‘A PR firm needs to understand nuances of a regional market to be successful’

The e4m 40 Under 40 PR and Corp Comm Summit, 2023, saw an intriguing panel discussion on the success of PR agencies when they expand their territorial reach in the regional market.

On the panel were Nikita Nanda, Vice-President, Adfactors PR; Karishma Sain, CEO, Goodword Media, and Naina Jha, Associate Director, Grey Matters, took part in the panel discussion. The panel was moderated by Rishu Singh, Senior Manager, Corporate Communication, Fortis. 

Nanda shared that Adfactors has the largest regional network that gives them the advantage of cracking a good story. About challenges in the regional market, she said, "It's extremely homogeneous in nature as far as infrastructure is concerned, it's less developed. As far as the talent pool is concerned, it is very difficult to find the right kind of talent which understands the nuances of the particular region, demography, emotion and the psychographic of a particular area. The market of Kanpur behaves differently from Ludhiana and cracking this is extremely essential."

According to Naina, "The success in the regional market for a PR firm depends totally on how you understand the nuances of a particular market. The strategies that you apply in Metros will certainly not work in regional markets and it's always being said that every 100km the language changes, the food habit changes, and the purchasing habit changes. So you really need to understand the nuances and need to engage the micro-influencers who understand the market and can work a  great deal for you". 

Karishma shared about one of her entities Royal fables, in which the art, craft and cuisines of the Royalties are promoted. They got one of the leading filmmakers from the region of Awadh, from the House of Kotwara, Muzaffar Ali Onboard and a local designer as well and then they promoted Royal Fables through them.

Nikita gave the example of Tata Tea. The mandate was to help the artisans, especially post the pandemic and to connect and resonate with the brand. As an agency, they picked out 26 hand-painted kullahds, which represents the culture of every state and they linked it with Independence Day to give it a whole tropical outreach. It was received extremely well. While it was a national campaign, it was Essentially down to the roots. They also tied up with Rituraj Mohanty who did a digital Film to talk about the story of the artisans from their perspective. It was launched in each state and reached to the local artisans and they connected with it. Very few marketing dollars were spent on this campaign. This was one brilliant strategies to stay afloat in the regional market.”

Naina quoted an example of the work they did with the electricity board of Bihar. For this, they created two mascots i.e 'Bijli Didi' and 'Voltage Bhaiya'. They propose 'Voltage Bhaiya' as a consumer who has a lot of issues with the electricity company and 'Bijli Didi' will be giving all the answers on the behalf of the electricity company.  

The panelists also discussed the importance of micro-influencers as they understand the local audience better. They have a huge local connect and social following, which is very important for the promotion in the regional market.