OOH, BTL, digital in combo will deliver the goods in rural markets: Rajesh Radhakrishnan

With the altering market conditions, rural marketing and advertising are also seeing tectonic changes. Vritti Solutions, a leading rural marketing agency, is making that extra effort to reinforce the channels for deeper rural consumer connects.

Talking to Media4Growth, Rajesh Radhakrishnan, Director- Sales and Marketing, Vritti Solutions, said, “The existing business model limits brands only to the distributors. The brand-distributor relations were strong and that allowed them to capture a larger market share in the rural areas. However due to the lockdown the distributors are working on thin margins are largely paralysed. This will result in a change in the business model. Brands will have to play a more active role in the rural market, specially the FMCG brands, because the competition is expected to rise."

As the brands’ CSR activities are on the rise, Vritti Solutions has formed a CSR arm that will be responsible in helping brands invest in CSR activities. The aim is to dovetail brand building and CSR activities. The livelihood and agricultural fields will be the key areas of focus for the CRS arm. The media owner understands that in the post-COVID era, brands will essentially focus on selling, and they have been working on an advertising model, centred on this need.

“The new model will be an amalgamation of BTL, digital and OOH. The core function of such a campaign will be to push sales. The role of digital (cell phones) mediums is going to increase now, as people are constantly on their devices for news about Coronavirus. This is going to create a digital environment,” said Rajesh.

Vritti Solutions understands that it will take another 3-6 months for OOH to pick up in the market. Meanwhile, it is important to prepare for the changing market structure post-pandemic. Vritti estimated that FMCG and banking sector will be the first to appear aggressively on the OOH medium.