My first brush with Rural Marketing was when I was working with Lintas. A colleague of mine used to handle a brand called TAFE (Tractors and Farm Equipments). And as part of the job, this guy used to travel across the country for at least 8 months in a year. His job? Conducting events across the country called Krishi Ratna. I am not sure if TAFE still does these events, but it used to be a brilliant learning experience for my colleague. And in the four months that he was back in Chennai, he used to document the whole event. I happened to learn a lot from him. It was amazing. I just want to share a small run-down on the event.

Krishi Ratna – is a farmers event which was conceived by Lintas for TAFE. The event constituted a three day fair in villages of varying sizes. The fair will have events like Tractor Race, seed sowing competition, harvesting competition etc., which would basically use all equipments manufactured by TAFE. Of course, there will be fun events like astrology, puppet show etc, which would keep the interest for other folks. To me this event was a complete rural activity which bridged the gap between the product and the consumer beautifully.

My early experiences of rural marketing and advertising used to be predominantly outdoor. Painting of walls was the first thing that people would do to promote a product or offering. This actually is a spillover from the painting of walls in cities. Political parties use this well! However, innovation in even such small activities was evident from the stable of HUL many years back.

Painting the walls was a regular affair. But the importance of community building was felt even 15 years back. HUL went around villages and connected with the village heads just to ensure that their rural connect was complete. They offered to lay tiles on the stairs leading to the village pond. The village pond is a community place and having tiles there would make the place look good and clean, hence permissions were never a problem. The only rider is the fact that the tiles will always have some HUL brand or the other featured prominently. Mostly ‘Lifebuoy’. Brilliant strategy and very workable as a rural marketing initiative.

Today, there are companies which specialize in Rural Marketing. One such example (I just stumbled upon them and do not vouch for them in any way) is RC&M. Almost every large agency worth its salt today has a Rural Marketing Division. Linterland, Ogilvy Activation, Anugrah Madison, Mart being a few known names. Starting from launching of a brand to market development, such agencies offer all kinds of marketing services. When it comes to Rural Marketing now, varied tools like digital screens, animation etc are also used. With professional script writers and film makers working on each of these projects, marketing here is a very different ball game.

These agencies work on lead generation, market expansion, sampling, research and many other activities which help promoting a product / service in the hinterlands.

I was surprised to learn that the clientele included some illustrious names like Citi, ICICI, HDFC amongst financial services. Schneider Electric – an organization which I thought would probably not bother with rural India has also conducted events and lead generation programmes. Some usual suspects include all telecom companies including Airtel, Reliance, Tata Indicom and Idea. Another key area of work for Rural Marketing companies is in creating a distribution chain. It is very possible that many firms do not possess the prowess to set up a distribution network for their products. These companies which have operated in these markets for a while, by virtue of knowing them outside in, help set up a distribution network including building a demand for the product by sampling, C&F strength and retail presence.

RMAI stands for Rural Marketing Association of India. The association offers list of events in immediate future, resources like local magicians, script writers, books and reference guides etc. They also provide training programs and offer career guidance in rural marketing initiatives. RMAI Corporate Awards 2010 incidentally would be conducted on November 26, 2010 at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. It is very impressive that they have a very resourceful site. There is a lot more to Rural Marketing than I thought and knew about before embarking on this post. Certainly, there is a lot more that one gets to learn when one attempts to write.

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Census 2011 may throw data which may startle us no end. While I do strongly believe that the UID project and its success may spell a complete revamp at the way we look at rural data, it is true that many marketers are shooting in the dark today. Just a small comparison – Technology changes have leapfrogged in the last 10-15 years and I have read somewhere that the innovations and technology inventions in the last 50 years of the previous century is five times that of history of mankind till 1950. If that is the pace we grow in, census once in 10 years is a bit of a mismatch. I do hope that the UID project taken up by Mr. Nandan Nilkeni would help track every citizen of India and the state of the rural markets in the country.

According to me, about 70 KMS from Bombay would be the beginning of rural India. And this doesn’t change drastically from any other large city / metro in India. Why? You drive 70 KMS away from Bombay and you will find that people don’t answer you if you converse in Hindi. They speak only Marathi. Hinterland begins. India is a country of countries bonded together by a thread – call it religion OR way of life.

Little surprise then, that a large organization like LG treats anything other than 7 large cities as ‘rural’. I must admit that I was shocked initially, but a bit of thought behind the process gives a clear mandate.

Here’s how Rural market currently looks:

Source: Census 2001

It is important to note that this data is at least a decade old and may not be true currently. However, we are just about working on our next census. My comments on that have already been shared.

The National Unique Identity Project embarked upon would hopefully clear the following:

• Provide a clear definition on what makes a market ‘rural’.
• Population trends in each of these markets
• Earning potential of people living in rural India
• Trends on which parts of the country are doing well as against the other
• Trends is employability of skilled and unskilled work force
• Trends on dependent population
• And many more

These solutions that emerge from the UID project should act as fodder for Rural marketers in India.

Notwithstanding all this, there are many companies which have done some path breaking work in Rural India. I am highlighting a few here.

Coca-Cola started bottling plants across the country, which started providing work opportunities for the rural youth (predominantly unskilled labour) and entrenched themselves firmly in their minds and pockets. By starting a smaller SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) of 200ml for Rs.5/- Coke was amongst the first to reach out to the throats of the rural Indian.

They had tweaked their communication also to cater to the rural sensibilities. The Aamir Khan TV Commercial in a paddy field is a case in point. Even today, Coke employs more than 9 languages in their communication. So it is hardly surprising that Coca-Cola is growing at 37% in the rural markets as against 24% in urban markets (Source: Guide to Indian Markets 2006, Hansa Research).

ITC E-choupal is another initiative which though looks like a social responsibility project it has proved to be a very successful venture. It is a win-win situation for the farmers, the buyers and ITC. It is an initiative which helps the farmers find the right price for their produce. They have very beautifully linked basic internet connectivity to mobile which triggers an SMS to the farmer’s mobile phone. So this is how (crudely put) it works.

The farmer over the year makes a produce of say 1 quintal of potatoes. During the earlier days, they used to carry it to the market where middlemen used to buy the produce as a bulk and would store / sell to the cities. It meant that the middlemen used to decide the price at which they buy the potatoes, which may or may not be a fair price. The farmers used to sell it at whatever price they used to get because they preferred getting rid of the produce than taking it back home!

Today the farmer toils through the year and makes a produce of say 1 quintal of potatoes. He holds it at home and is registered with ITC’s e-choupal. The e-choupal today has replaced the middle man. The system tracks the rate of potatoes in the city and quotes accordingly to the farmers as an SMS on the mobile phone. If the rate is palatable to the farmer, he brings the produce to the e-choupal center and sells it. So there is a fair deal for all, isn’t it?

I would be dealing with a few more concepts on Rural Marketing in a subsequent post.

Note: Apologies for today’s post at this hour. It was almost a race against time. I had way too many things happening today and I had to meet the deadline of a post before it’s midnight. I hope I have done a decent job. Please comment. Thanks

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Web 2.0 is a complex matrix, interconnecting web tools and thus a wonderful platform for a meaningful conversation. For many users, tools like Facebook or Twitter starts as a ‘fun thing’. But the number of serious users who use these tools to speak about brands, offerings and what can now be termed ‘word of the written word’ a.k.a ‘www’ as a substitute for ‘word of mouth’ is not a joke anymore.

An article in a recent prominent daily mentioned how scared Bollywood is about ‘twitter’. Because the success (or the failure) of many movies are decided by Twitter and not trade reports anymore.

Should this be the case, how should one treat the online space? My two cents:

The web is the most democratic place in the world. However it affects (and gets affected) by the ‘real’ or brick & mortar world!
The online world is very democratic experience. Users have the power to say what they want and the power to accept / reject what the other users are saying. A living example is Shashi Tharoor. What led him to be the most talked about junior ministers also led him to his fall from grace.

The same media which eulogized his tweeting habits helping a little girl in faraway Trivandrum get monetary support bashed him with front page news over a scandal which cost him his ministerial job.

Lessons: Response – real time. Affects you in the real world and can continue to chase you for a while.

I heard a recent incident when a friend of mine tweeted about an issue with his iPhone and Apple started ‘following’ his tweets. Within a couple of days, Apple sent him a direct message with a link to upgrade his software. Response was real time and you have a customer who speaks about the brand. Online and offline!

1. There are no rules. The rules are made as you go along
   Ever watched The Matrix – the movie? Morpheus tells Neo, “I can only show you the door. You have to walk through it”. These tools are available for you to use and with good knowledge! It is up to the marketer to make the rules. Since the online world is the best democracy, one will have people on both sides opining about every step of your way. However, if it does good to the brand, the rules are right. If it leads to continuous discomfort, it means that there is an immediate need for tweaking.
2. The response is real time. So better be prepared to respond in real time
   The online space is extremely transparent and puts you on the pedestal immediately. Every move on the web is noticed by millions of users and provides them with an opportunity to react or respond to it immediately. A prominent blogger wrote about his good experience with an online travel portal and how helpful they were offline. The travel company’s response (which was real time) and the mix (online and offline response) coordinated well saved a potential disaster leading to a great experience. Result: Happy Customer. Now, get on your feet!
3. Be a child. Learn everyday
   The online space changes the field every day. If one doesn’t learn and learn at the speed at which the world teaches you, chances are, that you are being left behind. So if you are still thinking ‘blogging about your offerings’ would be a great way to reach out to millions, think again. Twitter and Facebook have taken over a while back? And if we think Twitter and Facebook are permanent, maybe we would be wrong again.
4. Product life cycle is short
   A interbrand report last year listed the top brands in the world and there are just three brands under the category ‘Internet services’ in the top 50 viz., Google (7), Amazon (43), and eBay (46). It is mighty difficult for an internet services company to sustain the pace with which users move. Add to it the cultural and geographic differences and the task becomes even difficult. It is important to re-invent and re-invest continuously to be up the curve. Google is a live example of that. Very few realize that Google offers thousands of services for the internet. Being a search engine is just one business vertical for the brand.
5. Be up the curve and ride the wave
   Easier said than done! It is important for identifying patterns on user movement from one service to another. When Facebook was launched not many realized how big it is going to be! But now we see that applications within Facebook like ‘Mafia Wars’ and ‘Farmville’ (sounds outdated now!) are growing in numbers with millions of people joining everyday and thousands sustaining their stay! Maybe observing these patterns provide for excellent opportunities. Stupid how much ever it may sound, I believe that this is a fantastic opportunity for farming companies to provide ‘tools & ideas’ for Farmville users. There are many individuals who have taken a fancy to organic farming as a hobby and produce their own crop for their consumption. Providing tips to them and ‘virtual equipment’ would help growing their brand with them, however small the returns are now!

Well, thinking of a product line for ‘Mafia Wars’? How about Reid & Taylor suitings and Set Wet Gels? The big baddie is gifted by the mentor with Suitings and Gel to make him look cool!

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I witnessed the chopper flying over the (maxi)Mumbai city with a HUGE (I really mean it kind of huge) banner of the Volkswagen (pronounced Folks Wagon) Beetle. Cute car! Meant to be a small car! Big pricing! And a BIG banner! It was a pleasant surprise when a few colleagues yelled out to me just to show this banner carrying chopper!

I took some pictures and also tweeted about it. Here’s proof:

Tweets on VW Beetle

Since the above is a print screen image, you can access the pictures I took from here. I wanted to write about it the same day and become the ‘first person’ to break this news to the blogosphere, but work kept me away. What could have been a coup of sorts for this very rare occurance in India, was broken by traditional online magazines. Read here.

Though this may be a small event, I believe that there are some lessons from this incident:

1. Waiting for the right moment most of the times don’t work. I have experienced this many times with clients belaboring for the ‘best’ output, while the competition is having a field day killing the very ideas that we had carefully hidden till then!
2. This is a slightly controversial lesson. But lesson none-the-less. “Quality is a mind thing“. What we believe is sub-standard quality may be good enough for the receiver of the communication. Just take any of the family planning communication by the Government for instance. The quality of the production is actually abysmal. But the target audience would certainly be able to relate to it. No point in adding jazz when the user is not expecting it!
3. Quick decision making: Many times we may not have all the inputs that are required to take a decision. But as professionals, it is important to exercise our judgement and ensure quick decision and availability in the market. This is a problem which many PSUs and large process-oriented organisations suffer from. HLL vs P&G is a classic example. However, that would require a separate post for itself.
4. Once a decision is taken, it is important to stick to it. I could have posted the article and reached the market using Twitter, Facebook and other such social media. But I didn’t. Well, the blog post has now taken a differnt angle and is not a coup anymore

Some of these may sound very generic, but I believe that these are lessons which are very relevant for most Marketing Professionals. And these are skills that are not available in many Marketing Professionals too.

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The Economist usually has not been known for being pro-consultants. Among other things, two of the journalists in its staff wrote ‘The Witch Doctors’, a highly critical book on consultants and their fallibility.

Nonetheless, the article does make sense. I mean what the dickens does, “For the first time since the dawning of the industrial age, the only way to build a company that’s fit for the future is to build one that’s fit for human beings.”, mean?

Sometimes one feels the only good consultant is the consultant who will also execute. But unfortunately those who execute drop out of school, while consultants go on to acquire triple-baralled educational degrees.

… and so it starts

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