Gillette to overhaul Right Guard in £10m campaign

Gillette UK is to overhaul its Right Guard deodorant range in advance of a &£10m advertising push this summer.

A range of new products will be launched in time for the campaign as part of a wider relaunch. Gillette will drop its Right Guard Sports line, relaunching a male deodorant line under the Right Guard brand. Two new fragrances called Active and Sport will be introduced in aerosol and roll-on versions.

Gillette will also relaunch its female deodorants range as Right Guard For Women, adding new variants Summer Fresh and Energy Burst.

Right Guard has lost ground to Lever Fabergé’s Lynx, Sure and Impulse brands. Jeff Riley, head of Gillette’s personal care division, says that the company aims to become a strong number two in the deodorants market, and to build a platform to challenge Lever Fabergé’s dominant brands.

Riley adds: “There is no real challenger to Lever Fabergé, but we want to be there with this multi-year plan. We’ve generated a lot of excitement with the amount of money we’re spending. Our vision is to become a strong contender in the next few years.”

The TV, print and outdoor campaign for Gillette Right Guard, which is handled by roster agency Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO, will be the first campaign created in the UK. Previous campaigns have been adapted from their US versions.

A Gillette spokesman says that the campaign will be light-hearted and amusing, marking a change from heavy-handed US advertising that has “failed to strike a chord with UK consumers”. The campaign breaks in August.