Mumbai: The 83 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 & 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.  

The organising team was looking for meaningful partnerships with brands that could work with their teams to enrich as well as create a delightful experience of the games. Ogilvy’s branded content & 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.    

Currently, there are four distinct activities happening on ground.   

1. Kotex #PeriodofChange Relay Race: Kotex India, a brand that stands for change, has organised a first-of-its-kind Relay Race at Kila Raipur Sports Festival. In the race, 4 teams of young girls will pass an open pad instead of the usual baton, creating India’s most disruptive period conversation yet.  

2. Omnigel Rahat Dal: Omnigel’s on ground presence and various pain relief and management facilities such as Physiotherapy booths, massage chairs, stretching segments, nurses, paramedics, first aid kits, ambulance, amongst other provisions, is helping athletes realise their full potential while avoiding any unnecessary injuries.  

3. Limca Sportz #RukkMatt Menu: To sample Limca Sportz, a sports hydration drink with lemon, glucose and electrolytes, a unique menu is curated wherein currency is replaced with physical activities like squats, lunges, burpees, push ups etc to get the free drink.    

4. Fevicol Chipku Chair:  Keeping in line with Fevicol’s quirky tonality, the brand makes a new mark here. Among the many other interesting sports at the event, a very unique game ensues outside the field of play, in the stadium's spectator stands. The battle for a seat among the many spectators gathered. Fevicol takes a crack at this unique problem by deploying several human OOH within the spectators to lend a quirky solution to this problem. How? With Fevicol's very own brand promise Ek Mazboot Jod.

It is not just the idea but also the unique execution of each idea that makes an impact when conveying the brand message for each of these brands.