Rural marketing is known to create opportunities for innovation in product promotion and branding, this may be the result of the hardships faced by rural marketing agencies in implementing campaigns with such scarce availability of resources. Nevertheless, difficult circumstances often yield developments that change the direction of winds to pave a path for success. As Jamie Notter has wisely put into words,
“Innovation is the change that unlocks new value.”
Is innovation time bound?
The most alluring thing about change is that it is constant, which means that what seems like a creative solution right now, may need refinement few years down the line. This is best explained through the age-old Van campaigns used to promote products, majorly in small towns and rural areas. Simplistically speaking, the use of a van by a marketing agency in order to undertake promotional activities and enhance branding efforts is referred to as van campaigns.
The concept was born years ago as a solution to the problem of a decent movable stage to promote the product in the rural areas as well as small towns. This introduction might have been speculated at its inception but the concept has seen much success since then, however, as time has changed its viability has transformed too.
Is it time for something new?
One of the many reasons for the triumph of the van campaign as an effective tool of brand communication in rural areas and small towns was the fact that it swept the audience with something new, something they were not expecting, an element it seems to have lost now. In order to replace it with a suitable alternative, bike campaigns are being launched by rural marketing agencies. It is the usage of one or a group of bikes that roam around the villages and small towns making appropriate stops. This is done in order to interact with the public with the aim of dispensing information about the product or the brand.
However, bikes are under tremendous pressure to deliver value to the rural marketing agency in order to replace the age-old van campaigns. There are several benefits that it provides over its ancestral counterpart, such as:-
Cost Efficient
It is no surprise to anyone that running a bike campaign is cheaper compared to running a van campaign. The fuel charges, rental as well as maintenance totals up to a sum lower than what would have been required if a van campaign was being run.
Better Reach
India has reported a substantial amount of development in rural areas, especially in the construction of roads. There are still areas that face the problem of establishing a comfortable connection in and out of the villages. In such cases, a bike campaign can foster more reach than a van campaign due to easy accessibility.
Attracting attention
The creative manner of advertising is sure to get the attention of more people as compared to ways they have already seen and appreciated. Curiosity is the mother of all reasons and the same can be used by rural marketing agencies to attract more people during their attractions or presentations.
Therefore, bike campaign should be selected over age-old van campaign as a more cost-effective solution for rural marketing campaigns.
