“If you can get 50 to 100 people talking about your product in a village of 1,000, you’re likely to succeed,” says RK Sinha, COO of Godrej Consumer Products, on the rural marketing website. The company supplies to 26 lakh rural retail outlets. Where research data fails, hypothesis is his guiding light. Citing the launch of Good Knight Fast Card in rural Uttar Pradesh, he says the hypothesis was the need for an affordable solution against malaria and dengue. The product was noticed at rural outlets and households picked it up. ‘Word of mouth’ helped too.