Coca Cola India's Thirst for the Rural Market
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CCI'S RURAL MARKETING STRATEGY Contd..Affordability
A survey conducted by CCI in 2001 revealed that 300 ml bottles were not popular
with rural and semi-urban residents where two persons often shared a 300 ml
bottle. It was also found that the price of Rs10/- per bottle was considered too
high by rural consumers. For these reasons, CCI decided to make some changes in
the size of its bottles and pricing to win over consumers in the rural market.
In 2002, CCI launched 200 ml bottles (Chota Coke)[9] priced at Rs 5. CCI
announced that it would push the 200 ml bottles more in rural areas, as the
rural market was very price-sensitive. It was widely felt that the 200 ml
bottles priced at Rs. 5 would increase the rate of consumption in rural India.
Reports put the annual per capita consumption of bottled beverages in rural
areas at one bottle as compared to 6 bottles in urban areas.
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Acceptability
The initiatives of CCI in distribution and pricing were supported by
extensive marketing in the mass media as well as through outdoor
advertising. The company put up hoardings in villages and painted the
name Coca Cola on the compounds of the residences in the villages.
Further, CCI also participated in the weekly mandies[10] by setting up
temporary retail outlets, and also took part in the annual haats[11] and
fairs - major sources of business activity and entertainment in rural
India. |
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CCI also launched television commercials (TVCs) targeted at rural
consumers. In order to reach more rural consumers, CCI increased its
ad-spend on Doordarshan[12].
The company ensured that all its rural marketing initiatives
were well-supported by TVCs. When CCI launched Chota Coke in 2002 priced at Rs.
5, it bought out a commercial featuring Bollywood actor Aamir Khan to
communicate the message of the price cut and the launch of 200 ml bottles to the
rural consumers. The commercial was shot in a rural setting.
In the summer of 2003, CCI came up with a new commercial featuring Aamir Khan,
to further strengthen the Coca-Cola brand image among rural consumers. The
commercial aimed at making coke a generic name for ‘Thanda.'Of the reason for
picking up the word ‘Thanda', Prasoon Joshi, national creative director – McCann
Erickson, the creator of the commercial, said, “Thanda is a very North
India-centric phenomenon. Go to any restaurant in the north, and attendants
would promptly ask, ‘thanda ya garam?'‘Thanda'usually means lassi or nimbu
pani, ‘garam'is essentially tea. Because the character, in itself, represented
a culture, we wanted to equate Coke with ‘Thanda', since ‘Thanda'too is part of
the popular dialect of the north. Thus making ‘Thanda'generic for Coca-Cola.
With the long-playing possibilities of the ‘Thanda'idea becoming evident,
‘Thanda'became the central idea. Once we decided to work on that idea, the
creative mind just opened up[13].”
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FUTURE PROSPECTS
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
EXHIBIT I CCI
EXHIBIT II THE RURAL MARKET IN INDIA
EXHIBIT III PEPSICO's RURAL MARKETING INITIATIVES
ADDITIONAL READINGS & REFERENCES
[9] Small Coke.
[10] Weekly fairs where villagers gather and sell their produce.
[11] Annual exhibitions, conducted during festival season.
[12] State-owned broadcaster in India. According to reports it reaches
around 70 million homes.
[13] Shartrujeet .N, Vaid Dixit, Sumita, ‘Thanda III'– Coke Scores on
Naturalness, www.agencyfaqs.com, September 30, 2002.
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