Background

Everyone in India knows Vicks. First entering the market as a little jar of VapoRub and becoming the no.1 cough and cold relief brand. Having soothed cough and colds for three generations, the brand is synonymous with ‘Family Care’. For decades Vicks traded on this familiarity in communications; delivering product news wrapped in reassuringly warm and familiar slices of family life. By 2016, a new generation of progressive Indian Parents had emerged. Defining themselves against the past, the brand of their childhood was now the last thing they’d choose; instead seeking seemingly more effective and contemporary brands. Sentiment towards the brand was in decline, led by these younger consumers. The brand had to reconnect with a new generation of Indians- whose deep familiarity with us had now become our biggest weakness. Our objective was to reignite their latent affection for the brand and to reinstate Vicks as a cultural icon.

Describe the creative idea

Today, in India, the idea of ‘family’ has evolved. It is no longer defined by just blood ties and shared surnames, but by who cares for you, and who you care for. With this simple premise, in 2017, we launched the ‘Touch of Care’ Campaign to celebrate true-life stories of extraordinary care. And today, ‘Touch of Care’ has truly become a multi-country platform. This year we shared with the world yet another extraordinary story of care. A story of an orphaned girl - Nisha - with a rare skin disease called Ichthyosis. In India, being born disabled is considered to be a result of bad karma in the past life. We decided to take this belief head on because Vicks believes that EVERY CHILD DESERVES THE TOUCH OF CARE.

Describe the strategy

The opportunity for Vicks was to celebrate the power of care to redefine what family is in modern India. These weren’t stories we could create. Families defined just by care already existed but were unacknowledged. Our role was simply to help them tell their own stories with respect and honesty - demonstrating our belief that everyone deserves a Touch of Care. We decided to tell the story of Nisha. An orphan who tells the importance of care - as only 42 special-needs orphans were adopted last year in a country of 1.3 billion people. This was not just another advert, but branded documentary content to be discovered and shared exclusively on social media as internet penetration in urban India is 60% and 45% of time spent on mobile is spent on entertainment. Since our TG was young urban families, we decided to do an online film.

Describe the execution

It was an online film that was widely shared in India. Launched on the 10th of October 2018 by some of India's brightest youth icons in Mumbai, the film was lauded by national as well as international press. Film stars, politicians, sports icons, celebrity influencers, all showered their love on this campaign. Many people even pledged to adopt after viewing the film. CARA, the government authority for adoptions in India backed the campaign by sharing it on their website and social media accounts. They also created a radio campaign to promote adoption of disabled children. But the biggest reach was when they shared the film with prospective adoptive parents at orphanages in India. We also launched the Vicks Touch of Care Fund to inspire more acts of care.

List the results

(Although it sounds hyperbolic) the brand once again became a cultural force. This Touch of Care story proved that the platform was highly topical and salient across India. The film garnered 31.4 million views and 243.6 million overall reach across channels. This reignited consumers’ relationship with the brand. ‘Trust’ consistently increased from a 2016 low of 56%, reaching a new peak of 74%. The brand’s growth rate accelerated significantly to 19% YOY sales growth which has been sustained to date. (vs. 4% YOY sales growth prior). Penetration grew significantly, adding over 6.5MM households for the VaporRub variant alone. Market share increased to a new high of 49%. As a result of Vicks growing 5% faster than the rest of the category.