Percept H drafts a tailor-made strategy for J Hampstead

The agency, which recently bagged the creative duties for J Hampstead, has tried an unusual and bold approach and empanelled an actress – Priyanka Chopra – to endorse the menswear brand

Following a multi-agency pitch, Percept H has won the creative duties for J Hampstead, the worsted fabric brand from Siyaram Silk Mills. According to industry sources, the ad spend is pegged at around Rs 7 crore. For the past year or so, Saints & Warriors, the Pushpinder Singh founded agency, was in charge of the brand.

J Hampstead has always been positioned as a premium brand, competing with brands such as Reid & Taylor. Percept H also handles the mother brand, Siyaram’s. Incidentally, this is not the first time that Percept will be working on J Hampstead – its first brush with the brand happened five years ago.

Percept is believed to have won the account on the basis of its unique pitch presentation, which suggested the use of a female celebrity to endorse the menswear brand. Ajay Chandwani, CEO, Percept H, says, “With the likes of Amitabh Bachchan endorsing Reid & Taylor, no male celeb stands a chance in the category. We needed to think laterally.” Accordingly, Percept presented a strategy to get actress Priyanka Chopra to endorse the brand.

Percept H drafts a tailor-made strategy for J Hampstead

Priyanka Chopra

The TVC, a 60-seconder which is likely to break on television in a few weeks, will feature Chopra as a fashion icon in Paris designing her own line for J Hampstead. As she searches for inspiration in the romantic city, her gaze falls upon a handsome man who becomes her muse. She ends up designing an entire line for him, and male models (including her original ‘inspiration’) walk the ramp showing off her clothing line. The commercial ends with Chopra being whisked away by her man on his bike. The concluding line reads: ‘J Hampstead. Nothing but the best for me.’ The brand’s earlier tagline was: ‘The world’s finest fabric’. This may or may not be shelved permanently, depending on the reactions to the new tagline.

“We decided to capture a woman’s perspective on a men’s brand,” says Chandwani, although variations of the concept have been used by brands such as Grasim and Mayur Suitings. “J Hampstead will stand for what women find interesting in a man (who’s) well-dressed,” he adds.

The main insight behind the commercial is simple: Men want appreciation for their efforts at grooming and, instead of having other men envying them or their status in life (which the category itself has established), they would rather know how women react to them. “Women play the most crucial role in male grooming as they are the better judge of fashion,” says Avnish Poddar, business head, J Hampstead. “This is why we will offer Priyanka’s take on a J Hampstead man.”

Television, print and outdoor will form the core media mix for the J Hampstead campaign.

Earlier ads for J Hampstead always had a male celebrity endorsing the brand, and these have included the entire South African cricket team of yesteryears, Mahesh Bhupathy, Leander Paes and Geoffrey Boycott.

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