The archive · Advertising · Marketing decision · 2017–2018
Vicks 'Touch of Care' tells a transgender mother's story to modernize a 128-year-old brand
Vicks India told the true story of a transgender mother raising her adopted daughter — a product-free film that reframed 'care', went viral and won Spikes.
Vicks (Procter & Gamble) · Publicis Singapore
What it had to solve
Vicks was trusted but 'out of sight, out of mind': bought during colds, stored in a cabinet, perceived as an old person's brand. Product innovation wasn't available for a 128-year-old heritage brand, so P&G and Publicis Singapore turned to culture and real stories to make Vicks top-of-mind again.
How it works
In late March 2017, Vicks India released a nearly four-minute digital film called 'Touch of Care' that never mentions the product. A teenage girl, Gayatri, narrates on a bus ride to boarding school how her mother was thrown out of her own home, later took in the orphaned Gayatri and raised her while dreaming she would become a doctor. Only in the closing scene is the mother revealed: she is Gauri Sawant, a Mumbai transgender-rights activist — and she plays herself.
The insight behind the campaign, presented by P&G and Publicis Singapore at Spikes Asia 2018, was that 'family' is no longer defined by blood ties. Vicks, trusted but tucked into a cabinet and dismissed as an old person's brand, had no product-innovation route, so the team turned to real stories. 'We couldn't make up these stories even if we tried,' said Publicis Singapore's CCO Ajay Vikram.
The response was immediate: roughly nine million YouTube views within weeks, two million more on Facebook, and a national conversation about motherhood, adoption and transgender rights — 'motherhood has no gender' was repeated across social media. P&G said the goal was to start a conversation and celebrate changing definitions of family; at Spikes Asia 2018 it reported year-on-year sales growth and a priming effect on category growth, all with deliberately low media investment.
Why it lands
- The brand bet on a real, risky human story instead of product claims — and the risk generated the sharing.
- Casting Gauri Sawant as the healer reframed the brand's own territory: care has no gender.
- Long-form, product-free storytelling made a 128-year-old heritage brand feel modern and culturally engaged.
- Low media investment plus earned conversation showed that a daring idea can outwork a media budget.
What it did
Within weeks the film had roughly nine million YouTube views and two million more on Facebook, and NPR called it 'the talk of India.' At Spikes Asia 2018, P&G reported year-on-year sales growth, a 'priming' effect on category growth and strong sharing achieved with minimal media spend — and the work won a string of awards including Spikes.
What you can take
When a brand has no innovation runway, culture is the product: anchoring Vicks in a real, underserved human story made 'care' modern again — the boldest subject matter drove the strongest sharing.
Since then
Touch of Care became a series: a 2018 Philippines film about a man discovering his nurturing side and later 'One in a Million' about a girl with a skin condition ran under the same banner. The work helped shift Vicks' brand image, earned a shelf of awards including Spikes, and remains a reference point for purpose-driven advertising in Asia.
Sources
- How 'Touch of care' solved Vicks' invisibility issue
- Vicks' #TouchOfCare video is not just an ad, it's a storytelling wonder
- 'Mummy' Is Transgender: A New Commercial Is The Talk Of India
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe the brief you are staring at, and see who has been given the same problem.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card