“Nine years ago, 75% of men felt that laundry was just a woman’s job. Today, that number has gone down to below 30%,” said Mukta Maheshwari, Chief Marketing Officer, P&G India, and Vice President - Fabric Care, P&G Indian subcontinent, as she engaged in a chat with exchange4media over the brand’s recently launched Ariel Share The Load campaign’s 9th edition. “And that initially made all of us feel very good. But there was more to think about,” she added.
Maheshwari highlighted that while there is a move towards more men sharing the physical burden at home, the mental load still goes unnoticed. “About 20% of our workforce is women. In India, it is growing at 8%. These women need to feel they have a strong home team so they can contribute fully and not give up opportunities to seek fulfilment and drive change when they step out of their homes.”
In the latest film 'HomeTeams #ShareTheLoad', the brand has introduced the notion of fostering a team dynamic within the household, reiterating household chores as a collective responsibility. A new study by an independent third party, commissioned by Ariel, revealed that three out of every four women (75%*) find it difficult to mentally disengage from household responsibilities. This imbalance not only undermines their health, relationships and their overall well-being but also poses a significant obstacle to their career advancement.
“57% of women give up work-related opportunities for growth because they are more concerned about what's happening in the home,” added Josy Paul, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, BBDO India. “So, we said, maybe here's a chance for us to step in and make a difference because that's what is not being spoken about.”
The Ideation
The film’s story follows Aisha, a professional balancing her career and home responsibilities. When offered a work trip to Singapore, Aisha's apprehension stems from concerns about her 'team's' ability to manage without her. Like a lot of women, she does not want to highlight the main reason of her partner’s incapability to take on the responsibility of the household in her absence. The “team” in this case that she was referring to was the ‘team at home’.
Aisha's boss nudges her to leverage her “Home Team” just as effectively as she does her work teams, emphasising the potential for achieving larger objectives than she could manage alone.
This underscores the profound influence of teamwork in both personal and professional realms. While some men serve as catalysts for change, others may need just a gentle push.
In the film, the husband’s realisation is sparked by simply overhearing a conversation between Aisha and her boss about her apprehension to go to Singapore and how the team back at her home will manage in her absence. The realisation in him highlights how small moments can lead to significant shifts in perspective. It's a testament to men who just need a nudge to genuinely aspire to be equal partners but may be hindered by societal conditioning or a lack of awareness.
Speaking of the creative process that birthed the film, Paul said, “Before you start ideating for the film, you start discussing what should be the theme, what is the subject and what is the context. I have said this before, content is king, but context is King Kong. And we always seek the context because that allows the content to rise because everyone can create content, but not everyone can capture the moment.”
The BBDO and P&G teams joined hands to capture the moment, by listening to all partners. “Especially the team at P&G, we do these joint sessions, which are fascinating because they're very human. They're not just about data points. And in the process, you get six, seven, eight possibilities of what has not been said in society, but exists and could make a difference,” Paul further shared. The entire creative process, according to him, is a mix of science, heart and ears because one needs to listen before concluding.
Maheshwari chimed in from a client standpoint, mentioning that it is born out of a very unconventional client-agency relationship where both are one team. “The focus is to get to that unspoken truth, the high-impact unspoken truth,” she added.
The Impact - A story from Mukta Maheshwari’s life
It is one thing to quantitatively assess the performance of a campaign. But the entire reason to engage in purpose driven advertising today is to bring a change and make an impact. Basically, it is all about the qualitative aspect. But how do you measure how much of an impact the campaign created?
Maheshwari considers herself as an example, when it comes to the change that ‘Share The Load’ has been driving. “I was living in Singapore. I was in the process of moving and taking on this job meant committing to about a one-year of travel between Singapore, where my two young kids live with my husband and I have a six-year-old and eleven-year-old,” she shared. To her, it would have been a near-impossible decision, probably a decade ago.
“But given the conversations that brands like Ariel have brought in, it brought that conversation to our home. And both I and my husband were able to have very open conversations where he is proactively telling me that it's a great opportunity, take it,” Maheshwari added. Additionally, as a side effect, she even saw kids getting so much closer to her husband because he was spending so much more time.
“So I feel very passionate about it because I've seen this driving conversation in my household, leading to me feeling a lot more fulfilled, my relationship is so much stronger and my overall family is becoming such a close-knit family,” she said.
The Distribution
Share The Load campaign has always been a high decibel campaign, tapping across all relevant media to reach its consumers. This year is no different.
“The media mix will involve ensuring that we can talk to the cohort that we have, which is a very broad cohort. It will involve cinema, OOH, social, television and digital. Digital is a very important part of this campaign because it allows for a two-way conversation like no other media,” Maheshwari mentioned.
Within digital, the likes of YouTube and Instagram will play an important role in the distribution of the campaign.
