11 posts tagged “razors”

On May 11th, an insightful article was penned in The New Yorker by Adam Gopnik, entitled 'The Fifth Blade'. "Failure" he argues, "generates variety", pointing at first to GM (General Motors) "fiddling with metalwork on the grilles of its cars" in much the same way as the emperor Nero fiddled, whilst Rome burnt to the ground. And on the title of the article - The Fifth Blade - he makes the exquisite point that "in the economy of excess, he collected razors". I have made this point in previous blog postings too - after all, if 'More' is always 'Better' then the Gillette Fusion Power Phenom was a product of its time.

Gopnik goes further, explaining how he "invested in the multi-bladed, fifteen-dollar Dreadnoughts of the shaving world. The Gillette M3 Power, the Gillette Mach3 Turbo Champion, the Gillette Sensor Excel. "Charming as these razors might be" he says, "cool they were not. The only motive for buying the next was to buy the next. The only purpose for possession was to possess. Our generation bought them "because they were there, and we were drawn to their seeming ingenuity".

However, he read the Wall Street Journal recently, and found a new note of pathos. It seemed that the Gillette Company, in an increasingly desperate attempt to support its newly minted five-blade razor, the Fusion, is creating (has created!!!) ads that run down its previously minted three-blade razor (Mach3)

He says "in an ad campaign that Veblen would have rejected as too improbable, Gillette, having sold (and made a huge success of) the Mach3, must now UNSELL it. A Fusion ad argues "You see, five is better than three" and in the well-known (and much derided, ridiculed) spot, Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter and Roger Federer literally knock a Mach3 razor out of men's hands with a golf ball, baseball and tennis ball.

Gopnik continues, "what makes Gillette's panic so touching is that we should have seen it coming. We did see it coming. Saturday Night Live saw it coming over thirty years previously, with the then (imaginary) 3 blade razor and the slogan "Because you'll believe anything".

Where the Gillette Fusion Power Phenom razor is a product of its time (most likely designed in the mid noughties, and launched in 2006 in the UK), our King of Shaves Azor is a product of its time, launched in 2008 and now with just under 10% of the UK handle market share under its belt.

Where Fusion Phenom is fat (or should that be Phat), the Azor is slim. Where the Fusion is over-packaged, the King of Shaves Azor is ecoptimised (using precycled card & plastic). Where the Fusion vibrates unnecessarily (you only had to see a programme on the BBC last week on razors to get this point), the Azor is effortlessly smooth. Where the Fusion employs batteries, which ultimately end up in landfill, the Azor employs Bendology - a flexible hinge that allows a close comfortable shave. Gillette Fusion? More, that costs more. King of Shaves Azor. Mor, with less.

Cynics reading this may argue "it's easy for King to ridicule the competition' but that would be to miss the point. In developing our razor, we could easily have embraced the familiarity of 'grille tweaking', mimicry and complacency. In which case, we'd have had a Chinese manufactured, twin battery powered, ten-blade razor with headlights that came with its own special holder and promised you "the new best a man can get". Instead, we looked at the razor, where it had gone too (Digital Equipment Corporation meets World War I Dreadnought) and decided to dial back to an earlier age of elegance, simplicity and form.

Gillette, we surmised, was "the best your dad can get" whereas the King of Shaves Azor would be a razor for the "next generation". More Pepsi than Coke.

As the world re-balances after its violent economic projectile vomit of 2007, and its equally disturbing scandal in the UK about our Honourable (Dishonourable, Surely) Members of Parliament exploiting their Expenses, so products that are so clearly 'of their time' will lose their unattractive attractiveness, and fade away. Gillette's sales are down by double digit percentages in just a year. Ours are up. People demand honesty in their products, and even I know that there is no way 5 blades on a razor, or 6 shave any closer than 3, or 4.

For sure, there is an advantage to having a wide shaving surface - nicks, cuts and razor burn/rash are a thing of the past for many men - going back to 1 blade simply won't cut it in today's grooming environment for most men. But, the interesting question - in fact the US $60,000,000,000 question is "Where does Gillette go now?". Having made the equivalent of the Philips Laserdisc in the Fusion, whilst we've taken inspiration from Apple and iDesign with our Azor, I simply can't wait to see what Kevin Powell's next 'best your dad can get' razor is going to look like...

Twin batteries, a headlight and £20 for 4 cartridges anyone?

You read it here first.
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Last month (to the 4 weeks ending April 18th) the King of Shaves Azor was the 4th best selling system handle in the UK, out of 17. Not bad, given that Gillette have spent c£9m on advertising since year launch, Wilkinson-Sword £4m, and us - well, it's a low six figure sum. Seems the word of mouse is spreading about the Azor ever more strongly. And, with the Azor debuting in Asda and all of Morrison's within a month, plus market launches in Japan, Brazil, South Africa and in the USA, in Duane Reade, NYC coming up - we're in growth.

Strong Growth - with a product for our times, that will change to keep pace with its time.
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I love Twitter. People deride it, mainly because it gives the impression you're '(t)wittering on about irrelevant stuff'. But for King of Shaves, its a global superhighway connecting us with 10m+ people, where I can serve up Knowledge (like old fashioned posters on the roadside), not just talking about King of Shaves, Azor but re-tweeting customer praise, dealing with customer complaints or comments, and keeping the King of Shaves brand current. If you're a brand owner, and you're not tweeting out your brand benefits, in a community centric fashion, you're dead.

Earlier this week, I looked at our market numbers for March, and year on year. They make compelling reading if, like me, you live and die by how well King of Shaves, Azor is doing against our competitors.

Taking 'Shaving Software' first, I was delighted that our software (Alpha gels, oils & serums & new Azor gels) is holding up well in sales, in the face of violent price discounting from our primarly competitors - Gillette, Nivea etc. Sales of £6.4m in a market that's declined in value by 7.6% to £64.4m is pretty good stuff, with Nivea growing slightly to £6m and Gillette (Series, Fusion, Mach3) declining by a whopping £4m to £36m, a drop of nearly 12%.

Ouch. And this is despite the PHENOMENal (sorry, excuse the pun) market spend behind them. Seems Thierry Henry is better employed playing for Barcelona, rather than somewhat cheesily promoting Gillette. However, as P&G (Gillette) have access to 'limitless cash' then I have no doubt that their value based promotions will continue (check out the image) - watch out Poundland, at this rate - they'll be coming to you soon.

Bulldog, the 'natural' men's range grew sales of its shaving gel to c£103,000 at retail (£45,000), but given the increase in distribution to most retailers, I would have expected more. Finally, in these recession ravaged times, good old Colgate has managed to get its value proposition through to consumers, with sales increasing a respectable 8.5% to £2.7m.

Returning to King of Shaves, I would expect that our first integrated press/poster/radio spend during April (6th - 20th) will have a very positive impact, and we'll be looking at our market numbers closely next month.

Regarding 'Shaving Hardware', the numbers make even more interesting reading. This time last year, we had the 'conventional duopoly' of Wilkinson-Sword v Gillette, with their Quattro v Fusion/Mach3 platforms. Market spends, especially on the trade promotion side were low.

Well, that's all changed now. Not only have the combined companies spent anywhere from £15-22m EXTRA on offensive consumer and trade marketing, but they've also HALVED the price of their handles for most of the past 10 months. Wilkinson's Quattro Precision Trimmer (QPT) and Gillette's Fusion Power (both priced around £8-9.99 at RRP_ have been almost permanently half price. Meanwhile, we've been quietly selling our Azor at £4.88, 'fair at full price', especially as the handle comes with 3 Endurium cartridges (2 more than both WSQPT & Fusion).

Last month, the 4 weeks to 21st March, Azor shifted approximately 21,000 handles at an average price of £4.63, just 25p less than the full RRP of £4.88) and delivered value of £93,000. During the same period, Wilkinson Sword Quattro delivered sales of £81,000 and Fusion Manual £87,600. Azor was way above sales of Fusion Power (12,000 units), Sensor Excel (8,000 units) and M3 Power (7,000 units).

This despite the Azor being in just 65% distribution (compared to Gillette & Wilkinson's nigh on 100%) distribution. Top selling handle, was,unsuprisingly, the 'PHENOM' version of Gillette's manual Fusion, with 79,000 units shifted at an average price of £4.34 - 29p less than Azor. Considering that this time last year, Gillette were selling Fusion Manuals at between £6.99-7.99, then this is a more than substantial price drop. I'm personally deslighted that Azor is shifting over 25% of what Gillette's multi-million pound promoted Phenom is doing.

And this is before our 'Technology of Bendology' - 'Better because it Bends' poster campaign broke on 6th April. Where replacement cartridges are concerned, the true indicator of success (ie if sales of these are low, it means consumers aren't shifting to our Azor - clearly not the case) is these. Where our Azor handle is already 5% of the market from 65% distribution (next month it'll be nearer 8%), our cartridges are selling approximately 33% of what regular Quattro sells monthly. Not bad going, bearing in mind Quattro has been in the market since 2004, and we launched just over 10 months ago.

However, Gillette is still way ahead, with monthly sales of £2.8m for Mach3, followed by Fusion at £2.6m and expensive (£2.50/blade) Gillette Fusion Power at £1.7m. This is amazing, given that Mach3 was launched in the UK in 1998, and despite Gillette's best efforts to use Federer's Fusion Forearm to knock it off the top slot, Fusion still isn't there (although it will eventually overtake it).

What is clear to me is that since the Azor launch, we have done three things. Firstly, we've brought a great product to the market, one that Which? magazine voted 'best buy' and 'exceptional value'. Secondly, we've got the competition cutting prices violently, as they attempt to protect their turf - by doing what they do best - spending money. Finally, where the consumer is concerned, there has never been a better time to be growing and shaving a beard. Whether you want to buy 'the most expensive a man can get' or 'enjoy the King of Shaves without the Ransom', you're spoilt for choice!!!