As lucrative as rural markets sound,
reaching them is an undisputed challenge. Nestlé’s Maggi started off by
flirting with the rural markets using purely mass media campaigns and failed
for it did not take into consideration the infrastructural bottlenecks; low
literacy level, uncertain electricity-supply, vast geographical spread and emotional
biases towards new (foreign) products in the rural markets. Its initial
strategy also underestimated the importance of interpersonal communication,
preference for localized messages and participatory strategies. Others
like LG Electronics have wedded the
idea of long-term engagement with the rural markets through exhibitions,
moving-van promotions titled “Garam Garam Khana”, cookery classes for rural
housewives, customized TV promotions, product localization, rural-focused
services and distribution network, increasing brand acceptability at the
grassroots, which made it emerge as the market leader in the white-goods
segment. Leveraging on ‘value for money’ proposition, visual communication,
door-to-door selling, promotions through ‘haat bazaars’, demonstration drives
of hand-wash usage in schools, nurturing key-opinion-leaders; ‘Shakti Amma(s)’
through ‘Shakti Vani’, equipping them with ‘easy-to-carry kits’ that form the
specially designed communicating material for the masses in the villages, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has penetrated
deep into the share of mind of the rural customers through a democratic mix of
mass-media as well as traditional (but highly underrated) media. Along with
‘Shakti Entrepreneur Programme’ and ‘i-shakti kiosks’, HUL serves as a classic
model of reaching rural markets through an inclusive model of operational
strategy, focusing on mutual benefits and growth for consumers and the company.
No comments:
Post a Comment