XYXX new brand ambassador KL Rahul urges users to ‘Play Your Way’

After Rahul Dev recently stormed onto the television screen wearing just an underwear, it is now cricketer KL Rahul doing it for the men's innerwear and loungewear label XYXX. In its first-ever campaign, ‘Play Your Way’, the men's innerwear and loungewear label, presents its brand ambassador and investor in just his underwear. It's a conscious call by the brand to show exactly what the brand stands for.

The campaign features the cricketer in a series of films, conceptualised by The Womb, that urge viewers to tune out the noise and trust their instinct. The first film features Rahul deep in thought during a pivotal moment during a match, presented with a range of choices—and he chooses to cut out the noise and follow his own path. The objective is to show that when he is faced with an on-field situation where he has to make a decision, he does not give in to the hype that surrounds him and decides to do things his own way.

Yogesh Kabra, founder, XYXX says, this campaign takes on the category code for ads. “Our brand ideology is around differentiation and cutting the hype around the existing format of ads in our category. We wanted something which is slightly more real. Our ad says that the product doesn’t make you someone else. But you just need to trust yourself,” he says.

The other brands highlight the features of the product, like softness, elasticity, etc, but XYXX has chosen the emotional route. “Our product is differentiated, but we wanted to communicate at a more emotional level than a functional level. XYXX has always walked the talk and will strive to challenge the rules of the game in the inner wear and comfort wear industry, both through our products as well as our communication.”

XYXX’s users can be described as someone who needs a better product, who's more aspirational, and in that growth phase of life. The agency’s brief was to position XYXX innerwear as an authentic brand that wants people to 'Trust Their Instinct' when the whole category is filled with the age-old narratives of male bravado, machismo and seduction.

There’s another aspect that sets the communication apart from the rest in the category. Rahul is seen wearing only the underwear. While celebrity endorsements in the men’s innerwear category is an old trend, very few have been seen wearing just the underwear in the ad. A few exceptions have been Varun Dhawan in Lux Cozi ads and Virat Kohli in one8 ad. In most other ads we see a fully-clothed celebrity endorsing the product to another person, for example Salman Khan in the Dixcy Scott ad.

Or we can only spot the elastic band declaring the brand. For example, Akshay Kumar in the Dollar Big Boss ad, Ranveer Singh in the Rupa Frontline ad or more recently Vicky Kaushal in the Macho ad.

Navin Talreja, founder, The Womb says, “It was a conscious call to showcase KL Rahul wearing just an underwear when the whole category is actually shying away from this and discouraging it. In our mind this is actually what the brand stands for: Playing your way.”

Suyash Khabya, creative head, The Womb, explains further, “XYXX is an underwear brand. Then why shy away from showing it? Many Indian celebrities are uncomfortable being on camera in underwear, though they are fine with vests. But celebrities shouldn't decide the brand strategy. Also we are launching the brand and it's important to showcase the product in all its glory. We kept the settings premium, infused a lot of style and attitude in the treatment. And when you have an athletic body like Rahul's, it would be a deep injustice to not showcase the product on him. In our mind this is actually what the brand stands for “Playing your way”. So let's walk the talk.”

Unlike the regular innerwear ads, this one is in English. Kabra says it is a function of TG and distribution. Apart from television, the ad will be visible on OTT and it will be targeted towards the top 30-40 of the cities.

Khabya says, “We are talking to the modern, millennial man in India who strives for comfort and is ready to pay a premium for it.”

Shripad Nadkarni, investor and advisor at XYXX, says, “The narrative of innerwear brands in India gets a face-lift with the XYXX Play Your Way campaign. Since time immemorial, innerwear brands have shown men with a false sense of bravado in either goofy or hyper-masculine avatars which is now both stale and unappealing to the modern, millennial man in India. XYXX’s path-breaking Play Your Way campaign has a series of films set against unique backdrops that catch KL at his most intense, expressive and powerful. The Play Your Way campaign captures the determination with which KL, faced with tough choices, paves a path to authenticity.”

Play Your Way is a fully integrated campaign across digital, social and traditional media platforms.

Sharing his views on the ad, Anchit Chauhan, AVP planning, Wunderman Thompson, said, “This is an attempt to create distinctiveness by bringing in the codes of sportswear category into inner wear. Indeed a decent attempt at that. However, it fails to create memorability that ‘Jockey or Nothing’, or even Dixy Scott’s recent - Body Language Detector campaign has created for the brand.”

“The visual world and the use of English language helps create a premium aura around the brand, which is clearly at a 70-80 per cent premium compared to mass market brands like Dixcy Scott and Lux Cozi,” Chauhan added.