Introduction:
NEED, SCOPE AND CHALLENGES OF RURAL ADVERTISING
In a country of over one billion people, where more than 70 per cent of its
population reside in rural areas, the sheer number has necessitated the marketers
to reach out to them for marketing various goods and services. Despite the fact
that more than 40 per cent of the Indian population is impoverished, there is
still a great scope for necessity items in the rural hinterland. Over the years
there has also been demand for various products that were considered ‘urban’
per se.
At a partnership summit organized by the Confederation of Indian Industries
(CII) in 2001, celebrated management thinker Prof. C K Prahlad exhorted the
Indian corporate Inc. to wake up and help create a consumer market out of the
poor. Prahlad, Professor of Business Administration and Corporate Strategy at
the University of Michigan took most of audience by surprise when he almost
gave them a clarion call to retain their grip over the vast domestic market.
“The bottom of the pyramid,” said Prahlad,” is very large and uncovered and
represents a very counter-intuitive opportunity. It is a transformative challenge”.
Many analysts feel that there is a need to reinvent the mass market, in the
face of global multinational companies setting up manufacturing units in India
and the influx of cheap goods from some Asian countries, primarily China. Why
Indian companies don’t consider making a whole range of products to suit the
rural consumer is a question that seeks an answer. However, some of the companies,
ironically a major multinational, viz., Hindustan Lever Ltd. (HLL, a part of
the Unilever group) is trying to do just the same and with great success. The
chapter includes case studies of some of their brands that have made a mark
in the rural India.
In this chapter an effort has been made to include the following major areas
that cover: the need and scope of studying rural market and advertising, the
changing life patterns of rural Indians which would encompass the aspirations,
expectations and innovations in the rural lifestyle; rural marketing
environment, which would look at the ground realities, the challenges
and the latest experiments in launching the rural super markets and ‘tag-on’
promotion strategies to woo the rural consumer. The dynamics
of rural advertising would cover the special understanding of the rural psyche,
the challenges and strategies along with relevant case studies. The chapter
would also include various media choices for reaching out to the rural
consumer, the relative strengths and weaknesses of various media in
the rural context and some success stories.
Number of Pages of Project Report: 79
Package Includes: Project Report
Synopsis Available: No
Project Format: Document (.doc)
Table of Contents of Project Report:
1. Indian Rural Market Overview
2. Rural Market Research
3. Rural Consumer
4. Consumer Classification
5. Rural Marketing Environment and Infrastructure
6. Rural Marketing and Advertising Strategies
7. Media Mix for the Rural Market
8. Case Studies
9. Summary
10. Solutions to questions