Case Study: How Philips Father's Day Campaign leveraged content marketing to engage users

MensXP for Philips Father's Day Campaign presented relatable instances through an 8-minute film, as a part of the Father's Day 2020 campaign

The Philips Father's Day Campaign case study explores how the brand,leveraged relatability & nostalgia through video content on social media platforms to garner of views and create news for Father's Day.

Category Introduction

India is one of the world’s largest youth economy with 35% of the total population in the age bracket of 15-34-years, that comprises 218 Mn men.

The Male Grooming category in India has been growing at a CAGR of 15.7% over the last 4 years and today stands at over INR 2800 Cr (Eur Mn 373). While manual shaving (razors) still accounting for over 61% of the category, the growth of the category is being fuelled by electric grooming.

The men’s electric grooming category consists of

beard solutions like trimmers, OneBlade, clean shave solutions like shavers,

body hair solutions like body groomers, multi-groomers, etc.

Brand Introduction

Philips is one of the most preferred brands in the men’s grooming category, This is, however, space where competition is increasing by the day and making the market cluttered. All well-known brands like MI, Syska, Havells, etc. have started offering similar features making the differentiation very low.

While Philips is a very well trusted brand and scores high on-brand imagery, it does not score very high on an emotional benefit or distinction that the male grooming consumers can cling on to.

Summary

Philips and MensXP collaborated to create a content piece across multi-channel Networks on Father’s Day 2020. The video was released on 20^th June a day before father’s day. The platforms for the video were Facebook, YouTube, and IGTV.

Problem Statement/Objective

Through the father’s day campaign, Philips wanted to co-create content that revolves around the ‘confidence’ space. Philips male grooming needed to come out as an expert that helps a consumer get his perfect look, every single time, and hence, become the source of his confidence that allows him to go out and do his best.

This was to be done in a way where the emotional facets of the father and son relationship can be explored. The entire story was to be based on one key hook which is ‘confidence’ where Philips must fit in as a natural brand/solution.

Brief

The brief given to MensXP was to come up with a concept that has the Father-Son Relationship at its core. The content was supposed to be light-hearted, entertaining, and emotional. The underlying thought of the concept was how a father always instills confidence in his son and pushes him to do the right thing.

Also read: Case Study: How IDBI Bank Father’s Day campaign created social media engagement

Creative Idea

Father’s Then Vs Now :

From helping us walk our first steps to being the silent supporters in all our lives’ ups and downs, fathers are usually like our unsung heroes. It is our fathers who take it upon themselves to give us the tough love we need to be prepared for the life outside. 

In this relatable and heartwarming video, we showcased the story of two father-son pairs across generations, whose lives may on the outside seem very different, but are essentially the same. Through a mix of humorous and emotional instances, the video brought to light the fact that while our fathers may have taken up the role of the ‘tough guy’ in our lives, if we step in their shoes we will realize they only mean good for us and want us to become ready and confident to take on any challenge in the world.

Challenges

Our biggest challenge was to get the various instances/situations right. We had to pick topics that were relatable and that could also convey the message that Father always aims to instill confidence in their sons. We had to make sure that the video had the right mix of humor and emotion.

Execution

MensXP created the video titled 'Father’s Then Vs Now', the 8-minute long video attempts to bring out a contrast between fathers in the 90s to those of today. It also focuses on the core idea that a father always pushes his son to do the right thing.

The video showcased two different eras, the differentiating factors between the eras were - the color, tone, music, the actors (Except the son). The wardrobe and the props used also depicted the different eras.

For the Actors, the brand roped in Aaron Koul, a MensXP talent, along with actors like Sidharth Bhardwaj (of Paatal Lok, Dreamgirl, etc) and Manju Bahuguna (a regional cinema veteran) to play the parents from the 90s. For the current generation, the campaign featured Aaron’s actual father – Arjun Koul play his dad.

All the necessary safety and social distancing measures while shooting the video were undertaken without compromising on the production standards.

Results

Qualitative Results:

The audience showered love for their fathers in the comments section and also shared their personal experiences. Comments on the post had a positive tonality as many users commented about their relations with their fathers being similar to what was being depicted. The user also commented about how fathers are friends and how the video was successful in capturing this bond.

Quantitative Results:

• Total Views: 17.5 Mn Views Cumulative
• Total Engagement: 418.6 k
• Reactions: 364k 
• Shares:  55 k 
• Comments: 3.6 k 

Quotes

Angad Bhatia, Co-Founder & CEO, MensXP said, “Indian Men are starting to care about what they wear and how they groom themselves more than ever before, and they are not stopping just there. At MensXP, we wanted to highlight the pivotal role of fathers both as pillars of strength & confidence, but also as mentors in grooming. To that effect, our video in partnership with Philips helped weave an evocative & relevant story on how fathers groom us for the future.”

“Philips is India's most loved & trusted personal grooming brand for nearly a decade. We have been pioneers in the category & have continuously innovated to delight our consumers. On the occasion of Father's Day, we wanted to celebrate our deep relationship with the modern Indian man. The campaign was very well received and loved by the audience”, said, Gulbahar Taurani, Vice President, Personal Health, Philips Indian Subcontinent.

“The Fathers: Then vs. Now video co-created in partnership with ILN Studios was an attempt to celebrate the new wave of progressive dynamism Indian men are embracing, both in their values and their grooming. Our primary role was to align Philips’ brand ethos of trust and confidence to spark a dialogue that yields real action. Given the heartening response to the video from our target audience, we’re glad to have been a part of this success story,” Anita Kotwani, Carat India, Head, said.