Mindshare and OgilvyAction partner to target rural consumers

Under the partnership, Mindshare will be responsible for strategy and OgilvyAction will work on activation. Activation and planning solutions are already being provided for select cities. The services are expected to be available in the next six months across all ASEAN markets.

There are currently one billion consumers that belong to this segment, accounting for 15 per cent of the world's population. "To a large extent these are the emerging class consumers of the world, and this region will contribute to nearly 50 per cent of consumers," said Gowthaman Ragothaman, chief client officer, APAC & CEO, South Asia & Sea.

This service is open for all Mindshare clients with immediate effect. The two agencies have already begun work with Unilever and there are projects in the pipeline for Pepsico and GSK. "The fundamental reality is that this must be part of the core account and market planning service for any media agency, if they have a real play in Asia," Ragothaman adds. 

The agencies have mapped out a six-step communications plan. The first four steps cover groundwork and research using Mindshare proprietary tools, which include task maps, ethnographic studies, brand health parameters and 3D Rural, a quantitative study that covers brand relationships, consumer demographics and media consumption.

The last two steps include activation and campaign tracking. Mindshare has developed Rural GRPs, a system that captures rural TV viewership, similar to tracking metres used in urban areas. The media agency will also utilise mAllocator, a tool that allocates budgets based on campaign performance indicators. Brand awareness tool Mindware will be used to monitor campaigns.

Ashutosh Srivastava, chairman, APAC and CEO of emerging markets for Mindshare, said clients are looking for insights into low-income consumers. “This is an extension of our partnership with Ogilvy into one of the most promising growth engines and will deliver breakthrough media innovation and activation.”

At present in India, Mindshare and OgilvyAction have a partnership with Dialogue Factory, the experiential marketing arm of GroupM, to provide communications solutions targeted at rural and low-income consumers. This includes strategy, ideas and activation through customised communication programmes.

“We know low-tier consumers are an increasingly important segment for our clients and we are thrilled to partner with Mindshare on this endeavour,” said John Goodman, president of OgilvyAction APAC.