As Kerala sets to embrace Onam, Godrej Appliances, the business unit of Godrej & Boyce, the flagship company of the Godrej Group, has launched a new television commercial bringing alive the festive spirit with a characteristic local sound. The musical film integrates Onam festivities with the brand’s wide product range and new exciting offers.
Conceptualised by Creativeland Asia, the campaign is the third in the series of brand’s collaboration with popular musician and singer Anoop Sankar.
Speaking on the campaign Swati Rathi, Head-Marketing, Godrej Appliances said: “Onam marks the beginning of the festive season for appliances industry and accounts for more than 35% of the state’s sale. Kerala consumers have always demonstrated strong preference for the brand and the tailor made commercial celebrates this love while showcasing the brand’s wide product range for consumers to pick from, along with specially crafted Onam offers. The video will be promoted on TV and digital media.”
Added Anu Joseph, Co-founder and Creative Vice Chairman, Creativeland Asia: “Godrej Appliances has a really special relationship with Kerala. Come Onam, and you can see that translate into some great offers that add to the festivities. This year’s film captures the joy that the Lucky Lakshaprabhu Offer brings with it. The song composed by Anoop Sankar adds to the magic.”
Cinthol soap has launched a new campaign for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The brand set up booths equipped with virtual reality headsets that enable consumers from these areas to experience the freshness of Cinthol via innovative technology. This creative campaign is a step towards connecting with consumers while offering a unique technology in villages. This has fostered people to strengthen the brand’s affinity with freshness.
Commenting on this consumer outreach initiative, Somashree Bose Awasthi, Chief Marketing Officer, Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) said: “In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Our aim was to connect with communities and make them Cinthol’s lemony freshness with a touch of technology and virtual reality. Through this Initiative, Cintholis striving to innovate the manner in which brand communicate with consumers. We are striving to leverage technology to provide a novel Fresh experience in towns, villages and give our consumers a meaningful connection to Cinthol.”
On World Earth Day, this year, the Godrej group released a book called ‘The Last Cloud, Ray, Drop, Mangrove and Bee’ for children to urge them, other individuals and business heads to invest their resources in safeguarding the environment and protecting valuable species from extinction. Using this digital book as a platform, the group, sends an urgent message about preserving the environment for tomorrow.
Commenting on the book, Tanya Dubash, Executive Director and Chief Brand Officer, Godrej Group, said: “The Godrej Group has historically been at the forefront of environmental conservation and each and every organization under our umbrella is determined to making every effort towards a cleaner, greener and better world. We have always considered a sustainable work ethos as our responsibility to our nation and our planet. To safeguard the environment for the generations yet to come, we aim to promote personal responsibility through this book ‘The Last Cloud, Ray, Drop, Mangrove and Bee’. We hope to instil a sense of passion in every reader to invest themselves into preventing environmental degradation and nurture conservation”.
Added Anu Joseph, Chief Creative Officer, Creativeland Asia: “Every Earth Day, we’ve been asking adults the world over to think about the children of the future. This time though, we thought, ‘let’s redirect to the little ones.’ After all, the future of the planet is intertwined with theirs. And when the little ones know better about Earth’s history, they’ll grow up and change the global warming story. And our videobook, The Last Cloud, Drop, Mangrove, and Bee, gives that loving nudge through little Maahi and her friends as they spread planet positivity and change the world to be #EarthfullyYours.”
Sharing his thoughts on the new film, Sunil Kataria, CEO – India & SAARC, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL), said: “Cinthol is among the iconic brands that we have at Godrej Consumer and the Cinthol Original soap enjoys a very strong affinity with its consumers in South India. 2020 has made market innovations happen at a rapid speed, made us reinvent our strategies, shoot campaigns at home, be more agile and execute new product launches within months. With this new and improved approach, we wanted to come out with something that would help connect with our stakeholders in a meaningful manner, so, for this new TVC, we have re-defined protection which is the core brand value. The film helps to convey the brand’s core proposition and we are optimistic that our audience will enjoy it too.”
Added Anu Joseph, Chief Creative Officer, Creativeland Asia: “Amidst the pandemic situation, there are so many frontliners who are putting society over self. This Cinthol Original ad narrates the story of Doctor Amma and her journalist daughter, both frontliners. The daughter assuages the mother’s concern of her protection by telling her that she follows her mother’s advice of putting society over self and protecting her skin with Cinthol. The ad carries forward Cinthol’s legacy of being a doctor recommended brand, while at the same time paying a tribute to the workers on the frontline.”
IndiaLends has strengthened its senior leadership team with the appointment of Amit Kumar Singh as Chief Business Officer and Animesh Bhartiya as VP- Brand & Marketing.
Singh was with Airtel Payments Bank while Bhartiya with Godrej & Boyce as Vice President – Brand & Marketing. Bhartiya has also been Managing Director at Wieden + Kennedy in Delhi after a decade-odd stint in various agencies in London.
Commenting on the appointments, IndiaLends CEO Gaurav Chopra said: “We are happy to have best talent from the industry. IndiaLends as a company is committed to grow at an exponential rate. Having someone of Amit’s capabilities, we will continue to provide high quality experience to all our stakeholders. IndiaLends has become a popular consumer brand among Indian millennials. With Animesh’s rich experience in consumer space, we aim to strengthen our brand affinity further in 2020.”
On the occasion of Child Safety Week which ended yesterday (June 9), Godrej Locking Solutions and Systems, (GLSS), as part of its Har Ghar Surakshit initiative, unveiled a digital campaign to raise awareness of child safety, the risks faced by children at homes and how they can be prevented.
Commenting on the campaign, Shyam Motwani, Executive Vice-President and Business Head, Godrej Locking Solutions and Systems, said: “With 64 per cent Indians not equipped to handle home safety threats as per our Har Ghar Surakshit 2018 report, Godrej Locks is committed to endorsing home safety. This includes not just promoting physically safe homes, but also the need to adopt practices which make homes risk free for all age groups including kids. Child safety, be at homes or outside, is one cause for which we need a lot of conversations to take place. At home, parents should create an environment free of hazards and upgrade homes by looking at different risks of different age groups. Through this digital campaign, we are trying to create awareness of the risks within homes and sensitizing parents on preventive measures to avoid them.
To mark Republic Day, Godrej launched its campaign, ‘All Safe Here, featuring a video highlighting Godrej’s contribution to safety and security for people in the country.
Commenting on the film, Tanya Dubash, Executive Director and Chief Brand Officer, Godrej Group said: “Godrej’s journey is intertwined with that of our country and we feel passionately about keeping India and our citizens safe. From Goodnight mosquito repellents to critical parts of Brahmos missiles, Godrej has contributed towards providing the nation with products and services that instil a feeling of protection in our consumers. On this Republic day, we reaffirm our commitment towards the nation and will continue innovating and creating products in line with this nation building philosophy.â€
Sharing his thoughts on the film, Anil Verma, Executive Director & President, Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd., added: “At Godrej & Boyce, our mission has always been about enriching the quality of life every day, everywhere and a key element of this is that people feel safe and secure. It is a matter of pride to see so many of our businesses contributing to the wellbeing of Indians in so many different ways; we are truly privileged and blessed to be able to serve our country and our countrymen. On this Republic Day, we would like to renew our commitment to making all residents of India feel safer and, hence, more free than ever before.â€
Said Anu Joseph, Chief Creative Officer, Creativeland Asia:“Putting together Godrej’s list of contributions to the nation and how the company touches and safeguards so many million lives every day, is both an enriching and a humbling experience. It’s also poetic in a certain sense. The effort was to say the story in a simple and yet evocative way. That’s what we’ve done.â€
Godrej Locking Solutions and Systems launched a digital campaign #HowSafeAreYou to create awareness on home safety by releasing a series of three videos that unlocks the mind of a robber.
The digital video starts with a message “We care for your safety. So, we spoke to reformed robbers.†It captures interviews of three reformed robbers who have committed about 100 robberies each and served sentences for the same. In the three videos, these reformed robbers explain the modus operandi of robberies, as well as narrate incidences from their past.
Commenting on the launch of the campaign, ShyamMotwani, Executive VP & Business Head, Godrej Locking Solutions and Systems said, “One of the primary rules of defense is to understand the enemy. Even the best offence tactic only works if you know the weakness of the opponent. Crime has been a part of the society for eons. Over the years, it has transformed and become more non-predictive, gruesome, and even the robbers have become more prepared and planned in their modus operandi.â€
As part of its consumer awareness drive, Godrej Locks decided to interview three real robbers who have served sentences for multiple robbery and theft cases and are now reformed. These videos go beyond giving consumers insights into what deters a robber from attacking your home and breaks a few myths too.
“While the police and government have been trying their best to curtail crimes, it is equally the responsibility of the citizens to help police curb crime as well as take appropriate measures to prevent them. With this digital video, we are creating awareness in the minds of the citizens and helping them stay safe.â€
Godrej Locking Solutions and Systems has launched a digital campaign #HowSafeAreYou to create awareness on home safety by releasing a series of three videos that unlocks the mind of a robber.
Commenting on the launch of the campaign, Shyam Motwani, Executive VP & Business Head, Godrej Locking Solutions and Systems said: “One of the primary rules of defence is to understand the enemy. Even the best offence tactic only works if you know the weakness of the opponent. Crime has been a part of the society for eons. Over the years, it has transformed and become more non-predictive, gruesome, and even the robbers have become more prepared and planned in their modus operandi.â€
The video is part of a nationwide initiative by Godrej Locking Solutions and Systems to raise awareness about heinous crimes and how one could prepare to combat them. The video was released on YouTube and prominent social media channels as it is the most powerful medium to reach out to the audience.
WatConsult has launched a digital campaign titled #SuitUptoAllergy for Godrej.
Speaking on the launch of the campaign, Rajiv Dingra, Founder and CEO, WatConsult said, “We have a long partnership with Godrej and I have enjoyed working on brilliant campaigns with them. For this campaign, we decided to opt for a humorous plot to simplify the message about kids’ health to moms. I believe that the campaign will resonate with the audience and bring great recognition to the brandâ€.
Said Swati Rathi, Marketing Director, Godrej Appliances: “At Godrej, it is our constant endeavour to offer products that are built on consumer insights and hence the Godrej Eon Front Loading Washing Machine with Allergy Protect mode keeping in mind the growing allergic disorders in India. Instead of launching the machine in traditional media, we have chosen to launch it first on the digital medium, with a short but humorous video. It has been designed to engage and get attention particularly from parents, who are a key target audience for the product. We engaged with our longstanding partners, WatConsult on this video and are hopeful that it will resonate with the targeted audience.â€
Vedanta has appointed Sujit Patil as Head of Corporate Communications effective June 29. Patil will lead all aspects of internal and external communication including branding, media management, social media, public relations and advocacy. Prior to joining Vedanta, Patil was the Vice President and head of corporate communications at Godrej.
Said Patil: “I am indeed delighted and honoured to join Vedanta and look forward to contributing towards further enhancing its brand, reputation and reach to a different level. Vedanta has delivered outstanding growth and value to its shareholders through volume, operations and strategy. The company is on an exciting growth path towards becoming a leading global diversified metal & mining and oil and gas conglomerate with its base in the fastest growing and emerging economy – India. I eagerly look forward to being a part of Vedanta in this exciting phase of growth.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.”
Cinthol soap has launched a new campaign for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The brand set up booths equipped with virtual reality headsets that enable consumers from these areas to experience the freshness of Cinthol via innovative technology. This creative campaign is a step towards connecting with consumers while offering a unique technology in villages. This has fostered people to strengthen the brand’s affinity with freshness.
