Everyone in India knows Vicks.

First entering the market as a little jar of VapoRub and becoming the no.1 cough and cold relief brand.

Having soothed cough and colds for three generations, the brand is synonymous with ‘Family Care’. For decades Vicks traded on this familiarity in communications; delivering product news wrapped in reassuringly warm and familiar slices of family life.

By 2016, a new generation of progressive Indian Parents had emerged.

Defining themselves against the past, the brand of their childhood was now the last thing they’d choose; instead seeking seemingly more effective and contemporary brands, in a market of over 700 to choose from.

Sentiment towards the brand was in decline, led by these younger consumers.

‘Brand Trust’ hit a low of 56% from a high of 64% that same year.

Consequently after years of marginal growth, Vicks began losing market share.

To reverse this decline, the brand had to reconnect with a new generation of Indians- whose deep familiarity with us had now become our biggest weakness.

Our objective was to reignite their latent affection for the brand.

To reinstate Vicks as a cultural icon- a meaningful part of modern family life and for generations to come.

75 years of brand equity couldn’t (and shouldn’t) be discarded.

Instead, we re-examined ‘Family Care’.

To care (and to seek care) is to be human.

Care is a timeless and universal value- and the care Vicks provided remained unchanged.

Family however, was evolving.

The tight and exclusive bond of family was the traditional bedrock of Indian society. One gene-pool, one name and in one place.

However by 2016, every shift in modern Indian society was challenging this tightknit unit; individualism, urbanisation, pre-marital cohabitation, singles, migrant labour forces, open homosexuality etc.

The essence of family was shifting.

But our brand hadn’t.

No longer did family alone define who you should care for.

Instead conversely, who cares for you (and who you care for) now defines who you see as family.

More-so than just who happens to share your surname.

“Family is where the care is.” was the proposition from the original Creative Brief (attached).

This now gave Vicks a clear role in culture.

From being a passive symbol of nostalgic familial warmth to an active, cohesive force in shaping and reinforcing modern family bonds.

Remaining the champion of ‘Family Care’ but advocating an inclusive new belief about what family is.

The creative opportunity for Vicks was to celebrate the power of care to redefine what family is in modern India.

These weren’t stories we could create.

Families defined by care already existed but were unacknowledged.

Our role was simply to help them tell their own stories with respect and honesty - demonstrating our belief that everyone deserves a Touch of Care.

The first story of care explored the touching relationship of single mother Gauri and her adopted daughter struggling in the face of adversity - because she is transgender.

The next was that of Nisha. An orphan who tells of the importance of care - as one of only 42 special-needs orphans adopted each year in a country of 1.3 billion.

These were not adverts, they were branded documentary content to be discovered and shared exclusively in social media.

The #TouchOfCare fund was also launched to support these causes.

(Although it sounds hyperbolic) the brand once again became a cultural force.

Touch of Care stories proved the platform was highly topical and salient across India (and beyond.)

The first film gained 37 million views, 116 million impressions and the second 31.4 million views and 243.6 million overall reach across channels.

Both stories were picked up by media outlets worldwide (e.g. CNN, NBC), generating a combined PR value of $8m.

This reignited consumers’ relationship with the brand.

‘Trust’ consistently increased from a 2016 low of 56%, reaching a new peak of 74%.

The brand’s growth rate accelerated significantly to 19% YOY sales growth which has been sustained to date. (vs. 4% YOY sales growth prior).

Penetration grew significantly, adding over 6.5MM households for the VaporRub variant alone.

Market share increased to a new high of 49%. As a result of Vicks growing 5% faster than the rest of the category.

Gauri story - In Indian mainstream society, the portrayal of transgender individuals has always been stereotyped, crude and typically used as loud comic relief. In this film, for the first time ever in the country, we portrayed her as simply a mother and human being. This film aired one year prior to the Indian Supreme Court’s recognition of the rights of the third gender.

Nisha story - While India is a modern nation, society is still caught up in time-worn traditions and beliefs. The concept of karma and reincarnation, propagates one such belief – people who are born disabled or bear a disabled child are repaying a karmic debt from a previous lifetime. As this has been ingrained for generations, the disabled have been generally ostracised from society. Special-needs orphans are the most affected, with few people adopting such children. In the past year, only 42 special-needs orphans were adopted.