RMAI rewards the best rural marketing practices

The sixth edition of Flame Awards was held in New Delhi on March 20. A total of 25 Gold awards were given at the event.

The Rural Marketing Association of India (RMAI) recently announced the winners of the 6th Flame Awards, which were presented on March 20, at a ceremony in Delhi.

Members from corporate and leading rural marketing agencies attended the event.

The Gold winners at the awards ceremony were Accenture (Masters of Rural Market), Dabur (Project Disha (Rural)), GroupM Dialogue Factory (Adding Light to Life), Event Crafter (Nerolac Ke Heavyweight), Finish Society (Let's Make it Right), HLL Lifecare (HLL's Condom Promotion Activity during IPL Cricket match in Mohali and HLL's Menstrual Hygiene Programs), Hansa Events (Fevikwik ka Jaadu), ICAR (Translating Research into Prosperity), ITC (Choupal Haat), JWT (Suryoday-Badh Gaya Din), MART (Dus Ka Dum), Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services (Bharat Ko Pehchante Hain Hum and Use of Hand-Held Devices), PHD Media (Kan Khajura Tesan), PS Live Rural (Jaagte Mat Raho), Reliance Broadcast Network (Big Disha), Usha International (Project Sampark), Ultratech Cement (Project Sunderban), Viscomm (JCB Sunehra Kal), Vritti Solutions (Goodknight Fast Card) and Impact Communications (Horlicks Swasthya Abhiyan and Mortein Loui Dahan).

A total of 25 Gold awards were given at the event.

In the welcome address, Sanjay Kaul, president, RMAI, said, "Rural India is the next growth destination and for marketers the paradigm is fast shifting from 'Why Rural to How Rural'."

On this occasion, he also announced RMAI's next big initiative 'Rural Conclave - Navigating Future' to be held on May 8 and 9, 2015, in New Delhi.

The jury comprised S Sivakumar, chief executive, ITC (ABD); Govindraj Ethiraj, founder, Ping Digital Broadcast and ex-founder, editor-in-chief, Bloomberg TV India; Harish Bijoor, brand - strategy specialist & CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc; Punit Chadha, GM - rural marketing, Maruti Suzuki India; Mithileshwar Jha Prof. Marketing, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore; Salil Dalal, head, Pidilite's Rurban Division; Vijay Sharma, general manager, GSK Consumer Healthcare; Rajan Aggarwal, commercial director, Same Deutz-Fahr, India; and Suban Walia, brand manager, Dettol, Reckitt Benckiser.

RMAI, for the first time, instituted Flame Leadership Awards, to recognise and felicitate industry professionals for their extraordinary contribution to the rural marketing industry.

The awards were presented to Sanjay Panigrahi, CEO, Sahaj E-Village; Dinesh Chhabra, CEO, Usha International; KK Chutani, executive director (Marketing) Dabur India; Sanjeev Shukla, head, national marketing, Hero Motocorp; Pradeep Lokhande, founder, Rural Relations; Rajesh Monga, MD, Tru Knox Technologies; Anil Bajaj, vice president, marketing, Eveready Industries India; Vijay Sharma, general manager, GSK Consumer Healthcare; and SN Burman, vice president, Maruti Suzuki India.

These awards were presented by Pradeep Kashyap, past president, RMAI and other members.

The event was sponsored by Maruti Suzuki India, HLL Life Care and JCB India. The award ceremony was followed by cocktails and dinner.

RMAI Flame Awards recognises and rewards successful case studies in rural marketing every year.