King of Shaves unveils ‘elegant’ marketing campaign for new razor

Video: King of Shaves new Hyperglide razor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYoPobEzAsc

Launched last night at an event in London (16 January), the razor claims to eliminate the need for shaving foam by using a water-activated self-lubricating cartridge. It was four years in research and development, with King of Shaves patenting the technology, which was originally developed by a UK university for us in the medical device industry.

The deal with Fnatic, which participates in pro-gaming leagues for online games including World of Warcraft, Quake and Counterstrike is aimed at attracting men and women in the 18 to 24 age bracket who are increasingly playing online games. The team has a strong presence on social media, with 1m Facebook fans, and a strong following across Twitter and YouTube.

“We want to introduce King of Shaves to a much younger audience and so we have done a deal with Fnatic. This is about taking the brand to the next generation of shavers,” said King, speaking at the event.

King of Shaves has also launched a viral video ad for the razor which avoids technical explanations and instead focuses on an “elegant” message. The ad (see video above) features a man shaving with one of the Hyperglide razors, with the view panning out to reveal that he is under water and the message “Just add water”.

“It’s very simple, very minimal and very elegant. It does what it says on the tin,” added King.

King of Shaves will also be running brand product positioning ads in tech magazines such as Wired, while also promoting the new razor on its digital and social media channels. Altogether, King of Shaves is investing £1m in the marketing campaign, with King joking that he is yet to decide whether to buy airtime on TV, for example during ITV programme Splash.

While the ads unveiled so far are aimed at men, the Hyperglide razor also works for women and King of Shaves is planning promotional activity to appeal to them.

The launch comes as figures from Kantar Worldpanel show that the global razor market is in decline. King blames this sales slowdown on a number of factors, including difficult economic conditions over the past six years and the growing trend for celebrities such as George Clooney to sport a beard.
Procter & Gamble, which owns the market leader Gillette, also said its razor sales are falling developed markets due to the “vogue for stubble”. Gillette currently accounts for around 80 per cent of the global razor market, according to Mintel.