Coca Cola India's Thirst for the Rural Market
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CCI'S RURAL MARKETING STRATEGY Contd..Acceptability
contd...
Between March and September 2003, CCI launched three commercials with the
‘Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola'tag line. All the three commercials aimed to make
rural and semi-urban consumers connect with Coca-cola. The first ad featured
Aamir Khan as a ‘tapori'(street smart); in the ad he makes the association
between Coca-Cola and the word ‘Thanda.'The second commercial in the series
featured Aamir Khan as a ‘Hyderabadi shop-keeper'; here again he equates the
word ‘Thanda'with Coca-Cola. The third commercial featured Aamir Khan as a
‘Punjabi farmer'who offers Coca Cola to ladies asking for Thanda.
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The three commercials showed progression in associating ‘Coke'with
‘Thanda'in a rural/semi-urban context. In the first commercial the
connection of Coke with Thanda was made, in the second one there was a
subtle difference, with the shopkeeper asking customers to ask for
Thanda instead of Coke, and the third commercial showed that when one
asked for Thanda, one would get Coke.
Analysts said that all the three commercials succeeded in make rural
consumers connect to Coke and increased awareness of the brand among
them. Along with TVCs, CCI also launched print advertisements in several
regional newspapers. |
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FUTURE PROSPECTS
CCI claimed all its marketing initiatives were very successful, and as a result,
its rural penetration increased from 9% in 2001 to 25% in 2003. CCI also said
that volumes from rural markets had increased to 35% in 2003. The company said
that it would focus on adding more villages to its distribution network. For the
year 2003, CCI had a target of reaching 0.1 million more villages. Analysts
pointed out that stiff competition from archrival PepsiCo would make it
increasingly difficult for CCI to garner more market share.
PepsiCo too had started focusing on the rural market, due to the flat volumes in
urban areas. Like CCI, PepsiCo too launched 200 ml bottles priced at Rs. 5.
Going one step ahead, PepsiCo slashed the price of its 300 ml bottles to Rs 6/-
to boost volumes in urban areas. (Refer Exhibit III for Pepsi Co's rural
marketing initiatives.)
In early 2003, CCI announced that it was dropping plans to venture into other
beverage businesses. Company sources said that increasing volumes of cola drinks
had made the company rethink its plans of launching juice and milk-based
beverages. In 2002, CCI had announced plans to launch beverages such as nimbu
paani (lemon juice), fruit juice, cold coffee, and iced tea in collaboration
with Nestle India[14].
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QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
EXHIBIT I CCI
EXHIBIT II THE RURAL MARKET IN INDIA
EXHIBIT III PEPSICO's RURAL MARKETING INITIATIVES
ADDITIONAL READINGS & REFERENCES
[14] Wholly owned Indian
subsidiary of Swiss FMCG major Nestle.
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