Youth Consumers are Key for Godrej
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
If a brand is doing well, growing year after year, why does it need to transform? That’s the question Godrej must have asked itself before going for its corporate re-branding effort in 2008. Present in around 27 product categories with close to 100 products, brand Godrej suddenly donned vibrant colours whileretaining its signature style in its logo at the start of the Indian Premier League 1 in 2008. See Graphics
As Adi Godrej, chairman of the Godrej Group put it: “Our effort is geared to address future consumers. We believe transformation should come when times are good and not when you are in a crisis. Otherwise, investments come under pressure. The Indian market and consumer are changing fast and we needed to address that.” See Graphics
Consumer research also spurred the move – younger consumers were tending to see Godrej as “my parents’ brand” or “my grandparents’ brand.” Godrej said: “We wanted to change this feedback to ’this is my brand’. It drove our repositioning towards being a younger, more vibrant brand without diluting our core values of quality and trust.”
He admitted that he was taken aback by the colours in the new logo – Interbrand was hired for its re-strategy – “though the signature remained the same. But I listened to the younger family members who felt it was good and would work for us. I think it has – consumer ratings have been excellent.”
Vivek Gambhir, chief strategy officer, Godrej Industries, pointed out: “In five years’ time, 70 per cent of India will be under 35 years of age. These consumers haven’t grown up with Godrej and as their spending power grows, my brand and products must be relevant for them. How do we add sizzle to our products? That’s our challenge.” Vibrant products riding on technology and quality is the answer.
Adi Godrej believes that brand Godrej should stay focused on the middle and bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers. He admits that this is a big open debate in a company where the drive is to work together rather than in silos, to transmit the energy of the brand transformation across the group
