"Archimedia should continue to keep up its tradition of being a pioneer and keep up its effort to build its brand equity in the rural markets" R.V. Rajan, Chairman & Managing Director, Anugrah Medison Advertising

Enough has been said and written about the myths of rural marketing. One of these is that a rural consumer is not brand conscious. Experience has shown that the rural consumer is very brand loyal, but it takes a lot of time and efforts to convert him to a brand. Unlike his urban counterpart who is prone to impulsive decisions, a rural customer is very concerned about the value for money he gets from any product that he buys. Hence there is a need for very persuasive communication to help him make up his mind.

Besides, the impact of exposure to TV has resulted not only increased aspiration levels, but also created greater awareness of brands. The CEO of Archimedia has understood this phenomenon and is right in his belief that instead of treating Project Inner Force as just another innovative distribution effort to reach the rural masses, something must be done to simultaneously build the company's brands in the markets where the project is being introduced.

This can best be done by first understanding the mindset of the potential consumers through qualitative studies for each product category. Qualitative studies help understand the hopes and aspirations, fears and mental blocks that rural folks have for any product category. This knowledge can be used to evolve a suitable communication package that addresses the specific problems of the market, offering the companies products as effective and economic solutions. The communication strategy could also warn the rural folks about the dangers of using spurious or duplicate brands.

We must also remember that there is a growing middle class in rural India that is moving away from basic agriculture-related jobs to more white collar activities, resulting in higher disposable incomes. This segment, which constitutes 40 per cent of the rural audience and is literate, is exposed to mass media in some form or the other. It is interesting to note that children in rural India, like their urban counterparts, influence the choice of brand that enter households. And they are greatly influenced by TV. So, in dealing with the rural markets, Archimedia will do well to remember that they are dealing with two distinct audiences. The middle and upper class, who to a great extent behave and act like the urban audience, and the huge labour class, which may be illiterate but is still driven by common sense and rationality, need to be tackled through traditional media and below the line activities.

So, while Project Inner Force will help in ensuring the company's brands reach the unexplored markets, it is the sustained communication effort to build the brand in rural markets that will help the company establish its brands. It will be an expensive proposition. But in the long run, it will be worth it because rural folks do not change their brand loyalties easily. Archimedia should keep up its tradition of being a pioneer and keep up its effort to build its brand equity in the rural markets.

"Unlocking rural demand has many dimensions. Mere accessibility and making it easy for a small group to afford the company's products is not enough'' Dalveer Singh, Country Manager, Ogilvy Outreach Communications Network

Take a trip into the heartland and you will often encounter foundation stones announcing the launch of a project that was supposed to change the lives of people. Look carefully at the dates and you will find that some of these were launched decades ago but never proceeded beyond the laying of the foundation stone. Poor planning killed a good cause.

Had it not been for Archimedia's CEO Sukraat Singh's visit, Project Inner Force had all the chances of meeting the same fate. It was up to an illiterate lady to reintroduce him to the four Ps of marketing.

Unlocking rural demand is a problem that has many dimensions to it. Mere accessibility and making it easy for a small group of people (as Project Inner Force intends to do) to afford the company's products is not enough. While the company's CEO was able to look at the problem in a new light, there are still some problems that need to be addressed.

It is necessary to know the hierarchy of needs of the market segment in question and have a clue as to the category in which the company's products fall. The company needs to invest in category development.

It is important to ensure entry barriers for competitive local players. Brand value communication is a must. Putting the rural distributor in charge of the micro-marketing outfit may be one way of going about it. The rural distributor should create and manage the communication through a hired salesforce that does brand value communication, as well as category development.

There is a need to make sure that micro-credit really increases the net disposable wealth of the rural areas being targeted. The company needs to think of ways in which it can develop opportunities so that more people can break the poverty cycle and become potential consumers of its products.

''The company has to inculcate the attitudes and values of entrepreneurs among its stockists and retailers in the rural areas'' Pradeep Lokhande, Managing Director, Rural Relations

Archimedia needs to get the problem it faces in proper perspective. The company has already launched the project, but could not get proper response. Thus, the problem it faces has a lot to do with revitalisation of the process of penetrating the rural market.

Apart from this, Archimedia also feels it necessary to explore alternate means of penetrating the rural market than the ones it has invested in so far.

To get its Project Inner Force back on track, the company should make a proper evaluation of all aspects of the project, in terms of its structure as well as the processes involved. There is greater need to re-orient the thinking of the project participants in terms of entrepreneurship. The company has to inculcate the attitudes and values of entrepreneurs among its stockists and retailers in the rural areas.

The company should find out the attitude of rural people towards savings as well as entrepreneurship. This is essential since there is a vast difference between rural consumers and their urban counterparts. Many projects initiated in the form of marketing through women's self-help groups have failed to sustain themselves.

It is therefore essential that the company try to find those factors that make rural entrepreneurship sustainable. A long-term perspective orientation needs to be based on creating trust and confidence vis-à-vis the company's initiatives.

"Archimedia needs to spend more time working on rural markets. Field-based understanding is the lifeline of any successful FMCG business" George Kovoor, Executive Vice President (Traditional Trade), Pepsi Foods

Perhaps the only saving grace for archimedia is ITs having a CEO who explores the rural markets thoroughly and on a regular basis. Archimedia's original intent in launching its Project Inner Force was to deepen its rural penetration. The project aimed at attaining the distribution objective through self-help groups.

However, structural innovation of this kind often overwhelms corporations and Archimedia seems to be no exception. First, the CEO articulates the 'real goal' as mass rural empowerment. His associates believe that it is an opportunity to move out of small packs to large packs. The drift from reality is clear. There is no connect with the consumer. This is a situation that has to be remedied.

So what should Archimedia do? The company has the first-mover advantage in distribution. It should continue to expand its distribution network through the self-help group model. However, scaling up the model from 5,000 villages will take time. The 7,00,000-village opportunity has to be stratified for coverage through distributor, hub and spoke, and wholesale models.

It also needs to be remembered that availability is only one leg of the rural marketing tripod. The other two are affordability and acceptability. The argument that the rural market is now ready for large packs seems dangerously out of place. Daily wage consumers with more resources will first adopt more categories before trading up on pack-sizes. The argument also incorrectly assumes that the only issue after availability is affordability.

Archimedia needs to connect with the rural consumer and communicate its propositions effectively. Sukraat Singh's conversation with a 'real' consumer confirms the disconnect between the company's proposition and the consumers' perception. The top management needs to spend more time working on rural markets. Field-based understanding, especially of rural areas, is the lifeline of any successful FMCG. Qualitative research can help sharpen insights obtained thus and could then be verified quantitatively.

Archimedia needs to move fast. A smarter competitor with a more consumer-friendly strategy could at any moment snatch the initiative away from the company.

''Archimedia needs innovative rural mass media solutions that don't make cost per contact hit them in their solar plexus'' Rajat Ray, Vice President & Manager, Thompson Social & Rural, J. Walter Thompson

The fact that archimedia's micro-credit scheme is alive and kicking across 5,000 villages is proof enough that the rural market has come of age. While Archimedia's top management waits for market research learnings to come in, others may have already stepped in and grabbed a sizeable chunk of the market.

Moreover, one doesn't need random-sample research to figure out whether or not rural India is brand-driven. A look at the hundreds of Fair & Lovely clones, locally packaged tea hawked at haats, and farmers in Bihar queuing up to buy a particular brand of maize seeds says it all.

While a megacorp like Archimedia cannot rely entirely on gut-feel, it would take eons to gather the quantum of data, market insights and research findings that our urban marketing fraternity usually insists upon. In India's hinterland, learning and implementation need to happen simultaneously. Testifying to this fact are the FMCG biggies who have been dabbling in revolutionary rural marketing concepts for years now, and have yet to hit upon a sure-shot model... either in terms of low cost per contact, or self-sustainability. But as and when they do, they would be miles ahead of those who used research as an excuse to sit it out.

The ideal gameplan for Archimedia would be to retain its first-mover advantage, and keep fine-tuning its strategy as its moves along. However, it needs to customise techniques for quick feedback, analysis and course-corrections, and weave these into its existing strategy.

This is perhaps the only practical option for the company. Those who do not possess the time, money and guts to opt for it should ideally look at a localised rural market, or be content with slugging it out in the urban marketplace.

Coming back to Archimedia, if it is just worried about competition moving in on the market it pioneered, it is oblivious to the second big threat: the fakes. One can always battle with competing brands on a level-playing field, eye for an eye, scheme for a scheme. But the spurious stuff manufactured in small-town backyards is a different ballgame altogether.

Clearly, to tackle these different layers of competition, Archimedia needs more than the self-sustaining sales and distribution system that it is pioneering in the rural markets. The company needs innovative 'rural mass media' solutions that don't make cost per contact hit it on its solar plexus. And that's a point in time when only those who understand the difference between an advertising agency and a rural advertising agency survive to tell their success story.

"Rural marketing revolves around two factors: Ensuring that the product reaches the countryside and communication of the brand's values to rural consumers" Milan Majumdar, Chief Executive Officer, ENZ Marketing & PR

Micro-credit has been in operation in the rural world for some time now. Archimedia's effort to rope in rural non-governmental organisations and financial institutions as part of its initiative to empower rural consumers is a step in the right direction. To be able to touch 50 per cent of the targeted 7 lakh villages, the company will need to maintain an undiluted focus on its marketing programme and conduct research surveys to ascertain its impact at frequent intervals.

Rural marketing in India has traditionally revolved around two strategies. One focuses on ensuring that the product reaches deep into the countryside, while the other stresses communication of the brand's values to rural consumers. Archimedia could make use of interactive communication formats such as roadshows to build its brand equity among rural consumers. The company could simultaneously ply vans that stock its products to create not only sales volumes, but to build up stockists' confidence and improve cash flows. Furthermore, the company's mobile distribution network and the executives who operate it could build up considerable clout with the rural sub-stockists and retailers by providing them with useful tips for healthy homes and imparting information on improvements in farming.

Archimedia would do well to continue with its Project Inner Force based on the feedback it gets from its periodic surveys. This way the company can create goodwill and increase its sales volumes. Finally, since the branded products selling in the urban areas are also preferred by the rural consumers, small sachets and packs should get priority notwithstanding their relatively low purchasing power.