The (likely) strategy behind the Gillette campaign
Gillette’s ad, “The Best A Man Can Be” has sparked a heated debate. What’s most shocking however is the assumption some have made that Gillette may not have been aware of the debate it would cause.
Based on more than two decades developing digital strategies for Fortune 100 brands, I can tell you that there is an art and science to messaging (the term we use for defining and promoting a certain message)and that the messaging of the Gillette ad was very likely well thought through. Organizations spend a lot of time and money researching, defining, and testing a message before it’s launched to the world. In fact, I’ve worked with budgets exceeding half a million dollars — just for research. My guess is that the work that went into the Gillette ad was substantial.
Whether you thought the message was offensive or whether you thought it was brilliant but are lacking faith in humanity due to the outpour of negative responses, know this: There is an audience for “The Best a Man Can Be,” otherwise, it would have never come to be.
Of course, Gillette did not create this idea on its own. They worked with their advertising agency, Grey New York, to conduct the strategy and execute on the creative. While I was not involved, I have a sense of how it might have gone. Let’s take a look.
STEP ONE: PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Gillette probably went to Grey with this problem: While Gillette still owned the majority share of the market, their share was slipping and sales were down despite having lowered the cost of their razors. The tagline, “A best a man can get” was also 30 years old and was in bad need of a refresh. They needed to fix this, but how? The Grey team (likely made up of strategists, researchers, analysts, account managers, and creatives) probably developed a problem identification statement or a hypothesis and then dove into a number of work streams to prove or disprove it.
STEP TWO: BUSINESS INSIGHTS
The team then likely conducted interviews with numerous key stakeholders at Gillette and P&G, Gillette’s parent company, to gain background and context. Topics of inquiry likely included brand history, business goals, vision, audience insights, and more. Maybe they held a brainstorm or other collaboration activities to obtain additional input and start to identify some ideas.
STEP THREE: INDUSTRY ASSESSMENT
Next, they conducted a review of the market. They likely completed a competitive audit, not only of traditional competitors but also newer models. For example, they may have reviewed what Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s were doing as well as how Schick was now making refills cartridges that fit Gillette razors. They also probably looked across channels to see how these various brands messaged their audiences as well as where they were delivering these messages throughout the digital and traditional space. Finally, they may have looked at all-up trends in this space, even assessing views of gender and masculinity. It was pure coincidence that, just days prior to the Gillette ad launching, the American Psychological Association releases a report citing negative effects of “conforming to traditional masculinity ideology.” But the concept has certainly been a growing topic of discussion since 2016, as a quick search on Google trends shows.
STEP FOUR: AUDIENCE RESEARCH
The next step would be conducting user research to both identify (or re-identify) Gillette’s audience as well as understand their needs, motivations, and viewpoints related to the brand and associated messaging.
As with most brands that haven’t refreshed messaging in decades, their consumer was likely older. If they stayed with that status quo, the people using their products would literally age out, or in other works, die. It sounds morbid but if you’re a business, it’s vital to reach younger audiences for growth.
Next they likely developed some theories regarding messages to test. They may have started with secondary research first to generate a baseline, and they didn’t have to look far to identify two key trends. First, all of us — but Millennials especially — are more likely to purchase from brands that are socially responsible. In a 2017 Cone Communications survey, 87 percent of Americans said they will purchase a product because a company advocated for an issue they cared about.
Second, ideas of gender norms are very different with Gen Z. In fact, 59 percent of Gen Z (the oldest of whom are in their early 20s) say forms or online profiles that ask about a person’s gender should include options other than “man” or “woman.” This view of gender is also reflected in MTV’s removal of gender based categories for award shows. In addition, an eMarketer study conducted in 2017 revealed that 48 percent of respondents felt that brands should take a stand on gender equality. In other words, Gen Z’s concept of masculinity is very different than that of older generations.
Next, they probably conducted primary research. Maybe it was one-on-one interviews, or a focus group, or even shop-alongs, but they spoke to people under 40 to understand what messages would resonate with them. And this is key, because if a stance against toxic masculinity did not land well — even if Gillette thought it was the best and most noble stance to take — they would not have moved forward.
STEP FIVE: CONNECTING THE DOTS
If you’ve heard me talk about strategy before then you’ve heard me talk about connecting the dots between the business’ goals, the market opportunity, and the user’s needs. This is where the magic happens. And this is likely where “The Best A Man Can Be” got it’s beginning. Strategy wrote a brief, they then sat down with the creative team and the concept was developed from there. It was then produced and launched (and by the way Grey and P&G were intentional about having a female director, Kim Gehrig, direct the ad).
FINAL NOTES
Gillette likely knew there would be people who would not like the campaign, or even be upset about it. But like any good media cycle, they knew they were looking at a few days to a few weeks until people went on to hate something else. They also knew they would connect with a new audience with whom the ad would resonate, and that audience — younger, maybe more affluent, possibly more female — that is the audience they sought in the first place. It was the reason for the entire campaign.
Certainly, I could be wrong, but I’ve done work just like this so many times and while the insights and creative that comes out of a good strategy is unique, the process itself is fairly repeatable.
So if you hate it, sorry, Gillette probably doesn’t care — you’re not the audience they were attempting to reach. And if you loved it but are disappointed in humanity for the negative response, chin up. This message was created and shared for a reason and it was because there was an audience for it. That’s the good news, in my opinion.
