Understanding the "Three Indias": Marketing to India's low ARPU mobile market

This article covers how marketers can target India's poorest mobile phone users - the low average revenue per user (ARPU) demographic, multi-language programming and the impact of India's demonetization initiative on mobile marketing strategies.

Understanding The "Three Indias": Marketing to India's Low ARPU Mobile Market

Anil Thakraney

A few months ago, while on a cross country drive in India, I met a daily wage farm worker at a village tea shop. I got talking to Ramchandra, and was intrigued to notice a mobile handset in his possession. He said he couldn't do without one: all his 'freelance' work with various farmers happens through the phone.

"If I am not immediately accessible, I lose the already low paying assignment, as simple as that," he explained.

How much does he earn in a month?

"About Rs...

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands