Divisions based on caste, community and other hierarchical factors continue to exist in rural areas. Perceptions, traditions and values vary from State to State and, in some cases, from region to region within a State.

I remember the case of a well-known brand of shampoo. When it entered the Rajasthan market some decades ago, with a theatre commercial that showed a beautiful model featuring bouncing hair, the product bombed. Post-research showed that it was considered indecent for a girl to show off her hair, and the audience refused to connect with the brand.

Similarly, when I was working on a campaign for MRF bullock cart tyres, I found glaring differences between Western UP and Eastern UP. While bullock carts in Western UP were smaller vehicles with single buffalos, in Eastern UP, they were bigger vehicles pulled by two bullocks. In Western UP, villagers spoke Hindustani whereas in Eastern UP, they spoke Bhojpuri. When we developed the communication package, we had to keep the above factors in mind.

How do we communicate with the rural folks?

The first step in the development of any communication package is the in-depth study of the mindset of consumers of each region for each product category. Remember, it is suicidal to blindly extend the experience of one product category to another.

While the importance of conceptualising in the local languages (to capture the local spirit in the communication aimed at specified rural audiences) is known, what is very often overlooked is that a rural consumer is not in a hurry and you can take your time to communicate a message. The quickies beamed on television media, which very often go over his head, are not for him. In fact, commercials or short tele-films of two minutes or more do much better.

Another point that the creative guys could keep in mind is the importance of simple analogies that can help in understanding the brand promise better. When MRF decided to introduce bullock cart tyres with nylon and decided to call it `Pahelwan Chap Buggy Gadi Tyres,' we came up with a `Nylon Cord Breaking Contest' for pahelwans in the audience. As nylon threads don't break, it effectively demonstrated to the audience that MRF tyres come with the strength of nylon, which even the pahelwans cannot break (and `Pahelwan' also happens to be trademark of MRF Tyres).

The communication must address the specific problems, needs, aspirations and hopes of rural folks in each region. Slice-of-life stories having characters whom they can identify with will help create greater empathy and understanding. As mass media does not permit this luxury, it is important to remember these points while developing communication packages used in below-the-line activities aimed at specific audiences. We train the anchor to speak in the local language during the road shows, so that he connects better with the audience of the region.

Is the urban-rural divide melting?

The success of the `Thanda Matlab Coca Cola' commercial, featuring Amir Khan, has started the above debate in the industry. The spots that were primarily meant for rural audiences have done well in the urban areas too, prompting the debate.

The Rural Network, an informal alliance of the four leading players in Rural Marketing — Anugrah Madison-Chennai, MART-Delhi, Sampark-Mumbai and Rural Relations-Pune — decided to do a small study to check the ground realities.

The study tested two FMCG and two consumer durable TVCs, which were currently on in language channels, obviously aimed at both urban and rural audiences. The research, masterminded by MART and implemented in UP by the MART team and in Tamil Nadu by Anugrah Madison, was conducted in both urban and rural markets to get a comparative feedback.

The brands tested included Babool toothpaste (showing a young man in different situations dancing to a catchy jingle), Navaratna Oil (featuring Govinda and Ramba), Samsung Colour TV (sparks coming from the TV) and Asian Paints (Sunil Babu!).

While the total understanding of the main message of all the four spots among the urban audience was calculated to be 100 per cent, it was only 30-60 per cent among the rural audience.

When it came to specific attributes, some of the comments from the rural folks were interesting. Let us take the example of Babool toothpaste:

In the case of the Navaratna Oil film, the audience in Tamil Nadu could not recognise Govinda while the UP audience did not recognise Ramba. In both markets, the rural audience was shocked that a character with a headache can dance so vigorously.

So the conclusions from the study, which only endorsed the already established beliefs, were as under:

As already stated, the rural-urban divide continues to exist, and marketers who want to succeed in the rural market will do well to remember the following statements I had read:

(The author is CMD, Anugrah Madison Advertising Pvt Ltd.)

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