Ogilvy partners with Kotex, Omnigel, Limca & Fevicol at Rural Olympics

The 83rd edition of Kila Raipur Rural Olympics commenced on Friday, February 3, 2023, and with it rolls out a host of activity by Ogilvy India for some of Ogilvy’s client brands such as Omnigel, Limca Sportz, Fevicol and Kotex.   

With more reach and growth being the single-minded agenda for all marketers, a recent study conducted by the NCAER, rural India, highlights the opportunity of targeting 720 million consumers across 627,000 villages.  

With approximately 69% of the population still residing in rural areas, this is the next big phase for growth that marketers are seeking – penetration and building affinity with rural consumers. And companies looking to target these markets need to develop appropriate products, sales, business models & most importantly marketing efforts suited to these markets.  

Keeping this opportunity and need in mind, Ogilvy India rolled out rural focussed work rooted in culture. One such example has been the work done by Ogilvy India at the Kila Raipur Rural Olympics 2023 in Punjab, India - possibly the biggest Rural Sports Festival of this scale in the world. Initiated in 1933, this sporting event is annually held in the winters around early February. The event takes place at the Grewal Sports Stadium in Kila Raipur village. Competitors and participants range from teenagers to elders and it attracts the attention of huge crowds of tourists and sports lovers worldwide.  

“Ogilvy’s branded content and activation wing set up a small core unit at Kila Raipur in September 2022 to work with the local team and identify areas where brands could play a role.  

Back in our offices across India, they took stock of brands that had purpose and rural consumers in their DNA and reached out to clients like Pidilite, Coca Cola, Cipla, and others; with ideas in direct response to the direction received from the Rural Olympics management.”