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JANUARY 2015 THE RURAL MARKETING JOURNAL in the fact that while promoting the use of mobile phones, it also provides employment o p p o r t u n i t i e s t o women, who are the main drivers of the project. It uses forty w o m e n a n d f o u r supervisors including A n g a n w a d i a n d A c c r e d i t e d S o c i a l H e a l t h A c t i v i s t s (ASHA) to help spread knowledge about the benefits of mobile phones among women. Also, Project Sampark attempts to deal with the barrier against women by working around it rather than demolishing it. It makes men active participants while giving SIM cards to women. Uninor introduced a unique product that links to the SIM card in a manner that the recharge of either SIM accrues additional benefits to the other. In addition, a pre-decided number of free minutes is offered between the two cards. The aim is to offer a bonus to the male member whenever he tops up the SIM used by the woman relative. The Bandhan Pack, as it is called, provides an incentive to the men on taking a SIM for their wives or sisters, as they get an additional benefit each time the card is recharged. At just Rs 50, it is affordable too. The Bandhan Pack also allows for future value addition on the SIMs, like mobile health services on the woman's SIM, to create benefits in addition to connectivity. To ensure that both SIM cards are used, Uninor also set up a women-only call centre, Dial, in which the women call up the subscribers and ensure that both mobile connections are used. The women are knowledgeable about Uninor's products, and are able to assist the callers about the services. The call centres are also used to reach out to the mobile users whenever new schemes and facilities are offered by Uninor. In this way, Uninor also contributes to improving working opportunities for rural women. To spread knowledge about the benefits of mobile phones, Uninor conducted nukkad nataks or street plays with the theme 'Mera Mobile Mera Sathi'. Performed at the local markets, village haats and panchayat meetings, these street plays talked of the benefits of mobile phones for women. They also talked of how mobile phones can improve a woman's social and economic status as well as bring in gender equality. Since the launch of the project, Uninor has sold nearly 7000 Bandhan packs in its pilot scheme. The project also became selfsufficient within four months of its launch. Project Sampark showcases how corporates can align their social responsibility with commercial interests. In its attempt to highlight the importance of mobile phones, Uninor managed to promote its own brand and was able to get customers for its network. It also paved the way for other networks to make inroads into the rural markets with their own products. 22
THE RURAL MARKETING JOURNAL JANUARY 2015 TREND - INDIA A Soap that Floats An innovative soap that promises to be a boon for all those who prefer bathing in rivers and ponds Villagers in Kerala often face a typical problem. While bathing in the rivers or ponds, they often lose their soap in the water, where it eventually sinks. CA Vincent of Katoor in the Thrissur district of Kerala decided to solve this problem by manufacturing a soap that floats. The floating soap was a result of experiments conducted by him in his soap manufacturing unit for about 14 years. The idea was to create a soap whose density is lighter than that of water, enabling it to float. Made from Sodium Hydroxide and coconut oil/vegetable oil, the composition of the floating soap is kept the same as regular soaps. However, the process of making it is modified such that its density is maintained at 0.873 g/cm3. Further, this soap is less acidic than traditional soaps, helping the skin retain natural oils. In the making of the soap, no animal fat or synthetic chemical is used. The soap also dries quickly on removing from water as compared to traditional soaps. impact of audio in Rural Markets Can you imagine an ad running on the TV without any audio Well that will not make any sense and in a similar way any advertising without the audio is ineffective. If you try to recollect the famous ads then you will realize that the one thing you remember about them is their audio or jingles or the slogan. Be it ‘washing powder Nirma, or recently, ‘Har ek friend zaroori hota hai’, you must have noticed that you can recall the audio easily. Music and advertising is a combination that helps the audience to connect with the ad in an emotional way. Studies shows that audio in an advertisement has more recall value than the video. Audio mediums have their own set of strengths. For many businesses, audio mediums are much more affordable, convincing and effective advertising media. Unlike newspaper ads, audio ads are more than just ink on paper. Apart from audio advertising, a major theme is that each medium has its own biases. Apparently, each medium presents certain types of information easily and well. Compared with print, television and computers, audio seems to be relatively stimulating to the cognitive process of imagination. SBI-KCC (State Bank of India – Kisan Credit Card) campaign conducted by Vritti iMedia is a fair and clear example of audio advertising. The purpose of SBI-KCC is to provide timely and adequate credit to farmers to meet their production credit needs besides meeting contingency expenses, and expenses related to ancillary activities through simplified procedure facilitating availment of the loans as and when needed. To identify the power of audio ads Vritti i Media carried out a research of SBI-KCC campaign in Karnataka through which they came to know about the following facts :- 1. Out of every 500 hundred people 477 witnessed the automated bus announcements. 2. 308 people heard the announcement of SBI-KCC. 3. When asked about their opinions on the ad around 35% people felt that the ad was very good and informative. 4. Around 237 out of every 500 people wait on the bus stops for more than 15 mins which confirms that they have heard the ads. The positive point's people have mentioned about the SBI-KCC coming to bus stand audio media are: people are happy to know about the details of loans at bus stand. They feel that this process of passing information will reach most of the farmers. Also it was educating and audio was very clear and loud. This brings us to a conclusion that audio medium is far more a better medium when it comes to reach and the recall value. The writer is Mr. Rajesh Radhakrishnan - Director- Marketing Strategies and Public relations at Vritti i-Media 23
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