Comments on: Gillette recognizes true fans

By: HChoung

HChoung — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:47:38 +0000

It’s great to see so much excitement and interest in this product. Dave’s point is spot on regarding the manufacturing complexities related to the razors. There is certainly already enough complexity with getting the right colors and being able to adapt the logos to the handles. Further tampering of the razor handles leads to more complexity in the manufacturing line, in addition could impact the performance of the razor. Generally speaking if we change the razor handles, we would have to do additional testing to ensure comparable performance.

By: Brian Monahan, Expert in the Rough

Brian Monahan, Expert in the Rough — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:44:17 +0000

With so many products taking this route it amazing this was not thought of earlier.

It seems to be an excellent match on all levels.

How about colored shaving cream to go with the razor.

By: CJ

CJ — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:26:53 +0000

Does anyone know if the razors will be made available online? I am a Carolina fan, but unfortunately, do not live in NC anymore…

By: Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:59:30 +0000

I am not sure who came up with this phenomenal marketing plan but they must be a genius!

The reason this product will sell and will resonate with consumers is because it taps into the one thing that creates true brand loyalty – EMOTION. Fans are emotionally married to their teams – why else would they where a chunk of cheese on their head, or a pig snout or paint their entire body in face paint?

By leveraging the every day product – the razor with their Lovemark – the collegiate logo – the consumer becomes emotionally connected to their RAZOR – genius move by PG.

Thanks for posting D!
Jess

By: Brian Siegel

Brian Siegel — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:08:20 +0000

Available online? Pending the amount of cost this would take, it’d be super beneficial to create products even more focused and aimed at more than 11 educational and athletic powerhouses (although I understand it’s a larger target market and cost efficient with the rising prices of commodities…). For example, I would like to think of Xavier University as a ‘powerhouse’, but due to its size – I don’t see a razor ad combining efforts with XU on the packaging/product. P&G sure would gain a lot of supporters if they had joint efforts that were school specific though! What kinds of efforts does P&G Brand/Marketing to do improve campus relations/school niches?

Also, noticed the ads on the billboards around Cincinnati with P&G’s Gillette razor and Kroger retail stores. Nice to see that two local headquarters can venture a few blocks from each other and combine efforts : ) I would like to see more of these collaborations with more innovative approaches. Two great companies, certainly with talented internal teams working together. What other projects are they working on to build business together?

“Jim Stengel Retires” – Wonder where Jim Stengel is going/pursuing now? Great guy! http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB121614145780655077-eAelnpNvBe0FXJZu9aoXWfELVGQ_20090716.html?mod=rss_Whos_News

Great blogging as usual Mr. Knox!

later,
B

By: James Walker

James Walker — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:20:18 +0000

Good idea, I think. Have to agree with BobG on making it available for purchase online.

If plans aren’t already in motion, I would definitely think about integrating into summer college orientations or fall welcome weeks.

By: paul gustafson

paul gustafson — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 06:56:25 +0000

Looking like Jason Dial scored with another new sports push for P&G.

By: Rich

Rich — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:44:50 +0000

It’s all about connecting with the heart, not the head. What a great way to trigger our football daydream as we go about the daily monotonous task of shaving. I want MLB version….

By: Dave Knox

Dave Knox — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:09:25 +0000

All – great points and love to see the discussion.

Bob – The points you hit on all make sense but consider the Product Supply impact. Changing the mold of the entire razor isnt a simple task and you know first hand how much we try to optimize production lines. My gut is that changing the emblem is about the best they could get. Now on that, I understand why we went with just a small # of schools because of scale. But you hit on a big miss with ecommerce. They could offer the razors online and give you the option to order just the emblem. Make them interchangable so you could buy a base razor and then put in an emblem of any school, no matter how small.

Tommy – Killer point on key partner markets. Living in the heart of Walmart country, I am seeing how much people at that retailer love their Razorbacks.

Overall it will be interesting to see how this plays out in the future. I do hope they add the ecommerce capability so I can get my Buckeye version!

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:24:09 +0000

I think its interesting, certainly not new but it is a product the consumers use nearly every day and its not expensive enough to limit the audience..and its just another domino in the customization movement as every product looks to make itself unique to each consumer’s needs or passions.