Category: Best non-fiction program, series or film where a client has successfully created a reality, documentary or light entertainment show around a product(s) or brand(s)
Advertiser: HINDUSTAN UNILEVER
Product/Service: FMCG
Agency: MINDSHARE
Senior Director: Chantal Norton (Mindshare)
Director: Prerna Malhotra (Mindshare)
Partner: Vinay Hegde (Mindshare)
Manager: Rama Mahadevan (Mindshare)
Partner: Devendra Deshpande (Mindshare)
Manager: Punit Dawda (Mindshare)
Senior Director: Suresh Naik (Mindshare)
Media placement: TV Campaign - Gemini TV - 27th April 2011
Media placement: Print - Eenadu, Saakshi - 26th March 2011
Media placement: Radio - Red FM, Big FM - 26th March 2011
Campaign Description
Background: LUX toilet soap is the leading soap brand in India. Driven by strong association with Bollywood (Hindi film industry) film stars, LUX is synonymous to beauty & glamour in India.
While LUX’s Bollywood glamour divas worked across diversified India, the brand was losing relevance & appeal in Andhra Pradesh (AP, a South Indian state). AP is also the third largest contributor to national soap sales. Local competition was challenging LUX’s market leadership with its strong south Indian credentials in AP.
The objective was to re-establish LUX as the leading beauty soap by strengthening its beauty & glamour equity in AP.
India is a dynamic country housing 28 states, with more than 22 official languages. 2 common passion points bind the nation – Cricket & Movies. While cricket is a national sport, regional movies in South India score higher than the Bollywood movies.
Tollywood (AP’s local film industry) is second largest in India, releasing around 200 films a year. Local movie stars have huge fan following and are treated like Demigods.
Insight: While Tollywood has lot of local male heroes, the female leads are from other states. Due to the close proximity of states and languages, migration of film stars is easy. However, the AP localities are loyal only to their home-grown stars. Not being from the same state, the heroines do not enjoy similar fan following from the locals.
Effectiveness
The strategy was brought to life with 2 important tie-ups:
- Partnership with Gemini TV – AP’s leading TV channel was used to reach out to AP’s consumers. Co-created content was launched on the channel’s best performing slot, while the IP rights are owned by the brand and the media agency.
- Partnership with AP’s leading film production house – MB Corporation was used to launch the LUX Dream girl winner in a movie opposite AP’s leading hero, giving AP its own female superstar!
To reinforce LUX’s equity in glamour and beauty & help drive brand affinity in AP, LUX Dream girl hunt was launched:
Discover: leading local film stars announced call for entry communication on TV, Print, Radio, Outdoor & Digital, helping LUX build buzz & credibility in the traditional market. On-ground activations in colleges and coffee shops also invited participation.
Involve: Despite being the ‘first time ever’, to our surprise 50,000 entries were received in less than 2 weeks. Friends recommended friends on specially created IVRS making the hunt viral.
Act: 12 girls were shortlisted by Tollywood industry stalwarts including actors, producers, cinematographers & choreographers based on on-ground auditions. The girls were groomed, trained and judged on key LUX attributes such as glamour, confidence, courage, beauty, acting and dancing. Each of the girls was made to live the LUX philosophy of ‘behave beautiful’.
Share: The winner, LUX Dream girl was not only the local LUX ambassador, but was also offered lead role in a movie opposite state’s leading male actor, Vishnu Manchu, making her a real superstar!
The hunt was packaged into 16-part biweekly reality show & telecasted on AP’s leading TV channel, Gemini TV.
3m viewers celebrated and cheered the arrival of LUX Dream girl, the new Tollywood superstar!
Implementation
Opportunity: Keeping the above insight in mind, what if LUX, the brand associated with beauty & glamour, used this opportunity to give AP its own female superstar? This would give LUX the opportunity to associate itself with young girls who are its target audience and more importantly enhance its beauty & glamour credentials in AP.
Strategy: LUX Dream girl, hunt for AP’s first female superstar.
Associating with the best in the film industry, LUX reinvented the wheel moving from using existing superstars to creating a superstar.
For the first time LUX not only created a local ambassador, but also gave a normal girl an opportunity to live the life of a superstar not for a day but for a life.
Outcome
(Source:Nielsen, REPUCOM, IPSOS)
- LUX’s association with beauty & glamour scored 97%, in an independent study conducted amongst Dream girl programme viewers
- LUX’s spontaneous brand awareness increased from 60% to 74%
- ‘Consideration’ (“The only brand I would consider”) for LUX increased from 19% to 27%, increase of 42%
- IP rights for co-created channel content are owned by the brand & the agency
- $1.1m of earned media on an investment of $656,000, giving us ROI of 165%
- LUX created history elevating from using existing superstars to creating a superstar
- The success gave us the client’s nod to upscale the hunt for the next superstar across India