Campaign logic: Giving family care a new meaning

A new digital ad by Vicks shows a transgender mother's healing touch

Brand: Vicks

Budget: Rs 3-5 crore*I

Agency: Publicis

*Industry estimate

There have been a number of ads in recent years that have challenged conventional norms around gender choices such as motherhood. The latest to stretch the idea of a mother further is a campaign by Procter & Gamble’s popular brand Vicks, which puts the real-life story of a transgender mom in focus. Not surprisingly, the digital film which is three-and-a-half minutes long has attracted eyeballs in social media because of its heart-warming tale.

The film shows a young teen in a bus looking out of the window, as a voice-over of hers recounts her story. She talks about how her mother wishes her to be a doctor and wouldn’t let her overstay her vacation as she is headed back to boarding school. The girl’s biological parents passed away when she was a young child. And 10 years later, this mother who adopted her is “more friend than mom”, she confesses. Only into the third minute of the ad does the camera reveal her mother-the real-life Gauri Sawant-seated next to her. The ad ends with the mother and daughter emotionally parting ways at the school, and the girl resolving that she would be a lawyer to ensure her mom isn’t denied her rights.

The “Touch of Care” campaign was conceptualised by Publicis Singapore and told in the first person by the orphaned girl Gayatri herself.

Ajay Thrivikraman, chief communication officer, global clients, Publicis Singapore, says, “The Vicks brand has stood for family care in India for over 50 years and ‘care’ is timeless. The campaign shows how people who, though not connected by blood, end up being family through care itself. It celebrates a bond between people who are close to each other beyond biological ties. It strengthens family love and care in the context of Vicks and how Vicks can bring this to life in a contemporary way.”

The campaign has been launched as a digital film on the brand’s YouTube page and on social media. “We set out to celebrate family care. The intent of this campaign is that while care is timeless the definition of family care is ever changing. What we have intended to do in our communication is to celebrate and acknowledge this very fact that wherever there is care there’s family,” adds Thrivikraman.

Ed Booty, chief strategy officer, Publicis Communications (APAC), says: “Great brands don’t just reflect safe and accepted norms, instead they dare to set agendas in culture at large. That is our ambition with this work for Vicks-to give the timeless idea of family care a fresh and contemporary meaning.”

Vicks has always been iconic in relation to the mother-child bond, but with the evolving definition of family the meaning of care has also grown, argues Nitin Darbari, chairman and CEO, P&G Teva JV China, marketing director (Asia, Middle East and Africa) for P&G. “As we thought of stories of love and care in the family Gauri’s story made sense. In the film Gauri is not looked at as a transgender but as an epitome of motherhood showing her love and care towards her daughter,” he adds.

Through the campaign, the brand wanted to build value and thereby ask consumers to recognise that everyone has a right to care and that wherever there is care there is family.

The over-the-counter (OTC) market in India is reportedly worth over Rs 3 billion. In health care, P&G Hygiene and Healthcare Ltd is the market leader in the cough, cold and hay fever segment of OTC products.