A look at Ariel's digital content strategy for the #ShareTheLoad campaign, amid Covid crisis

Over the last five years, Ariel India has continuously sparked conversations around the unequal division of domestic chores within households, urging more and more men to #ShareTheLoad. Off late, it has been heartening to see more and more families come forward to share their pictures, videos of doing domestic chores. When sons, husbands, and fathers share equal responsibilities of the house; they multiply the love for each other and bring much-needed comfort.

This year around, Ariel has on-boarded influencers and celebrities for its campaign. Beginning March 2020, the influencers and celebrities are seen posting videos and pictures using the hashtag #ShareTheload #ShareTheLaundry, encouraging mainly men to contribute to the household chores.

Most recently, the brand brought on board Bollywood superstar Ranveer Singh to post encouraging words around the campaign. Through Ranveer’s post itself, the brand was able to garner more than 3-4 million views in an estimated media value around Rs 50-70 lakh.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Ranveer Singh (@ranveersingh) on Jun 11, 2020 at 6:45am PDT

The brand has also sent a few Ariel hampers as #HamperOfEquality to a few celebrities and influencers.

Sanaya Irani’s post with the #HamperOfEquality:

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Sanaya (@sanayairani) on May 15, 2019 at 2:19am PDT

Asha Negi’s post with the #HamperOfEquality:

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by MsNegi (@ashanegi) on May 15, 2019 at 1:37am PDT

From the Sheeko’s influencers’ demographics graph, it is evident that Ariel mostly on-boards micro-influencers, followed by macro-influencers, on Instagram.

Sheeko influencers’ demographic graph for the kind of influencers the brand associated with for influencer marketing:

This year’s campaign is customised keeping in mind the Covid-19 crisis the world is going through. In its latest efforts, Ariel aims at conveying the message — What we learn in crisis will help in times of comfort. When we share the load, we multiply the love. It is a reminder of how in times of crisis, family members have all come together to work as a unit and share the load of household chores.

Amid the anxiety of the ongoing pandemic, Indian households witnessed a ray of hope. Men are sharing the load more than ever before, a movement that Ariel started in 2015. With laundry at its centre, the brand has always encouraged men to take up household chores and the crisis only helped Ariel to deeply establish it as a norm. More and more men have joined the league of being equal partners.

The brand has also released a film that has already crossed 10 million views and is a throwback to the last five years of effort the brand has put in, furthering this cause by raising pertinent conversations as it brings back all its past editions.

The film:

Ariel also took to various platforms and created innovative formats to motivate more and more men to share the load. Some activations include #ArielShareTheLoad challenge on TikTok, tie-up with Global ASMR artist Gibi, or the daily social media challenge called #ShareTheLoad star, where audience has to post pictures contributing in the household chores and the winners are announced as #ShareTheLoad star on social media.

In 2015, the brand raised a triggering question ‘Is laundry only a woman’s job’, drawing attention to the uneven distribution of domestic chores. With the 2016 ‘Dads Share The Load’ movement, the conversation was aimed at helping to address the root cause —the cycle of prejudice passed from one generation to the next. Children learn what they see and, if there is inequality within the household, it will end up being passed on to the next generation. In 2019, with Sons #ShareTheLoad, the core triggering question of the movement was – “Are we teaching our sons what we are teaching our daughters?” To address this, the film asked the mothers to be the change-makers, and change the way they are raising their sons, keeping them ready to ShareTheLoad tomorrow. 2020 Share The Load for Equal Sleep was about impact and action. It highlighted the impact of the unequal division of chores on their wife’s well-being and leveraged it with men to drive an urgency to act.

Commenting on the movement, Sharat Verma, CMO, P&G India and Head, Fabric Care Indian Subcontinent, said, “The recent times have been challenging and unlike anything we have seen before. But the crisis is a great teacher. Today, more men are actively participating in household chores than ever before, and have probably realised through the first-hand experience, the amount of effort and time it takes to balance work and household chores. We believe there is something beautiful when a son, father, or husband comes forward to #ShareTheLoad. Which is why, over the past five years, Ariel has continued to raise pertinent conversations to encourage more and more men to participate in household chores. This film urges all men to continue to #ShareTheLoad. It also recognises those who are leading the way in being equal partners and setting an example for all of us.”