To combat vector-borne diseases, Goodknight from Godrej Consumer Products has introduced Renofluthrin, a patented mosquito-repellent molecule. 

Research by Goodknight revealed that 63% of Indians prioritise liquid vapourisers to protect their families from mosquitoes. 

According to GCPL's research for the new molecule, with no innovations in over 15 years, many in India have turned to potent, unregistered Chinese repellent formats like incense sticks, leading to an influx of illegal molecules.

Recognising the need for a government-registered product, the new molecule will be launched in the Goodknight Flash liquid vapouriser. 

Developed by scientists at Godrej Consumer Products and its partner, Shogun, Renofluthrin will also be used in all forthcoming mosquito repellent applications in the upcoming months. 

After a decade of rigorous research, Renofluthrin has been thoroughly tested and approved by the Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee, ensuring its efficacy and safety for consumers.

Manifest spoke to Ashwin Moorthy, chief marketing officer, Godrej Consumer Products, to understand the impact of Renofluthrin on the household market, marketing strategy for the new molecule, GCPL's market-leading segment, FMCG challenges and more… 

Edited excerpts: 

How do you envision the new Renofluthrin-enhanced Good Knight Flash impacting the household insecticide market in India, especially regarding consumer trust?

The household sector in India is rapidly growing, particularly with the recent surge in dengue cases prompting higher adoption of mosquito repellents. However, there have been two main issues. Established players like Goodknight have relied on Transfluthrin, a molecule discovered 15 years ago, which has become less effective over time.

Additionally, the category has grown from incense sticks and agarbattis, often sold by local players using unregistered Chinese compounds. These compounds, lacking safety approvals, posed unknown risks to consumers.

Renofluthrin, the newly launched molecule, addresses both problems. It offers superior efficacy to older molecules and ensures safety, having undergone ten years of development and rigorous testing. Registered with the Central Insecticide Board and having passed over 100 tests, Renofluthrin will solve the problem of mosquitoes for consumers but in a way that is safe and yet affordable for them.

What are the marketing initiatives for the launch? When will the campaign to spread awareness launch?

The campaign will launch soon and extend over a substantial period. Our advertising approach is that we spend a lot of time developing campaigns that are enjoyable and will persuade consumers to be clear on the proposition. We run it at fairly high levels of media throughout the year. 

We believe in continuity of advertising, making well-thought-through cut-through commercials and running them across media so that one will see them fairly visible on-air for quite some time. 

For Goodknight Flash, regarding our campaign's market proposition, we aim to emphasise that Renofluthrin offers persistent protection unlike Transfluthrin and other molecules that dissipate quickly. Even during power outages, it safeguards against mosquitoes, making it ideal for regions prone to electricity interruptions like India.

What does Godrej Consumer Products marketing split look like? 

We primarily use mass marketing through TV. Goodknight, being a large brand available in over 30 lakh outlets nationwide, makes TV an effective high-penetration medium for us.

We're seeing digital growth at two ends: affluent consumers with smart TVs and fast Wi-Fi, engaging on YouTube, OTT, and digital platforms; and others using cheaper, faster mobile data for video content. While our spending in these areas is increasing, TV remains our primary, high-quality channel for advertising and storytelling.

How is the Goodknight Agarbatti (incense sticks), that was rolled out earlier this year doing in regards to market share and interest?

The interest is strong since we have been emphasising to consumers that Goodknight Agarbattis are government-registered and adhere to stringent safety protocols required for insecticides in India. We've been successful in raising awareness about the risks associated with unregistered agarbattis, highlighting our commitment to safety and efficacy. Initial feedback on the product has been positive, and we are pleased with the promising start.

Which consumer segments have shown the most growth for the overall Godrej Consumer Products over the past year?

Our premium business is done quite well. So we're quite happy with the way our hair care business has grown. For the last number of years, there has been double-digit growth. 

And across formats, we recently launched Godrej aer O, a car perfume solution called which is doing very well for us. 

Godrej aer in India we see as being really sort of continuing market elephant job for us, right that's doing quite well. We also recently entered liquid detergents outside of Ezee. We always were quite strong and elaborate detergent because this was one of the first brands in the country to build that market. But we recently re-launched Godrej Genteel and launched Godrej Fab at INR 99 for a litre first for the South Indian market and now has expanded pan India. 

We have also recently acquired Kamasutra and Park Avenue in the sexual wellness and deodorants category respectively. And we're quite excited by the potential of those brands, which is to also drive us to double-digit growth consistently.

How has the performance of GCPL's in-house agency been so far, and can you share any notable projects or campaigns they have worked on recently?

Interestingly the ad campaign for the Renofluthrin-powered Goodknight Flash has been written and conceptualised by Lightbox our in-house agency. 100% of advertising in India is done by Lightbox for Godrej Consumer Products, so we don't have any creative agency on record today. 

Even globally Lightbox does the bulk of both rich and digital advertising. They have done work from Godrej Expert’s shampoo hair colour in Latin America to fashion hair in South Africa to Godrej Hit in Indonesia. 

We found that not only are they now servicing the entirety of Indian advertising, but they're also globally running all our advertising and we are quite happy with the outcome. We find that our creativity has gone up, and our ability to bring insights closer to sort of the creative process has also gone up. So we're quite happy with the results so far.

What are the major challenges facing the FMCG industry today, and how is GCPL navigating these challenges?

In FMCG, our goal is for consumption growth to surpass GDP growth, providing a strong tailwind. We focus on three key growth drivers: developing markets, where many of our categories are underpenetrated (like Goodknight in only a third of Indian households); investing in brand strength and innovation to expand distribution; and leveraging natural category growth to drive overall market expansion. By prioritising market development and strengthening our brands, we aim to accelerate growth as consumption improves.

Lastly, what are the key goals for GCPL by the end of this fiscal year, both in terms of market performance and product innovation?

We aim to maintain our growth momentum and sustain double-digit volume growth in the medium term. For Goodknight, our goals are twofold: to safeguard consumers from illegal insecticides and combat diseases like malaria and dengue, while also creating vibrant new categories and brands within GCPL. We're excited about diving into these innovative opportunities ahead.