The Campaign

Vicks was known and loved in India for its traditional representation of family, a representation that suits all sorts of conservatism but doesn’t reflect the reality of today’s India. If we, an unexpected source of liberalism but a credible source to discuss family, take a stance to change the view on what a family truly is and how everyone deserves one, there is a bigger chance for everyone to listen and to accept it. For our first expression of this point of view, we wanted to make ”Where there’s care, there’s family” as obvious and bold as possible by sharing the story of 2 people who were effectively ostracised from society but found in each other the family they never had.

Creative Execution

We made a film about a classic Mother - Daughter story of care through hardships, one that an Indian audience could easily identify with, before revealing that the story was one of an orphan adopted by a transgender woman, part of the Hijra community that Indian society casually oppresses. The story’s power resides in the fact that it is a very common story (proving that everyone can be family) but that the mere identity of the protagonists makes it “shocking” (proving that the mainstream public couldn’t imagine that it is the case). This realisation is what got the film to be shared so much and so naturally.

In just two months after it was posted, the video garnered over 39.6 million views & 116 million impressions, mainly from YouTube and Facebook, and sparked over 1.5 million interactions, reaching almost 500,000 shares. In 48hrs, the story was picked up by National news, from Hindustan Times, India today to Zee News, later being reported by International outlets like NBC news, NPR & CNN, generating above USD 2.96 million of earned media. The famous and influential also discussed it online: Film directors, sports stars, bloggers, from Karan Johar to Vidya Balan & George Takei, it was tweeted around the world.... Even the United Nations joined in. The film was projected at the NYT organised event & Women in the World summit, without anyone from brand or agency being aware of it. But beyond everything else, we were overwhelmed by the amazingly supportive reaction from everyone for such a sensitive topic.

This film’s goal was not to make the brand extremely prominent or to push a problem/solution approach with a role for the brand in it. It was just meant to put out a point of view in the hope to - like every good piece of art and entertainment - change people’s mind about an issue, one that is held dear by the brand: family. This biopic was welcomed as such by its viewers who even thanked the brand for their restraint to appear in the story, not forcing any unwarranted product connect.

Redefine ‘Family Care’ for today   A new definition of Family for today Vicks is (and have always been) in the 'Family Care' business. Care is timeless, ever powerful and our ultimate difference as a brand. However our audience research showed us that Family in India is an evolving changing idea. No longer was family such a tightly defined unit. We identified the opportunity to acknowledge and embrace this change and in so doing, to lead an important social agenda: the family relationships that are not formally acknowledged by Indian society. This conversation would ensure that Vicks would continue to be the leader in Family Care for the next 50 years too…