Godrej Consumer bets big on in-housing, adds AI lab & content factory

Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) made waves in advertising and marketing when it set up an in-house agency a couple of years ago. Now, it is taking the strategy further, said global media lead Harsh Deep Chhabra at a media roundtable.

Alongside its creative and design labs, GCPL runs a media planning platform called Media Allocation and Spends Harmonisation, or MASH. It will soon add an AI lab, and a content factory, launching first in South Africa before coming to India.

MASH, developed before Chhabra joined, supports programmatic buying in 20 countries and has grown campaigns in India from 10 in FY21 to 30 in FY26.

Chhabra screened an AI-generated film for Godrej Aer O, a car fragrance gel his daughter conceived for cab drivers. While they are not the brand’s main audience, AI “helps generate concept videos,” he said.

The content factory will use AI, including technology from JSON and Google V03, to make high-quality content at scale and low cost. The aim, said Chabra, is “good, fast, and cheap” production.

Explaining the in-housing push, Chhabra said, “It’s not that we are averse to working with external partners but we’ve seen there is a risk of best practices moving from one place to another; there are certain information safest in our ecosystem.”

GCPL works with EssenceMediacom in India, WPP Media in Indonesia and Carat in South Africa. For agencies, Chhabra listed four focus areas:

• Trading
• Troubleshooting: Understanding competition and consumer behaviour
• Talent: Upgrading skills, such as optimising TikTok use in certain markets. 
• Technology: Collaborating with agency-developed tools