THE KING'S BLOG

Once in a while you read about something you've done, which is recognised as being really worthwhile. Back in 2003, my dad and I were chatting about King of Shaves sponsoring financially challenged young sports boys and girls of the future, and thought it would be a 'Good Thing' to do.

Coincidentally, I received a letter from a young British fencer called Paul Dazelely, asking if King of Shaves would sponsor him.

Thus the King of Shaves Young Blades bursary & sports partnership was born. Launched in 2003 by Colin Jackson, King of Shaves now sponsors up to 12 young athletes, all aiming to compete in the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. The scheme is now headed up by King of Shaves brand ambassador, Chelsea & England captain, John Terry and Shelley Rudman, Olympic silver medallist in the 2006 Winter Olympics.

And the reason I write this blog now? Well, in this week's Marketing magazine there's a four page article by Ed Kemp, examining the benefits of sponsors of signing them up before they hit the big time. Wade Bennett-Jackson (20) was 16 when King of Shaves signed him, and his other sponsors are McDonalds (Multi-Billion brand), Virgin (Multi-Billion brand) and Nike (obviously).

Will King of Shaves be a multi-billion pound brand? Well, like Wade winning the 2012 100m and 200m sprints in the London 2012 Olympics, I think so.

Go on. Back a (young) King!

For the past few months, Steve Bowbrick has been working with my team and I on evolving KMI's online presence into something as advanced as it was way way back in 1999 when we launched the first ecommerced version of our website (our original internet presence dated back to November 1995).

We are experimenting with quite a few ideas, all of which are designed to improve our online relationships with our consumers - whether they are wanting to buy product, learn about shaving or generally discover what shaving with 'The King' is all about.

We welcome feedback from our existing shave.com community - all 200,000 of you - so please feel free to email us at any time with your ideas, suggestions or "Definite Do's & Definite Don'ts"!!

King of Shaves. The Future of shaving is Closer.

Most companies launch a high end range, then go mass. Not King of Shaves. Ever since our first shaving oil was sold in Harrods in 1993, we've done things differently, and alongside our Brand Ambassador and Captain of England & Chelsea, John Terry, we're now 'Going Pro'!

King of Shaves Professional - or KOS.PRO as it is known, launches at Salon International, ExCeL, London Docklands in October 2007. This will be the very FIRST men's wash, shave, skin & styling range to launch for men in the Salon & Professional space in the UK.

We have spent well over a year working on the products, and the retail/selling partnerships - with Oliver Fincher and his team at Aston & Fincher, with Mick of Mix, with Mus of The Cutting Rooms, with Paul Mole barbershop & salon in Upper East Side, NYC and with product & formulation experts world-wide.

KOS.PRO seeks to provide salon owners with a duality of purpose. The KOS.EXP - the King of Shaves Experience - more of which in due course, and a range of products that consumers actually WANT to buy, not have forced on them. A range priced to sell, with product efficacy that is second generation and truly performs. It's all abou the product - this has been a King of Shaves Mantra for over 14 years now, since I first launched the Original Shaving Oil back in 1992.

Aligning John Terry, the consummate Football Players Player with the range is a natural fit for salons who cut and style men's hair - after all, many men who play non-league soccer on Sundays will aspire to 'Be John Terry - Be A King' - and all of them as well as playing soccer to the best of their ability, surely want to shave and style in the same way, Professionally.

To further reinforce our team, we are also bringing on board our World Championship leading Powerboat P1 Offshore Racing Team, helmed by James Sheppard, four times Honda World Champion, and his Fountain/Ilmor Team. We've already got a blog entry at Hairdressers Journal Interactive (www.hji.co.uk) where one Salon owner and partner will get the chance for a sneak preview of the KOS.PRO range, whilst being royally entertained aboard our 50' flybridge cruiser and 75 knot chase RIB.

So, look out for our stand at Salon International - extensively featuring John Terry and impactful hexagonal branding, you won't be able to miss it! Keep up to date with developments during the run up by checking out the KOS.PRO blog, accessible via http://www.kospro.co.uk

KOS.PRO by King of Shaves. Go on. Be a King.

Check out Omovies!!!. I loved the Harry Potter film, made me laugh out loud - don't know what JK Rowling tinks! Paris in LA State jail fun too - look forward to seeing the Lindsay Lohan one. Enjoy :-)

To celebrate our upcoming launch of KOS.PRO - the new Professional range of product for men by King of Shaves, in conjunction with HJi - Hairdresser's Journal interactive, we're offering a VIP trip to see our P1 Powerboat 'King of Shaves race in Cowes, Isle of Wight on Sunday 26th August.

To find out more, visit our KOS.PRO website here or go to HJi here.

This competition is only open to UK owners of salons which cut/style men's hair, or barbershops.

Seems not everyone is enamoured with the price of razor blades, and that this hasn't gone unnoticed... Check out 'razor blade rip off' here and 'shavecons' here. Does a car really need 5 wheels - sorry 6 wheels (one on the roof of course!). The Future of Shaving is (getting) Closer...

Read it here

Following my posting a week or so ago on the Omovies crew, Tim and I had a mildly crazy meeting in the Sunset Tower hotel on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood with one half of the omovies.com duo - the guys behind 'Paris in Jail' and 'Harry Potter in the Hood'. Why? Well - all will be revealed...I hope! Now in much more sensible Minneapolis, meeting with Target, one of our most supportive US retailers (thanks Greg!) Tomorrow, it's onwards to Miami. Time zones all over the place, I must say I'll be glad to be back to the UK. But - it's good to be out, helping shave America from commodity cans of shave foam. In the era of 'YouLube' it's Bye Bye Barbasol, Exit Edge and in true celebrity style, bling your daily shave with the King of Shaves - Elvis would use nothing else!!!

And, whilst we're talking of Daily Shaves, why not check out the following site - made me laugh...Go Stu! Go here

So Virgin America is aloft, and wafting the silicon valley cool dudes and dudettes from san fran to NYC, with all the frills including seat to seat texting, iPod chargers and everything you'd expect from Richard Branson's team at Virgin.

Just goes to show, whenever you think nothing more can be done - fares no lower etc - someone comes along and reinvents.

Gotta keep changing, and good luck to the VA team.

Just bring back my UK Amex Centurion access to the Virgin lounges..!

ps - King of Shaves razor = Virgin America concept...watch this space (but no, it won't connect to your iPod and play you music whilst you shave...or maybe...? And on this iPod note, no, Simon - I didn't buy an iPhone just because it was my birthday today, and just sit dreaming at my desk in the UK stroking the keypad - watching it fold, unfold and generally electronically orgasm!!! I'll leave that to you!

I'm delighted that 'Matt' from Badger & Blade, the well known online shaving forum is a fan of KoS inbetween his 'Round Bowl' shaves...

Read on:

Matt writes:

"Hello everyone- haven't been on here in awhile. I've been experimenting with my shaving methods, figuring out my skin and beard, and have been getting the best shaves ever!

I've been DE shaving for about a year now, mostly with a tube of proraso, a C&E best badger brush, Gillette aristocrat, and Feather blades. However, my shaves were only fair at first. I was actually suffering from much irritation on my neck that I eventually overcame by letting the hair grow out for weeks! So basically, I grew 2 different beards over the course of 3 months. This actually was one of the most beneficial things that I have ever done in my personal hygiene history- not only did it give my hair and neck a time to recover, it ended my obsession with DE shaving creams/razor collection!
So going back to DE shaving in the past 2 or 3 months, I have approached it differently. Nothing was holy. Nothing was 'a given'. I retested my products and weeded out ones that just didn't work with my skin. Most importantly, I realized that my skin (at least at age 22) looks best (i/e/ no irritation/acne/redness) when I use the proraso/badger brush combination about every other or every third shave. Also, My face only likes to be shaved every other or every third day as well. this meant that the holy badger brush wouldn't be an every shave event.

So what do I use in the mean time? King of Shaves.

This stuff is terrific mixed in with some water and 'smeared' onto my face. I really take a lot of time massaging it into my beard and skin, and it is ultra lubricating and slick. The Proraso is thick and luxurious, but this is a great everyday product. Combined with the Merkur slant that I recently have switched to, I am getting hassle free BBS on face and neck with only two passes (N-S, S-N). It's possible- I used to have to do 3, 4, even 5 passes with Swedish Gillette blades and Gillette Fatboys...

So now I'm all happy with Merkur Slants, Feather Blades, Proraso products and King of shave gels. My face has never looked better.

But seriously- for those having trouble with shaving... take some time off. grow a beard if u have to. Then go back to your shaving den and figure out what works and what doesn't. Don't try to start a collection of products and razors if you haven't had consistent results with just the basics. you'll be happier- I know I am!

I run Google News Alerts to check out what people are blogging about, especially on the shaving hardware front.

This posting is worth a read...note his last comment!

Changing razors is a big deal for a man. I felt strange tossing my Mach 3 out this morning - like it was blasphemy or something.

Given that a new Gillette Fusion came in the mail, trying this new 6 blade behemoth couldn't hurt anything, right?

Good news or bad news first?

Starting with the good:
-Smoother shave
- Less strokes
- the back blade comes in handy for tough spots (namely under the nose)

Bad:
- Anything more than 2 day stubble HURTS! ( I went 4 days without shaving)
- Tough to clean blade
- Still have to go against the grain
- Expensive
- Risk of razor burn even with the fewer strokes
- Back blade takes some finesse to use.
- Greater risk of toilet paper cuts

I've got very coarse hair though, so the mileage someone else may get will vary. All in all, I really don't see why I need to play for something like this when 3 blades gets the job done quite well. More blades might mean less strokes but the resulting risk of razor burn would have been the same or less with the 3 blade model using the compensated number of strokes.

I also had to modify my technique a bit which I didn't really find kosher.

And the ladies may or may not think TP cuts are attractive or cute but I don't wanna walk around with more than I need to. And right now, I have quite a few of them.

In a few years, they'll probably come out with a 10 blade monster that will give a smoother shave at the cost of losing a few layers of skin.

It was the British Grand Prix of the Sea this weekend, and our P1 Powerboat team 'King of Shaves' were racing to win.

Driver James Sheppard and Throttleman Craig Wilson came to Cowes top of the P1 Powerboat Championship with three wins under their belt, and hoping for more. However, despite leading both races in the early stages, he came 2nd by the narrowest of margins in both. King of Shaves remains well ahead in the P1 Championships, and the weekend was a great success, with my team and I entertaining important business clients and partners aboard the KOS PRO yacht Acamas, and a fast 300HP Chase Rib. On the Friday, we also got one of our most important clients aloft in a chase Helicopter for the Round the Island race!!! With great weather, it was a Fantastic weekend.

Congratulations to John Terry and Chelsea, who are also leading the 2007-8 Premiership. Winning comes hand in hand with Consistency, and we are delighted JT and Chelsea are playing well. Tomorrow, we have an important press launch event, to kick off our 2008 Season 'Be A King' competition, more details of which will be found here tomorrow!

So, whether it is with the blades of a racing propeller, or on top of blades of grass - King of Shaves is proud to back winners!

Forbes.com report that Procter & Gamble Co. chief A.G. Lafley received compensation the world's largest consumer products company valued at $27.7 million last year, a regulatory filing Tuesday shows. The total compensation was for P&G's fiscal year that ended June 30.

Lafley, P&G's chairman and chief executive officer, also was given other compensation of $377,000. That included a company grant of stock beyond a profit-sharing program that is capped by tax regulations and a tax reimbursement for a previous assignment in Japan, as as well as perquisites valued at $314,000. Most of that, nearly $214,000, was for personal use of the company plane, which Lafley is required to fly on under company security policies.

Lafley, who became CEO seven years ago of the maker of such products as Tide detergent, Pampers diapers, and Crest toothpaste, had stock and option awards valued at nearly $19.6 million when they were granted.

Check this fat boy out. 9" wide (unnecessary, environmentally unfriendly secondary packaging). 64Mb Memory Stick - because every razor should have one. Yours for a jaw dropping £9.99 at Tesco, plus remember each and every replacement blade you'll then have to buy (for as long as you own it, or until something better comes along) will cost between £2-2.50. To see more examples of why Gillette has spawned a site called Shavecon click here.

Gillette. The Most Awesomely Expensive Shave A Man Can Get

I had the pleasure of meeting a very senior chap at Virgin earlier this week. Not the man himself, but equally as interesting. There's a lot of things going on in the world - food is being grown for fuel, and green (as I have penned before) is truly the new black.

We have a lot of projects on at the moment involving exceeding expectations (of course) but also ones that are Fair. And Green.

To find out more, be sure to keep reading Andy Hill's blog, and check back here. In the meantime, have a great weekend.

wk