It’s not metro and it’s not country… and it’s not to be ignored.

That’s the message from India’s Dainik Bhaskar, which has launched a campaign to help advertisers and marketers reach what it is calling the ‘Unmetro’ audience.

Brand and marketing vice president Sanjeev Kotnala says the idea it to explain the potential of India’s second and third-tier cities. Forty-five of these have a population of more than a million and another 480 cities have population of 100,000 or more.

Kotnala says focussing primarily on customers in major metro areas may be costing marketers critical sales, and Dainik Bhaskar Group has brought critical information about the rapidly changing segment in its Unmetro campaign.

“Unmetro may be loosely defined as non-metro urban India – urban India outside of the top metro areas,” he says. The 80 per cent of all urban dwellers account for more than 70 of urban consumption, making it an economic terrain that is fast reaching critical mass.

“It’s here that the India’s 21st growth story is being written,” he says. DB hosted three afternoon briefings for core advertisers, marketers, and media agency professionals in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangaluru with brand owners as well as

data analytics supporting the argument.

“At the conferences, marketers demonstrated that some of the previous notions they’ve had about the Unmetro are changing at a fast pace,” he says. One fallacy dispelled was that consumers were primarily tolerant of lower-quality goods and driven chiefly by value. However “old fashioned” concepts like customer service, store atmosphere and quality presentation are critical.

Kotnala says changes in technology and infrastructure are helping create new means to reach consumers: “Marketers are learning the importance of making sure that their products available online are also available in Unmetro stores, especially in smaller cities, because technology is increasing the demand for products.”

Speakers pointed to cultural identities of northern and southern regions of Unmetro India almost which behave “like two different countries”… subtleties to which marketers are becoming more responsive.

Dainik Bhaskar plans more conclaves this and next year, as well as new initiatives.