Touch of Care: Vicks

Brief Cases
Touch of Care: Vicks
Vicks Early Years and Current Situation
The total business of Vicks Vapo-rub depends upon the winter season. If there is no winter, there
is no requirement of any product of Vicks. The brand focus on special features, always prove to
be a powerful brand. The value of Vicks brand in world market is ₹3000 crore & it adds 12% value
in health cold business of P&G. In India, every year it earns around ₹170 crore. In 2005 the
company completed its 100 years. Vicks pioneered the farming of Mentha Arvensis in India, and
the manufacture of Menthol, which is the key active ingredient in all Vicks products and because
of which today, India is the largest exporter of menthol in the world.
Vicks is trying to spread the idea of ‘family’ beyond biological bonds in its #TouchOfCare
campaign Created by Publicis Singapore. Vicks – One in a Million #TouchOfCare sends out a strong
message of how every child deserves the touch of care, irrespective of gender, colour or
challenges. The campaign illustrates this with data on the abysmal levels of adoption of children
with special needs. (There are 29,600,000 orphans in India, however, in the past year only 42
children with disabilities found a home.).
Why this campaign?
Vicks as a brand has always been about Touch. You can see even in the historic ad, the mother
applying Vicks VapoRub to the child. It is about taking care because that does half of the job. The
touch of care is really what the brand is all about. The philosophy of the brand is taking care of
people. That is what brings to life the #TouchOfCare campaign. The brand had to break the
shackles of a typical family by going beyond product selling to touch upon selflessness and
universal care that exists outside the orthodox beliefs of Indian social values and structures.
Ajay Thrivikraman is the director of the film. This campaign was designed to connect really well
to the millennials and take vicks beyond being considered merely as a cough & cold medicine.
The campaign is to take the brand beyond just being cough & cold medicine to something that
consumers can think of not only when they are sick.
Ideology of Vicks
Standing by the idea of family care for the longest, the brand through this campaign portrays a
face of progression through their stance of ‘care’ being the ultimate idea of a family, beyond
everything. Being the iconic brand, Vicks maintaining an emotional bond throughout their
advertising journey, has etched their presence in the hearts of their consumer by intensifying the
sentiment of touch and care.
And this philosophy is not to assimilate with the digital age, the idea in fact has been fostering
since the realm of television advertisement, when the brand produced content titled Touch

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Case Study on Digital Campaign
 Touch of Care: Vicks

Therapy and the touch of maternity and now only evolving their ideology with time, the brand
has preserved their crux but developed with content.
Message
The brand’s messaging has always been around the touch of care that leads to decongestion and
feeling of warmth; the storyline has the same effect on the viewer’s discriminatory mindset.
What makes the campaign even more relevant is the current state of LGBT movement in India,
making people to look at the institution of family in a new way; and in the process making the
brand look contemporary.
Social media impact
In a cluster where brands through their wide content in the social-verse are somehow directing
their support for women empowerment, Vicks got a fresh breeze by becoming a voice for the
muted by bringing out the most humane side of this third gender and showing them in a powerful
light instead of pity through their content, which definitely became the prevailing part of the film.
Since, its release on March 29 Vicks Touch Of Care has scored some whooping digits on social
media with 3,024,142 views on YouTube, 1.2 million views on Facebook with 14k reactions and
23k shares along with responses flooded on Twitter too.
Campaign
1. Generations of care
Vicks’ communication is woven around the sentiment that some special bonds transcend
blood-ties. #TouchOfCare spotlights a unique relationship built on care, devoid of age,
economic status, caste/creed and gender. The campaign is a heart-warming real life story
of Gauri Sawant, a transgender who takes on the responsibility of a young girl Gayatri.Her
message, which she repeated several times for emphasis, is that “motherhood is a
behavior. To love someone, to care for someone, that is being a mother.” That message
was a perfect fit for the Vicks brand and its PR agency.

2. One in a million: The second campaign continues to spread the idea that ‘Every Child
Deserves the touch of Care’. Created by Publicis Singapore, the story is a first-person
narrative by Nisha, who was abandoned by her biological parents when she was just two
weeks old. Her life was transformed when she was adopted by Aloma and David Lobo,
who despite having children of their own, gave Nisha a family which showered her with
unconditional love and the #TouchOfCare. The film gracefully captures Nisha’s story as
she sails through the challenges and complexities of life, with her mother and a family at
her side. It beautifully depicts how Nisha, who is an extraordinary girl, leads an ordinary,
regular life – one of hopes, dreams and challenges – and how Aloma has brought her up
in a way that is no different from anyone else.

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Impact on Vicks/P&G
The campaign contributed to an 8% increase in brand recall (particularly impressive because the
Vicks brand is already ubiquitous in India) and a 23% increase in sales. Vicks was named “Brand
of the Year” in India, and has been reaping awards worldwide.
The film went viral within 24 hours of launch. Within 48 hours, with no paid media support, or
promoted views, PR alone generated over 4 million views for the #TouchOfCare film. Major
Indian news

Publications, electronic channels and international media houses have given the film positive
media coverage. Strategic media interviews with Gauri Sawant were organized for audiences to
understand her journey. These stories were shared by publications on their social media
platforms.
Awards and recognition
 Gold at the International Business Awards for Vicks #TouchOfCare for Communications or
PR Campaign of the Year - Marketing - Consumer Products category
 Gold at the International Business Awards for Vicks #TouchOfCare for Communications or
PR Campaign of the Year - Low Budget (Under $10,000 / € 7,000)category
 Gold at IPRCCA for the 'Most innovative use of Social Media' for Vicks #TouchOfCare
 Best Campaign at Laadli Media & Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity for Vicks
#TouchOfCare
 Bronze Lion for Entertainment at Cannes 2017 for Vicks #TouchOfCare
 Bronze at Spikes Asia Film Festival 2017 for Vicks #TouchOfCare
References-
1. https://www.pg.com › en_IN
2. https://vicks.com › en-us
3. https://www.adgully.com
4. https://www.exchange4media.com/advertising-news/grab-the-tissues-vicks-
touchofcare-is-back-with-another-viral-ad-92490.html
5. https://mslgroup.com/work/vicks-touchofcare
6. https://mslgroup.com/work/vicks-touchofcare

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Case Study on Digital Campaign