rival brands. Good Knight worked on a longterm strategy that would capitalise on its longestablished equity. The first answer to the challenge came in the form of Supermat, which was more powerful than the earlier offering. Then in the late 1990s, Good Knight entered the coil segment, the biggest category in the Household Insecticide (HI) arena. It quickly captured a large part of the market then dominated by a brand called Tortoise. Its vaporiser which was a response to the challenge posed by All Out, today, owns one-third of the market.
Achievements
Market Its sole reason for existence in the market is the omnipresent mosquito, which makes life excruciatingly difficult for the average Indian during summer and monsoon months. In many ways the primary factor fuelling the explosive growth of this market – characterised by low brand loyalty and low product involvement – has been the availability of cost-effective, mosquito repellents. In less than two decades, Good Knight has become the most preferred mosquito repellent solution in the country. Before its entry, mosquito repellents had low penetration in a market ruled by herbal coils, creams and mosquito nets. What made Good Knight different from the rest was its hardware add-on, the Electronic Mosquito Destroyer (EMD), a device that came bundled with the mats. Not only did the product promise a bite-free, good night’s sleep, it also offered protection from malaria, dengue and other mosquitorelated afflictions. Today, Good Knight is synonymous with mats and coils. But in the mid 1990s, the brand suffered a minor jolt when mats – its primary product – began losing their hold to coils from
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Great nights begin with Good Knight. Ask consumers around India and they’ll vouch for it. That’s the promise that Good Knight consistently delivers, night after night. Along with a good night’s sleep, a Good Knight consumer is also protected from many dangerous diseases. Good Knight has grown into a powerful brand on the strength of these benefits. Ever since it was launched in 1984 Good Knight mats have altered the HI market. Within two years of its entry Good Knight became the largest electronic mosquito repellent in the country. The name Good Knight also became synonymous with the mat category. In the mid 1990s, Good Knight faced growing competition from new coil and vaporiser products. To counter this thrust, Good Knight re-launched its mat first as Supermat and finally as Good Knight Silver mat in 2003, with contemporary packing, superior technology and using a high decibel campaign. Today Good Knight Silver mat is a market leader with 62% market share (Source: ACNielsen ORGMARG, March 2005). The mats category, however, was losing share in the HI market. So, it was imperative that some long-term solution be found to capitalise on the Good Knight equity. Towards the late 1990s, Good Knight also
created a new product category – the ten-hour coil – which till then was seen as a down market niche in the HI universe. The red coil category created by Good Knight is growing and has cornered 50% of the coil market (Source: ACNielsen ORG-MARG, March 2005). Good Knight entered the vaporiser segment in 1995 by launching Good Knight liquidator with a Liquid Mosquito Destroyer (LMD) machine, together as a combi-pack. In a short span of three years, Good Knight liquidator managed a share of 24% of the vaporiser market and 32% of LMD market (Source: ACNielsen ORG-MARG, 1998), based on the strength of the Good Knight equity.
History The Good Knight brand was launched by Transelektra Domestic Products Ltd (TDPL) in 1984. The product was innovative and perfectly priced. Mats, used with
electronic mosquito destroyers were extremely effective since they contained a chemical called Allethrin (1%). In a sense, Good Knight struck the market at the right time. It was a huge success in small towns, big cities and metros, all of which had a common denominator of reasonable electrification, growing per capita incomes and high mosquito incidence. In 1990, it also began targeting the lower end of the market by introducing a low cost EMD called Star, which was priced at Rs. 36. Godrej Hi Care took over TDPL in August 1994 along with another brand, HIT Aerosol which had been launched in 1990. Other brands like Jet and Banish were also acquired in 1995. This was followed by the strategic alliance with Sara Lee, a Fortune 500 consumer product giant. The low price strategy helped Good Knight grow and sustain its leadership till 1995. From then on, two factors changed the complexion of the mosquito repellent market. In 1995, Mortein launched for the first time a coil containing Allethrin. The coil narrowed the efficacy gap with Good Knight mats and worked out cheaper for a user since there was no hardware cost to it. Mortein became a leader in the coils category. Users saw no reason for paying a premium for mats over coils and shifted loyalties to the latter. In spite of a toughening market situation, Good Knight did not lose its grip on the HI market. By 1999, Good Knight also joined the battle for the coil honours by launching its red coil variant. Since Good Knight was seen to be a hitech brand and coils were regarded as an entrylevel product, the company made sure that it did not suffer a downgrade in consumer perception. It branded its version as a valueadded product, which lasted ten hours (compared to eight hours in the case of most others). The colour red was meant to convey power. A new product category was born. It led to a shift in the paradigm, as red now became the aspiration colour for the other coils. Currently the red coil category has grown to own almost 50% of the total coil market, with Good Knight as an image leader in this category. (Brand Equity Survey, March 2005). In 2002, to get a foothold in the ‘non-red’ territory, Good Knight also launched Champion coil as a green variant. Good Knight’s entry into the vaporiser segment came in 1995. The communication was generic and conveyed the convenience of the form. Good Knight later moved to the higher order emotional benefit of ‘Total Protection’. To improve on the product even further,
superiority and differentiation. The beginning of the year also saw Good Knight announcing the arrival of Maha Jumbo – the biggest coil in the world. The coil provided the most value for money and came in an attractive consumer pack. The coil stand was also modified to suit the larger size of the product. Good Knight Liquidator Active was modified to Prallethrin. The upgraded offering was launched in February 2000, with a new marketing mix as Good Knight Expert Vaporiser System. In 1997, Godrej Sara Lee Limited (GSLL) launched an insect repellent lotion. It was not under the Good Knight banner but was branded as ‘Mosfree’, a literal translation of freedom from mosquitoes. The lotion was positioned as ‘mobile protection’, inside and outside the house. The positioning was directly against the market leader – Odomos. In 2001, Mosfree was re-launched as Good Knight lotion bringing it under the Good Knight umbrella. As safety seemed to be an important concern in the category – the brand equity of Good Knight which stood for protection and safety – fitted perfectly.
Product Each of the product forms introduced were able to plug specific consumer need gaps – the Good Knight mat was seen as a safe, convenient solution differentiated by its pleasant fragrance. Even though the product was convenient to use, the need to change a mat daily was seen as a need gap. The other emerging product form – the vaporiser was perceived as a ‘premium product’. The Good Knight Vaporiser lasted 3045 days and just had to be plugged in. It was a technologically superior, easy-to-use and safe product. The Good Knight coil, on the other hand, was seen as a highly effective and good ‘value-for-money’ product used in high infestation regions. The availability of a number of product forms with specific benefits has led to an increase in the number of dual users – users who use more than one mosquito repellent at a time. Good Knight has regularly up graded its technology and product formats based on consumer input and feedback.
Promotion Good Knight has always chosen a slew of promotion options including outdoor advertising, radio, television and newspapers. The products themselves remain the most effective promotional devices that the brand depends upon. The most important unique selling proposition for Good Knight is its brand equity, built over a decade by its products and brand communication. It is the only brand in the HI category which has been able to transcend the physical payoffs of coils, mats or vaporisers and has a higher order of emotional association of ‘Nurturance’ and ‘Total Protection’. Most of Good Knight’s product launches and innovations are driven by a strong sense of consumer perception. The brand has always paid heed to user wants and needs. Qualitative consumer research, has given the singularly most significant insight that children are vulnerable to mosquitoes all the time and turn to their mothers for protection. The mother, in turn, wants to ensure that she protects her children even when they are out of her sight. Much of the communication effort undertaken by Good Knight, since these findings, has revolved around these facts.
Brand Values The trust in Godrej as a name, availability at an affordable price and lasting effect makes Good Knight the preferred choice of the consumer. Good Knight has positioned itself as ‘a complete mosquito repellent solution that offers total protection’. The Good Knight brand is embodied by the caring, responsible and progressive mother who is in touch with her cultural heritage. The brand simply stands for a peaceful, undisturbed sleep and an assurance of protection from mosquitoes.
www.godrejsaralee.com
Recent Developments Good Knight mats were re-launched with a new technology, which was marketed as ‘Silver Power’. The new technology enabled the company to plug another need gap. This helped the brand to increase its share in the mat market to almost 60% (Source: ACNielsen ORG-MARG, March 2005). The launch was also in tune with the new positioning of ‘Good Knight suraksha. Success hamesha’. Good Knight Turbo refill, a technologically superior product, was launched in 2004. It was the right time for Good Knight to take the plunge and gun for market leadership. The product with the latest technology of a turbo pump wick enabling better active release, led to a faster and better effect – a higher consumer benefit. This was launched with state-of-the-art packaging and design to communicate product
THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT
Good Knight The first Good Knight advertisement on national network television, Doordarshan, appeared in 1985, a year after its launch. Within two years of its entry in the market, Good Knight became the largest selling electronic mosquito repellent in India. By 1990, Good Knight had become the single largest selling brand of electronic mosquito repellents in the world. By 2002, Godrej Sara Lee became the largest coil manufacturer in the country and a leader in this product category.
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