Rural and Urban Advertising

Rural advertising

Rural advertising is increasingly evident throughout the countryside. The majority of advertisements and hoardings are for fertilizers, hybrid seeds, diesel pumps and pesticides, not to men­tion the message of family planning.

Therefore, advertising in the Indian rural context must be seen as consisting of techniques for improving economic mobility within the country. The emergence of an active cash economy is bound to create a strong rural demand and promote consumption.

The traditional growth and dominance of urban industrial centres is undergoing rapid changes. A more equit­able distribution in rural areas would also help in slowing down the rapidly increasing influx of people from rural into urban centres.

Literacy and Media Habits:

Despite the low level of literacy in rural areas, the growth between 1971 and 1981 is significant. Five crore more people have become literate in the course of the last decade, a figure almost equal to the entire population of France. Growth in literacy levels is expec­ted to continue, and this, in turn, will lead to greater awareness of products on the part of the rural people.

Some market research studies on the media habits of farmers in Andhra, Haryana and Punjab are quite revealing they clearly show that, contrary to popular belief, organized media play a signi­ficant role in supplementing the efforts to reach rural consumers.

Other 70 per cent of the population listens to the radio; about 65 per cent in Andhra goes to the cinema. The corresponding figure for Punjab and Haryana is 26 per cent. In both these areas, over 30 per cent read newspapers regularly.

In rural India, the role that advertising plays is minor. It will enhance demand only when favourable environmental conditions have been created. Advertising does not create immediate demand. There is always an information gap.

Rural India is a set of regional markets where cultural factors play a very important role. The raw materials come from the soil; and the relatively low productivity of Indian forms is reflected in the low purchasing power of the rural buyer.

The rural advertising problem in a country like India is related to political, social and economic problems. With low incomes from farms the question that arises is- Can we afford the infrastructure of the mass media for the rural markets? The Indian rural market is very heterogeneous.

Nevertheless, public advertising is an important pre-condition for the creation of demand. The problem of the rural consumer in our country is that he is traditional; to some extent, there is homogeneity, and there are high resistance and low resistance pro­ducts amongst the rural buyers.

Rural buyers show a great many cont­radictions; and the advertising man has to understand them. For exa­mple, the poor spend lavishly on marriages; in certain parts, a rigid caste system still exists; the community is more contented with what­ever little it has. Many preach non-violence and practice violence.

For mass media men to motivate rural buyers to change their life-style is not therefore that easy. The concept of sufficiency is a hurdle to deve­lopment; and the problem of huge distances and inadequate outlets is quite considerable.

Within a rural market, there are many mini-markets based on caste, religion,’ language or other differences. All the people living in and around these markets have distinctly different life-styles. The marketing men know that the cost of distribution increases as the town gets smaller; and it is not economical to serve very small villages.

In rural areas, the effective approach to be employed to reach the buyers is to establish contact with local educators who can influ­ence them by word of mouth. Such local educators are government officials, Block Development & Extension Officers, Village Pardhans and school teachers.

Rural markets are no longer a seller’s market now. Many people have underrated the strength of the market on the assumption that India’s rural poverty restricts rural purchases only to those items which are basic necessities. This has turned out to be a myth now.

The social status, needs, expenditure on weddings, religious ceremonies and the farmers’ need for excitement, travelling and entertainment, have influenced the operations of the rural market. Many farmers travel to weekly markets to buy vegetables that they can themselves grow; but they go in order to have news, stimulation and for socialisation.

The bumper crops and the upturn in agricultural production have resulted in a considerable increase in the incomes of farmers and in their purchasing power. The increase in purchasing power in rural areas has generated vast potential markets for manufactured goods because the people want to raise their standard of living.

New appro­aches must be evolved to awaken the rural population to the range of consumption possibilities open to them. Advertising and consumer research is essential for this purpose; for it must be determined not only what the villager wants but what would motivate him to buy.

Market research and consumer surveys are essential and should cover a fairly wide area of rural life, including the attitudes and aspirations of the rural buyer.

The different approaches to reach rural buyers which may be profitably utilised include mobile publicity-cum-sales stalls, sales and cinema vans, participation in rural fairs and festivals.

The villagers are slightly hesitant about going to smart-looking shops. The relatively prosperous families generally become the pace setter group in the village; and these must initially receive the adverti­ser’s attention.

Advertising research may focus on the sources of awareness in the rural sector the media influencing the villages. It must concentrate on determining the different influences that the villager is being exposed to, either in the village or in his visits to the towns.

A villager normally makes his household purchases in a near­by small town or a fair, but visits either a district, town or a still larger market for his requirements of consumer durables. It would be useful to ascertain his motivation in selecting different markets for different purposes.

Seasonality figures prominently in rural buying habits on account of harvesting seasons, fairs, festivals and marriage, etc. These things should be plotted in advance for sales promotion; and advertising information on the styles of the rural buyer, his attitudes towards pro­cesses, durability, and the incidence of impulse buying these should be checked.

The rural buyer in general is price conscious. Cheaper and sophisticated models of agricultural machinery, sewing machines, etc., should therefore be more acceptable to the village consumer.

The goods should be made available to the rural consumer at places which are most convenient to him. Ideally, it would be desi­rable to get right down to the villages, and combine the sales and advertising effort at that level. But, practically, this would be very difficult because the selling cost would be too high if we follow this approach.

To expand sales in rural markets, hire-purchase facilities should be extended. Effective after-sales service should be extended where a distributor/dealer has been appointed. Some incentive should be given to dealers to open bank accounts in nearby banking towns.

Eighty per cent of the total population is in villages and about 60 per cent of the national income comes from rural areas. There is an inequitable distribution of this rural income amongst the rural folk.

There are two sections of the rural population: a large portion have a low income and low consumption levels; the rest are the rural rich.

Rural Advertising Mix

In rural areas, advertising in the form of outdoor publicity will- prove more effective. The use of mobile vans and audiovisual meth­ods would hold and attract the attention of the rural folk. The use of switch lights, wall writings, cars and other vehicles fitted with loud­speakers and musical instruments would boost sales in rural areas.

Demonstrations and seminars may be profitably used. A few indi­viduals are very prominent in rural areas and their word is honoured by the villagers.’ Convincing such individuals about the utility of the products will go a long way in stimulating their sales in the villages.

There is a considerable scope for outdoor publicity inside and outside the public carriers. On truck routes, hoardings may prove to be the most effective method of advertising. This type of advertising, moreover, has a definite reminder value.

What is required is the use of appro­priate colours, signs and pictures which are liked by the rural folk. Outdoor advertising in rural areas, however, should not only introduce new commodities to the market but also explain their uses and extol their virtues.

The services of commercial broadcasting too, may be profitably utilized in view of the growing popularity of radios, transistors and TV sets. In a country like ours, where 75 per cent of the people are illiterate, the importance of radios and TV sales as a means of mass communication needs hardly to be over-emphasized.

The point of purchase for most of the items is usually the weekly “haat” or market outside the village. For certain produ­cts, the point-of-purchase display that relies heavily on pictorial representation would prove very effective.

As the retailer is the final- link in the chain of communication with the consumer, retail displays would be extremely effective if the material is well planned. What is imperative for the manufacturer is to design a display that will suit the small retail shop in rural areas.

This is of crucial importance because the biggest problem of the retailer is to mar age the mass material in the limited space available. Whatever may be the medium of advertising, the largest audience in rural areas should be the growing number of literate youth.

The written word, whether it is used for advertising in the press or on a hoarding, on merchandising materials or on the container, would have to be addressed largely to the younger generation with their expectations and their aspirations.

With growing literacy in rural areas, another possible break­through in rural marketing may be achieved by the use of the mail? Order channel of communication. India’s postal network serves more than one and half lakh towns and villages.

Mail orders may be used as an ideal tool with a view to sending out goods to consumers but also as a means of promoting product messages. A recent study of advertising media, as used in the family planning campaign, has revealed that, by far, the most effective publicity medium for village audiences were the mailings to village panchayats.

The most serious difficulty in mail order business, however, is the high cost of postal parcels and the uncertainties regarding prompt and secure delivery.

Co-operatives have played a very important role in popularising the use of various agricultural inputs, such as fertilizers, improved seeds, new implements, pesticides etc. The public distribution system has rightly recognized the importance of the role of co-operatives in rural areas.

For the sale of engineering goods and agricultural equipment, it is necessary to provide, for their service and repairs, facilities at a nearby place where the rural buyers are located. The demonstration and the use of the items should also be explained at this centre.

Rural Advertising – Problems of Marketing Products in Rural Areas

Problems of Marketing Agricultural Products:

There is a need for coordinating production and marketing:

(i) If production increases, the increased output must be marketed. The structural interdependence of the industrial and rural sectors and lack of co-ordination generate prob­lems which depress prices and discourage production.

(ii) Difficulties of transport and communication limit the range of physical distribution; therefore, an efficient and coordinated transport system is needed.

(iii) By their very nature agricultural products are grown in a few places and certain seasons. For a continuous supply and fair prices, therefore, storage facilities are necessary.

(iv) Cereals, vegetables, etc., last longer if packed in polythene.

(v) Market information is vital.

(vi) Poor farmers are fleeced by moneylenders. Extended credit facilities should therefore be created.

Problems of Marketing Consumer Goods in Rural Areas:

The creation of primary demand is essential. Advertising is mainly done to create awareness. That is why the radio and TV have become very popular in more than 500,000 villages. Providing goods at the retail outlets is a great challenge, therefore an intimate know­ledge of the consumer wants is essential.

The pre-eminent position of the rural sector in our economy is nothing new. Four-fifths of our people live there, and half of our national income is generated in this sector. Anyone interested in marketing has for long been conscious of the vast potential in rural India. This potential is now beginning to be seen not as a remote promise, but perhaps an immediate opportunity.

There is little doubt that the record agricultural production of the last two years, in contrast with the sharp decline which occurred two years earlier, has changed attitudes a great deal. Optimism has been encouraged by the first signs of a genuine breakthrough in agriculture.

The intelligent use of fertilizers, pesticides and better seeds has had a dramatic impact on yields, wherever they have been applied. That the agricultural yield would rise sharply, given proper inputs, has been known for decades.

What has come as surprise to the country as a whole is the enthusiasm and extent to which these new practices have been accepted. With the right products presented in the right way to the farmer an immense change can be brought about; and the image of the farmer as a tradition-bound, unenterprising individual reconciled to his poverty-stricken existence will begin to fade.

While it is wrong to overlook the fact that the change is most significant amongst the larger and more enlightened farmers in areas under irrigation or assured rainfall, it would seem reasonable to assume that it must, in the course of time, sweep over the bulk of the rural sector.

Urban Advertising

Advertising or propaganda is a show that presented by a person or institute by purpose of influence on the thoughts and acts of people. All of the urban elements side the correct signs can help to enforce the identity and economic vitality and change it to an active and strenuous place.

Although many known the emerge of advertisement simultaneously with the advent of the mass media, but since the industrial revolution advertising as a marketing communication tool evolved to become an art and a science.

According to the importance of advertising in economic and social affairs, to introduce a variety of promotions for goods and products used by companies and producers. Citizens in neighborhood and life environment are faced to urban advertising. These kinds of advertising consists of graffiti, painting, design and installation poster, announcements and notices, statues and inscriptions and various topics in the field of cultural, social, political, economic and commercial that happened in the city by state organs, public institutions, associations and companies as well as citizens can be done. Urban advertising divided to two categories: fixed and fixed. Signs, billboards and graffiti are part of urban fixed advertising and example of an urban mobile ads is bus ads. Totally signs and urban status are used as making relation. The main goals of signs and symptoms, regulation and classification and foster understanding in the urban environment. The establishment of operational rules adopted by the municipality beautify the city of Urmia generally the symptoms can be divided into six main groups: orientate, inform, guide, identify, express or terms and beauty. To be effective urban advertising medium must have certain characteristics to be considered in designing or evaluating them. Some features must be considered in designing or evaluating them. Readability, strengthening face and urban identity, harmony and respect for hierarchy and are included in the balance (table1).
Table 1: The features expected of an urban advertising