Gillette reviews $600m global advertising spend

Gillette is understood to be reviewing its $600m (&£440m) global advertising account and is also planning to increase its ad spend this year.

The company’s chairman and chief executive, James Kilts, recently announced that Gillette is set to review all its external spending.

Gillette’s advertising spend, currently representing 5.8 per cent of sales, is low compared to competitors, according to Kilts, and far below the eight per cent Gillette was spending in the early-Nineties.

BBDO Worldwide handles Gillette’s shaving business, Duracell batteries, and Soft & Dri deodorant brands. Lowe Lintas handles Braun and Oral-B.

In the UK, Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO and OMD UK handle creative and media work for shaving products and Duracell. Braun’s creative agency in the UK is Lowe Lintas & Partners.

Gillette’s vice-president in charge of corporate communications Eric Kraus says: “We are reviewing all our costs and that could include a review of our ad spend. But this is not to say that we are dissatisfied with any of our existing agencies.”

Gillette is also believed to be launching a male version of its Venus razor, expected to be called Mars. The women’s product, launched in the UK this year, was backed with a global marketing push similar in scale to the &£625m launch of men’s razor Mach 3.

Kraus says: “We never comment on new product developments. When we launch a product, we do it on our timetable. This is nothing more than speculation.”

Last year, Gillette introduced three new Braun Oral-B electric toothbrushes, backed by a &£53m global marketing spend (MW November 30).