How brands used influencers to celebrate International Men's Day

The marketing fraternity has understood that meaningful purpose is the key to a consumer’s heart. Consumers want to know the functionality of products in ads and expect brands to bring a meaningful change in the world through purpose-driven marketing strategy.

There are festivals or occasions such as Women’s Day, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day and Daughter’s Day, which give brands an opportunity to create something that is purpose-driven and not just talk about themselves.

On the same line of thought, this year, a lot of brands attempted to make International Men’s Day more special by making the communication revolve more around showcasing the emotional side of men. Men are not just supposed to be macho all the time and hide emotions.

Content marketing and branded content have an important role in driving cause and purpose-led communication strategies. A huge role in doing so is played by celebrities and influencers who join hands with the brands to act as a mediator to communicate the message. These people have a huge influence on their respective set of loyal consumers, who follow them on social media.

This year for International Men’s Day, the brands went for mostly male influencers from different fields such as actors, dancers and bloggers who cover a large number of people, mostly the youth, for their respective campaigns.

BuzzInContent and Sheeko have compiled a list of campaigns that celebrated International Men’s Day through influencer-led purpose-driven marketing.

The Man Company: #GentleMenInYou

The men’s grooming brand got an upper hand over its competitors this International Men’s Day by launching its campaign much before the others—helping it stand out in the clutter and get noticed.

As the brand ambassador of men’s grooming essentials brand The Man Company (TMC), Ayushmaan Khurana was seen delivering a heartfelt poem against gender stereotyping, urging viewers to recognise the gentleman in their lives. The campaign garnered more than six million views on Instagram.

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Last year also, The Man Company was able to ignite a lot of stir with its campaign on International Men’s Day ‘for the #Gentlemaninyou’. The campaign received support from celebrities and influencers, including Rajkumar Rao, Bani Judge, Maithili Parkar, Abhinav Mathur and Shanmu.

Sheeko Brandscore graph for The Man Company reach on Instagram:

Gillette: #ShavingStereotypes & #ManEnough

Gillette has been continuously challenging stereotypes about men, most recently with its #BarbershopGirls campaign. In its latest campaign on #ShavingStereotypes launched around Men’s Day, Gillette asks a question — Why don’t men show their tears? The brand has challenged the enduring stereotype on why men are taught to not show their vulnerability, not to show their emotions and not to cry because it makes them weak. Through a heartfelt story of Lt Col Manoj Kumar Sinha, SM (Retd), Gillette, with its second edition of #ShavingStereotypes, says that it is okay for men to cry. Men expressing vulnerability through tears is being #ManEnough, the campaign says.

The brand has launched a film as part of the campaign and brought on board several influencers to promote the campaign. The brand has also utilised radio and newspaper to promote it.

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The campaign has reached more than 21 million people on Instagram.

Sheeko Brandscore graph on Gillette’s campaign reach on Instagram:

Celio: #MenMeanMore campaign

The clothing brand, in its #MenMeanMore campaign, brought on board men influencers who talked about their other side of life besides what they are doing professionally. The brand urged men to talk about their hobbies, qualities and aspects of life other than what they usually do.

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With an estimated media value of Rs 20-30 lakh, the brand reached out to more than 16 million people.

Sheeko Brandscore graph for Celio’s reach on Instagram:

Indian Terrain: #TheDayMenForgot

International Men's Day is celebrated on November 19 every year to spread awareness on issues men quietly face on a global scale. However, unlike Women’s Day, no special celebrations are held on this day. Further, most men are unaware of the day. Through this campaign, Indian Terrain engaged with its primary target group of men to find out how many men remembered the day dedicated to them. The brand created an organic buzz by engaging with its customers through social media wherein it encouraged men to talk about their proud moments. This resulted in good engagement with the brand’s followers. Indian Terrain roped in fashion influencers, including a mix of men women, to talk about the campaign and promote it among their followers, through engaging activities.

With an estimated media value around Rs 1.6 lakh, the brand has been able to fetch close to one million eyeballs on Instagram.

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