TSR &Co.

Profile:-

Gokul is one of the old brands from the southern state of Tamilnadu in India that is having a
very niche loyal following. The brand is owned by TSR & Co. Many in Chennai who have
travelled across DLF near Porur in the highway towards Bangalore would have seen the big
company name board. It was started by Mr TS Rajagopalan from Kumbakonam in the year
1909. Basically, the enterprise ventured in to the manufacture of traditional items like Sandal,
Incense sticks, Rosewater, Seeval (Betel flakes) etc.

Gokul Santol Talc was launched in 1958. Next generation expanded the business set-up to
Chennai with sons Mr Kannan and Mr Raghavan starting the Chennai manufacturing unit in
1965 in the current Porur premise. Since then the company has expanded to many items like
Sandal powder, Sarsaparilla sherbeth (drink made out of flower petals), Gulkand (Jam like
sweet made from rose petals), various oils etc. For quite some decades, the company was
clearly operating within this traditional sphere. Their flagship Gokul Talcom Powder with a
P.O.D. of micronized sandalwood has a niche and loyal set of customers in TN among the older
generation. In terms of brand physique they had a strong identity and recognition with a logo
that had Hindu God Krishna over a banyan leaf- a traditional picture in households. (In fact
Gokula is the place where Lord Krishna spent his childhood as per the Indian Epic
Mahabharata)

Gokul Santol Talcom Powder with the point of difference of micronized sandalwood has a niche
and loyal set of customers among the older generation in the south Indian state of Tamilnadu.
Off late, there are interesting branding actions with attempts at new identity creation, new SBU's
like Tièsar Personal Care Pvt Ltd, a peppy tweak of the abbreviation TSR.

Tièsar with a grave accent over è. Gokul Santol Talc was earlier extended with variants like
Gokul Secret Garden and Santol Cool.

But the recent and interesting brand extensions include Gokul Sandiva, which is into premium
facewash, face powder and fairness cream. The company has also done a nice packaging.

Away from the Gokul sphere, they have also introduced a new deo brand called Q.RO for men.
Quite sensible decision not to extend the traditional Gokul brand here. They plan to soon launch
entire range of Q.RO men’s grooming products including aftershaves, soaps, shampoos, face
wash and shower gels.

In this new product list, another latest brand extension is Gokul Sandalwood Soap. This looks
like a natural extension of the SANDAL association. Interesting foray in to the soap market- but
it is a very tough market to crack amidst the competition of strong national and global soap
brands in general and leading sandalwood brands like Santoor, Mysore Sandal, Medimix
Sandal in particular. A category with FMCG marketing giants and hectic competition. With their
retail network reach for the talc, they can push it through the trade and get shelf space. But,
we'll have to wait and watch for the customer pull with sustained branding efforts. I think they
are currently test-marketing it in Chennai. Interesting brand to watch.