RC&M drives Mahindra & Mahindrain in Rural Bangladesh!

Bangladesh rural market offers a huge opportunity owing to its vast size and demand base that business entities cannot afford to ignore. It has evolved with the creation of a large consuming class of almost 40% of the country’s middle class with 50% of the total disposable income.

Unlike the general perception of almost all urban-centric enterprises, rural is no longer only about agriculture, it has much more potential. Experiences of brands like ACI, Bata, Square, Unilever and others prove that consumer and business products & services have healthy prospects in rural Bangladesh.

It is a consistently evolving market, which is reflected from the GDP of the country, and is set for a growth of 6% in 2013, as per IMF.

To effectively tap the rural market, a brand must associate itself with the essence of the rural community. Mahindra & Mahindra has played a significant role in boosting healthy agri practices in Bangladesh. Govt. of Bangladesh is also making efforts to support farmers in increasing agri output by making water for cultivation easily available, sharing of pump sets by the farmers, no taxes on the purchase of tractors and on the farmers’ income, etc.

RC&M carried out the first leg of the campaign ‘Mileage ka Master’  for Mahindra & Mahindra and aggressively penetrated the rural market of Bangladesh which resulted in 57 bookings of tractors. Since BTL is a new model here, the campaign laid stress on the ‘Touch’, ‘Feel’ & ‘Belief’ factors. Credibility was established for Mahindra Tractors by bringing the producers & end users together and establishing a dialogue for the first time. The campaign was designed with the perspective of showcasing the economic value that M&M tractors bring to the farmers. Due to dominant non-mechanization, farmers’ income is also relatively low; therefore they seek products which are cost-effective. Through a customized platform, M&M tractor’s engine & mileage is showcased against the competition tractors and this creates high impact on target as live demonstrations present the picture in black & white and M&M’s technology & superiority is well-conveyed to them.

M&M reached in about 65 villages of Bangladesh to over 5000 farmers & non-farmers, leading to numerous sales & bookings. This was a grand initiative and a left a strong imprint in the mindsets of Bangladesh target audience.

In the next phase of growth, RC&M plans to enter into Srilanka, which is also one of the markets showing well defined growth & evolution. | By Deepak Oberoi, RC&M