Who loves hair? People in Vietnam do! The hair category is one of the top three categories for spending in Vietnam advertising.
Yet we had our hair in a tangle as more than seven brands in this category had made communication highly competitive, leaving consumers confused. Sunsilk Shampoo enjoys moderate equity and has always been synonymous with “Soft & Shine” but for young girls in Vietnam, “make hair soft & smooth” has become a commonly owned platform diluting the differentiation.
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Objective
Sunsilk Shampoo wanted to strengthen loyalty among consumers who also flirt with other brands by improving the perception of the functional advantage of Sunsilk “Soft & Smooth”. Increase Loyalty +1%
The Sunsilk young girl (20-28 year-olds) age group are constantly on the move and have a busy life. They are always doing something, working, travelling, chasing many interests in life, going out and wanting to look at their best at all times.
The young Sunsilk girl has a deep sense of national culture and prides herself in being successful on her own terms. She thrives to be well groomed at all times. Having long soft and smooth hair has been an integral part of the identity of this young woman. She ranks her hair as one of the key influencers of her confidence and personality.
Strategy
The growth of the digital and social platform is opening up her world to the Western trends. Being a young stylista, she wants to be constantly in touch with and adapt to new trends. Mobile, with 67% penetration, is a highly preferred medium for them to seek and share updates with their friends. Mobile is her “always-on” ally with favorite activities such as uploading photos, reading daily horoscopes and online socializing with friends- an ABSOLUTE MUST.
Big idea
How could Sunsilk find something credible that could lead to differentiation & strengthen relationship with its consumer in the cluttered category with common brand promises?
During research, we found that the way the girls touch their hair reflects their immediate emotions. When a girl touches her hair, there are many reasons for the way she touches it. Eureka! An idea has been born!
Sunsilk Hair FingerComb language: a visual dictionary that decodes the meaning behind every touch.
Execution
This is the 1st year of our campaign. The first strategic choice was to use mobile as lead medium for the digital campaign. Nearly 34% of the digital budget was invested on mobile. Based on research, the Sunsilk target audience is young and incredibly active on mobile.
Viral Clip
We kicked off the campaign with a little story about a geek who is attracted to a cute girl, but doesn’t understand the HairComb language that she uses to express herself. The short film was broadcasted and promoted on YouTube, Zing TV, and Zing MP3.
Mobile
We knew mobile was important. But how could we reach our audience?
Zalo is the most popular social media chat app in Vietnam. Nearly 67% of our target audience – the Sunsilk girls (i.e 6 million) actively use Zalo to chat with friends and share their selfies and photos every day.
Chibi is a Japanese slang word meaning a short person or a little child. And Chibi drawing makes a cute mini cartoon version of a girl. This has become a trendy activity among Vietnamese girls. When users signed in to Zalo, they simply needed to send their photo to Sunsilk Zalo page via Zalo chat, then our Chibi Maker Tool created a personal Chibi drawing to send back to them based on the photo submitted.
To increase engagement, A Chibi Maker Contest was launched to challenge the youngsters to incorporate their knowledge of Hair FingerComb languages into their Chibi drawings. The most special and lovable Chibis were selected and a Hair FingerComb Language Chibi Sticker Collection was released as a gift to Sunsilk girls on the Zalo Sticker Store via an announcement on our Zalo page, sticky messages and other media channels.
Result
CONTENT:
Hair is a big deal in Vietnam, but we were losing out in a crowded marketplace. How could we regain our position? With so many brands running a promise to “Make hair soft & smooth”, consumers were confused and spoilt for choice.
To stand out on a commonly owned platform of “soft & smooth” and differentiate the brand, Sunsilk Shampoo needed to engage their target audience on their favorite touch points: Mobile and specifically their favorite mobile app – Zalo!
EVALUATION:
Sunsilk girls on Zalo loved Hair FingerComb Language and Sunsilk Chibi!
- And the results said it all:
- Sunsilk became the only FMCG brand to rank on the Top 5 Zalo Page with 100K+ followers.
- A total 67% out of the Sunsilk target audience (6/9mn) on Zalo was reached within 1 month.
- Approximately 2,500 engagements per feed on Sunsilk Zalo Page
- Over 75K photo submissions, 32K Chibi drawings created
- Over 2mn Sticker Downloads, 260K Chibi stickers used per day
- Over 600K Views on YouTube + ZingTV within 1 month.
- Within the campaign period, the brand’s market share increased as well in Top 4 Cities, resulting in 1,108,300 MORE bottles sold!
- The loyalty volume increased by +4.6% in top 4 cities (well above our target of +1%)
- Overall, the campaign contributed to an impressive sales growth of 22% in 2014.
- Already SHORTLISTED in MMA SMARTIES GLOBAL AWARDS 2015 & MMA SMARTIES APAC AWARDS 2015
MARKET IMPACT:
Zalo came to the rescue!
This campaign leveraged the most popular mobile app among the target audience in their favorite language to differentiate the brand in a highly competitive space. This enhanced consumer engagement and built emotional connections with the target audience. Yet understanding of our target audience’s media habit alone does not guarantee success, the right format and language has to be developed in order to build real engagement.
Source: MMA