Insight
The objective of the campaign was to grow the category by getting more men into the fold and by getting more men to pick up the razor more often. Mediacom’s attempt was to bring alive the category to put being clean shaven in the spotlight.
Shaving is a low involvement category in India, not an often discussed topic between men and in the media. Most Indian find shaving a chore, with majority only shaving twice in a week only. Even the smoothest Bollywood superstars are regularly unshaven.
This was restricting Gillette sales, especially as its key product, the Mach 3, was 10 times more expensive than traditional razors.
Strategy
What could make even the laziest man want to shave really smooth?
Research showed that 90% of women preferred a clean-shaven man. So, to reach 50% of the population, Mediacom would enlist the other 50%. It needed to explain to men that by not shaving, they were missing out… with the ladies. It was time for women across India to take a stand – by refusing to sleep with their man until he shaved for them – every night.
With Shave or Crave, Mediacom would trigger a national debate about evening shaving and send out a simple message from women: the pyjamas aren’t coming off until the stubble does!
Execution
Three blades in every Mach3, three phases to the conversation…
Close cut one: start a national debate. Surveys supporting a women’s movement against evening stubble, press conferences, viral buzz and paid media kicked off the conversation.
Closer cut two: get India steamed up. An army of female stars – provocatively clad in pyjamas – publicly refused to share their bed with unshaven men. Gillette ambassador Neha Dhupia toured the country encouraging local male celebs to shave. Mediacom took the message to malls, using blogger outreach to promote the chance to try Mach3.
Closest cut three: Climax with a mass shave on the busy Delhi Metro. Renamed the Gillette Evening Express, hit director Arbaaz Khan and 100 others got their razors out to ensure they were clean-shaven when they arrived home.
India’s men were soon craving for an evening shave.
Results
Shave or Crave has been a massive success:
• Sales are up 16% overall and market share up 1.2pts, with Fusion reaching highest-ever share
• A record 3.5bn free media impressions, including more than 300 million on social media
• $4.1 million worth of free media and counting, with more than 1,000 articles to date
• More than 600,000 consumers engaged on digital
• 400,000 fans on Facebook and highest ever engagement
• #ShaveorCrave became India’s No.1 hashtag
• India’s biggest-ever Blogger outreach hitting more than 34 million people
• Over five million views on Shave or Crave viral video