Gillette Case Study

Submitted by: Group 7

Somesh Goutam | Kunal Kishore | Kundan Pathak | Gyanendra Sethi
Anuradha Bharti | Nikita Raj |Yennam Tejaswini | Rohit Yadav

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 HISTORY
• Founded in 1901. safety cartridge razor, attached to a small
straight edge razor to a handle
• Over the next decade change the cartridge shape and blades.
Introduction of a pivot placed between handle and razors.
pivoting head was launched in the 1970s, and spring mounted
blades with lubricating strips came onto the market in the 1980s.
• 1971 began to increase the no. of blades and its razors
• 2005- Acquisition by P&G.
• 2019 razors were made of 5 blades

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 Advertising History & Development

• 1910 :- Gillette has always maintained its image as an athletic and

a male centric brand by featuring various. sport stars in their
advertisements and campaigns.
• 1989- It had run a campaign showing men as alpha males
(achievers)
• 2012- Started a campaign with Movember to increase social
awareness of men’s health
• 2017- Father’s day campaign to encourage teen sons to take help
of their father’s to shave
• 2018- Rich updated and relevant depiction of men

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Gillette had 3 competitors viz: Dollar Shave Club, Schick & Harry’s
Dollar Shave Club
• Founded in 2009
• Direct online subscription based
sales
• Option for consumers to choose
between twin blade,4 blade and 6
blade razors
• Monthly subscription 4$ to 10$
• Offers shaving related products such
as shave butter, prep scrub, post
shave cream & other grooming
products like deodorants etc
• Membership base of 3.9 million
subscribers, increase @ about 10 per
cent per year
• Purchased by unilever for 1 billion in
2016
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Competitor Analysis:
Schick
• Founded in 1920
• In 2019, had a diverse range of
disposal & refillable razors
• Under 4 main product lines, razors •
were priced between 12$ - $14,
refilling of 4 blades costs around 12$
• Product line: blades, razors, shaving •
creams
• Sold products online as well as in
retail outlets
• Official shaving sponsor of
Movember
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Harry’s
• Founded in 2013, out of belief that
“Men deserve a great shave at fair
price”
Limited product mix
• offered a shave plan that delivered
razors for $2.50 or less
Primarily online, available in some
stores
• The founders focused on embracing
“messiness of masculinity”
• Had a social mission to support
men’s mental health-
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 Toxic Masculinity Ad Analysis

CONTEXT: POSITIVE RESPONSES

• YouTube short "We Believe: The Best Men Can Be"
on January 13, 2019
• #MeToo movement, toxic masculinity, sexual
harassment, and bullying were among the topics
covered in the video.
• , the ad asked men to ditch the mentality that “boys
being boys” was an acceptable excuse for bullying,
sexual harassment
• Praised for challenging the privilege built on the
idea that men will be men.
• Looked at it more as “Pro humanity than anti-
male”
• 31 million views, 800,000 likes

NEGATIVE RESPONSES IMPACT ON BRAND

• • Threatened with boycotts

Criticized for being patronizing towards women
• • Women accounted for 45% purchases wanted men
Not all men are same
• Stereotype towards men to be empathetic
• • No direct impact on sales
1.5 million dislikes
• Months later both brand affinity and sales jumped
after the ad.

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