Case studies on

different
modes of
advertising and
marketing in rural
India.
Hindustan Samachar
Feature Sewa Limited
94,M.G Marg, Hazratgunj, Lucknow- 226001
www.hife.info
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What is the need for

advertising and
marketing in rural India?
About
74%
of the population resides in Rural
India.
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50%
of the national income comes from
rural areas.
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60%
of agriculture income share comes
from rural India.
Metros and other principal cities, overwhelmed by
the competition, are
getting saturated.
Necessity to penetrate the semi urban and rural
markets.
These have financially grown better and carry
great potential.
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Problems/limitations in advertising and

marketing in Rural India.
Problems at strategic level:
Unknown rural boundaries with potential
markets -This is due to the lack
of systematic data and mapping problems
Unknown customer profile - Non familiarity with
the customer’s psyche, life
style, dialect differences etc. creates problems in
right messaging.
Unknown effectiveness of media tools - due to
lack of information on the
effectiveness of print, electronic and outdoor
media, problems come in deciding
the right media mix
Even if these problems are addressed by the
conduct of local survey, marketers
face problems at the implementation level.
Problems at the implementation level:
Lack of infrastructure - Poor conditions of roads,
and limited means of
transport or other connectivity related problems.
High cost inputs - due to non availability of route
maps.
Non acceptability of rural audience in campaigns
because of huge gap in the
profile of the implementer and the target audience.
Lack of trust on the implementer because of
absence of local references
Lack of structured monitoring and feedback
mechanism.
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Configuration of Semi
urban & Rural areas
State
District
Tehsil
Block
Gram
Panchayat
Gram
Semi urban
Rural
As per 2001 census there are 6,38,365 villages in India.
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Lifestyle of rural
areas:
Lifestyle is characterized by mainly joint families
consisting of 8 to 20
members.
Their main source of income is agriculture.During
the harvesting season
they are cash rich and do most of the shopping at
haats and mandis.
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Haats are main markets that are held twice or
thrice a week, covering
villages under 10 to 20 km of radius.
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Mandis are stationery markets held daily. It is
where buying and
selling of day to day commodities takes place.
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Media Effectiveness:
Print media
Reading patterns are local in nature.
National newspapers have negligible circulation.
Lliterate people like school teachers, gram
pramukh or
sarpanch are opinion leaders .
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Electronic media is less effective due to
Outdoor media
Executed at the point of prescence of thetarget
audience .
Static – Helps in long term brand recall. This
includes tasveers,
tin plates , posters and tiles etc.
Lack of power supply
Lack of connectivity
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• Interactive - has a long lasting emotional appeal.
- helps in understanding of the needs and
expectations of
the masses.
- this includes road shows, skits and other
entertainment
oriented activities.
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Thus, the most

effective way
to communicate in
semi urban
and rural areas is
through
local print and
outdoor media.
Print
Electronic
Outdoor
Rural areas
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Why local print media is

effective?
Local publications are local leaders in their
respective areas where
national dailies have negligible reach.
Reaching at districts, kasba, tehsils and village
covering grassroot level
audience.
Multiplied readership owing to joint families,
closer ties with neighbors
and frequent informal visitors.
Popular among lower and middle income groups.
Subscribed by opinion leaders like”gram
pramukh”, “sarpanch”, BDO’s,
doctor’s in PHC, school head master, postmaster,
bank employees etc.
High acceptability due to local friendly influence.
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Local print media

options available:
1. Advertorials
•
Tailor made articles written for brand promotion
or image projection of the client.
•
Has the genuineness of news content
•
Gain a high amount of trust from the rural readers.
Hence more effective
than an advertisement .
Client:: Vice President
Mr. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
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Former Prime Minister
Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee
UNFPA
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Reliance petroleum
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2. In-built Ad News Feature (INF)

•
Advertisement is incorporated between an article in an island position.
•
Target Audience gets attracted towards the write-up
•
TA can not overlook the ad.
•
The rural audience sometimes also retains the whole write-up for future
reference
Colgate
Mahindra Tractors
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Godrej
Dabur
Lux
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3. PR Activity
• Utilization of the wide network of
local publication
• Being in news throughout the year
• leading to an establishment of
slow but strong relationship with
the target audience.
Hindustan Latex Ltd
Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee
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OUTDOOR MEDIA
Static media
Activity- Customized hand pump sticker
Client- Hindustan Lever Ltd.
Activity- Tasveer
Client- Hindustan Latex Ltd.
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Activity-Tin plates
Client- Hindustan Lever Ltd.
Activity-Tiles
Client- Hindustan Lever Ltd.
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Outdoor interactive media

Clients:
TATA Motors, Eicher Engines, Chambal
Fertilizers, Hindustan Latex Ltd.,
UNICEF
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CASE STUDY:
The success story of TATA 207 campaign.
Hum Milaob Hath Sirf Tata ke Sath
Client – TATA motors.
Brand – TATA 207 DI EX
Objective – To do a brand building
/brand growth exercise for the
launch of TATA 207 DI EX .
To interact with people and
understand their needs &
expectations.
To achieve the vehicle demonstration
through skits , talk shows, and
massive test drive campaign.
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State selected for activity-

U.P
UP stands second in India in market potential and
is strategically situated
to cater to 60% of the Indian market.
Methodology applied:
Step 1 : Selection of right target audience
TA 1- Drivers who help in
moulding decisions.
TA 2- Parents of
unemployed youth
TA 3- People wanting a
vehicle which can serve
the dual purpose.
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After selection of the TA comes the task of
identification of right
places for finding them.
Step 2 : Rigorous and detailed survey of the
potential markets
• Survey upto block level
• For deciding optimum time allocation and
routing.
Step 3 : Selecting the place for activity- THQ,
Mandis, Haats, Main markets
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Step 4 : Scheduling of activities and Routing of
the map to avoid time
and money wastages
Step 5 : Training of the members
• On technical feature of TATA 207 DI EX
• Advantages on competitors features.
• Selling tools and financing of
TATA 207 DI EX
Step 6 : Deciding the effective
message and designing of static
media tools keeping in mind the
rural communication.
Hum Milaob Hath Sirf
Tata ke Sath
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Step 7 : Sales Promotion Schemes
Formulation of schemes for time bounded sales
(both for
prospects and influencers)
Step 8 : Activity details:
Interactive activity- Skits ,dance on regional songs,
talk shows,
enquiry handling.
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Static Postering activity- for
long term brand recall.
Pamphlet distribution activity-
for delivering the message up
to the remotest of the villages.
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Press Activity – Press release
on the coverage of the entire
project
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Step 9 :Feedback and monitoring
A total of 1200 inquiry list with full details like
prospects name, full address
with details of Gram, Post, Jila, Ph. No.,
occupation was submitted to the
client.
1200 enquiries in the span of 45 days activityleads
to a very low cost per
enquiry as compared to an ad .
20 vehicles were sold at the time of activity
Segregation of influencer and prospect list.
Retention of coupons by the prospects helping in
long term brand recall
Press coverage by local publications
Photographic proof in structured format.