Coca Cola India's Thirst for the Rural Market

Details

Themes : Advertising and Promotion
Period : 2002-2004
Organization : Coca Cola India
Pub Date : 2004
Countries : India
Industry : Food & Beverages

Buy Now

Case Code : MKTG081
Case Length : 10 Pages
Price: Rs. 300;

Tools

<< Previous

Affordability Contd...

The 200 ml bottles priced at Rs. 5 would also make CCI competitive against local brands in the unorganized sector. It was reported that in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat the local cola brands such as Choice and Tikli cost only half the price offered by CCI, which gave them the advantage in garnering the major market share before CCI came out with Chota Coke. CCI also targeted the rural consumer aggressively in its marketing campaigns, which were aimed at increasing awareness of its brands in rural areas.

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 mandies¹⁰ by setting up temporary retail outlets, and also took part in the annual haats¹¹ and fairs - major sources of business activity and entertainment in rural India.

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 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. The three commercials showed progression in associating 'Coke' with 'Thanda' in a rural/semi-urban context.

Next >>

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