Brands
Will never look at rebranding Vicks: P&G India
MUMBAI: Nearly all of us remember the Vicks ad that went viral last year featuring transgender social worker Gauri Sawant and her daughter Gayatri. The ad touched and moved many. In the second phase of the campaign, Vicks has launched a new digital campaign for its #TouchOfCare brand proposition.
‘One in a Million’ is yet another inspiring story, this time of Nisha, a young girl who has Ichthyosis, a genetic skin condition. The transformation of Nisha due to the love and care provided by her adoptive parents Aloma and David Lobo, forms the crux of this digital video.
Created by Publicis Singapore, the story is a first-person narrative by Nisha, an orphaned girl with Ichthyosis who was abandoned by her biological parents when she was just two weeks old.
Ever since the company launched its first digital movie in 2017, people have been curious and anticipating #TouchOfCare to turn into a series and a long term campaign. Though the multinational corporation did not see the campaign becoming this big and receiving the response that it did, P&G Healthcare regional associate brand director for Asia Maithreyi Jagannathan said that the objective of the campaign was to drive on the equity of the brand and make it beyond just a cough and cold brand so that people don’t think of P&G only when they are sick.
2017 Vicks #TouchOfCare ad:
The new digital campaign is another example of cause marketing that seems to be the recent trend in the industry. Nearly everyone wants to associate with a cause and showcase that in their advertisement. It may often become a challenge for a marketer to distinguish the media spends between cause driven campaign and functionality driven campaign. P&G however seems to have it sorted as Maithreyi confirms that while this is more of a creative campaign, the company will continue to use its functional campaigns on all media platforms.
The Gauri Sawant film went massively viral on digital as it was a digital-first campaign and only after the team saw the phenomenal response it received, it decided to leverage other traditional mediums to promote the campaign. Similarly, for this second phase of the campaign, while it has kicked off with digital, as and when the campaign grows bigger, it will use a mix of television and print to reach the masses.
Content driven marketing is becoming larger by the day and P&G does not want to be left out on it. Mentioning that it has to be a balance between data driven content and functional advertising, Vicks India country marketing manager Ritu Mittal added, “Content driven marketing is a lot more data driven today because the clear objective is that you need more people to see it. Nobody will share functional advertisement on their social media but thousands will share a powerful content.”
2018 Vicks #TouchOfCare ad:
Vicks has been around for over a decade and many may see the brand as a grandmother brand that the Gen-Z may not completely resonate with. So much so that the formulation for Vicks hasn’t changed in the last 128 years. So, is there a dire need for brand Vicks to reinvent itself? P&G clearly doesn’t seem to think so. Mittal said, “You change the brand positioning only when the brand is not working and Vicks has been doing great numbers for us and so we don’t need to rebrand the product.”
Whether the decision to stick to the traditional form of Vicks works for or against the brand, only time will tell. But maybe the #TouchOfCare campaign was indeed a saviour for the company to get the millennials’ eyeballs as they are all about cause buying.
Brands
YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
