Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

Rarely does a traditional brand in a non-engaging category like hair oil, create a fresh and experience via a social platform that reimagines the category itself. That too, to a young audience that thinks hair oil is uncool, and would rather enjoy digital content like look transformations by beauty brands, and dance challenges. With this activation, we not only inspired a new generation to use hair oil in a whole new way (an ancient stress-busting head massage)’ via an experience online, but were also able to gatecrash a ‘moms’ brand into the kids lives, with spectacular scale and results.

Background

Parachute Advansed, one of India's oldest hair oil brands, was having trouble connecting with Gen Z, who saw it as their mom’s brand. More troublingly, they thought hair oil itself as icky, and had moved on to whole new categories, like conditioners and shampoos, offering similar benefits. The brand wanted to connect and engage with them, while also finding relevance to their lifestyle. More so, because the kids were stuck at home with nothing to do during the lockdown, and were spending more and more time on platforms like TikTok, the brand wanted to explore new trendy mediums and formats to engage Gen Z. And help change the perception about the brand and their relationship with it.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

To connect with the new generation in 2020, we went back all the way to 600 BC. We dug up an ancient Indian oil head massage ritual called the Champi, and remixed and reinvented it for the TikTok generation. The ‘Champi’ is done to a rhythm, so first we analysed TikTok hits and created a catchy track based on the Champi’s rhythm, that changed tempo every 5 seconds. Next, massage experts designed a 3-step ‘Champi’ routine to the beat. Then TikTok’s coolest influencers did their own Champi’s to the beat, on their friends, families and even pets and dared their fans to replicate it. Gen Z fell or it. took it on. The response was staggering.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

#ChampiBeats was done to reinvent an age-old brand for a whole new generation. Being one of India's oldest hair oil brands, we didn’t fit into Gen Z’s life, neither as a category, nor as a brand. They were looking for the category benefits in cooler, newer categories like conditioners and shampoos. And as a brand, they saw us as their parent’s brand. Because Gen Z is only interested in cool stuff – cool content, cool moves, cool music - we had to reach them on their turf, and speak their language –TikTok. And to get them to try our brand without even realising it, we had to find a new way of making the product fun, cool to use, that was also tailored for creating connections between people. So, we focussed on reinventing the product experience, and revisited the distant past for inspiration.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

To deliver this brand experience, we had to first compress a long, traditional stress-busting Champi massage into 15 seconds for the viral video platform. But, to make it an experience worth taking part in and sharing, we started with the music. By studying TikTok hits and age old champi rhythms we designed a catchy track to change tempo every five seconds. Then we got Champi experts to design a champi to the track, in three easy steps for the users to mimic on the platform. A 3-day promotion was planned on TikTok, on days when users were mostly likely in-need of a break, or a stress buster. Next, over those three days, a bevy of influencers from various regions and cultures of India stepped up to do the Champi, and dared their fans and followers to try it for themselves. Over 38 influencers were used for the campaign, and it

List the results (30% of vote)

· +27 Billion Views · Up to 7.8 Million videos created with #ChampiBeats · Reached 86% of TikTok, India · +251 Million Impressions · +715 Million Likes, Shares and Comments · 14% Unaided awareness · 16% current usage · 10% future consideration among 18-24 Years · Competition imitated our campaign within weeks.

Please tell us about the cultural insight that inspired the work

Many ancient Indian disciplines and practices like Yoga and Ayurveda are being widely embraced worldwide. But are being ignored or forgotten by the young generation in India. During Covid-19, when the kids were home and stressed by the lockdown and all the negative news, we realised that we could help them. Although Parachute Advansed is a hair nurturing oil, it also had destressing properties. We dug up an ancient Indian oil head massage ritual, dating back to 600 BC, called the Champi. It’s a method of head massage which when done with oil on the right pressure points induces calmness and relaxation, and helps de-stress. We realised that remixing and reinventing the Champi for the Tiktok generation would not only destress them, but also give them something to play with and share.