As a brand, you can teach your audience how to use your products. Highlight its ingredients and its benefits. Or even go about comparing yourself with your peers. You can do all these, or dare to go against the flow and approach advertising a bit differently. The five videos launched by beard grooming brand Beardo capture the essence of a Hollywood black-and-white film set in a club, complete with an extended cast of a hero, heroine, villains and supporting actors. However, the script, in this case, unfolds a bit differently. The protagonist here embodies the product, who goes on to fight — and even achieve victory over — its villains, who are the personified versions of dirt, grime and frizz.

Co-founder Ashutosh Valani believes that there has been an emergence of demonstrating products in new ways. “We have always been bold and experimental as a brand. We want to teach people how to use our products, but not in the same way that most people are doing. So we wanted to create a story to back the product,” he adds.

These minute-long films, which kicked off with a teaser first, feature each of Beardo’s product varieties including hair wax, body wash, peel off mask, beard oil and wax and even shampoo. And in each case, our bearded hero manages to win against his opponents. Suparn Varma, co-founder of Katha Pictures, the agency that conceptualised the campaign, says, “We weaved in aesthetics and over-the-top comedy to differentiate the campaign so that the message is not in your face.” Katha’s Anshu Singhi agrees that they still wanted to create a DIY (do-it-yourself) series that would show consumers how to use the products, but in an innovative manner. Now that it is proven that Mr Beardo can take on quite a few villains, what else wants to fight him next?