journal_january2015
journal_january2015
journal_january2015
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THE<br />
RURAL MARKETING<br />
JOURNAL<br />
JANUARY 2015<br />
RMAI<br />
FLAME AWARDS 2014<br />
INTERVIEW<br />
S. Sivakumar,<br />
Jury Chair<br />
Chief Executive ITC Ltd. (ABD)<br />
1. What are the key parameters on which you will judge the entries<br />
this year<br />
Whether the product or service has (a) made a positive difference to the rural<br />
consumers, (b) done things on scale, (c) excelled in execution, (d) brought in<br />
a new insight or a novel idea…<br />
2. How well do you think marketers and agencies have been able<br />
to adapt to the changing rural landscape, over time<br />
Two things have basically changed in the rural landscape, over time. Firstly,<br />
the aspirations of rural consumers have, by and large, converged with those of<br />
their urban counterparts. And, with improving transportation and telecom<br />
infrastructure, they are better connected to the world than before. Marketers have done well to introduce new categories, improve<br />
features in their offerings to fulfil the consumer aspirations. Marketers have also done well to leverage new technologies and<br />
channels to reach out to the rural consumers.<br />
On the other hand, relatively lower incomes, inadequate availability of electricity, unreliable agricultural extension services, poor<br />
quality of education and healthcare are also harsh realities for a large majority of the rural consumers. Regrettably, one hasn't seen<br />
enough innovation in business models to bring access to these basic services to rural Indians.<br />
3. From your observations, which are the categories that see most innovative rural marketing initiatives and<br />
which don't<br />
Generally speaking, I see innovation in marketing consumer goods (both fast moving and durables) as well as automobiles. Not as<br />
much in categories like financial services and agricultural inputs.<br />
4. What are your expectations from the entries this year<br />
As has been the case every year so far, I expect to see more and better entries than last year! An interesting trend last year was the<br />
advent of partnerships, either product + service or product + channel, which helped marketers achieve more from less. In the<br />
previous year, it was technology in focus. I hope to see more consumer-centric innovations this year.<br />
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