The Hindu Business Line : Godrej to expand product portfolio

Mumbai, April 19 The Godrej Group will be expanding its product portfolio with new offerings and re-launching existing products across personal grooming, properties, furniture and appliance segments, as part of its new marketing and branding strategy.

The new strategy, uncorked by the Godrej Group at its Mumbai headquarters, involves a roadmap to invest in a renewed Godrej Master Brand and corporate identity. The group unveiled a new Godrej logo, with green, blue and ruby colours. This is intended to support its targeted revenue growth of 25-30 per cent, compounded annually for the entire group.

It is also expected to leverage cross-business synergies in its FMCG portfolio with a view to tripling revenues in this segment by 2012. Mr Adi Godrej, Group Chairman, said the new initiative would not change the existing corporate structure.

“In essence, it is intended to bring out a closer coordination between the group companies at the branding level. It will be an informal coordination,” he told presspersons. The new strategy is an upshot of Godrej’s working with Interbrand, a global leading branding consultancy, which studied the Godrej brand across employees, consumers, investors and business partners over a period of 18 months.

The key initiative in the new strategy will be the group’s focus on ‘hero businesses’ across four segments. In the personal grooming segment, the group will invest in hair colours as a marquee category, through specific projects in the next six months. “This will see the group coming out with new offerings and re-launching existing brands, apart from leveraging strong brands like Cinthol,” Ms Tanya Dubash, Executive Director and President (Marketing), said.

‘hero business’

The other ‘hero business’ identified by the group is properties, where it intends to build its presence in the real estate market as a brand across a portfolio of residential and commercial projects.

Mr Godrej said the property business had grown at 100 per cent in the last two years. The Group plans to tap the capital market for Godrej Properties. “We need funds for Godrej Properties and we will list the company as market conditions improve,” he said.

The other two ‘hero business’ identified were furniture and appliance businesses.

“The idea is to revitalise the Master Brand to also appeal to a younger mindset,” according to Ms Tanya. The group will make significant investments in the Godrej Master Brand as part of a systematic plan for creating a strong Godrej brand franchise through retail channel strategy. “The initial phase of the initiative will build the Godrej Master Brand in tandem with the four hero businesses,” said Ms Tanya.

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Godrej to expand product portfolio