Innerwear brand XYXX Apparels ditches machismo, introduces return policy in latest ad

Petal Gangurde, chief of brand & culture, talks about XYXX’s recent campaign, its aftermath, and more.

“If you look at any innerwear’s brand advertising, it showcases machoism. They want to present the ad in a way that, if a man wears this underwear, he will be able to protect a girl. In the current world, no one relates to such ads,” says Petal Gangurde, chief of brand & culture, XYXX Apparels. 

Innerwear, as a category, has always had a sensual tone or swashbuckling behaviour in its campaigns. XYXX took a different route – an amusing one – in its latest campaign and talked about a risk-free returns policy. The brand introduces its returns policy in the campaign featuring standup comedian, musician and actor Aadar Malik. 

The series of films were directed by Raihan Mahimtule and produced by The Yellow Umbrella. In one ad, Malik gets stuck with the ‘wrong’ underwear, which he can’t exchange or return. So, what does he do? Well, XYXX’s risk-free returns policy, solves this issue.  

Gangurde shares, “The brand is looking to create content that today’s men can relate to, and find themselves in. Currently, the ad scenario is such that an underwear ad or a condom ad or a deodorant ad, all look similar in nature.”  

Innerwear brands such as Page Industries (Jockey), Rupa & Company, Dollar Industries, Lux Innerwear, VIP Clothing, Amul and TT have a stronghold in the market. In this category, the customers aren’t ready to experiment much. 

Gangurde explains, “A refund policy in the innerwear segment, creates a unique proposition for the brand. We started thinking about this some time ago, as we understood that the customers showed some lack of confidence, while buying underwear from a fairly new brand.” 

Post-returns 

In the online world, returned products with minor damages, are repaired and resold. In a category like apparel, goods directly head to landfills, which can prove to be hazardous for the environment. 

Talking about the aftermath of returning items, Gangurde highlights, “Our return rates are between 2 and 5%, which is low as compared to other markets. We’ve partnered with the Clothes Box Foundation, which makes dogs’ beds out of the underwear material. We thought it would be a great initiative, as we can help stray dogs through this.” 

Talking about the return policy in the retail world, Gangurde mentions, “We’re giving confidence to the retailers that they can accept returns. The brand will then take it from them.Usually, in any MBO(multi-brand outlet), the retailer has an existing relationship with customers. Hence, if they don’t return it, they will ruin their relationship."

KL Rahul is XYXX’s brand ambassador, but the latest campaign features Malik. When asked about this, Gangurde says, “We were looking for someone who has a great comic timing. Rahul’s personality is intense, which isn’t needed in this campaign. We were looking for comedians who’re comfortable with ‘Hinglish’ language and cater to that audience.”

“Celebrities don’t want to associate themselves with underwear brands, as there’s a stigma attached to it. When we approached well-known comedians, they all loved the script, but didn’t want to partner with an underwear brand. There’s also a struggle, as far as models go. There are only a finite number of models, influencers and comedians who’d associate themselves with an underwear brand.”