Advertising In Rural India

The concept of advertising is demographic; varying from place to place and targeting people from different lifestyles, occupations, age group and making them aware of various products which might be of considerable use in their daily life. However, the rural market offers a vast market for consumer goods and the low priced products are more successful amongst the rural population because of their per capita income in rural India. The rural population shows a lot of contradiction within themselves and the advertisers have to follow their way of thought. For instance, poor people spend lavishly on marriages but would compromise on their staple diet.

Considering all these major issues, advertisers have realised that advertising of any product

It’s a well appreciated form of entertainment and a source of livelihood in the rural area. Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) India used puppets to educate the masses about life insurance. These were shown in UP, Bihar and MP where the number of inquiries at local life insurance companies increased.

Television and radio were other forms of communication for the rural population. However, it was available to only 80% of the people out of which only 30% took out time to watch/listen to the medium.

Various brands also made their presence felt during the World’s largest religious gaterings, Kumbh Mela. Lifebuoy along with their creative agency Ogilvy tied up with dhabas and hotels at the mela site to distribute rotis that were stmped with the statement “Lifebuoy is haath dhoya kya?” (Have you washed you hand with lifebuoy?) The company made special heat stamps to make an impression of its message on rotis and hired 100 promoters to stand in 100 kitchens across the mela. The campaign enabled Unilever, the company that makes the soap, to reach a large audience in a low-cost but effective manner.

Case Study: Coca

The second advertisement showed a shopkeeper who equates the word thanda with coke. The last advertisement showed a Punjabi farmer who asks for thanda and would get coke.

Coca-Cola India claimed that all its marketing strategies were very successful and their sales had increased from 9% in 2001 to 25% in 2003. It’s competitors like PepsiCo decreased their price to Rs. 6 to boost quantity in urban areas.

Rural consumers are very brand loyal which is why promotions need to be carried out very carefully. If the brand is not accepted by one household, it won’t be accepted by the whole village. A few years back, foreign companies did not see any potential for growth in rural areas for sophisticated products. However, a lot of companies have evolved in rural markets through their incredible marketing