood.

Funny, but not clearly understood, its for richpeople


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Learnings

Rural folks understand simplecommunication better.

Gimmicky, suggestive and fast pacedcommunication are difficult for them tocomprehend and relate

Regional and rural ethos need to be kept in

mind while developing target specificcommunication in the rural.


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Lessons from the Success of

regional brands in recent times They understand the regional ethos better

Their communication touches a chord which

helps in brand acceptance.

They are flexible

Adapt to changing market situations

Eg. Anchor, Gadi, Ajanta, Cavinkare (Chik), Power,Goldwinner


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To Succeed in Rural Markets It is important to be clued to the regional

specific requirements and cater to the

typical tastes of the regional consumersboth in terms of product offering and

communication packages.


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Examples of different treatment forurban and rural

Ponds Urban & Rural Philips Consumer Electronics Division

Leprosy Eradication Programme

Documents

Communicating to Rural Markets