Godrej Consumer Products’ Goodknight has unveiled a new TVC to commemorate Children’s Day. Conceptualised by Wunderman Thompson, the film embraces our young ones for their aptitude, advance thinking and courageous nature.
Sharing his thoughts on the new film, Sunil Kataria, CEO – India & SAARC, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL), said: “The TVC campaign highlights that today’s children are the protectors of tomorrow. They are courageous, smart and technology adopters. We are also drawing a parallel with Goodknight Gold Flash as it resembles these qualities. Goodknight Gold Flash is India’s most powerful liquid vapouriser, offering an advanced level of protection. The product comes with normal and flash mode, backed by a unique chip-based technology which switches between these modes automatically. The flash vapours and an improved machine ensure the elimination of mosquitoes from all hidden corners.”
Added Steve Priya, VPs & Executive Creative Directors, Wunderman Thompson: “A fearless new generation is our vision for the future. In the now, children are displaying an amazing maturity, awareness and depth. What’s surprising is that they don’t see themselves as someone to be protected. In many instances, they watch out for and take care of their parents, elders or siblings. It’s this protective instinct and spirit that we’re celebrating this Children’s Day that also happens to be on the same day as Diwali.
Godrej Expert Rich Crème from Godrej Consumer Products Limited, has unveiled a fashion range with three shades – Molten Gold, Copper Brown and Cherry Red for the West Bengal market. To promote the new range in ongoing festive season in Bengal, the brand has unveiled a new campaign with a new TVC. With the start of the festive season with Durga Puja going upto Diwali, the brand decided to launch Godrej Expert Rich Crème Fashion range exclusively in West Bengal.
Conceptualised by Creativeland Asia, the film opens with actress Nusrat Jahan and a friend prepping for a party.
Speaking about the brand campaign, Sunil Kataria, CEO – India and SAARC, Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL), said: “West Bengal is an important market for Godrej Expert Rich Crème. Festivities have commenced with occasions like Durga Puja. Thus, to delight our consumers during the festive season, we have launched our new Fashion Range exclusively in the state. The new TVC communicates how Godrej Expert Rich Crème Fashion shades provide easy solutions for a fashionable festive hair makeover. The three new shades are experimental, trendy and a much-needed change from the usual palette of blacks and browns. With the launch of new Fashion range, we are making the brand more contemporary and relevant with today’s lifestyle while infusing a youthful appeal.” a complete makeover at home with high quality and nourishing crème hair colour.
Goodknight, the mosquito repellent brand, took on an initiative to protect frontline heroes in the battle against Covid-19. Conceptualised by Digitas India, ‘Rakshak Ki Rakhi’ was a special rakhi made by kids with Goodknight Patches that offered active protection from mosquitoes.
Commenting about the initiative, Mark Mcdonald, Executive Vice President and Head of Creative, Digitas India said: “Our frontline heroes have been out there protecting us day in and day out. When we realized the added risks the monsoon poses to them, in the form of mosquito-borne diseases, we wanted to do our part to protect them. That was the genesis of the idea and the Rakhi – one of the most powerful symbols of protection – was the perfect way to do it. It’s a lovely initiative that’s true to brand GoodKnight’s ethos, and uses the product in a unique way. Needless to say, it’s extremely gratifying to play a small part in protecting the heroes who’re out there protecting us.”
Speaking about the initiative, Sunil Kataria, CEO – India and SAARC, Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL), said: “We salute the unwavering spirit of the front-line workers to serve the country during these testing times. As these warriors ensure people are protected and cared for, we thought of doing our bit by protecting them from mosquitoes. We did this on Raksha Bandhan, an annual ceremony symbolising the bond of protection, and effectively used Goodknight mosquito repellent patches. We reached out to doctors, policemen, and healthcare workers with a one-of-a-kind ‘Rakshak Ki Rakhi’ featuring Goodknight patches along with a special message extending our appreciation and gratitude.”
Cinthol, in its endeavour to remain relevant to youth by offering them innovative products, is all set to launch the CintholDeoStick – a revolutionary product in the space of deodorants. CintholDeoStick is a cream based deo which is easy to use, has great fragrances that lasts 3X longer than ordinary deosprays and is pocket friendly too. The DeoStick is available in six different fragrances, three for men and three for women respectively. The brand’s philosophy of continuous reinvention, with this launch, is expecting to redefine the codes of deodorant category which is marked by expensive sprays, with starting point being Rs. 100+ for female deodorants and 180+ for male deodorants.
The TVC created by Creativeland, showcases the DeoStick unlike any other deodorant in the category. The TVC DeoReborn sets out to showcase how Cinthol has reinvented the concept of using a deodorant. DeoReborn is the story of how and why the deodorant was reborn into its new avatar in a quirky manner along with a set of laterally evolved visuals. CintholDeoStick is a cream based deo and not a spray, which is gentle on skin and lasts 3 times longer than any other ordinary deo. The TVC also showcases product’s new application format and the different stylized ways in which it can be used.
Commenting on the campaign, Sunil Kataria, Business Head India & SAARC, GCPL said, “We constantly strive to give our consumers the best of personal care products and bridge the gap between consumer needs and what is available in the market. Cinthol has always been innovating to cater to the changing consumer needs of the youth. With the summer season just around the corner, we have launched Cinthol Deo Stick , a unique creme based deodorant that lasts genuinely long, is safe on skin and comes at an affordable price of Rs 69/-. We have reinvented the deo space with this revolutionary product which will appeal to our consumer’s and the TVC very aptly showcases the concept of DeoReborn.â€
Commenting on the TVC, Sajan Raj Kurup, Founder and Creative Chairman, Creativeland Asia said, “With CintholDeoStick, we weren’t just launching a new product, but a whole new category. So, there were quite a few boxes to tick, while still making sure that it was in the Cinthol world we’ve been defining over the last few years. We believe the product has the potential to not just increase deo penetration in the market, but also potentially reposition the category in people’s minds.â€
Rohit Vengurlekar, 33, brand manager in Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) moved into a new role four months ago, heading marketing for the company’s premium haircare offering, B Blunt. It was the latest move in a career graph that followed a fairly unconventional trajectory. He was first noticed as area sales manager in Madhya Pradesh, moving on to area manager Ahmedabad. His last assignment was building Aer, GCPL’s air freshener brand, a new category for the Rs 8,300 crore FMCG company.
In three years, he built it to a Rs 100 crore brand, a creditable feat in an intensely competitive market. Vengurlelar admits, “The three years exposure was a huge learning experience. I learnt how marketing was done to create a category. We were constantly egged on to think different, try new approaches and take risks. I made mistakes but they were seen as part of learning. We were constantly encouraged not to let one failure pull us back”.
However GCPL is loath to let him rest on his laurels. Its constant innovation cycle means even a star performing brand is moved into the base portfolio in its fourth year. “We have given him another challenge: to grow B Blunt, our premium unconventional haircare brand. It is a nascent category right now at Rs 350 crore but we want it to go up to Rs 1000 crore in the next three years,” says Sunil Kataria, business head – India and SAARC, GCPL.
After decades of being a more conservative player in the cut-throat Indian FMCG space, the last few years have seen GCPL become more aggressive. Half of its marketing team has been with the organisation for less than three years. Talent from diverse backgrounds — food, personal care, digital agencies — bring in different perspectives as it moves into new categories: air care, hair crème and Protext handwash in the health and wellness category.
Over the last three months, GCPL has reorganised marketing to create a new structure that leverages its scale and empowers teams. From three marketing groups: household insecticides, hair care and personal care, it is now down to just two — home care and personal care. Home care is led by Ajay Dang, who has previously worked with Colgate and HT Media. He also leads media buying. Personal care portfolio and consumer insights is led by Chetan Gore, who joined GCPL in 2014 after 15 plus years with P&G in India and abroad.
“We are giving marketing leaders dual responsibilities and facilitating higher levels of collaboration. Marketing teams are integrated, whether it is consumer insights, digital, brands or design. We are asking our teams to own the business, take entrepreneurial decisions and empowering them on ground to take risks. Young employees with a proven track record but not necessarily in the same field are being given important roles,” explains Kataria who was earlier CMO and has now been elevated to business head – India and SAARC. It’s part of GCPL rewiring itself to be more agile and innovative, challenging the traditional marketing rulebook.
Nisaba Godrej
Executive director, Nisaba Godrej, has been instrumental in changing organisational culture along with managing director, Vivek Gambhir, to be entrepreneurial and edgy. She believes, “Data and technology are going to see a huge shift which affects the way we budget, structure and work. We need to be really creative and quick on our feet with content and stories around our brands. We have to be much less dependent on agencies. Our marketing teams ought to be whole brained and creative.”
For the first time, GCPL has a creative director, getting in Thomas Dawes from Godrej UK who focuses on brand architecture and communication strategies to ensure the brands are differentiated and memorable. Also on his agenda: studying trends and technologies in digital and mobile to see how they can work for GCPL. Clearly, television alone is no longer enough.
Sunil Kataria
Sunil Kataria says the DNA of the company is to challenge the traditional. Research, for instance, is something that most marketers are comfortable outsourcing. However, drawing from his experience at Idea, Kataria believed there was a significant transmission loss. “We realised the importance of holding the custodianship of the consumer. Asking a third party to do research who in turn would ask an outsourced agency meant we’d never be close to the consumer. We trained teams to be in touch directly as part of Consumer Quest. We hired qualitative in-house researchers from IMRB who are now part of the marketing team.” When in doubt about a brand, GCPL has worked on as many as 70 Consumer Quests aka Conquest researches over 30 days.
The results: almost 40 per cent of GCPL’s incremental growth is driven by GCPL’s new launches. The company has one brand over Rs 1,500 crore (Good Knight), one over Rs 1,000 crore (Godrej No.1) and three over Rs 500 crore (Cinthol, Godrej Expert and Hit). Good Knight Fast Card, India’s first paper-based mosquito repellent, became a Rs 100 crore brand in just 11 months — among the highest run ups for a new FMCG.
Today, the salience of new product development (NDP) to sales is 17 per cent from 5 per cent three years ago. “We could have done better. But 65 per cent success is a damn good average. We do not have the structure and strength of an MNC but we have strength unique to us,” says Kataria.
Its product and package design has caught the eye of retailers. Â “I am impressed by how GCPL has renovated its legacy. It is doing what FMCG marketers should focus on: market development and category creation. The emphasis on design and packaging is amazing. Protext handwash or the hair colour packaging is truly futurist. At Rs 30 a packet, GCPL offered a hair colouring experience that bettered the Rs 500 a pack offered by a rival”, admits Devendra Chawla, group president – food FMCG, brands at Future Group.
And now GCPL is moving onto its next big project, One Rural. It roped in consultant Bain to benchmark the rural strategies of other FMCG companies and found that none were too different. 90 per cent of spends of consumer companies in rural are on TV and activation “We are now on an integrated sales and marketing strategy. Our presence is the weakest amongst most companies, although it has moved up from 24 per cent to 28 per cent over recent years,” says Kataria. In the last four to five months, GCPL has piloted four or five different projects to tap new media. “We are shifting spends from TV to community radio. There are 26-30 operational in India and 120 more will go live soon. GCPL has created a separate GM position within its One Rural organisation with supporting teams in each state to ensure last mile execution. “We have 4.2 million outlets covering 60,000 villages which is 75 per cent of rural. Now the challenge is to get more throughput per outlet. So we are not expanding the rural presence. We will instead focus on top 35,000 villages and back it vigorously with an IT backbone that is among the top three best companies in the country” he says.
Shripad Nadkarni,founder & director of MarketGate Consulting, says innovating on new formats in the mosquito repellent category and the Rs 30 crème hair colour and the air care brand have been killers in the brand space in their respective categories. “The organisational change as an agile, innovation and design-led company is not superficial. The proof of its reinvention is in the marketplace. The challenge for it is its legacy in terms of being seen like some of the old world companies like Tata are: very reliable and trustworthy. The brand image change in the minds of consumers as an innovative and cutting edge innovative brand will not happen overnight. But it is on the right track and that change will happen in due course too,” he says.
Nisaba Godrej says, “I truly believe that we are still at the very beginning of our reimagination journey. You will see a very different GCPL a few years down the line.”
Godrej Expert Rich Crème from Godrej Consumer Products Limited, has unveiled a fashion range with three shades – Molten Gold, Copper Brown and Cherry Red for the West Bengal market. To promote the new range in ongoing festive season in Bengal, the brand has unveiled a new campaign with a new TVC. With the start of the festive season with Durga Puja going upto Diwali, the brand decided to launch Godrej Expert Rich Crème Fashion range exclusively in West Bengal.
