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RURAL MARKETING Business As Unusual Pradeep Lokhande's strength is in his networking skills, which he uses to sell concepts, not brands. By Roop Karnani
In the last seven years, Pradeep Lokhande has logged about 1,20,000 kilometres, travelling through 4,000 villages and meeting roughly 40,000 of their people. The 40-year-old Lokhande is no census-man or roaming mendicant. Instead, this commerce-graduate, who can speak in eight dialects, is a man who runs a rural consumer relations outfit called Rural Relations. Ignore the shoebox out of which he operates in Pune, and also the 11 small-town folk who make up his enterprise's workforce. Rather, take a look at Lokhande's reach. Approximately 5,93,000 households in 28,000 villages spread across the five states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh have at least once entertained a soldier from his freelance, direct-marketing army that-at times-can number even up to 350. But that isn't why consumer goods marketers like to hire Lokhande. His unique approach to rural marketing is. He doesn't push products; he makes the villagers buy into concepts. For instance, when household goods major Procter & Gamble wanted to promote its brands, Camay, Ariel, and Old Spice, it turned to Rural Relations. Employing 300 field representatives, and 75 jeeps, Lokhande's team set out to distribute one lakh free samples of Camay soap, one lakh sachets of Ariel, and 50,000 sachets of Old Spice. At the end of 45 days, nearly 8.5 lakh village households had been reached. As part of the campaign, Rural Relations gave postcards to the villagers to send their feedback. Based on the replies, the agency has built-up a database on rural consumers, and sends them healthcare tips without promoting any particular brand. The result: nearly a hundred letters pour into Rural Relations' office daily, and another 10,000-all hand-written in the local language by college-going girls for 15 paise-a-piece-are mailed out every week. Says Lokhande: ''The strategy has worked because the communication is not sponsored by any company, but is from one individual.'' Two years ago, when Lokhande worked on promoting Hindustan Lever Ltd's (HLL's) Lifebuoy soap, health signs were also put up in dispensaries in 4,900 villages. Similarly, when it came to canvassing for HLL's Annapurna salt, besides giving free samples, the campaign went on to educate the villagers about the benefits of iodine. Lokhande, typically, aims his communication at school children, teachers, shopkeepers, and women who are members of village panchayats. Says Lokhande, who himself hails from the village of Wai, 140 km from Pune: ''We make a bigger impact when we educate these opinion leaders.'' Agrees Tarun Chauhan, 34, Head (Direct Marketing), HTA: ''Rural marketing is all about networking and Rural Relations has a fantastic network.'' In the last four years, the agency has totted up Rs 1.5 crore in billings from this segment. It takes a villager to market to villages, right? |
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