Why the Gillette Video is Bad (or How to Fake Taking a Stand)
Less Nike+Kaepernick, More Pepsi+Jenner
I started writing this post the day after the video hit Youtube, but decided everyone and their mom was already weighing so why bother. Opinions are a lot like… everyone’s got one.
At its heart I believe in everything the ad says. There have been significant shifts in society, challenges to traditional gender roles and our perception of things like masculinity have adapted to changing times. The commentary is telling guys to stop being assholes and I’m all on board with that.
However as a piece of content, the recent ad from Gillette is not good. I cannot be alone in believing it is based on a morally-questionable strategy built to “go viral” rather than actually “take a stand”. And the reason I hit publish now is because I am a bit in shock that as an industry, the advertising folks have overwhelmingly come out to celebrate something that, as Michael Che put it best, “literally nobody asked for”.
The ROI in Having an Opinion
First things first, why do this at all? Why risk alienating a base of your customers? Marketing trend hunters have been promoting the rise of purpose-driven-shoppers for years; this idea that our wallets are usually tied to our beliefs. Companies like TOMS and Bombas have become huge hits with Millennial shoppers thanks to one-for-one giving models, where fun shoes also do good elsewhere in the world.
Brands that weigh in on cultural issues get noticed too, such as Nike standing with Colin Kaepernick last year. While Nike may have turned some people off, it was strategically a great bet aligning with the values of their core consumers AND the athletes they idolize. The bet paid off with a 31% increase in sales.
There is a risk-reward value in being a part of culture. Every great brand has a defining mission at their core, but I would argue not every brand needs to be a movement. No one is looking to table salt to take a stand, soda will not solve racism, and Cheetos doesn’t belong in every conversation. Gillette 100% needs to be more than just a piece of sharp metal. But as every college freshman learns the hard way, don’t raise your hand if you shouldn’t even be registered in the class.
Brands don’t do zero to 80
When I turned 18, I remember receiving two pieces of mail: my draft card and a Mach-3 razor. For years, Gillette has been mailing newly christened adults “Welcome to Manhood” kits on their birthday. It is the beginning of a lifetime direct mail onslaught and a cornerstone to their marketing strategy. Kicking off that first moment to capture the entirety of a man’s shaving experience.
For a brand that hasn’t done anything but weird action movie-esque TVCs and lower funnel shopper campaigns for decades, this seems like a stark change of course. If this shift in strategy was echoed across all of their marketing, then maybe it would be a better fit. However, given that they are still running the same online ads that drive to the same website — this feels more like they painted the bathroom than addressing the cracked foundation.
Fact is Gillette is a boring brand in need of a refresh, but it’s not something you refresh with a stand-alone spot. The agency and brand managers clearly went on a journey to get to this point, but they forgot to bring the audience along with them. You need to build up to a crescendo.
Go All-in or Don’t go in at All
Last year, Patagonia put their money where their mantra is. Promising a huge $10M donation to environmental groups that the company saved due to new Republican tax cuts. Altruism doesn’t always need to equate to financial assistance, but that’s one big way corporations can make an impact on society.
Truth be told, Gillette is promising some money as part of the campaign:
As part of the The Best Men Can Be campaign, Gillette is committing to donate $1 million per year for the next three years to non-profit organizations executing programs in the United States designed to inspire, educate and help men of all ages acheive their personal ‘best’ and become role models for the next generation.
And that’s a start. But for a company that did $6.6B in sales last year and likely spent close to $500k on production of this short film, this seems a little… small?
When it comes to financial investments there is an expectation for you to go ‘all in’. To close your stores on Black Friday to urge people to #OptOutside. To upend your entire manufacturing operations after 60 years of ridiculous profits because you want to eliminate plastic waste. To donate more to a cause than Chance the Rapper, because you are an international mega-corporation and not a 25 year old from Chicago.
Why Take a Stand Now
While I can’t say for certain, here’s the real reason I believe this ad exists: Gillette is using a business model that is failing. The building is on fire and they need more than a bucket of water to put it out.
In the past decade, Gillette has seen their market share drop over 16%. The brand that invented the disposable razor industry and had a commanding 70% market share up until 2010, has been disrupted by online brands able to attack on the bottom line. Diminishing returns led P&G to cut costs on what had traditionally been a cash-cow business model.
In addition to operational woes, anyone watching the red carpet the past few years can see 100%-clean-shaven is not on trend anymore. Or as P&G phrased it in their earnings call last August, “the continued societal shift to fewer shaves”. Beards are back in style, which means Gillette is over-charging for a product that has a decreasing demand. The blade business is not what it used to be, which must have been a rude awakening for a brand that had been complacent being a commodity.
Monday Morning Quarteback
Like I noted above, the strategist in me believes brands should make efforts to be culturally relevant. I love REI, LEGO, Patagonia, and Nike for truly making efforts to help their users — even if it means alienating some. Because if you are selling to everyone, you are selling to no one at all.
But strategically, for this brand AT this time, this was a bit of a blunder. They could have aligned with any number of causes. Supporting veterans and troops abroad by tying back to one of their heritage products, the Service Member Set sold at the onset of WWI that helped them become a household name.
They could have built upon their 18th birthday kit and given High School seniors assistance to get through the very real, very depressing student debt crisis looming in their future.
There is no shortage of issues that would make a whole lot more sense than ‘toxic masculinity’. There is a stand here that needs to be made, but Gillette is not the brand to spearhead this specific social change in America.
Chris is a Strategic Planner based in Chicago. Opinions and views 100% his own, but research sourced from a lot of very smart people. Access the links in the story to learn more.
