From grooming to guiding – How Philips is inspiring India’s youth

The increasing use and exposure to social media has led youngsters and millennials alike to face a lot of pressure to fit in according to societal standards. This is affecting their entire well-being. The fear of constantly being judged has an effect on one’s performance and life. To highlight the fact that the only score that matters is the one you give yourself, Philips India has launched their ‘#TenOnTenYou’ campaign with Virat Kohli, Philips’ male grooming brand ambassador. The campaign focuses on the constant battle of being judged by society and how today’s millennials can be helped to shape their true selves to the best of their ability. The campaign debuted in conjunction with Philips’ unveiling of the BT3000 series, a personalised experience innovation solution.

The Philips ad film follows Virat Kohli on a journey – from the stadium to his home, depicting a day in his life. The purpose of this film is to show how people around him are continually judging him, which is demonstrated through the use of several scorecards. You are under constant surveillance, whether you are on the field, winning a national competition, at home, or simply driving up to a location. This is likely to make you anxious and damage your mental health. The film also highlights Philips BT3000’s revolutionary Power Adapt Sensor product offering, which shows that no matter what occurs in life, there is always a way to adapt.

In conversation with Adgully,Vidyut Kaul, Head, Personal Health, Philips Indian subcontinent, said, “Youngsters today face a lot of pressure. The pressure either makes you por breaks you”. He elaborates on how Philips’ ‘#TenOnTenYou’ campaign intends to provide the much needed succor to India’s youth. Excerpts:

What is the idea behind the latest campaign – #TenOnTenYou?

When we work on any category – in this case men’s grooming – we go into the details of consumer needs and unmet needs, and #TenOnTenYou is a concept which actually came out of the needs of the consumers or in a way what consumers of today – the youngsters, the teenagers, the future Indian businessmen, aspirants – would feel today. The youngsters feel they are being judged in one or the other aspect of their life, whether it is their studies where they feel judged by their peers, whether it’s the way they dress. In fact, the judgement is at an all time high and thanks to the way social media is today. sometimes these youngsters are putting themselves even out there, whether it is to get those likes, or whether to get a reaction from their friends and their family. But they end up getting judged and that’s the reality of life today.

This generation today has that pressure, which fortunately we did not have to go through. But sometimes individuals crumble under that pressure, especially when they in the teenage stage. The pressure either makes you or breaks you. I think this is where #TenOnTenYou comes from. As a brand, we aspire to not dictate to any consumer what they should do, how they should do. We believe in being a partner, a friend for all the consumers. Therefore, the categories where we play in, we see a change in role. It is more of empowering consumers with the right solutions and technology that enables them to decide what is the right thing for them, so that they feel confident to face the world. That’s the whole idea behind #TenOnTenYou. While the world is judging you, is being harsh on you, the only one that should be judging yourself is your own self. You can be your best judge and your best critic. So, believe in yourself – that’s the concept of #TenOnTenYou.

Why rope in Virat Kohli as the brand ambassador for the campaign? How is he the perfect brand fit?

Virat Kohli has been the face of Philips men’s grooming for quite a number of years. But when we were thinking about in the current context of things, how many ambassadors around in India today do we find who are not only self made, but who fell, who faced so much criticism right throughout their lives, the way they were growing up? Virat came to the fore. I think his is a success story like many others, but his story stands out from the fact that he was always there in the limelight for being that aggressive captain, aggressive player on the field. But that’s his personality.

He has made such a big name for himself and he kind of fits with the TenOnTenYou concept even today. It was kind enough of him to agree. In the creative, too, you see that he is not having the best of the run of forms and obviously everybody is judging him. He makes one post on social media, there are hundreds of comments and people are advising him what to do and what not to do. People don’t stop judging even somebody who is a legend in his own rights. He is a world class player. He is captain. He has been the captain of Indian cricket team, has scored thousands of runs across the world. And here we are. Somebody goes through a lean phase and is not in the prime of his form today, and people don’t leave even somebody like him.

So, for us it was the perfect example, because he has that aspirational face for the young Indian boys. There are many people who aspire to be him. And I think it is important to look at not just the success of an individual, but also the failures one has to go through and the challenges one has to go through. And Virat believes in himself, like we believe in him. So, he was a perfect match for the TenOnTenYou idea that we want to bring forward.

What impact does the campaign aim to make on society and how does it complement the current situation in India?

I think there are two answers to the question: the first one is about what do we want to achieve? What’s the narrative we want to build? Again, as a brand, we don’t want to be dictating what good looks are. What looks good for me might be very different from what looks good on the other person. So, the idea of TenOnTenYou is to inspire youngsters, to enable them to feel confident in their own skin, to make their own choices. We want to be a partner or friend who goes and puts their hand on your shoulder and says it’s okay. You will have your good days. You will have your bad days but it’s okay. It’s okay to be you. We enable you to be your best you. That’s the larger conversation we would have.

The second part of the answer is we want to have that conversation with teenagers today. Because what we are seeing is this generation is really isolated. Unfortunately, Covid also played a part in it. The way the society has shaped up in the last decade, that has also got a big role to play in it. There’s a lot of pressure today on the teenagers, especially growing up. And as I said, pressure can either make you or break you. That’s an important conversation that we want to have. Today’s teenagers are more depressed than they were ever before. The pressure of performing – whether it is in studies or in life – is immense. As a brand, we want to tell them that it’s okay, life will anyway throw challenges at you, but you can let loose and be yourself.

We want to be a brand who one way or the other helps and guides the youngsters, the teenagers who are the future of the country. This is a phase and this will pass. What we can do as a brand is to give you tools, products, solutions and even cater to conversations that will allow you to feel good about yourself. Don’t worry about what the rest of the world thinks. You should only worry about what you think of yourself.

What has changed in terms of growth after two years of the pandemic?

As a brand, we are doing well, and have been serving communities and individuals even during the last two years of the pandemic, when all the salons were shut. We have products and solutions that enabled consumers to manage their personal care while confined to their homes. Even as salons were shut, people still had to look properly groomed for the numerous team calls virtually. So, we have played an active part there, whether it was a trim at home with the Virat concept, which we started a couple of years back.

We are happy to have added a lot of new consumers in the last couple of years. An added responsibility has come upon us as we have entered new homes, got new consumers. The question now is how do we enable those consumers to get even more active in their personal care routines? That is something which has changed and it only makes the job a level tougher, because we have been quite active during the last couple of years of the pandemic.