How brands are valued and perceived in rural contest

1. Brands in Rural India
NITIE, Mumbai
Shanu Singh, shanuchaudhery@gmail.com, 9702018520

2. Brand by definition is an intangible entity which is designed and projected with the aim of
striking chord with the consumer behavior. This definition is true for most of the brands in the
urban context since all the marketing drives for brands are designed specifically as per the
demand and psyche of the urban customer, example: DoCoMo branded itself as a service
provider for urban young generation.
But as we move to rural India most of the marketing and branding gimmick starts to look out of
place. Before understanding the cause we must understand that brand has got both behavioral
and personality traits therefore it is a more of dynamic entity whose character varies as the
environment changes.
In India, we have diverse demography where distinction is made not just on basis of sex or age
but also the background, culture and ethnicity. And this distinction complicates as we divide the
population further into urban and rural India. We still have more than 60 percent of population
residing in the villages, hence forming the core part of our population, while remaining 40
percent resides in urban cities. Demography (middle and rich class) in urban region is better
educated along with higher income in comparison to that of rural (BPL and middle class) region.
Characteristically both the rural and urban demography can be positioned at different levels in
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pyramid. Since urban class look at the brands as more of a status
symbol or differentiator hence it can be positioned at higher level in the pyramid while rural
majority can be positioned at lower level since it looks at it as an item of necessity. Since
different hierarchy level projects different kind of needs therefore application of same branding
practices will not work for people who live in altogether different world with different set of
priorities and mindsets.

3. Though above analysis looks simplistic even then some of the multinational corporations learnt it
hard way by trial-failure and many still need to learn. If we talk about FMCG sector specifically,
on average 40-50% revenue comes from the rural market but as per the statistics, under this
segment organizations still doesn’t have focused strategies to deal with rural market or they have
a strategy but allocate only a small part of branding expense quota to it.
But now the scenario is changing. In today’s urban market, organizations have to operate in
intensely competitive low margin environment. This is forcing them to venture out in untapped
rural market. Since same branding campaign couldn’t be applied in rural India, organizations are
coming up with new branding strategies, new product range and ingenious distribution network
dedicated to rural consumers.
Scope for Innovation
On the brand marketing front, though we have seen some early efforts which made brands
becoming synonym to the product name (Colgate for toothpaste, Lifebuoy for Soap) but still
major innovation required to drive the rural demand is lacking. Few attempts have been made in
case of product segment like tractor and fertilizers but very few are from the cross-market
segments. Again, attempts have been made to localize the marketing campaign by translating
them but they couldn’t strike the chord with people since regional touch has been ignored. Rural
marketing needs to be focused since majority here is uneducated and highly sensible to culture as
well as value system, thus advertisement should be designed to project product as extension of
local culture. For example insteadofr selling ‘Ghee’ in cylindrical pet bottles, specially designed
‘Matka’ shaped bottles could be used.

4. Rural Branding Strategy
Connect with
People
Ingenious Product Re-
Distribution designing
Strategy to Connect: Brands like ITC and HUL have come up with the concept of E-choupal and
Project-Shakti. These projects are launched to create symbiotic relationship between village
leadership and organization by acting as facilitator for carrying out effective agro-trade. Since
village leadership play vital role in word of mouth publicity at village level therefore it can
provide conducive environment for launching a new product under the umbrella of facilitator
organization. This is the perfect example of using benevolent leadership along with combination
of product profiling.
Product Re-designing: Brands can be launched in specially packed variant of its flagship items to
suit the demand and purchasing power of rural India. Since these variant will be smaller and

5. cheaper, people can easily afford to buy it. This is the perfect example of matching the brand
personality with that of environment. Example: Specially packed biscuits or bread with fewer
slices (3/4) could cater to huge rural market.
Ingenious Distribution: Lakhs of women in rural areas earn a living by selling brand products
and thousands of enterprising young men and women are being enthused to become part of the
vast distribution system as a means of starting on the ladder of entrepreneurship in their own
right. Organizations can leverage upon this cheap, motivated and highly penetrated task force for
grass root brand building and distribution. This model can be used as a pilot project for
launching the new products at village level.

6. Conclusion
In nutshell, it can be said that currently in rural market, brand may be more like a myth but
scenario is changing and organizations are working towards capitalizing the opportunity by
creating brand awareness and hence vouching for brand realization at rural level.
References
1. MARKETING: HUL plans major rural push. (2010, June). Businessline.
2. OPINION: Rural India as growth engine. (2010, June). Businessline.
3. How India Earns, Spends and Saves, Results from the Max New York Life-NCAER
India Financial Protection Survey.
4. S.Jain, K.Swarup, Effect of advertising on enhancing brand personality and consumer
buying decisions, Journal of International Management, v.6, July-Dec,2009
5. Rural marketing in India: a case study By G. Srinivas Rao
6. India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) study on Indian rural market
7. Unilever in India - Rural Marketing Initiatives, a case study. ICMR.