HTA consolidates Good Knight, Godrej Appliances; picks up Cotton Inc

In the marketing context, ‘consolidation' is a lovely word, with a nice, brassy ring to it. And people at HTA's Mumbai office would readily vouch for that, considering the agency has just consolidated two significant advertising businesses - those of Godrej Appliances and mosquito repellant brand Good Knight. In addition to that, the agency has also been awarded the task of creating the Indian communication for Cotton Incorporated, the US-based cotton promotion association.

"This has undoubtedly been a great run for the agency," says Tarun Rai, senior vice-president and general manager, HTA, Mumbai. "In two cases, we were given the opportunity to increase our share of the pie, and the agency displayed its talents most wholesomely to come out at the top. And in the case of Cotton Incorporated, we were able to make a strong impression on a client who was looking for an agency that understood the local idiom. I cannot be more pleased with the results."

HTA has every reason to be thrilled with the Good Knight win, the outcome of a pitch held a month-and-a-half ago. The pitch - which involved HTA, former co-incumbent Ambience D'Arcy and O&M - was a very hush-hush affair, aimed at selecting one agency to handle the entire Good Knight portfolio. For the record, pre-pitch, the Good Knight portfolio was split along ‘delivery forms', with HTA handling liquid (vaporizers) and Ambience in charge of mats and coils.

"We wanted to consolidate with one agency so that the brand synergies could be suitably leveraged," Mohita Arora, general manager - marketing, Godrej Sara Lee Ltd (GSL), told agencyfaqs!. When asked why GSL had opted for HTA, Arora replied, "Simple. HTA turned out to be the best of the lot. They displayed sound thinking, both in their strategy and creative. We were looking for an agency that would partner us in our marketing programmes and help the brand leapfrog with out-of-the-box thinking." Incidentally, Good Knight is the market leader in the Rs 900-crore mosquito repellant market, with close to 45 per cent market share.

Although no one is revealing anything about the size of the Good Knight business, without doubt the win is a huge gain for HTA. If only because, pre-pitch, the agency had a mere 25 per cent of the business; the remaining 75 per cent being with Ambience. But Rai looks at it differently. "I see it as a 100-per cent gain because whatever the outcome of the pitch, only one agency would have got the account. If we had lost, we would have lost everything, right?" That's a point.

In the case of Godrej Appliances, HTA has now added the washing machines part of the business to its portfolio. It may be recalled that in February this year, the agency had won back Godrej Appliances' refrigerator business from Ambience. As reported in agencyfaqs!, at that time, Godrej had relocated only refrigerators, retaining washing machines with Ambience.

agencyfaqs! has gathered that the company shortlisted both HTA and Ambience to handle the new communication for washing machines. "We were asked to make a presentation on washing machines two weeks ago," Rai reveals. "Once we presented, the client told us they loved our work and have now moved to us." When quizzed on why Godrej had not moved washing machines (and only refrigerators) to HTA in February itself, Shyam Motwani, head of marketing at Godrej Appliances, said, "At that time, refrigerators was priority. Now it's the turn to look at washing machines."

One reason why Godrej might have moved washing machines to HTA is the agency's work on refrigerators. "The ‘Life jum jaaye' campaign has been a huge success, and entire marketing package has ensured record sales since the campaign broke," Rai insists. And Motwani tends to agree. "Yes, we chose HTA also on the strength of refrigerators." Expectedly, no one is talking about spends, but agencyfaqs! has gathered that Godrej has earmarked a budget of Rs 5 crore, exclusively for its new offerings this year.

Of late, Godrej - which has a 7-per cent share in washing machines - has been pretty bullish about the category, and has undertaken initiatives such as range expansion and increased value propositions for its Smart Wash brand of washing machines. The company is also looking to up its market share to 10 per cent by end-2003. Interestingly, in the case of Godrej Appliances, 80 per cent of its turnover currently comes from refrigerators.

Talking about Cotton Incorporated, Rai says that the account came HTA's way following a three-way pitch that also involved O&M. The identity of the third agency is not known. Incidentally, Cotton Incorporated, which promotes the use of cotton fabric the world over, is an O&M client in some global markets. "They were very clear they wanted to assess every agency on local merit - an agency that had local ideas," says Rai. "I think we got the business because our creatives and strategy was good, a they liked our approach to the market. They also told us that HTA was the only one who listened to their brief and didn't go over the top."

"Over the past four months, we have picked up seven new businesses (including new HPCL brands)," he continues. "And we have managed an annualized billing of Rs 60-65 crore. All in all, I am pretty happy." © 2002 agencyfaqs!