Inside: BBLUNT #GrowOutChallenge - Homemade Advertising the future?

BBLUNT #GrowOutChallenge is an initiative undertaken courtesy the growing internet trend of cutting hair at home during the lockdown. We dwell deeper to find out how the campaign translates into RoI?

Witnessing a spike in haircuts going wrong, BBLUNT
recently launched a nationwide campaign to help Indians groom their overgrown
hair by undertaking the #GrowOutChallenge. The initiative is aimed at
encouraging consumers to refrain from cutting their hair at home.

Insight
behind #GrowOutChallenge

Due to the lockdown, people have limited or no access to many services, including frequent salon visits for regular haircuts, trims, color touch-ups, and whatnot. Out of many alternatives for these services, one of the most frequently searched queries that people are looking for is DIY haircuts.

With this insight, the objective of the campaign is to encourage consumers to use BBLUNT’s range of care and styling products to maintain a lockdown look instead of taking a risk with a haircut.

The Brief

Schbang, BBLUNT’s digital agency on record, was briefed to keep a watch for challenges that arise in this situation. Challenges that are useful to the brand’s business and can help put forward its products as a solution. The insight of DIY haircuts stood out & the team aimed at keeping the sentiment positive.

Campaign Execution

Narrating the campaign execution bit in the times of COVID and a strict lockdown, Anirban Banerjee, Head Of Global Innovation, BBLUNT, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd shared, “With our digital agency on board, we got a quick video done with Avan Contractor, our Creative Director – who challenged her Bollywood clientele and colleagues to take the challenge. We’ve got content that we create frequently, in a cost-effective manner so using some of those learnings we got DIY videos into play”.

It was also supported by Anushka Mulchandani and Shanaya Sardesai, bloggers the brand closely works with along with other BTown divas. Everyone filmed their videos by themselves keeping them honest and minimal.

 The brand regularly does flat lays and stops motion content with the agency and that also allows it to use a lot of pieces of content when required.

Instagram to the rescue

From creating regular content on Instagram to impart knowledge on how to use a wide range of styling and care products to keep one’s mane looking great to arranging for live sessions with stylists, BBLunt’s Instagram boasts of varied content around hair care, hair styling tips, and growth as a part of the #GrowOutChallenge.

Terming it ‘Homemade advertising’, the brand’s Salon Stylists are using BBLUNT products and creating homemade hair care routines that consumers can easily emulate.

On Instagram, on a daily basis the brand is giving out tips, hacks, and styles via posts and stories to keep the momentum going.

Also Read: Bblunt Social Media Strategy: Understanding content that works

Banerjee highlighted, “Instagram has seen the strongest growth which is more than 50K+ followers organically that we’ve grown by over the last few months.  IGTV, stories, and many more formats allow us to build on the claims – blogger content – and more to build the brand’s visual identity.”

Bollywood celebrities like Dia Mirza, Mrunal Thakur, Tara Sharma Saluja joined the challenge along with industry insiders, Nandini Shrikent, Ruchi Narain, and Natasha Nischol.

The brand has roped in leading influencers with Shalini Samuel, Anushka Mulchandani, and Shanaya Sardesai, taking over BBLUNT’s Instagram handle.

BBLUNT claims to have focussed its communication on DIY hairdos. “This was the right opportunity to encourage that – our YouTube channel is testament to this!”, Banerjee exclaimed.

Meanwhile, BBLUNT.com is a pureplay DTC website, giving effective deals for its products; while it has been active, the brand has been encouraging its users to stock up on essentials.

Re-Working up Distribution Chain

The narrative that BBLUNT is aiming to drive as a premium hair care brand is solution-focused by identifying how BBLUNT can inspire consumers at home and help them get creative with their hair.

“Further, we’re constantly adapting to the evolving scenario and have recently partnered with Dunzo to deliver our products directly to households, personal care being a part of the list of the essential items,” concludes Banerjee.

The brand has activated this in Delhi and Bengaluru and will be soon expanding to other metro cities. On a group level, it is ramping up the production of essential items in line with the government guidelines laid out.