The Magic Bodywash offering is not a market share game but a category-building game for us: Godrej

Somasree Bose Awasthi, chief marketing officer, Godrej Consumer Products, shares the intent of launching an environment-friendly product, the impact expected and more...

Jul 19, 2022 01:26:00 PM | Article | Noel D'Souza

In recent times, sustainability has become the need of the hour both from the consumer end as well as for brands. According to a Kantar sustainability sector index report, 63% of consumers globally believe businesses have a responsibility to act on climate change.

The main reason for this push for an eco-conscious market environment is due to the rising threat of global warming, unprecedented rains, the increase in carbon waste and climate change.

Godrej with an intent to do their part in creating sustainable behaviour practices for their products has rolled out a new offering branded as ‘Godrej Magic Bodywash'. The product is a ready-to-mix body wash priced at INR 45.

The innovation aspires to encourage the habit of reusing and reducing wastage. Godrej wants to empower its consumers to make sustainable choices for their daily life activities with this launch.

The product has been manufactured with 16% plastic, 44% lower carbon emissions and diesel consumption.

For the product launch, Godrej Magic has rolled out a campaign with its brand ambassador, actor Shah Rukh Khan. The campaign will be rolled out on television, digital, and print. The film has been conceptualised by Creativeland Asia.

View the work here:

Campaign India caught up with Somasree Bose Awasthi, chief marketing officer, Godrej Consumer Products, to understand why the product offering was the need of the hour, the impact expected and how it aims to sustain the conversation of sustainability.

What was the intent behind launching 'Magic Bodywash'? How do you see consumers adapting to this innovation?

As far as adoption is concerned, it's a habit change from their current behaviour patterns of using soap to a new offering of a 'ready-to-mix' bodywash. No time could be better than the present to launch this product.

Firstly, there is inflationary pressure. The price of a lot of products is rising. By conserving resources, as a brand, we are also able to bring down the price.

Secondly, the consumer sentiment is extremely concerned about mother earth due to climate change. This is the reason it was the right time to launch such a product for our consumers. With this product, we are aiming to reduce plastic by 16%.

So, it works beautifully from the consumer's pocket and also from an eco-friendly point of view.

What impact do you expect from this product offering for GCPL?

For this offering, we are not only looking at building against the current user segment of body wash consumers, we are looking at upgrading the soap users to this. Hence, this product offering is not a market share game but a category-building game for us.

When it comes to launching a new product in the environment-conscious space, what parameters should a brand keep in mind so that they are aligned with their core values?

For Godrej, it is always about keeping the brand at the heart of any innovation. Then, it is about thinking where the brand has a right to win in the market and planning innovations accordingly.

How does Godrej intend to consistently keep the brand conversation of sustainability amongst its consumers?

In the last few years, we have aimed at being eco-conscious. We have tried to achieve zero landfills, tied up with NGOs and tried to manufacture products with 30% of reusable energy resources.

In the coming three years, we are aspiring to commit INR 100 crores towards researching and driving awareness around eco-friendly habits as well as products.

As far as our products are concerned, we are looking forward to making conscious changes such as transforming the wick of our Goodknight refill product into jute. We have started using recyclable plastic in our products.

In the next offering, we intend to launch, we aim to use recyclable plastic. The final step will be to venture into biodegradable plastic. These are the visions we have set out to keep sustainability at the core of our organisation across product portfolios.