Warc, 4 June 2014
NEW DELHI: Activation is a crucial tool for marketers
seeking to reach new consumers in rural India according to leading industry
figures, but it is also important to lay the necessary groundwork first.
"Wherever there is a need to develop a market, a
marketer needs to opt for activations as seeing is believing for the rural
consumer," Dalveer Singh, leader of Group M's Dialogue Factory, told
[Impact] magazine.
Several brand owners backed up the experiential marketing
agency's view that showing the uses and benefits of a product was a proven
technique. "The rural consumer likes to touch and feel a product before
making a purchasing decision," noted Sanjay Tripathy, senior executive
vice president – Head Marketing, Product, Digital and eCommerce, at financial
services business HDFC.
"Demonstrations, in the way of activations, are
undoubtedly the most effective promotional tool and build trust as well,"
he added.
And in the experience of Sanjiv Puri, divisional chief
executive, India Tobacco Division at ITC, the FMCG to hotels business,
"interactive activities in haats, melas and branded vans enable a high level
of engagement with the rural audience".
But the cost of such activity can be high – there are more
than 500,000 villages across the country – and for it to succeed in the long
term it is necessary for marketers to plan their strategy accordingly. That
means, said Singh, "first getting the distribution in place followed by
awareness". After that come the experiential marketing programmes.
The same point was made in a Harvard Business Review
article, which noted that "smart companies have found that they need to
focus on distribution even before making the seemingly commonsense moves of
identifying and approaching target customers".
One possible way to reduce the potential cost burden may be
to collaborate with partners in non-competing categories. Salil Dalal,
president/RURBAN Division at Pidilite Industries explained how it was promoting
one of its adhesives to farmers alongside a brand of pump.
"There is a potential of 30-40% savings for each player
which can bring the rural cost per contact within reach of brands," he
said. "To make this a reality, agencies need to be more innovative in
creating properties that make sense to brands with a similar target
audience."
The rural market is expected to grow rapidly and also to see
increased demand for premium products as rural incomes rise and consumers trade
up.
Data sourced from [Impact], Harvard Business Review;
additional content by War staff
No comments:
Post a Comment