Gillette - Made of what matters

The Brief We were asked to rejuvenate Gillette, embracing the new intent behind ‘The Best a Man Can Get’ to make the new generation of Gillette consumers (millennial men) embrace and engage with the brand again. We were asked to do this by putting sports back at the heart of what Gillette does. Gillette had just launched its new brand direction and while it may not have been executed in exactly the right way, what it said was right, and we needed to build upon that message. The Insight The world was still struggling to deal with Gillette’s new ‘modern man’ direction. There was a feeling from some that ‘men were being attacked’, but when we spoke to real men, they felt that men did need to hold each other accountable but also to build each other up, and sport is one of the best examples for that. Stories came out of the woodwork about men helping other men to succeed in sport, but those are rarely the stories that get told. Unfortunately the ones told are the few negative stories that take up the headlines. The Idea We wanted to tell the story of the game before the game, of the stories from high-profile players who are great role models, but who have made their way to the top through recognising and respecting others. We used the communications platform of ‘Show Your Best Side’ which helped us to get to the creative idea of ‘Made of What Matters’. A creative campaign where we could highlight and tell the stories of real players who are fighting for equality, who have had to overcome real struggles to get where they are, or simply players who respect the game and build others up. Results According to YouGov, the campaign boosted Gillette’s Buzz score by 580% among 18- to 34-year-olds, and pushed purchase intent among that demographic to become the top brand in the health and beauty sector (up from 12th two weeks before the ad aired).