There’s been proof in the past year of the value of looking beyond the most affluent Chinese cities for growth. As the country’s economic slowdown has hit consumption in first and second-tier cities, those brands with the vision to roll out in third and fourth-tier cities have been rewarded. The rise of rural In the Year of the Rooster, we’ll see an extension of this trend. The smart money will not just be backing lower-tier cities but also rural consumers, who have been largely overlooked for years. Very few brands have considered these generally lower-income consumers worth the investment it would take to overcome the headache of distribution. But rural consumers are not just a buffer against slowing growth in the top-tier cities – they’re also the big spending citydwellers of the future. As people move up the income ladder, they’ll migrate to cities and be in the market for a whole new range of goods and services. Now’s the chance to capture their attention and loyalty – and set yourself up to win longer-term battles in key cities.