• South Asian Hair Care Brand Vatika Naturals Champions Diversity with #RootForMe Campaign Featuring All-Female Comedy Lineup.

Vatika Naturals, a flagship brand from House of Dabur, after pioneering an empowering initiative this International Women’s Day with the launch of their IWD2024 campaign, #ROOTFORME in USA and UK, it is now campaigning on the same in India to create awareness.

ROOTFORME is a digital campaign that marked IWD2024 addressing intersectionality at workplace which affects women of colour, compounded by race, ethnicity, religion and several other issues which can pose as a major roadblock for career advancement for a lot of women and make them susceptible to workplace harassment and stereotyping.

From being a generic hair care brand for South Asian women, this year Vatika Naturals embarked on a journey to become the preferred brand by multi-ethnic audiences across the UK and the USA and have a significant presence among India women.

Redefining women’s empowerment this International Women’s Day, Vatika led a conversation with humour addressing workplace stereotypes and discrimination, through partnerships with leading stand-up comediennes like Shazia Mirza and Sikisa.

In celebration of the campaign launch, Business Head Dabur International Europe UK, Zakir Mansoori stated – Vatika Naturals has been bringing bespoke hair care solutions to multi-ethnic audiences around the World for over 35 years and the brand has been garnering a lot of love from our loyal base of customers. Earlier this year we launched our Afro Naturals range, especially for women with textured hair. And there is lots to look forward to from Vatika, as we embark on this journey to make the brand relevant to a wider audience, which would include new product launches and newer formulations for different hair types.

Roshni Singh, Group Marketing Manager UK EU & Americas stated, “Vatika Naturals is not just a hair care brand but a custodian of values which champion diversity, differences, and uniqueness especially amongst women. With the #ROOTFORME campaign, Vatika endeavours to further strengthen its stand towards being inclusive and diverse.” #RootForMe is a call to action for individuals to stand together and dismantle barriers preventing equality for women and specifically women of colour. Vatika is always challenging the status quo or stereotypes that hinder the growth of an individual.”

Agency Founder and Chairman for HereandNow365, Manish Tiwari further elucidated that “Vatika Naturals is a brand which identifies and celebrates differences, and to match the brand’s vision, our team has developed this concept which is not just clutter-breaking but light-hearted. The aim of deploying humour is not to make light of the issues at hand, rather to offer hard-hitting provocative messaging through treatment and platforms which resonate with our younger audiences in today’s time.

The two-week campaign was launched across Vatika’s social media channels on the 8th of March 2024 across UK and the USA and now active on several platforms in India. To amplify the message, the brand was seen at iconic landmarks like Times Square, New York city and the London Underground in March, to spark dialogue around workplace issues, stereotypes, and navigating these challenges.

About Vatika Naturals:
For over 35+ years in the US & UK, Vatika Naturals- subsidiary of Dabur, is proud to have a strong expertise in inclusive hair care that harnesses the power of natural ingredients in their products. The products range from shampoos, conditioners, hair oils, temporary hair colours, and hair masks; made with natural led ingredients such as – Coconut, Olive, Almond, Garlic, Black Seed, Onion, Egg protein and many more.

The term ‘Intersectionality’ has its roots in Black feminist activism and was originally coined by an American legal race scholar – Kimberle Williams Crenshaw in 1989. Intersectionality is an overlapping of multiple forms of inequality that create obstacles for an individual who is already at a predisposed disadvantage.

Shazia Mirza and Sikisa, come from backgrounds of ethnic minority, and have each faced stereotypes in their own line to escalation in comedy.

About Shazia Mirza – born to Pakistani parents and brought up in Birmingham, known for her bold comedy has made multiple TV appearances on household shows such as ‘The Jonathan Ross
Show’, ‘Top Gear’, ‘Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls’ and many more.

About Sikisa – hailing from Barbados, she has been giving smashing sets and has since appeared on ‘Jonathan Ross’s Comedy Club’, ‘The Dog Ate My Homework’ and many such illustrious shows.