Mumbai: Historically, ‘hair removal’ has been associated with the fairer sex’s aspirations to attain smoother, polished skin, and their willingness to undergo various forms of trials, tribulations and torture in the endeavour. So also, hair removal products and brands through the ages have targeted only women for the longest time. Well, that’s changing with the arrival of the metrosexual male who enjoys grooming, fashion, shopping and other lifestyle characteristics as much as, if not more than, his female counterpart. In fact, what was once considered 'macho' is now simply too 'crude' for this uber-cool and ultra-aware species, who couldn’t be caught dead with unshaved body hair in their armpits! But what would happen if one tried to juxtapose both these old and new worlds by getting a 'traditional' rough ‘n’ tough male known for his rudimentary masculine image to subject himself to this procedure?
Grooming brand Bombay Shaving Company (BSC) did just that, by having veteran actor Shakti Kapoor- known for his over-the-top villainous and comic roles in the Bollywood films of yore - try his hand at the brand’s back and body shaver, Backpro. The result was a 'one for the ages' reveal video, with candid, hilarious confessions to ‘hair-raising’ tales from the inimitable, irreverent-as-ever ‘Crime Master Gogo’ on his lifelong experiences with body hair!
Talking to IndianTelevision.com about the brand’s association with Shakti Kapoor for its latest campaign on Backpro – Back and Body Shavers, BSC COO Deepak Gupta said that the product with its unique offering in the hair removal category demanded “unconventional marketing.” Calling Kapoor an ‘icon of 90’s India,’ Gupta says, “There's an authenticity to his personality and storytelling that's endearing and cuts through the clutter. He also enjoys a very loyal following from a mature male audience. You'll be surprised to know that he's one of the most searched celebrities of his generation.”
Interestingly, Shakti Kapoor has had his own personal journey with body hair, which had quite organically become a part of conversations and imagery in popular culture, Gupta divulges. “So as a brand committed to bringing joy to the mundane act of hair removal, Shakti Kapoor turned out to be quite a spontaneous choice for the campaign.” he says, adding that the campaign has had a fabulous start, notching up over 2.5 lakh organic views in the first three days of launch, and generating considerable buzz on social media.
The brand film features Shakti Kapoor as himself and Atul Parchure as the actor's long-suffering, patient manager. The core campaign and creative strategy were conceptualised in-house by BSC Marketing VP Laalit Lobo and his team. The brand film was directed by Adhiraj Sharma, while Mohak Pajni from the house of Leap of Faith Production was the creative producer behind it.
The brief was to “authentically capture Mr Kapoor's personal journey with body hair and retain his inimitable comic style, in his natural elements and setting,” reveals Gupta. The process involved multiple rounds of discussions with the actor to know him as an individual, separated from the typical narrative. “He was consulted on the script, and gladly agreed to contribute with his inputs,” he shares.
Talking about the brand’s communication and marketing strategy behind the campaign, Gupta shares, “We don’t want to dilute the share ability of this campaign with too much paid media. We’re already seeing wonderful engagement on social media and that will continue.” The TG the brand hopes to target through this campaign is males over the age of 30 living in metros predominantly.
Gupta further adds, “More than selling product, the marketing strategy is to get men talking about their hair removal and grooming choices through clever content marketing and CRM strategies.”
The brand also plans to run this campaign in cinemas as cities begin to open up and introduce the brand to newer audiences with a special focus on Mumbai/Pune - a market where the brand has made inroads with its recent collaboration with Mumbai Indians, and which it is keen to build and nurture for the long term.
Watch the full video featuring Shakti Kapoor and Atul Parchure here:
The brand also shared the backstory of the video while posting it on its social media handle. “We had so much fun co-creating this video with him. Some of the parts of the video are true, some made up; We'll let you solve that mystery. But what's 100 per cent true is that there was never a dull moment during the three months that our team worked with him for this,” it wrote, adding a ‘fun fact’: “Shakti Sir took home the portrait of him that you see in the film after the shoot.”
Kapoor also shared the video on his Instagram handle and the response he received from his fans is remarkable, considering the actor does not technically belong to the “insta-generation,” showing that good content needs little else in the form of validation.
