Gillette Company Case Study

1- How Gillette Company has succeeded in convincing the world that more is better in terms of the number of blades and other razor features
The Gillette Company is a multinational company which is based in Boston, Massachusetts in the United States of America. The company deals chiefly in the manufacture of men’s’ shaving razors, personal care and grooming products. The company boasts the largest market share in the razor and shaving industry. The company has evolved over time since its inception in the year 1901 up to date. It has developed to produce high quality products which has enabled it to enter new markets and hence maintained a large market base in the world. It is estimated the roughly more than six million men globally use Gillette products per day for grooming.

The Gillette Company in the year 1958 introduced to the market the first adjustable razor (Campbell, 2011, 135). The razor was specially crafted to increase the closeness of the shave by allowing adjustment of the blade. The company invented the first twin blade shaving system in the year 1971 and the blade had a brand name, the Trac II. In the year 1998 the first ever triple blade shaving razor was introduced to the market. In the year 2006, a more sophisticated shaving razor was invented. It was duped o be the best shave on the planet. The razor consisted of six blades, five in the fore front used for the regular shaving and one in back for adornment.

The more the blades the thorough the shave. This has been an intensive marketing campaign waged by the Gillette Company in a bid to fetch more customers. The company has successfully convinced that this claim on the number of blades is true beyond reasonable doubt (Amyden, 2012, 1). The company has chiefly succeeded due to its ability to articulate this belief to the consumers. The company has used all means possible to convince their customers to convince that their razor features are simply the best.

The company has hired a number of the world’s famous sports men to promote their products. They have used the baseball champion, Derek Jeter, the tennis victor, Roger Federer, the soccer star, Thierry Henry, and the golf super star, Tiger Woods to conduct their marketing campaigns. This has played the biggest role in attracting more customers to use their multiple blade shavers which have numerous attractive features. The creation of suspense has also been an underlying factor in promoting the belief of better shaving with their razors (Amyden, 2012,

1). Usage of celebrities in their advertisements
2- How some of the Gillette’s spokespersons like Tiger Wood have affected the Gillette brand and its marketing message

The Gillette Company in the year 2007 endorsed a number of sports champions like Tiger Woods, Kaka, Lionel Messi Roger Federer, Thierry henry and Derek Jeter. These famous and renowned sports personalities were endorsed in a campaign duped the champion’s campaign. Tiger Woods was specifically featured in one of the commercial advertisements of the company’s Gillette razors. However after endorsement by the giant manufacturing company, Mr. Woods was involved in an extramarital scandal. This scandal caught the world’s attention to a great extent. The Gillette Company had been supporting his golfing activities as his sponsor.

However, the scandalous affair in which Tiger was involved brought controversy between the Gillette Company and himself (Amyden, 2012, 2). In the year 2009 when this affair became public, the company distanced itself from this star. This was after the golfer took an indefinite break to repair his almost breaking marriage. On my opinion the company speculated a drop in sales if they maintained their close ties with the likes of Tiger. In 2010 the company announced that it had lost ties with the world golf champion.

Rumor has it that the advertisement inflicted a curse on the trio who were involved. Tiger, Federer and Thierry are peak said to have been enjoying the peak form in their respective sports before they participated in the advertisement. Every participant of the Gillette razor advert are said to have experienced setbacks immediately after they were done. Afterwards all the three stars apart from Federer were dropped by the company which cited phasing out of the champion marketing campaign in the first quarter of 2011. The involvement of the company’s spokespersons in unscrupulous scandals can be a blow to the company’s marketing. People who were angered by the Tiger’s scandal could shun from the brand that he identified himself with. On the other hand the die-hard supporters of the world golf star would also be angered by the Gillette’s decision to withdraw its support from their hero (Amyden, 2012, 2). The company however justified their reaction citing protection of the privacy of woods as he left the public scenes for a while in a bid to rebuild his image.

3- Can the Gillette Company be successful in marketing their products to women?

Gillette Company has been known to be a major dealer in men grooming products. A stereotype exists about the company being a male company. However the company has been striving hard to eliminate these stereotypes by marketing their products meant for the female. They have drawn various strategic plans to facilitate the achievement of their marketing goals. The company has been holding numerous research attempts in a bid to learn the women requirements. The women’s shaving Gillette is one of the company’s growing blades and razor division (Jimmy, 2010, 345).

The company has introduced six new female shaving products in the last four years. This has been a great boost to the company’s bid to market to women worldwide. I personally have a strong feeling that within a short span of time the company will conquer the women toiletries market. They have set aside numerous resources for this mission. They have hired numerous scientists who are undertaking massive research in establishing the needs of women (Amyden, 2012, 2). The company has established private labs to enable the scientists study the actual requirements of women in the market. Currently the Gillette Company has a fifteen percent share in the women toiletries market.
The company has numerous human and monetary resources that can be used to achieve their market expansion. The company is currently expanding its campaigns on bikini lines and smooth bodies on women. Their market rivalry with the Schick Company has also promoted the company to find for more strategic marketing methods (Campbell, 2011, 32). This is because they have been involved in a series of competitive production whereby one company manufactures a product and the other does even a better one. The combination of all these efforts will surely yield success to the Gillette company years to come.

References

Amyden, K. (2012). Gillette case. Study mode.com. Retrieved from http://www.studymode.com/essay/gillette-case-1238065.html

Campbell, R. (2011). Resisting hostile takeovers: The case of Gillette. New Jersey: Ashgate Publishing LTD.

Jim, C. (2010). Good to great: Why some companies make the leap and others don’t. New York: Prentice Hall Pearson.