At the recent post-earnings call of Reliance Industries Ltd, the company’s president Kiran Thomas noted that the initial rollout of the conglomerate’s Jio Bharat phone in early July had been well received and that Reliance Jio Infocomm was collaborating with several OEMs to build up the entire ecosystem for the device and its pre-installed app store.
Priced at Rs 999, the 4G feature phone is aimed at the currently 250 million-odd 2G users, who are mostly from rural areas and or are economically disadvantaged. Following in the footsteps of the Jio Revolution which catapulted India’s digital adoption back in 2016, the Jio Bharat phone hopes to be a harbinger for the next cohort of hundreds of millions of internet adopters.
Rammohan Sundaram, President – Integrated Media, DDB Mudra Group, points out there is still a huge 250 million population that is using 2G. “After a successful migration to the Jio Bharat Phone, every brand except the luxury and auto (4-wheelers) segment will want a share of this new cohort. We see heavy FMCG advertising to start with because these users would have started to experience the apps on the phone leading to more usage of 4G. Naturally, all essentials, predominantly FMCG, will want to address this audience.”
Ankit Banga, CBO, FCB/SIX India is equally enthusiastic, noting, “With the rapid rise in internet users in this population, we anticipate adoption rates of 20%, 35%, and 50% in the first, second, and third years, respectively, surpassing the current growth rate in of 14% in this new segment.”
Sundaram said his team is expecting all the payment solutions and fintech companies to be among the first to join the ecosystem. “Gradually, we’ll witness casual gaming also adopting the same. One of the key factors is the developer community’s capability to build on the platform. I believe that more categories will eventually move towards this upcoming space, including travel and e-Commerce.
Mansi Shah, Brand Panning and New Business Director at Famous Innovations also sees a lot of FMCG brands making the first move to talk to this cohort in an effective way. “Brands like Emami, Dabur, ITC, Unilever etc. will have a larger base to talk to for products like soaps, hair oils, talcum powder, tea, milk powder, toothpaste etc. These brands were already talking to this audience but through more traditional mediums. But they will now have the opportunity to connect with them in a much more engaging and meaningful way.”
“Additionally, entertainment will be another category, given that a large part of this ecosystem still seeks entertainment. Once you have a captive audience, every brand will want to reach them through advertising solutions from JioAds, eventually empowering this platform,” says Sundaram.
Banga agrees that the new space presents a promising opportunity for numerous brands and categories, particularly in the FMCG, BFSI, Automobile, and e-Commerce sectors.
“Among these, we expect Core Banking, Credit-Based Products, and Payments to be the pioneering segments in the Banking industry. In the Automobile sector, two-wheeler brands offering low-cost electric scooters are likely to take the lead,” he says, adding, “Established e-Commerce marketplaces like Amazon, SnapDeal, and Flipkart are poised to capitalize on their infrastructure for last-mile penetration.”
Shah observes, however, that the newer aspirational brands will have the challenge of tighter media spends, and wherever they are spending needs to earn them the bang for their buck. “With Jio Bhrarat phone, these advertisers will be able to do micro-targeting for this audience too and ensure more efficiencies. They can appeal to this cohort by pushing contextual messaging and engaging with them rather than pushing one-sided communication,” she says.
Keerthi R Kumar, Business Head- South, FoxyMoron, Zoo Media, adds that given its success in the Indian telecom market, Jio could leverage its existing infrastructure and brand reputation to launch the Jio Bharat phone, targeting the 2G to 4G transition market.
“To create appeal and resonate with the aspirations of the incoming consumer cohorts in the context of the Jio Bharat phone launch, brands can focus on affordable pricing, localized marketing, authentic brand storytelling, collaborations with social media influencers, offering value-added services, and ensuring user-friendly interfaces,” he says, noting that these strategies can help connect with the target audience and establish a strong brand presence.
