Dabur Vatika’s emotional ad campaign titled #BraveandBeautiful helps pave the path to the Company’s journey towards becoming a young, vibrant, socially conscious organisation. The campaign was conceptualised by Linen Lintas. The short ad film takes a look into the life of a cancer survivor and the challenges faced by them, especially those pertaining to self image. The campaign won Gold at Goa Fest for Digital Direct Response & Grand Prix for the same campaign.

The ad film shows a young wife and mother, who is a Cancer survivor, who is trying to get things back to ‘normal’ life post her cancer treatment.

As a personal care brand that has been catering to women’s needs over many decades, Dabur Vatika, a common Indian household name, is synonymous to natural hair care. But with the Indian consumer constantly evolving, competing with other modern players in the category there was a need to connect with the audience on a deeper level and go beyond the superficial.

While the other brands still focused on shine, gloss, imagery and there by sticking to the chemical space, Dabur Vatika bolstered its position as a natural solution provider by breaking the stereotype of beautiful hair. The brand took a bold stance to say that “some women don’t need hair to look beautiful”, which other brands would definitely stay away from. The campaign created a buzz on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. 

Krishan Kumar Chutani, CMO, Dabur India told Campaign India, “It takes a great deal of confidence and inner strength to face the world all over again. This campaign seeks to identify and present stories of such brave women who can inspire millions more who are fighting this dreadful disease today. It conveys that ‘Beauty is not skin deep’.”

Jaideep Mahajan, ECD, Linen Lintas told Campaign India, “The campaign is path-breaking in the sense that for the first time a brand is talking not about the ordeal of Cancer but about the reboot of life post that. It’s not about one’s fight with the disease but with yourself when you have already defeated your biggest enemy. The biggest connect between the brand and the cause is ‘hair’, or actually the absence of them. #BraveandBeautiful aptly captures the core thought of the campaign and does the task of getting the brand and the cause on the same platform.”

The campaign first started on TV and was followed by organic sharing on all Digital mediums (Facebook/Microiste/Twitter/YouTube). The Company asked people to share the stories of cancer survivors around them and received thousands of such stories. YouTube was used for additional reach-views, which was supplemented with Print / hoardings. The Company had a toll free number to take it on mobile, The real life stories collected from people was complied in to a coffee table book. Also Brave&Beautiful Ambassadors were felicitated through an onground event.

When asked about the thought process behind the campaign, the Company said, “In India, cancer survivors are hesitant to face the world post chemo. Mere meaning of beauty has always been associated with thick long black hair, hence losing hair & being bald is a big concern for women who fight cancer. There is a constant battle which she puts up not only with chemo but also with the world outside to be accepted without hair.

While other hair care brands have maintained how hair makes a woman beautiful catering to conversations around hair fashion, style, strength etc, the hard fact is that a lot of women, who have undergone chemotherapy, not just lose their hair but also end up with erosion in self-esteem. Vatika as known hair care brand took this initiative to salute women, who are truly beautiful because they are brave and have defeated cancer.

With this campaign, the task at hand was to identify and present stories of such brave women who can inspire millions more who are fighting this dreadful disease today. The bigger thought was to make these women comfortable and accepted in the society as ‘Beauty is not skin deep’.”

According to the Company, they were intially apprehensive about how many people would come forth and share a personal story. But the campaign cut through and got people to open up. And this is how people reacted – it stirred something inside, some just watched, some listened, some liked, and numerous cancer survivors shared heart-warming survival stories that can inspire many.

The objective of the campaign was to stand for a socially relevant cause and making a difference in people’s lives. In India, cancer survivors find it difficult to get socially accepted. Losing hair and being bald due to chemo is considered a big taboo. The BraveAndBeatiful campaign was aimed at creating awareness about this stigma and helping change people’s mindset so that a cancer survivor can be comfortable just the way she is.

The ROI on the campaign:-

1. Awareness around this taboo being the main objective, the overall campaign reach and impressions would measure the success
2. Engagement with the brand, positive tone of voice and survival stories shared would reflect how well cancer survivors connected with the campaign and believed in themselves
3. Reaction of the people on the product launched and testimonials received from the same
4. The product is so mild, dermatologically test, contains no harmful chemicals (No Sulphate and No Paraben. Hence can be used on sensitive hair and scalp

Some facts:-

•      FB Lifetime post reach: 99,25,851

•      FB Lifetime impressions: 1,48,23,701

•      The film on the brand YouTube channel went viral with a lifetime views of 2,338,801 and a reach of 5,506,194

•      100262 people supported the cause on the website

•      The campaign got a lot of organic traction

•      Both the below mentioned #tag trended on twitter

#braveandbeautiful hashtag for event 1 -

•      11702 tweets

•      78,218,772 impressions

•      8751094 reach

#tufaulaadhai  hashtag for event 2 -

•      13225 tweets

•      94,667,2019 impressions

•      9805779 reach

The engagement with the consumers was in the from of sharing stories, receiving info about myths and facts around cancer, show their support, downloading the TVC jingle, sending a e-greeting to support the cancer survivor they know.