Rural Sports Should Be Planned For Creating Platform To Target Rural Youth

India is known to have the largest youth population in the world, as of 2014, 1.8 billion people in India were aged between 10 to 24 years, this comprises of 28% of the total Indian population. A simple calculation thus shows that 19.6 % of the Indian population is aged between 10 to 24 years and lives in rural areas.

Even though the United Nations defines youth as people belonging to the age group of 15-35 years, the adolescents consist of almost 10% of the rural population and thus should not be excluded from the above number.

Rural Youth is approximately 20 percent of the total population.

The statement makes it clear that rural youth is an important demographic categorization in India; they not only consist of significant number now but will become the majority 5 to 10 years down the line. This makes their consideration crucial while devising any marketing strategy for a long run in rural areas.

Why targeting rural youth is important?

Numbers speak volumes but at times they might not be sufficient for the rural marketing agency therefore let us list some other benefits as well.

• More exposure and reach for the brand as target audiences expand

• Brand loyalty increases if the relationship is established at a younger age which assists in retaining customers through tough business patches

• Communication is more effective as youth are more participating as an audience

How to target the youth?

Unlike urban youth, its rural counterpart cannot be effectively communicated with through social media channels or other electronic mediums due to lack of resources at their end. This poses a challenge in front of the rural marketing agency as to how to find a touch point where the large audience can be targeted. There are ways such as colleges and schools which can be adopted in this scenario but not all brands find them suitable or appropriate. Thus a fresh, fun and more effective way is required.

Search of the activity that combines attention and entertainment alike

One activity that rural youth can relate to easily is- Sports. In the light of lesser electronic and modern day sources of fitness and entertainment, most of them choose to utilize their time on the grounds.

The low cost and high impact appeal attracts many young people to the sport ground. As Wilfred Lemke said,

“Sport builds bridges between individuals and across communities, providing a fertile ground for sowing the seeds of development and peace.”
What rural advertising agencies need to do is use this bridge to get access to disciplined and attentive audiences to sow the grounds with seeds of brand development and communication.

How to use sports to create a platform to target rural youth?

The target audience can be approached by:-

• Holding interactive sessions at existing sports center and using the veil of entertainment and refreshments to convey the brand message and product information.

• Organizing a sports meet in association with local clubs to market the product through banners and presentations. This is the best suitable alternative if the target audience needs a diverse mix of adults too.

• Providing sponsorship to clubs in return of marketing the brand through merchandise, uniforms, hoardings etc.

Sports have proven to be the backbone of troubled youth in India and have time and again shown the capability of transforming lives. It is only a matter of time before it starts transforming rural branding process and marketing activities.

Cinema Branding Could Be Best Medium In Small Town To Target Rural People For Brand Message And Engagement

Cinema can be explained as a 360 degree marketing environment, where placement opportunities are numerous. The easiest form of advertising through cinema is capturing the ideal screen space before the movie starts and during the interval.

The best example for cinema branding is Vicco, in the early 2000s, almost everyone in the theater had a reaction to Vicco Vajradanti. They created a brand through targeting the best and the average cinema theaters alike, where their print ads ran for years. At a point of time their jingle was stuck in moviegoers’ minds and people even started singing along.

Cinema advertising has grown at a CAGR of 11% in the last five years and it is predicted to grow further in the next five years. Entertainment remains to be a necessity to everyone even today and thus tapping that to find a way to warm into the hearts of the audience has proven effective. It is known to be most suited for smaller towns and rural areas due to the fact that cinema advertising has been the lowest avoidance medium. However, there are many more advantages to it than that.

Advantages of Cinema Branding in small towns and rural areas.

• Brand Awareness
  One of the noteworthy things about cinema branding is the great reach it provides, every show has hundreds of people and there are multiple shows in the day. This can mean thousands of audiences can be reached in a day and thus brand awareness becomes the biggest benefit of cinema branding.
  
  
• Diversified audience
  The spread provides the unique advantage of having a segmented audience without putting in any efforts. Every moviegoer cannot be defined in the same category and they often differ in age, gender, socio economic background etc. This diversification, if targeted through any other medium has to be executed very carefully and requires a lot of efforts during implementation but through cinema branding, the same can be done without breaking a sweat.
  
  
• Effectiveness
  Few other advantages unique to this medium when compared with others such as TV, radio etc. relate to the audience’s behavior. When seated in a movie theater, they are relaxed and their undivided attention is towards the screen, which is very difficult to achieve otherwise. The relax mood leads to better engagement while the undivided attention ensures that the message is being conveyed to the audience. This makes cinema branding more effective than other means of advertising as discussed above.
  
  
• Environmental factors
  A cinema hall has the benefit of a surround sound system, dim lighting and perfect visuals. When an ad is played in a theater as against when it is played on the TV or radio, it captures the audiences completely and thus has better impact because in a theater, it more like a media performance with the whole equipment set. The environment adds a lot of superficial value to a visual ad by giving it the required oomph.
  
  
• Cost Benefit
  Even though cinema branding cannot be listed as a cheap or low cost way of advertising, it’s worth can surely be estimated. The volume of reach and the impact make the few minutes, worth the expense incurred to make it happen.

Rural Hoarding Plays Effective Role In communicating Brand Message In Media Dark Villages

While we advocate the benefits of adopting digital marketing and aiming our resources towards using the effective method is promotion, marketers especially for darker areas raise their eyebrows. Why?
The fact that 400 million people residing in rural India are forced to live without electricity should be a subtle hint. The basic requirement of digital marketing includes certain resources such as internet and electronic devices that are considered beyond luxurious in these areas.
Moreover, even conventional mediums such as television advertising or print media have not proved very effective due to these constraints, nor has radio, which tends to do the trick in backward and under developed areas

The point of Doubt

These challenges cannot be warded off casually and put in the column with other hurdles of the race, if not taken care of they might turn out to be the red ribbon. The big question, at this junction is, are these markets untouchable or does their sale need to depend on the product and its destiny? The correct answer is neither as these areas house approximately 35% of the total population of India and to ignore them can be a deadly mistake at the part of the marketer and the brand. Certain brands, especially regional ones depend on small towns and rural areas for their sales, their products are made to fulfill the needs of rural people. In this case, leaving out a large chunk from the preferred target audience may lead to heavy losses and lack of exposure.

The road that was forgotten

In fashion, trends jump time loops and come back every few years, like polka dots and peplum is back from 1960s to make headline in 2015. The same way, rural marketing agencies need to think back to the time when resources were scarce and some even nonexistence. The answers lie in those times, how to get reach and visibility without dependence on electricity and technology?

Hoardings

Building a temporary board erected on a building or poles, big enough to attract the attention of passerby and attractive enough to ensure a second look.

Benefits of using hoarding for advertising in media dark rural areas

First and foremost, a hoarding gives you an opportunity in areas where other mediums might have been rendered useless due to lack of resources. However, it is not only reason for using a hoarding as a marketing tool, here are some other reasons that prove hoarding plays an effective role in communication in media dark villages:-

·         Brand Visibility & Exposure
The size of the hoarding is sure to attract the audience and by use of engaging content, their attention can be retained easily. Another advantage to a hoarding is that people often revisit these places on a daily basis that means they are sure to look at the product multiple time, which helps with recognition of the brand.

·         Faster Communication
Hoardings are like telegrams, the message is clear, precise and to the point, this helps communication to be efficient and faster.

·         Emphasis on product
The limited space should be seen as a plus rather than a problem, the lack of ideal space to fill means that all the focus will be on the product and the brand can be highlighted in a subtle way as well. This also makes marking their connection in the customer’s mind easier.

Bioscope As An Effective Tool Of Communication

What is Bioscope?

Essentially, a bio-scope is a movie camera belonging to the earlier era, when digitization was not so common and widespread. It is often referred to as a traveling movie theater due to the system involved. To the common eye, it is a colorful box with multiple round windows on the front and sides, an attendant takes you through the journey from window to another to tell a story with the use of graphics or non mobile pictures set in slides.

Bio-scope was once, the most popular medium of storytelling, before the introduction of motion cinema. During its peak, it managed to create a crowd on its merit alone, the story took the side seat. However, as our technology grew stronger, our cinema experience evolved to High Definition (HD) and Bio-scope was left with the remains of that time.

The good thing about change is that it often comes with a silver lining wrapped around its gift wrap. Even though technology and innovation have made bio-scope almost obsolete, its charm still remains untouched from the winds of modernization.

The future of Bio-scope

As the walls of this century crumble upon their makers, people tend to dig into the past to hunt for liable alternatives of entertainment. The same principle is applicable for marketing, as things so awry with the older methods, marketers search for better alternatives. It is only natural that as the preferences of the audience changes, marketers will have to follow. Thus, the realm where these two realities collide is where the birth place of “Edutainment”.

Edutainment is the joyful union of education and entertainment, popularly used by rural marketing agencies as a tool of communication. The concept preludes the connect ion of entertainment to better retention. Other methods of Edutainment include Nukkad natak, puppet shows, etc.
Edutainment has been preferred by rural marketing agencies as a tool of communication in rural areas and small towns due its effective results and popularity among people in these areas.

Bio-scope as an effective tool of communication in rural areas

Bio scope has a special pull in rural areas and small towns where the technological storm has not hit in all its glory. It is a part of the remainder traditions lingering around, trying to survive in the world of monotony.

Where most marketers keep their eyes tightly on Digital marketing as the innovative technique of marketing, they lose sight of the essence of rural India. Therefore, they often complain about lack of interest and participation among the audience. In order to get the desired reaction, rural marketing agencies jump to edutainment for aid. The truth is that the culture that revels in the old methods of entertainment should be approached behind the veils of innateness.

This pushes the marketer towards more fun ideas of storytelling, such as Bio scope.The excitement felt by people waiting in line to peep in the windows is reason enough to consider Bio scope as a tool of communication in villages but let us look at some more:-

• The entertainment value.
  There is no point in debating the fact that entertainment attracts more crowd than a promotional activity and therefore using bio-scope assists in creating audience.
  
  
• The cost Value.
   Bio-scope's as cheap as they come, they activity is very cost effective and worth the investment as it attracts a lot of local people from rural areas and even small towns.
  
  
• The emotional value.
  Either the parent sees their past through the little windows in the bio-scope or they see their children’s joy, both of which generate a strong emotional reaction. This helps the brand to create a lasting connection with the audience.
  
  
• The brand recalls value.
  The introduction of the entertainment aspect of the Bio-scope and its unique way of giving information leaves a mark on the audience. This also helps them relate to the brand while remembering the product.