The Indian Premier League (cricket) is the best place to interact with male consumers. But how can you stand out from the barrage of brand messages, all clamoring for precious mind-space through associations, sponsorships, TV spots…? The clutter levels during this period called for a differentiated approach.

Research showed that a player’s cap was the best way to garner visibility. Our innovation was to first generate a buzz by promoting the proposition and then reveal the brand name.

For the first week of our campaign we used “Pimple?”, without revealing the brand’s identity. All players wore the RCB Cap with “Pimple?” on it. We also ran a teaser commercial highlighting the proposition.

Then, using Sarfaraz (the youngest member of team), we got Virat Kohli and Shane Watson to reveal the story behind the pimple, establishing how men #hatepimplestoo, thus linking it back to the brand promise.

Phase 1: Curiosity – In a huge gamble, the first stage was entirely unbranded. A single word ‘Pimple?’ was inscribed on the caps of the Royal Challengers Bangalore team. This was supported by:

- a teaser TVC, announced on the YouTube Masthead at the same time as the first match

- TV campaign across 24 channels including 2 live matches

- Key DTH platforms on a time slot right before the live match

All without Himalaya being mentioned!

Phase 2: Reveal Week 2 onwards, ‘Pimple?’ was replaced by the brand logo, thus bringing to life the direct link to the brand. Simultaneously, we had

- a high impact Print Jacket across key markets

- the reveal commercial released cross-screen on YouTube Masthead and on TV across 26 channels

- On ground: seat branding, kiosks and entrance branding

- branding the mirrors in the washrooms

- an aggressive social media activation

- Curiosity Phase - 1.8 Bn impressions across media in just one week

- Reveal Phase - 3.77 Bn impressions across media in the next 5 weeks

- 6.6 Mn video views on YouTube and Facebook

- Top of Mind scores increased from 21% in the curiosity phase to 33% in the second week of the reveal phase

- Usage score increased from 17% to 33% for the same period

- Sales growth rate leaped from 26% in Q1 to 47% in Q2, significantly higher than the category growth rate of 16%

- From 4.8% Market Share in December 2015, double digit market share of 10.3% in June 2016

- 2.5 Million engagements on Facebook

- Trended #2 on Twitter

Hence, Himalaya Men’s Facewash turned into a brand to be reckoned with, in just a single quarter by gaining double digit market share!