Guest Lecture By Mr. Samir Gupte

The junior batch of SIMSREE was privileged to have a guest lecture with Mr. Samir Gupte, President and Country Head at O&M on the 11^th of February. Mr. Gupte took a lecture on Rural Marketing, with a focus on the strategies used by HUL. It was a very informative session as Mr. Gupte started out by explaining what the rural market is like, what the difficulties in communication are etc.

Many innovative ideas were discussed, like the portable TVs and DVD players used to play advertisements to the villagers as part of the Khushiyon ki Doli campaign, the Vodafone search towers used at the local fairs, etc.

Since most of rural India is not exposed to modern technology, there is need for innovative ideas to get the message across. Lifebuoy in particular had one innovative campaign where local gurudwaras were involved. This had to be done subtly so as to not hurt the religious sentiments of people.

Thus it was a highly illuminating session, which contributed to awakening the interest of the entire batch in Rural Marketing. We look forward to having more such sessions with Mr. Gupte.