Philips encourages men to 'Groom' and 'Vroom'

The activity got men to upload their pictures on a laptop on which they could create various beard and moustache styles; the creator of the coolest look could win a Yamaha bike.

Philips Electronics India, to promote its men's grooming range of appliances, had recently launched a month long on ground activity, titled the 'Groom-Vroom Challenge'.

The activity consisted of a facial hair styling contest where males from the target group were asked to upload their pictures on a webcam-enabled touch screen kiosk. They could create various beard and moustache styles on their own pictures here, using augmented reality technology (augmented reality or AR is a live direct or indirect view of a physical real world environment, whose elements are augmented by virtual computer generated sensory input such as sound or graphics).

These pictures were then saved and posted on a Facebook page, www.facebook.com/philips. The activity was executed by Ubiq, the trade and retail activation division of Candid Marketing.

The challenge was conducted at Tata's electronic chain, Croma, in Mumbai and Bengaluru. The aim was to generate maximum participation by reaching out to the male walk-ins in the store. A set up area and touch screen kiosks were designed and fabricated to engage consumers live.

The activity was supported by ISPs (in-shop promoters) who were hired and trained by the Ubiq team to promote Philips' range of men's personal care products.

The objective of the activity was two-fold: to promote Philips' range of male grooming products (shavers, grooming kit and trimmers) and to engage with consumers to make them aware of the current fashion trends in terms of facial hair styling.

The winners of the challenge are yet to be announced. Five winners will be judged based on their pictures and will be awarded the Yamaha R1 bike.

Discussing the activity and the results, a Philips spokesperson tells afaqs!, "Mumbai and Bengaluru were specifically selected for this activity based on a consumer research process, which showed that these two markets have huge potential for the category to grow."

He adds, "From these two markets, our sales of men's grooming and shaving products increased by 65 per cent in October as compared to September 2010."

The on ground activity at Croma was, in fact, an extension of the online Groom-Vroom contest that also ran on Facebook. The on ground activity was able to reach out to about 1000 males, while the online contest reached out to 16,000 males.

Atul Nath, managing director, Ubiq and Candid Marketing, explains, "Retail experiences have become key in the purchase process for most consumers. Ubiq has been supporting clients in enhancing these experiences and often, technology can play a pivotal role in this."

He adds, "Augmented reality was the ideal fit for the Philips personal care products - not only helping the consumer in visualising usage of the product but also doing it in an engaging and personalised manner."

Currently, Ubiq is engaged in various trade and retail activations with the Philips consumer lifestyle division. These include ISPs for selling personal care range products at various modern trade, traditional and CSD (canteen services for defence) outlets, promoting as well as selling the entire range of consumer lifestyle products.