Milestone Brandcom taps rural market with Milestone Outland

To concentrate on India’s rural population, Milestone Brandcom has inaugurated a new wing Milestone Outland to work on the marketers shifting focus towards low income consumers in tier 2 tier and 3 towns. The vision for Milestone Outland is to challenge the current status quo in Rural Consumer Communications.
 
“At Milestone, we believe in investing in talent, knowledge & insights.  We want to help the brand  reach its customers wherever they may be. Therefore we felt the need to go rural. Milestone believes it is essential to gain an understanding about the impact of these elements to succeed in the Indian rural markets.Our future growth strategy involves offering this service to our existing and new client’s. Therefore we have appointed established experts in the field of Rural Marketing who are equipped with the skills of surviving in these markets. Our vision for Milestone Outland is to challenge the current status quo in Rural Consumer Communications. I am personally fond of this business and believe it has huge potential in terms of scale and volume to build communications for the 70% of population residing in rural India.

 It forms an integral part of the business; every marketer will sooner or later seek one on one communications to reach to these media dark areas.In next one month, a Pan-India operation is planned with a distinguished 50 member team to penetrate through the Indian rural landscape and set new benchmarks for client’s brand. The diverse network will help us to be in control of every promotion and visibility. I believe we shall learn through our journey as we are committed to be the best, in next 12 to 18 months says Nabendu Bhattacharyya – Founder & Managing Director Milestone Brandcom.
 
Ajay Sundaram will handle the wing as Country Head & Vice President, Milestone Outland. He has over 14 years of experience in the industry and moves to Milestone Brandcom from Leo Burnett. He has also worked as country head – Terra, the rural division of Mudramax and Ogilvy Outreach. He has ben associated with brands like P&G, Water Health, GPI and Mahindra Finance, HUL, Shell Foundation, Colgate, Western Union, ITC, ACC, Nerolac, Godrej, Samsung in his previous stint.
 
“I am fascinated with milestones growth story! What interests me is their long term vision in the business and commitment to fresh investments which makes them stand apart amongst other agencies. We at Milestone Outland, would like to bring in a new approach to understand the rural consumer; who is very different from his urban counterpart. Increasing brand consciousness and disposable incomes has made the rural consumer more demanding and selective in his purchase behaviour. Rural markets demand a sustained effort by brands to expose the consumers to the products via activities related to brand building and product acceptance.

 We plan to reach out to the low income rural consumers & give them an opportunity to understand the various choices in terms of brands and products via continuous penetration through different modes of OOH advertising. To effectively succeed in these markets, campaigns have to be tailored to appeal to the consumers, keeping in mind the nuances of their language, dialect and customs prevalent in their region. Thus, we need to develop the right strategies to connect with the consumers, to build their trust & educate them of the brand values & propositions said Ajay Sundaram, Vice President, Milestone Outland.
 
Rural consumer communications is therefore a growth strategy for Milestone Brandcom. The agency has over 100 active brands in its roster; it is a natural extension of the company’s offerings from OOH, Events-Promotion, Retail Solutions and Rural Consumer Communications.