RMAI agencies collaborate to develop SAP, two task forces formed

Rural Marketing Association of India (RMAI) hosted a one day roundtable meet in Mumbai on October 10 2015, attended by the leading agencies. Past decade having seen a huge surge in the rural Makreting spends by companies, has also translated into an enormous on-ground scale of operations for agencies. The agenda was to re-visit the opportunites & challenges which this new market dynamics has bought along. Delebrating on these lines, the fore-most need felt was to create standardisation and skill development of the resources.

Sanjay Kaul, President RMAI annouced formation of two task forces to prioritize this agenda.

SAP (Standard Accepted Procedures) task force will prepare a concrete framework for legal & ethical compliance standards as well as HSE processes that can be followed by member agencies. Mr Rahul Saigal, President; Geometry Global would lead this task force.

Saigal said that “The Rural marketing industry is not as small and unorganized as it used to be few years ago. There is a need for agencies to comply with certain practices that serve the interests of clients, vendors and employees. In order to institutionalize these practices, RMAI will develop and run an accreditation program and invite agencies to voluntarily participate in this certification process so that we can follow better practices across the industry.”

Commenting on this development,  Mr George Angelo, Executive Director Dabur & Secretary RMAI stated that “The definition of deemed employment makes it imperative for companies to ensure statutory compliances wherever resources are deployed on ground through service providers.There are still areas which makes it difficult for companies to validate adherence to compliance. This initative of RMAI is the first step in that direction.”

Another taskforce would persue the skill development and government engagement agenda, this taskforce will be led Mr Sanjay Panigrahi , VP ( EAST) , RMAI.

Commenting on the mandate he said “There is a need to engage with the Govt. towards framing right policies , making rural engagement attractive & beneficial for all stakeholders. Resource development is another area where RMAI will like to work closely with the Govt.”

RMAI is a leading industry body representing corportes & agencies in the rural marketing space. Some of the agency members are Anugrah Madison Advertising Pvt Ltd, DDB Mudra, Event Crafter, Geometry Global, Group M Dialogue Factory, Impact Communications, Insight Outreach Pvt Ltd, J Walter Thompson, MART, RC&M Grey, Rural Relations, R W Promotions, SOI Live, Vision Force, Viscomm 360, Vritti Solutions Ltd.