Indore : The sixth edition of the annual Rural Marketing Fest of Indian Institute of Management Indore, Utsaha 2014, was held at Janapav Kutti on the occasion of Kartik Purnima Mela. During the fest, the students from IIM Indore conducted primary market research from the villages around Janapav Kutti to capture rural consumer insights for the partner companies.
The concept used in Utsaha, termed as “Disguised Marketing Research”, is to capture the behavior of the rural consumer through various innovative methods to give unbiased results. Students from the IIM Indore designed all the activities to engage the consumer in answering questions that bring out a pattern to characterise the Indian ‘rural consumer’.
Utsaha 2014 has six project partners in Pidilite, HUL, ITC, Mondelez, Vodafone and PepsiCo. A separate stall for each of the project partners has been set up with distinct set of activities in a central location – each fulfilling the research needs of the respective project partners.
To attract the consumers, Utsaha 2014 team members came up with stalls designed with handmade posters as well as posters of famous Bollywood actors like Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif bringing in a rural touch to the stalls. Based on the demographics, the research methods used involved a good mix of methods like unstructured interviews, surveys as well as ‘Taste Tests’.
Fun filled events like turban tying competition, games and magic shows were used to attract crowds to the stalls. With footfalls of more than 60,000 people, almost 2500 responses were collected in two days which shows the kind of appeal Utsaha has garnered over the years. There were 150 students in the core team of Utsaha who made it a grand event.
The event was attended by various faculty members. One of the marketing professors remarked, “It’s an experience-based learning that provides an opportunity to learn in the fun way.” According to coordinator Harsh, “Utsaha is the best way to combine classroom learning with field work and create real social value. Consistent efforts by the team have made the event successful and we have captured quality insights for our projects”. For the students, the opportunity to learn by actual market experience was fully utilized and they came up with practical applications of ‘classroom theories’. Also Utsaha has provided a platform for the students of IIM Indore to indulge in corporate engagement with the project partners and develop a long term relationship based on it.
