Silver: Best Holiday-Themed Campaign 2015

During the past few years, sales of Philips personal-care products spiked in India during the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day: Men and women 18 to 30 years old bought their significant others blow-dryers, beard trimmers, and other grooming products as gifts. To encourage those individuals to buy products for themselves as well, Philips India and Pulp Strategy Communications tapped into the explosive popularity of selfies—after all, people want to look their best in any photos they plan to share on social media.

“Philips styling and a selfie could take you to stardom” was the call to action: Couples who uploaded a selfie of themselves with the hashtag #StyleTurf on social media or who submitted it to the StyleTurf microsite were eligible to win a chance to appear on MTV or other prizes (including Philips styling products, of course).

To help couples look their best, Philips sponsored live styling events—complete with professional stylists wielding and demonstrating Philips tools and MTV VJs for added glamour—at school campuses and malls in three metro areas during the three weeks prior to Valentine’s Day weekend. Photos and videos taken at the events were posted on MTV India’s social media sites. Tweet-a-thons at the events and radio contests fanned the buzz, while banner ads and point-of-sale marketing at more than 2,000 stores drove additional traffic. During the final weekdays prior to the holiday weekend, contests on Twitter and Facebook made #StyleTurf a top-five trending topic throughout the country.

The multichannel campaign grabbed the attention of 1.5 million style-conscious consumers and engaged more than 8,000 with live demos. Philips found the results so attractive, the promotion is now recognized in-house as a best-practice campaign, and those involved are most likely sitting pretty.