It’s ironic that Rahul Welde, GM and Head of Media Services for HLL said at the IAMAI Digital Marketing Conference, about the Sunsilk Gang of Girls site, that “Consumers have taken over the site completely and we are sure that we don’t have to advertise it again—we will let it grow on its own.” (via Exchange4Media). This comes at a time when HLL has been advertising on TV, the launch of user generated video content at Sunsilk Gang of Girls, called GoG TV.
The site seems to have expanded its offerings, and forged alliances—interestingly, there’s a Jobs section, powered by Monster India, Astrology in collaboration with Astrolife, relationship and fashion related content in collaboration with print publication New Woman. I wonder who they’ve tied up with for their Rhythm Lounge section, which features a jukebox with songs from Madonna, Kylie Minogue and Lily Allen, as well as a video section with content from the same artists. There are also songs from other artists, but the content is very limited, and clearly no contest for Internet Radio.
HLL seems to be going all out for increasing its offerings at GoG: are they losing users to other social networking portals, or is this just a preemptive move to prevent an exodus? Also, who’s paying for that content - is it a platform for Monster, Astrolife and others to attempt to connect with users, or is HLL paying for it? If the former (though unlikely), then its interesting that what began as a brand building exercise for HLL has become a source of revenue. If the latter, it will become more and more expensive for HLL to keep increasing the offerings. I’ll be surprised if they stop advertising…

Related:
—Unilever Plans To Replicate Gang Of Girls Model Internationally
—HLL Getting Aggressive Online With Sunsilk Website