India’s platform for Events and Experiential Marketing

Print Newsletter July 2009 19India’s platform for Events and Experiential Marketing

Print Newsletter July 2009 33

The telecom sector has been booming in India, driven by the

growth of mobile telephony. Even as markets are being flooded with more brands, rural markets have been identified as growth drivers of the future. To aid a better understanding of rural telecom, and marketing telephony in rural India, the Rural Marketing Association of India (RMAI) organised an industry-focused seminar in Delhi on July 3, 2009. During the day-long seminar, senior professionals from telecom service providers and handset manufacturers, and senior telecom officials, addressed delegates. The intent was to understand the marketing and promotional dynamics of the diverse rural markets. The event was sponsored by Ericsson, which provides infrastructure for telecom service providers.

The event commenced with opening remarks by RV Rajan, President, RMAI, who pointed out that the telephone had the distinction of being the largest selling durable across the country, owing to its growth over the past few years. “At the current level of increase in users, there will be over 540 million telephone subscribers by 2010. Hence, there is a tremendous opportunity for the industry to grow even further in the rural markets, which has been a major contributor for new connections in the country. However, there are several issues for both - service providers as well as handset manufacturers - which have to be addressed,” he added.

Voicing a similar point of view in his keynote address, Dr JS Sharma, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), pointed out that the telecom industry was next only to the IT sector in India, in terms of growth. “We expect to have around 1 billion telephone connections across India by 2013-’14, and a major chunk of the pie will comprise the rural markets,” he noted.

Highlighting the opportunities, Sharma observed that the teledensity in rural India stood at a mere 16 percent - a fifth of the teledensity in urban India. He stressed on the need to look at challenges as opportunities to win over, and grow the market. In the course of his keynote, he touched upon: changing income patterns in rural India, lack of infrastructure, literacy, and the need of rural consumers to access informative content on their mobile handsets.

Route to Market

The morning session focused on market strategy for the rural markets. It featured Sunil Colaso, CEO (Mobility) - UP Circle, Bharti Airtel; and P Balaji, VP - Marketing and Strategy, Ericsson India.

The session began with the success story of Airtel in the UP telecom circle. Colaso presented growth figures and marketing strategies employed by the brand. He noted that Indian rural telephone density had gone up by 300 percent in the last 10 years, and that every village with a 1000-plus population was now connected by STD lines.

Dispelling some myths about the rural market, Colaso pointed out that rural India was a heterogenous market, with a disposable income comparable to urban India’s. He said, “In rural India, 41 million Kisan Credit Cards have been issued (against 22 million credit and debit cards in urban areas) with cumulative credit of Rs 977 billion, resulting in tremendous liquidity. Moreover, 42 million rural households are availing banking services, compared to 27 million urban households.”

Colaso named an IFFCO-Airtel partnership as a key driver for telecom penetration in the UP market. The partnership provides consumers with vital information like market prices and the weather. He claimed that

MARKETING RURAL TELEPHONY Beyond the van and canter

- Dr JS Sharma, Chairman, TRAI

We expect to have around one billion telephone connections across India by 2013-’14, and a major chunk of the pie will comprise the rural markets.

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the service, which began in April 2007, had garnered a subscriber base of over 5,00,000 (as of May 2009) across the country.

Presenting a case study on Airtel’s marketing initiatives in rural UP, Colaso mentioned ‘Canopy Story’, a village contact program executed in UP to promote the IFFCO-Airtel services.

Following Colaso’s presentation, Balaji took to the dais, where he made a presentation on Ericsson India’s rural success story. He highlighted the need for making communication available to all. Balaji spoke about Ericsson’s business models, and growth in rural markets. He referred to the management of services like Gramjyoti (Ericsson’s rural broadband service), Ericsson Tower Tube, BTS Power Savings, and Sustainable Energy, among others.

Rural promotions and communication

The second session of the seminar focused on promotions and

BY Jagadeesh Krishnamurthy

He spoke extensively on rural farmers’ need for relevant and up-to-date information like weather forecasts, agriculatural advice, market prices and easier access to markets. Stressing on the importance of building partnerships to enhance access and improve the livelihood of rural folk, he quoted Tata Indicom’s Sahayak, which is designed as an affordable, easy-to-use, IVR-accessible, subscription package targeting the mass farming population. Bandhu then showcased the VAS services available through TATA Indicom for rural markets, which include utility services on finance, travel, telecom and entertainment.

The day ended with a panel discussion on ‘Rural Telecom – Way Forward’. The panel was moderated by Pradeep Kashyap, CEO, Mart, and VP, RMAI. Panelists were Vivek Bali, Group President - Global Marketing and Branding, Spice Telecom; RN Padukone, Sr Deputy Director General, BSNL; and Dr Mahesh Uppal, Director, Telecommunication and Computer Information Systems. The panel highlighted some of the changes in the sector over the years, and also discussed the way forward for the rural telecommunications industry.

India’s platform for Events and Experiential Marketing

Print Newsletter July 2009 35

communication in rural areas. Rajendra Chourasia, COO, Idea Cellular; and Raj Kumar Jha, National Creative Director, Ogilvy Action, presented.

Starting with ‘Rural India as we know it today’, Chourasia went on to predict how the market would pan out. He quoted a MART study, which revealed that around 74 percent of India lives in rural areas (as of 2001), and estimated this to decrease to 62 percent by 2025. Citing the same study, he provided a break-up of the population across the country. The study said that 7 percent of the entire population was spread across the 8 metros.

After an AV on ‘Why mobile in rural India?’, Chourasia presented Idea’s promotional plans through media platforms like television, radio, OOH and activations. He informed, “On television, we have a programme called ‘TV Jalsa’, which is aired on Doordarshan. We also have two programmes running on AIR FM called ‘Idea Madhur’ and ‘Masti Ki Pathshala’ for the rural areas.” On ground, the brand went about establishing a social connect by introducing a project titled ‘Rudiben’ in Gujarat, which was aimed at empowering women by establishing mobile PCOs. He claimed that the brand managed to impact around 1,00,000 women through the initiative.

“From time to time, we also have van and canter activities in these rural markets since they have a long lasting impact with the audience. The day-long activity in a town typically begins with a pre-publicity campaign in the area, followed by sales promotions in the evenings. We also participate in small fairs in villages and small towns. That’s a great time for brands to position their products and services since consumers usually come to these melas and haats with an intent to purchase,” Chourasia elaborated. He also informed that the brand usually puts up mobile network towers near the mela premises to handle the increased load and ensure flawless service.

In his presentation, Raj Kumar Jha noted that it was not an easy task to create awareness in rural areas for service providers and mobile companies. He said, “To create awareness or to communicate with rural consumers, we have to keep some major points in mind, such as language, literacy and their learning capacity. Moreover, the kind of marketing and promotional activities that are being executed across categories in the rural markets look and feel the same. There needs to be some differentiation brought in. Most importantly, succesful communication is when your communication becomes a part of the local lingo.” Illustrating the point, he played a couple of clips where the brands’ taglines were being used in regional language movies and music albums.

He stressed on the importance of communicating in the language that the audience understands. “In rural India, consumers understand and identify with brand colours predominantly,” he said, and went on to point out the similarities in logo colours of several telecom service providers.

Telecom as service enabler

The afternoon session began with a presentation by Amit Mehra, MD,

Reuters Market Light, who outlined the progress of the mobile service called Reuters Market Light introduced in October 2007. RML, as the service is now commonly known, provides information to the rural workforce, comprising farmers, middlemen and traders, on their mobile phones in three states - Maharashtra, Punjab and Haryana.

Mehra said, “The rural community in India is witnessing a rapid rise of mobile penetration, which is accessible and affordable. And such professional services driven by top class editorial content are being rapidly embraced by the rural consumer.” According to Mehra, at present there were over 1,00,000 farmers across the three states reaping twin benefits of high crop yield and money. On an average, each farmer was using the subscription for at least six months, he revealed. Thomson Reuters now plans to extend this mobile service to nine more states.

The session was followed by another presentation, this one by Suneel Bandhu, Head of Rural Business at Tata Teleservices, on penetration of mobile-based content in rural areas.

The kind of marketing and promotional activities that are being executed across categories in the rural markets look and feel the same. There needs to be some differentiation brought in.

Raj Kumar Jha, National Creative Director, Ogilvy Action

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