The Brief

The challenge was a decade of category erosion: 7/10 men in China could no longer justify the inconvenience of wet shaving (preparation, shave, wash), driving 18.3 million men to switch to more convenient dry shavers annually. For Gillette this represented US$647.2 million in lost earnings between 06'-12', and no amount of innovation or promotion could stem the exodus: men had simply stopped listening. Our challenge was clear: how could we reframe Gillette's promise to overcome wet shaving's inherent inconvenience, writing a new chapter of growth for the brand

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

Everything changed with 'Scandal Shave'. Inspired by the powerful insight that women in China find the act of men wet shaving arousing to watch; an unbranded 'private' home video of national sweetheart Gao Yuanyuan scantily clad and intimately wet shaving with a man was 'leaked' to the media to deliver our message, generating an enormous national scandal. Capitalising on this with a full suite of branded activities, spanning from PR events, partnerships on e-commerce site T-Mall, men became flabbergasted with the effect of wet shaving and felt compelled to try for themselves.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

In just 4 weeks, the video reached 237 million people, achieved 450,000 interactions, and earned US$14 million in free media. In terms of sales, the video helped sell 3 million razors, recording the brand's highest launch sale month in its history in China. Also, 'Scandal Shave' reversed the monthly sales of dry shaving category by 43%, representing a shortfall of 260,000 units; equivalent to an entire month's sales of market leaders Philips and Flyco. All the above were achieved without any changes in price/ distribution, and with just 10% of the average monthly media spend of the dry shaving category.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

'Scandal Shave' was a campaign of many organizational firsts: -Unbranded Diffusion- to enhance peer discourse, much of the campaign was unbranded, deployed organically or through partnerships with target-relevant platforms. Only at the height of interaction did Gillette 'join in'. -Entertainment News Marketing- rather than traditional media, 'Scandal Shave' focused on driving earned coverage from entertainment news and celebrities; so as to foster credibility, socia media buzz and nation-wide interest. -Taboo Content- acknowledging our target's preference for taboo, 'Scandal Shave' centred on a risqué piece of content, with great effort applied to preserve its authenticity. A huge leap for P&G.