Lloyd goes 'unisex' to bust gender myths around washing machines

RK Swamy BBDO's campaign to introduce Lloyd Washing Machines takes on the deep-rooted belief in India that household chores primarily fall under women's domain

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | July 20, 2015

Click on the image to watch TVC.

Can a washing machine be unisex or gender-specific? Do the existing washing machines fall in the 'ladies only' category? What makes a brand call its washing machines unisex? These are the kind of questions that come to one's mind when told that Lloyd has introduced India's first 'unisex washing machines'.

RK Swamy BBDO, New Delhi, Lloyd's communication partners, has churned out a campaign to announce the entry of the brand in the washing machine category. The 360-degree campaign, released in mid-July, positions Lloyd Washing Machines as 'unisex' machines.

The campaign is based on an insight which is quite deep-rooted, especially in India – that household chores like cleaning and washing primarily fall under women's domain. However, the modern urban women do not appreciate this mindset, given the fact that a lot of them have a busy professional life now and there is no specific logical reason to justify why only women should be held responsible for such mundane chores.

This insight has attracted the attention of quite a few marketers of late. But with this campaign, team RK Swamy BBDO has gone a step further and actually attempted to create an altogether new sub-category of washing machines by calling them unisex.

Consumers recognise Lloyd more as an air-conditioner brand. So, it was imperative to ensure that consumers sit up and take notice of the brand's entry into a new category. Team RK Swamy BBDO believed that a communication hinging on conventional promises like “we wash your clothes the best” may not be enough to make a dent, especially when consumers have been exposed to a deluge of technology/ feature-led communication in this category.

Sunil Kukreti, Senior Partner, RK Swamy BBDO, elaborated, “The idea was to build a connect with the women by flagging the issue of men totally abdicating their contribution in washing clothes. Now Lloyd Washing Machines have made washing so easy that men will have no excuse but to lend a helping hand. The coinage of 'Unisex' washing machines will reinforce the message that women want men to help out.”

The need was to connect with them at an emotional level. Hence it was decided to touch upon the subject in a way that almost all women would relate to it. Ankur Suman, Senior Brand Design Director, RK Swamy BBDO, said, “The tonality of the communication had to be anything but preachy. By calling our machines Unisex, we have declared our intent and message loud and clear, without being too emotional about it. Women will love the way the brand has delivered its message.”

The centerpiece of the campaign is a bilingual TVC, which depicts a real life scenario where a couple has gone to a multi-brand store to buy a washing machine. A salesman approaches the husband and offers him to show washing machines. But the husband asks the salesman to show them to his wife since washing clothes is “her department”.

This seemingly innocuous remark hurts the wife. She asks the salesman whether they have any Unisex Washing Machine. The question sounds odd and an embarrassed husband tries to explain that every machine can wash both men's and women's clothes. That's when the wife reveals the sarcasm in her question and says that since the husband never showed any interest in washing clothes, she thought their existing machine is a 'Ladies Only' machine! So now she wants a machine which cannot be labelled as ladies' department – “Jise chalaana sirf ladies ka department na ho!” That's when the salesman introduces the couple to Lloyd Washing Machines with advanced features that make washing so easy that even men can do it. The husband gets the point and happily goes for a Lloyd Washing Machine. The TVC has been given a very realistic treatment, deliberately refraining from the typical glamourised, CG-generated product window.

The campaign has been extended to various media – print, digital, outdoor, on-ground activation and in-store promotions.

The TVC:

https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/

Credits:

Client / Brand Name: Lloyd

Creative agency: RK Swamy BBDO, New Delhi

Agency Head: Sunil Kukreti

Creative Team: Ankur Suman, Rashmi Ambastha, Pankaj Bora, Ajmer Pratap Singh, Deepti Duggal

Client Servicing Team: Gagan Sharma, Manish Kumar

Client Team: Nipun Singhal, Atul Seth

Director: Ruchi Narain

Production House: R.A.T Films (Ashutosh Shah, Taher Mithaiwala)

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