Bombay is the global Mecca of advertising: GCPL's Sudhir Sitapati

When Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) launched its own in-house ad agency, Lightbox, on April 1 this year, it was responding to a realisation that its internally designed branding had become quite iconic and successful.

Sudhir Sitapati, Managing Director and CEO of Godrej Consumer Products Limited says of LightBox. “It wasn’t a eureka moment. Before I joined GCPL, I was always very impressed with the design and packaging of GCPL products. I found Cinthol packaging quite iconic. When I joined GCPL, I realised that it has in-housed packaging, something that most companies outsource. I was very curious to know the advantages of it."

The design and packaging team had continuity. They had enormous consumer connectivity and they were very close to the people who were running the brand. "That’s why GCPL was able to come up with iconic packaging, and so I thought about how an in-house agency would be for GCPL," adds Sitapati, in a conversation with Storyboard18's editor Delshad Irani.

Ashwin Moorthy, chief marketing officer, GCPL, says there has been a shift in thinking. The level of collaboration is higher. The level of challenge is also quite high. When you have an in-house advertising or creative team, their ability to challenge is a lot more. They are not worried about you as a business, they are worried about the brand as an objective.

Watch here.