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Gillette takes a swipe at traditional wet shavers?

Watching Parks & Rec on Hulu last night I saw a Gillette commercial for whatever their latest tilt-swivel multi-blade cartridge thing is. The notable part, though, was the commercial opened with narration about the "old razor you find down in a drawer, under the sink," or whatnot, that your dad shaved with, or something to that effect. They showed a Trac 2 or an Atra, presented it as a sort of "cool retro" thing, but then cut to the new cartridge monster and the narration was basically "Yeah but who wants that? This is the new cool. We've come so far, haven't we?"

Sorry I can't remember the actual words, but what struck me was they really seemed to be addressing folks who are seeing the appeal in old-style razors. Interestingly, they used an old two-blade cart as their example, but to me the message was still exactly that: hey, yeah, those old-school razors are cool, but you know what's REALLY cool? THIS NEW HOTNESS LOOK AT THE SWIVEL!!

I can't help but think this is an acknowledgement that traditional shaving is becoming a sizable niche, one that Gillette marketing now feels it needs to address. That's got to be notable.

Also, cheap shot, Gillette. Man that new multi-blade thing is ugly!
 
Gillette has taken the "new and improved" approach to advertising. Anything that is labeled new and improved is supposed to trigger an impulse to buy it.
 
Believe it or not, there is a huge market for people that like new things. It doesn't have to be progressive or useful, it just has to be new and that's it. Thank goodness I'm a fan of practicality and, for the most part, tradition. If I wasn't, I would have never known what I was missing!
 
For sure, Gillette is once again touting newness and a "high tech" aspect, but what's notable here is the call-out to an old "traditional" razor in contrast. I hadn't seen them take this tack before, and it does seem like a reference to the growing interest in traditional wet shaving.
 
I think trying to link that bit of marketing to Gillette feeling any sort of pinch from those of us using safety razors is quite a stretch. I would say they are targeting disposable razor users more than anything, but I really couldn't care less. Proctor and Gamble is huge and have so many holdings under their umbrella you would have to try very hard not to have several P&G products in your house at any given time.
 
For sure, Gillette is once again touting newness and a "high tech" aspect, but what's notable here is the call-out to an old "traditional" razor in contrast. I hadn't seen them take this tack before, and it does seem like a reference to the growing interest in traditional wet shaving.

It may be. I firmly believe they are at a point, whether they agree with it or not, where they have to say anything they can to convince their demographic that they are making advancements in order to sell their new products. New "throw away" products that are more expensive to operate and, in the end, more profitable to their corporation. King Gillette is probably rolling in his grave. Similar to the reactions of the many members of this forum.
 
The thing that I wonder after watching that commercial is why you would have Grandma's old hairbrush under your sink?
 
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Watching Parks & Rec on Hulu last night I saw a Gillette commercial....I can't help but think this is an acknowledgement that traditional shaving is becoming a sizable niche, one that Gillette marketing now feels it needs to address. That's got to be notable.

Also, cheap shot, Gillette. Man that new multi-blade thing is ugly!

To be totally honest, I doubt Gillette feels threatened whatsoever by traditional shaving trends.
Rather, this may just be a jab at the 'dollar shave club' and similars.
Far bigger threat, IMHO, is the much larger, non-shaving style today.
 
I think the ad is driven more by the need to get people to upgrade out of Mach 3.

The challenge for Gillette has always been to get people to move up to a new razor when the old one basically did the job.

The Trac II was legitimately a big leap forward for many men from DE. Each successive leap has been less important.

Getting people to move from Atra to Sensor was probably tough, Sensor to Mach 3 tougher, Mach 3 to Fusion tougher still.

So you have to actively stigmatize "holding onto old razors" in order to get them to upgrade. I don't think there are any 25 year olds who are rooting around under Grandpa's sink looking for a Trac II -- or not enough for Gillette to worry about. But there are probably millions who are still buying Mach 3, and since the patent is expiring, that means they can move over to generic drugstore cartridges, which Gillette does not want.
 
I think "Sarmiento" is spot on. Dollar shave has their funny ads about overpriced carts so this is Gilllete's response. I don't Gillette feels threatend by us DE users.
 
I think "Sarmiento" is spot on. Dollar shave has their funny ads about overpriced carts so this is Gilllete's response. I don't Gillette feels threatend by us DE users.

Possibly, but it's very indirect. They're taking a shot at their own legacy products here -- the "old" cartridges -- not at their "new" competitors.

It would be easier to stigmatize "cheaping out on your razor" by suggesting that the new upstarts are inferior.
 
Possibly, but it's very indirect. They're taking a shot at their own legacy products here -- the "old" cartridges -- not at their "new" competitors.

It would be easier to stigmatize "cheaping out on your razor" by suggesting that the new upstarts are inferior.

But that's why Gillette doesn't say the old ones are bad. After all, they're most likely to be Gillettes as well. Better to focus on them being old fashioned.

By the way, this is not that different from the way King Gillette pushed the original New Improved when the patent on the original razor ran out. Keep selling people the old tech but insist the newest thing is so superior any modern man of status would have to get one.
 
"Flexball technology".... I like it. Hey, it worked for vacuum cleaners, right?:lol:

Gillette is up against the same marketing situation as everyone else- they are trying to keep the retail cost up by offering something the consumer cannot get elsewhere, whether that 'something' be real, imagined, useful or not. At one time, Gillette owned a large percentage of the shaving market. Now they have far less of it due to changes in the available technology, one of the main ones being electric shavers. So the goal becomes to increase the price on the fewer razors that they now sell to keep the level of income high.

Brian



 
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I know the profit margins on the Fusion blades is bigger than the Atra or Sensor, but it's not like they are giving those away at bargain bin prices either.
 
Wait. I just watched the ad. That's a disposable razor, not a Trac II.

So it's about upgrading out of disposables, not out of old systems.

That could be seen as an indirect shot at Dollar Shave, Dorco, et al. Those are "cheap" razors -- akin to disposables -- and therefore not "real" razors.

Also note the references to childhood -- "your first razor," the little elephant under the sink. Message: a grown man doesn't use those razors.

Using a disposable enables them to take shots at lesser razors without indirectly giving Dorco et al an unintended boost by mentioning them.

What it's definitely not about is DE shaving.
 
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