Mujhko Bhi Tarkeeb Sikha de Yaar Julahe

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mauJakÜBaItrkIbaisaKajaulaahoyaar

The definitive rural market insights book

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l marketing strategies conference 2012, mumbai

The book of rural marketing insights straight from the hinterlandsNuggets of truth in the following pages are collected from the horse's, or cow's mouth if you may.It is indeed the Julaha who shows the way to the rural hearts!

This book is dedicated to the warrior of rural markets. The one ever condemned to chaff truth from fantasy and yet live wondering about the enigma that the Indian rural market is. If this work clears the mist, even if only for a moment and gives a peek into what confronts the brave warrior, it would have served its purpose.

Read on Don Quixotes.

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Enigmathe 5th annualrura


EnigmaWho is this rural consumer that the warrior faces? Is he Dr Jekyll? Ever innocent, fearing, righteous and firm to his cultural moorings. Or, is he Mr. Hyde ready to pull a fast one over every marketer. The omniscient and all experienced sharp fellow who will give anyone the run for their money.

Rural consumer is less exposed than his urban counterpart and he does recognize the fact as it is. Affluent classes in rural India aspire for urban experiences. Getting clothes stitched from ‘Shahr ka tailor’ is a matter of pride. Even getting a haircut or going to a restaurant in a town are the highlights of rural simpleton’s social life. He believes in his urban experiences and what they cost.

Really a Dr. Jekyll.

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Because he is aware of the shortcomings of his experiences, exposure and milieu, he does harbor an insecurity deep within. To protect Dr. Jekyll within, Mr. Hyde manifests. He is a hard bargainer, sometimes to the brink of incredulity. He needs better and bigger bargains and will not settle for anything less. ‘Gaon wala samajh rakha hai kya’.

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Entertainment, The #1 Rural Need: However much we wish that the rural folks be a content lot happy in their reverie, festivals and farming, the truth is that the rural living is harsh living. With little to kill their time on and even lesser to look forward to, Rural dwellers crave entertainment. This is happy news for our warrior. Entertainment means engagement, means connect, should mean sales! Path to the rural heart, alas, is laden with potholes. Potholes of urban glasses filtering the warriors vision, potholes of misunderstanding, mis-communication. Choose your tools wisely O Warrior and the hinterland may be yours.

No DDLJ, Swades or Ra-one for rural talkies. Rural folks are a colorful lot. A passage through rural India reveals rather ‘interesting’ film posters, pleasures of whom are almost always denied our warrior in his urban abode. The more discreet and upright ‘gentry’, however, prefers the angry young man types. Missing your Zanjeer, Kala Patthar or Jwalamukhi? Head to a village.

The Silver Jubilee Movies

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The Rural IconsThe warrior’s hero sadly deserts him as the warrior heads to the hinterland. The dusty roads are ruled by Mithuns, Jeetendras and Dharmendras. The damsel is still the Dream Girl and her friends. Too dusty for cosmetic surgery beauties in any case.

Mobile, The Chief Entertainer:On electricity deprived dark roads, mobile phone has appeared as the constant companion of our rural folk. Mobile Screen is his entertainment center. Music, Radio, Wallpapers, MMS....basically everything but a lot of talk. And what are they watching....we prefer to leave that discussion out of the printed word.

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Log on to our website to see a few samples at theagence.com/rural/what_are_they_watching.htm

MUSIC, THE HEART AND SOUL OF RURAL LIVING:Transistor still survives. So do the petis and the dholaks and manjeere in their myriad variations. No not in the haute couture drawing rooms but under thatched roofs and on tilled fields. Rural Folks need no occasion or reason to sing. Music is a common fixture emanating perhaps from the need for entertainment. Brands that hitch on to the music brandwagon get better SOV/SOM with rural consumers.

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To know how Airtel and Tata Nano are doing it with TheAgence read more at www.theagence.com/regional_music.htm

Un-Ekta? Soap Operas Don’t Wash Well:Rural viewer has given the definitive cold shoulder to the screaming chiffon clad bejeweled housewives and adulterous husbands. Surprisingly, main stream hindi news channels and movies do very well indeed. Mismatch of electricity on times with that of serial prime times may also explain the soap-apathy.

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Haat: The MythGiant wheels, decorated tents, colourful village damsels, tall, dark and handsome hero in turban, huge open spaces, fun, frolic and lots of business. Oh! the lure of the Rural Mall

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Haat: The RealityOne Narrow street, petty vendors squatting roadside, poor folks travel tens of kilometers to buy meager subsistence stuff. Average spend Rs. 43. What was the hoopla about!

What Do They Buy At The Haat:

Vegetabl

es, Spic

es, Chic

ken,

Liquor,

Cloth, A

rrows...

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Who Does He Talk To?Village communities are small. Relations do not spread far, neither does business. Why does a half clad old man want a mobile phone then? The secret lies in labour migration. Young people typically from Bihar, Jharkhand, Western MP among others migrate to greener pastures of Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasthan. The old man talks to his sons on the mobile phone. Isn’t there a case for micro planning of packages and offerings for Rural india? Shouldn’t the front line sales guys now have more say in designing sales offers?

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opportunity in adversityRural India is a study in innovative business models born out of deprivation and adversity. A cameo follows

A Wall Full of ChargersWhy have shopkeepers in upcountry western MP, decorated their walls with all sorts of mobile chargers and colorful baskets? Because, folks have mobile phones but no electricity to charge them! So the shopkeeper invests in an inverter and charges the mobiles for a neat Rs. 5 a charge. His investment is typically recovered in 20 days and after that his balance sheet takes a very enviable hue.

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Jugaad is No Laughing BusinessA platform carries a bus load driven by a simple engine and a steering; modified bike drives water pump; table fan is attached to a PC; pressure cooker becomes a coffee steamer; even pants split a cooler to cool two rooms! Rural India is awash with improvisation many of them being commercially viable propositions too. We need to look closer.

No Rs. 5 Cola HereWho can forget the brilliant ad by coca cola in which Aamir tells the audience that the drink cost only Rs. 5. But, the rural paan wala will have none of it and sell the same drink for not less than Rs. 8 a bottle at least. Why? ‘Saheb TV main bottle kuan se nikalti hai....mere yahan fridge main rakhna padta hai...bijli lagti hai’ (In the ad the bottle comes out of a well but I have to keep it in the fridge which takes electricity!). Commercial logic!

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Invasion ?:Noodles to rural folks? Sure, they are buying. Ask Maggie and Bournvita!

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Hygiene: Myth & RealityRural india is a tattered sack of dirty hands with worm and bacterium swarming all over! What did you touch!!! Pleasantly surprising fact is that hand washing habits are deeply ingrained in Rural Psyche. Most hands that can afford a soap are bathed in suds and those which can not are at-least using ash. Rural hands are indeed cleaner than we thought.

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Organized Wholesale Is For Rural India:Urban small retailer gets everything delivered on his shelf by company distributors, is given huge credits and is serviced royally. Rural shopkeeper goes to the town to buy his comodities from wholesale merchants. Pays cash. Usually handles the shipment himself. Which of these models align better with modern organized wholesale?

Bharti Walmarts & Metros, maybe we have been barking up the wrong tree, indeed.

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Organized Retail May Not Be:Rural grocers extend credit, have generations of relationships, are not intimidating by size and attitude. No wonder footfalls at organized retail stores upcountry are few and far between.

Last WordsPause O Warrior! We have seen the rural market from our port hole. This book is born out of experience, observation and research. You will find authentication, research data and more insights at www.theagence.com. Check in often.

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DIPSTICK is our qualitative research arm dedicated at getting answers from the dusty roads. With researchers constantly travelling the nooks and crannies, DIPSTICK comes up with answers in matter of days.

Need to find something from Rural India? Ask.

We are a strategies and creative agency with rural marketing and B2B communication practices.

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Conceived & Produced at

www.theagence.com

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Mujhko Bhi Tarkeeb Sikha de Yaar Julahe