JWT, FCB Ulka, AMO & St Lukes vie for Godrej Furniture pie

With consumers willing to part with the extra buck, the home and office storage sector has never had it so big. Godrej & Boyce, which is a market leader in this sector and markets its produce under the Godrej Furniture brand, has chalked out ambitious plans for itself. The company is presently looking for a new agency to spearhead the proceedings.

Over the last one month, four agencies have made a beeline for the account; the names include FCB Ulka, Percept AMO, JWT and St Lukes.

Says Manoj Ganjawalla, vice-president - marketing & sales, Godrej & Boyce, “With consumers spending a lot more on their dream homes, there is a significant need to propel our brand image further. Last month, we invited four agencies for the pitch and gave them a sneak preview of our strategic business plan, in addition to our annual projections.”

The agencies were subsequently given a brief and 13 days to study the industry and make deductions about the various players, and Godrej's position vis-a-vis the others.

Ganjawalla asserts, “We evaluated the agencies by what we call the Performance Wharton model. These are essentially certain parameters which determine our rapport with the agency. Our needs are simple. The agency needs to have a clarity on our positioning in the market, and on the kind of media and creative plan that suits us best. The agency will also have to devise a modus operandi that gives us the extra edge.”

The size of the account is a grey area with agencies pegging the spends to be as much as Rs 15 crore.

Ganjawalla clarifies, “I realise that we haven’t been advertising much in mainstream media, but it’s something that we intend to rectify. We would be looking at enhanced decibels in the market and the spends could well exceed Rs 10 crore.”

The company has completed the evaluation process and will be taking a decision soon. “Just a couple of days more, and we will take a call,” he says.

Recently, the company opened its first showroom in Noida. The showroom, which operates under the Perfect Home brand, provides a range of home products including those for the bedroom, sofa sets, kitchen and dining sets, and furniture for children’s rooms. The one-stop shop offers a competitive price range with bedroom sets priced as low as Rs 22,000 and three-seater sofas priced upwards Rs 11,000.

Two years back, the company had organised Godrej Furniture Expo-2003, which showcased the latest in home furniture and home security systems. Godrej claims to be the largest furniture manufacturer in the country and the only manufacturer to have ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications.

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