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
Trump announces $300bn Texas oil refinery with Reliance, calls it the biggest in US history
First new US refinery in 50 years planned at Brownsville port with Reliance
WASHINGTON: The United States may soon see the first brand-new oil refinery built on its soil in half a century.
Donald Trump announced a proposed $300 billion refinery project in Texas, calling it a landmark moment for American energy production and jobs.
Posting on Truth Social on 10 March, Trump said the facility would be built at the Port of Brownsville and developed by a company called America First Refining, with major investment from India’s Reliance Industries.
The announcement frames the project as a centrepiece of the administration’s push for “energy dominance”, with Trump claiming it would deliver thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity to South Texas.
If realised, the plant would mark the first all-new major refinery constructed in the United States since the 1970s. In recent decades, oil companies have largely chosen to expand existing facilities rather than build new ones, citing high costs, regulatory hurdles and environmental scrutiny.
Trump described the proposed investment as the “biggest in US history”, positioning it as proof that policy changes such as streamlined permits and lower taxes are drawing large-scale energy investments back into the country.
The refinery is planned for the Port of Brownsville, a strategic Gulf Coast location that provides easy access to shipping routes and export markets.
A key partner in the project is Reliance Industries, controlled by billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani. The company already runs the world’s largest refining complex in Jamnagar, India, making it one of the most experienced operators in large-scale petroleum processing.
The Texas venture would mark a significant step for the group into America’s domestic refining sector, potentially strengthening industrial ties between the US and India.
The proposed refinery is being promoted as a next-generation facility capable of processing American shale oil while maintaining high environmental standards. Trump said it would be “the cleanest refinery in the world”, although the specific technologies behind that claim have not yet been detailed.
Industry observers also note that the $300 billion figure is unusually large for a refinery project, and analysts are waiting for more clarity on whether the number reflects total construction costs, long-term infrastructure investment, or broader economic impact estimates.
As of 11 March, Reliance Industries had not publicly confirmed the investment size or the structure of its involvement.
For now, the announcement has sparked equal parts excitement and curiosity in energy markets. If the plan moves from promise to pouring concrete, the refinery could reshape the Gulf Coast energy landscape, and reopen a chapter in American refining that has been quiet for nearly fifty years.
