The Gillette Company: Dry Idea Advertising

Group B9Bharat Subramony PGP/16/012Deepak Kumar PGP/16/016Priyank Bavishi PGP/16/037Shashank Shekhar PGP/16/045

Nicolas Brun IE/16/033

Deodorant/Anti Perspirant Market

• The deodorant/antiperspirant market was historically form driven

• Through 1950s creams were the dominant form which changed to aerosol in 1960s

• Aerosol started generating negative publicity on environmentalist claims

• Roll ons started to dominate the market from 1977 but by 1983 the trend has shifted towards solids and sticks

• Form choice preceded the efficacy on the consumer mind • Users were loyal only to the form, so the form is the most

important choice, brand is lesser value

FCB Grid for Consumer BehaviorHigh Involvement, Think

High Involvement, Feel

Low Involvement, ThinkDry Idea

Low Involvement, Feel

Consumer must feel an attachment to the product before purchase, learns about the product; and then makes the purchase

This behavior suggests that for the consumer of roll on, the benefits of the product and the emotional connect he feels with the product are important for the purchase decisions

It is thus imperative that any advertisement communicates both the emotional and functional benefits

Problems faced in Marketing and Advertising

There was significant declination of Roll-on subset

Lack of impactful and pre-emptive creative advertising

There was no such identifiable brand celebrity

The advertisement was quite low compared to other competitors

The product was not in top of mind set due to non recalling activities or event

Consumer preferences were changing ( towards solids)

Recommendations given by BBDO

First to identify the correct strategy choosing from the trade-offs and then conduct a strategic test free of executional variables To support solids or not and Whether to communicate Efficacy or Aesthetics

Develop a strong brand personality by running an interim creative for 6-12 months Start to Finish

The advertisement shown by Spokesperson communicates only the attributes but not the benefits The problem lies here was that it can’t be applied to solid or aerosol There was challenge in portraying no water attributes to an equivalent

benefits It is considered to be a short term solution only.

Recommendations from Gillette

• There is need to form extensive program for long term to rejuvenate declining sales of roll-ons.

• Signs were indicating the next incoming things are sticks and solids.

• Short term program includes better advertising, Product improvement, introducing new fragrances etc.

• Gillette also suggested that since the current running campaign was doing well in all parmaeters it should be continued

What is Carol’s Problem

The two new ad campaigns ”Start to finish” and “All you feel is dry” are not performing to the benchmarks in any of the tests

The ad agency and the company marketing executives have different views on which is a better campaign

The company management believes BBDO is not giving them adequate resources

What are the decision alternatives

Giving BBDO the time they need to come up with the new campaign, they have been in the category for 25 years and can do a better job

Get a new agency with fresh resources and fresh thinking to work

Have an old fashioned bake off between the two agencies by doubling resources and letting them both work on the same project

Our Recommendation• Campaign ideas

– Continue with the “Spokesman” campaign– There is no clarity in the message delivered in the new campaigns– Starting a new half baked campaign would confuse consumers doing more

harm than good

• Agency Choice– It’s better to give one more chance to BBDO– BBDO has been working with Gillette for long (almost 25 years). They

understand the brand and its products well– Any new agency will take more time to understand the brand, and have risk

for misunderstanding– The company anyway does not have funds to go for one proper ad

campaign going for two would tax already scarce resources

Modifying the advertising campaign

Understanding the Prospect Theory by Daniel Kahneman and Tversky, 1979

Current Advertisements

• Spokesperson – ‘Keeps you drier’ (functional benefit)– Asks viewer to choose from either of the alternatives– Doesn’t reinforce the purchase intent in the viewer

• Stay Dry – ‘You don’t want to put water, where you want to stay dry’– Again doesn’t reinforce purchasing intent

• Start Drier – Finish Drier– ‘Stay drier all day long…’– Explicit comparison with other rollons, in usage

Immediate action upon advertisement

• Spokesperson (to be continued, to avoid confusion)– ‘Keeps you drier’ (functional benefit)– Asks viewer to choose from either of the alternatives– Doesn’t reinforce the purchase intent in the viewer

• Most users would be much more interested in loss aversion, rather than benefit maximisation

• Preventing wetting of clothes by sweating is much more important than keeping drier or even thinking about other rollons or solid antiperspirants

Proposed Advertisements

• Focus upon the notion of loss aversion– ‘Keeps sweat at bay’– ‘You sweat, but won’t get wet’– ‘Never be seen sweating ever again !!!’

• The idea of not sweating or getting wet because of sweat will be much more appealing

• In upcoming advertisements, perhaps more functional benefits to be focussed on, rather than just being no-water

Thank You