Brand Awareness among

Rural & Urban consumers

By

Dr. Vijay Wagh Mr. Pramod Patil

Director Assistant Professor
LS Raheja Institute of School of Management
Management, Bandra (w) Swami Ramanand Teerth
Mumbai Marathwada University
9324070020 Nanded, Sub-centre Latur
patpramod1@gmail.com
Mobile: 9324457747

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“Brand Awareness among Rural & Urban consumers

Abstract
India is one of the fastest growing markets of the world. In recent years consumer of
India is at stage where there is multiplicative effect in income growth, aspirations and
changed consumption pattern. This potential lies not only in the urban India but also in
the rural India. Large consumer base (70% of countries population), low penetration rate,
increasing purchasing power, literacy rate, changing lifestyle and improving
infrastructure has made rural market more attractive. Rural consumers have started using
branded products due to increasing awareness and availability of products. Brand
awareness is one of the important determinants of brand equity. Therefore it is very
important to study brand awareness among rural and urban consumers. This study was
conducted for selected FMCG brands in latur taluka. Brands are selected on the basis of
the availability and usage. It is found that brand awareness among rural and urban
consumers is significantly different and it is more among urban consumers. Brand
awareness is calculated on the basis of brand recall and recognition.

Key words: Brand awareness, FMCG, Rural marketing

Introduction

“A product is something that is made in factory; a brand is something that is bought by a

customer. A product can be copied by competitor; a brand is unique. A product can be
quickly outdated; a successful brand is timeless” Stephen King, WPP Group London
The most important part of any business are intangible: the company name, brand,
symbol and slogans and underlying associations, perceived quality, name awareness,
customer base and proprietary resources, patents, trademarks and channel relations.
Brand managers need to understand how customers perceive and select brands in specific
product categories and market segments. You also need to know what is important to
customers when making a brand decision, where customers get information about
products and services, and what customers think about your brand.
The Indian FMCG sector is the fourth largest sector in the economy. A well- established
distribution network, intense competition between the organized and unorganized
segments characterize the sector. Nielsen estimates that the country’s rural FMCG retail
landscape will grow from $12 billion in to $100 billion by 2025. Hair care, household
care, male grooming, female hygiene, and the chocolates and confectionery categories are
estimated to be the fastest growing segments, says an HSBC report.
Therefore buying behavior of rural consumer acquired significant attention of corporate
as they started consuming everything from shampoo to motorcycle irrespective of any
demographic variable (Bishnoi,VK& Bharti ). The size of rural market is bigger than the
urban market for both FMCG and durables and it is growing faster durables (25% versus
10% urban growth in 2009), FMCGs ( 18% versus 12% urban growth in 2009)-
Kashyap .The recent thrust of marketers is triggered by saturated urban market and huge
potential rural market. The rural India has been witnessing sea change in all sphere of

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life, be it enhance standard of living or adoption of new life style. With the presence of
12.2% of the world population in the villages of India, the Indian rural FMCG market is
something no one can overlook.

The concept of rural market in India is still evolving and posses numerous challenges like
understanding rural consumer, reaching and providing services to remote locations,
communicating with heterogeneous audience ( Kashyap 2003) . The unique consumption
pattern, tastes, different rural geographic and vast sub cultural differences display
numerous heterogeneity, calling for better understanding and pinpointed strategies. Now
days both rural as well as urban consumers are consuming branded products. The study
aims at finding consumer’s awareness towards branded products.

Figure 1 Brand Equity steps

Loyal customers are assets for the organization; they represent a cushion of potential
sales that, if retained, are almost like having a healthy bank balance to draw upon.
“In rural India, consumers are not brand – loyal, but their purchase can be termed as
brand sickness” so, more brand awareness and presence in markets will influence the
purchasers - Nikhil Sharma, Senior Consultant, MART.
Therefore Brand awareness is first and very important step for Brand loyalty particularly
in FMCG sector. Hence it is essential to study Brand awareness among Rural and Urban
consumers.

Literature review
According to Keller (2003, p. 73), brand awareness is related to the strength of brand
node or trace in memory, which we can measure as the consumer’s ability to identify
brand under different conditions.
Brand equity refers to the value and strength of a brand, which is driven by the
differential effect of customer brand knowledge. Based on Aaker (1991), brand equity is
composed of a set of assets, namely brand loyalty, name awareness, quality, brand
association, and other proprietary assets such as patents and trademarks, which are linked
to a brand’s name or symbol. According to Keller (2003), products are endowed with the

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“power of brand equity” by successful branding, which is defined as the marketing
effects that are uniquely attributable to a specific brand. In brief, in order to create brand
equity consumers have to posses high levels of awareness and familiarity with the
particular brand, as well as hold some strong, favorable and unique associations. The
term brand awareness consists of brand recognition and brand recall performance, which
represent different circumstances in which the brand is identified. Brand recognition
refers to the ability to recognize the brand as previously seen, heard or experienced, when
confronted with it. This condition relates for instance to a buying scenario in a store,
where brands are openly displayed. Brand recall, on the other hand, is generally more
difficult to achieve, since it implies the ability to identify the brand without direct
exposure to it. The importance of brand recognition versus recall depends heavily on the
extent of product-related decisions occurring with the brand being present or not.
According to Rajan Saxena ( Marketing Management, Tata Mcgrawhill) , Brand
awareness is the ability of potential buyer to recognize or recall that a brand is part of
product category. In other words the customer should be able to identify firms product in
the retail stores or be able to recall its brand whenever he or she thinks of the product
class. Brand awareness has to be thought of as “ a continuous range from an uncertain
feeling that a brand is recognized to a belief that is only one in the product class” At top
level is “ top of the customer’s mind” this is most desired level from company’s point of
view. Here customer remember product without any assistance. Next level is Brand
Recall, the customer is asked to recall as many as brand as he or she. On average
customer is able to recall ten names. Brand recognition is third level, and perhaps, lowest
level. Here customers are aided in recalling brand with product class.
Awareness is created by increasing familiarity with the brand, which is attained by
repeated exposure to the customer. The more you see, hear or experience a brand, the
more likely it will be manifested within your memory. As simple as it sounds, there are
various forms of pursuing brand awareness, namely advertising and promotion,
sponsorship and event marketing, publicity and public relations, and outdoor advertising.
All these methods, however, do primarily influence brand recognition, since they mainly
focus on familiarizing consumers with the brand in the first place.Dr. Patro S,
Dr.Varsheny suggested that there is association between brand recall. Brand liking, brand
quality perception and brand usage

According to YLR Moorthi (2003, p.73) Brand knowledge can be expressed as a sum of
brand awareness and brand image. Each of the parameters (i.e. brand recall/strength of
brand associations/attitudes/user image) can be measured on 1 to 10 scale.

In this study brand recall is given highest point as 10 and brand recognition as 6 where as
unawareness as 2 points

Objective
 To study brand awareness among urban consumer
 To study brand awareness among rural consumer
 To compare rural and urban consumer brand awareness
 To study relation between demographic variables and brand awareness

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Hypothesis

 H0 There is no significant difference between Rural and Urban consumers’ brand

awareness
 H1 There is significant difference between rural and urban consumers’ brand
awareness

Research Methodology
This study of brand awareness among rural and urban consumer is with respect to
selected Fast moving consumer goods( FMCG).The study is conducted in latur taluka.
Sixteen FMCG brands are selected for the study. Both exploratory and descriptive
research design was used.
Sampling Method: Multistage sampling
Sampling Unit: Consumers from rural and urban part of latur taluka
Sample size: 200 (Urban 100 and Rural 100)
Research approach: Survey
Research Instrument: Questionnaire

Findings and Discussion

SN Product Category Brand Average Brand awareness
Rural Urban
1 Toilet Soap Lux 4.8 6.62
Santoor 8.14 6.16
2 Detergent Soap Wheel 9.12 6.44
Rin 3.76 7.78
3 Detergent Powder Nirma 8.04 6.76
Wheel 5.38 6.28
4 Hair Oil Parachute 8.06 8.68
Navratna 4.36 5.4
5 Fairness cream Fair &lovely 7.76 7.6
Fair& 4.46 4.36
Handsome
6 Tooth paste Colgate 8.12 8.84
Close up 4.24 5.04
7 Biscuit Parle 8.56 8.08
Good day 5.6 6.84
8 Tea Powder Broke bond 3.16 7
Tata 6.44 4.94
Average Brand awareness 6.25 6.67625
Table 1 Average Brand awareness among Rural and Urban consumers for selected
FMCG brands
(Source: Primary Data)
Rural consumer awareness is more for Santoor soap where as Urban consumer awareness
is more for Lux soap.

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Awareness for wheel flake is more among rural consumers where as awareness for Rin is
more in urban consumers.
Brand awareness for Nirma is more among Rural consumers.
Brand awareness for Parachute is more among both Rural& urban consumers.
Awareness for Fair& lovely is more among both Rural & urban consumers.
Awareness for Colgate is more among both Rural & urban consumers.
Brand awareness for Parle- G is more among urban & rural consumers
Brand awareness in rural area is more for Tata tea where as in urban it is more for Broke
bond

Table 2 Brand Awareness among Rural & Urban consumers

Rural Urban t df Sig.
(2- tailed)
Average 6.2502 6.6765 -3.738 187.333 0.000
brand
awareness
Since significance value of 2 tailed test (equal variances not assumed) is 0.000 less than
5% i.e. 0.05 we reject Null hypothesis i.e. There is significant difference between Rural
and Urban consumer brand awareness.

Table 3 Age & Brand awareness

Age Brand awareness category Total
Low brand Moderate brand High brand (100%)
awareness awareness awareness
Less than 18 0 (0%) 7 (63%) 4 (36%) 11
18 to 34 2 (17.4%) 80 (69.56%) 33 (28.69%) 115
35 to 49 0 (0%) 51 (86.44%) 8 (13.56%) 59
50 and above 0 (0%) 15 (100%) 0 (0%) 15

(Source: Primary Data)

It is found that High brand awareness is particularly in age group less than 18 & 18 to 34.
At 5 % significance level and 6 degrees of freedom p- value is 0.049 which is less than
0.05 therefore we reject Null hypothesis i.e. there is relation between age and Brand
awareness.

Table 4 Gender & Brand awareness

Gender Brand awareness category Total
Low brand Moderate brand High brand (100%)
awareness awareness awareness
Male 2(1.58%) 101(80.15%) 23 (18.25%) 126
Female 0 (0%) 52 (70.27%) 22(29.73%) 74

(Source: Primary Data)

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At 5 % significance level and 2 degrees of freedom p- value is 0.105 which is more than
0.05 therefore we can not reject Null hypothesis i.e. there is no significant relation
between gender and Brand awareness.
Table 5 Occupation & Brand awareness
Occupation Brand awareness category Total
Low brand Moderate brand High brand (100%)
awareness awareness awareness
Service 2(2.81%) 55 (77.46%) 14 (19.72%) 71
Business 0 (0%) 16 (94.11%) 1 (5.88%) 17
Farming 0 (0%) 31 (83.78%) 6 (16.21%) 37
Professional 0 (0%) 7 (87.5%) 1 (12.5 %) 8
Students 0 (0%) 29 (64.45%) 16 (35.55%) 45
Other 0 (0%) 15 (68.18%) 7 (31.82 %) 22
(Source: Primary Data)
At 5 % significance level and 10 degrees of freedom p- value is 0.204 which is more than
0.05 therefore we can not reject Null hypothesis i.e. there is no significant relation
between occupation and Brand awareness.

Table 6 Education & Brand awareness

Occupation Brand awareness category Total
Low brand Moderate brand High brand (100%)
awareness awareness awareness
Illiterate 0 (0%) 8 (88.89%) 1 (11.11%) 9
Primary 0 (0%) 18 (78.26%) 5 (21.74%) 23
Secondary 0 (0%) 16 (94.11%) 1 (5.89%) 17
Higher 0 (0%) 34 (70.83%) 14 (29.17%) 48
secondary
Graduate 2 (3.63%) 38 (69.09 %) 15 (27.27%) 55
Post graduate 0 (0%) 32 (80%) 8 (20%) 40
Doctorate 0 (0%) 7 (87.5%) 1 (12.5%) 8
(Source: Primary Data)
High brand awareness is found among graduate, post graduate and highly qualified
consumers. At 5 % significance level and 12 degrees of freedom p- value is 0.485 which
is more than 0.05 therefore we can not reject Null hypothesis i.e. there is no significant
relation between education and Brand awareness.

Conclusion
The study is for brand awareness among rural and urban consumers for selected FMCG
brands. Brand awareness is not same for all selected FMCG brands; also overall average
brand awareness is significantly different among rural and urban consumers. It is found
that age affects brand awareness ( high below 34 years) , this can be because exposure is
more for this group. Occupation has no effect on brand awareness also education and
brand awareness is not related this can be because instead of letters color was used as hint
for brand recognition. Also brands selected were FMCG brands and were available at

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most of places. Brand recognition is high when color is used as an aid compared to other
hints.

References
 Keller, KL 2008, Strategic Brand Management,3rd edition, Prentice Hall, New
Jersey
 Aaker , D.A. (1991), Managing Brand Equity: Capitalizing on the Value of a
Brand Name, The Free Press, New York.
 Moorthi ,YLR 2003, Brand Management, 2nd edition, Vikas Publishing House
Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi.
 Saxena, R.. Marketing Management, 3rd edition, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing
Company Ltd, New Delhi
 Kashyap P 2012, Rural Marketing, 2nd edition, Pearson Education,
Gaur AS& Gaur SS 2006, Statistical Methods for practice and research, Sage
publications India Pvt ltd, New Delhi.
 Patro,S & Varshney, S 2008,Brand awareness and preference in rural market,
Marketing to Rural consumers- Understanding and tapping the rural market
potential ,IIMK,3,4,5 April.
 Bishnoi,VK& Bharti 2008, Awareness and Consumption pattern of rural
consumers towards Home and Personal Care products, Marketing to Rural
consumers- Understanding and tapping the rural market potential ,IIMK,3,4,5
April.
 Lilly, J 2010, Consumer perception and preference towards branded products
( with special reference to television sets), Indian Journal of Marketing, Volume
40, no.2,February.