THE KING'S BLOG

"Hmmm... I'm not feeling too well today, I think I'll pull a sicky and take the day off".

Not JT. 72 hours after an operation, he's out leading Chelsea. Yes, he earns a lot of money. Yes, it's against 'medical advice'. But does he get my vote for Inspirational Leader. Absolutely. Good luck tonight against Valencia tonight, JT. The face may be battered, but the heart beats stronger than ever.

Spread over 6 pages in The Observer this Sunday, October 7th 2007 was a 'wry look' at Gillette penned by a chap called Simon Garfield. Read it, then carry on below.

Now, did you believe it? Reading between the lines, Simon didn't. These guys aren't talking about building reusable space rockets (Virgin Galactic are though, click here), cooling down the Earth, cracking DNA sequencing or enabling African peace and economic stability. They make razors - or 'shaving hardware' as we term it (King of Shaves to date has made shaving 'software' - oils, gels & creams).

Purlease! Have you ever read so much self gratifying, myth perpertrating baloney as in this article? I have lived in the shaving space since 1993, days when we were content to scrape away with two blades, then 'The Best A Man Could Get'. But look at us now. 6 blades. Microchips. Vibration technology based on the concept that rubbing something makes it better. Packaging so anti-green it is untrue. And the biggest con of all, the fact that '5 blades shave you closer'.

Apart from the fact, Gillette don't say that any more. Because they aren't allowed to. In repeated court battles between Gillette & Energizer (the owners of Wilkinson Sword & Schick) this 'shaves closer than...' argument has now been suspended. Because it's almost completely unprovable! And has been shown to be such in a court of law. Read a bit about it here (loads more on the web - google 'gillette' 'false claims' etc.

The reality is as follows: Back in the early 1980's, a smart boffin who worked for Gillette in Reading (in their R&D department - not 'Ideas Lab') came up with an idea to spot weld a thin piece of razor sharp steel to a thicker, more structural piece of metal, which we call an a piece of 'angle iron'. The result? A super effective shave (then steel slicing through stubble tres well) coupled with effective Wash Through. What's 'Wash Through' I hear you say? Well, this is where the Real Action Is! Important enough that Gillette have attempted to Patent It. More on this later. Next time, when you have a moment, and are so inclined, peer through the front of Gillette Mach 3 or Fusion cartridge (from the front). You will find that you can 'see through it'.

But try the same with any competitor product - whether from Wilkinson Sword, Bic or Tesco, Sainsbury private label and you'll find the blades stacked atop each other, with plastic or metal 'spacers' keeping them apart (and, in the case of Quattro, a 'wire guard' around the cartridge. And this difference in blade engineering has been Gillette's Killer App for the past 22 years. TWENTY TWO YEARS!

In this time, Gillette has pulled out an almost astonishingly unbelievable market share of over 80% in the UK (The Observer cites it as 70% but this is understating the extent of The Monopoly) and over 90% in the USA - Gillette's Homeland!

NINETY PERCENT MARKET SHARE!

As a spokesman from the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) might say "That's A Monopoly That Is!"

Now, Monopolies are funny things. They can last for many years, but sooner or later, things have a way of conspiring to bring them down. This is often led by Goverment intervention as a result of consumers complaining that "They Don't Have A Choice". Think 'Ma Bell'. Think Microsoft. Think....shaving! Surely not - shaving? But, yes - back in the early 1990's Gillette quietly tried to buy Wilkinson Sword but were thwarted by the Competition Commission. Read about it here Why is this interesting? Well, think about it like this. Men shave every day (if they don't want to have a beard, which many don't). Some men shave every other day, some infrequently. Some trim around goatees, beards. Women shave too. Shaving is a great business - because you HAVE to do it.

When I launched King of Shaves shaving oil back in 1992, I hated shaving because my skin got rashy, my shaving oil (partnered with a then Wilkinson Sword Protector razor) solved that. But then Gillette launched Sensor, Sensor Excel and in 1998, Mach3.

Mach3 has been the biggest thing ever in shaving. Not just because of the 'angle iron' technology I spoke about earlier, but because of the Staggeringly Huge marekting spend behind it, designed to convince men & women (with Venus) world-wide that shaving with three was better than two. And, I have to say, I think it was. I still use a Mach 3 razor today. But, now we have 5 blades from Gillette Fusion, and 4 from Wilkinson Sword Quattro. 4, I can get my head around. Tables have four legs. Cars have four wheels (ever heard of five wheel drive?) Etc. But 5? As Jeremy Clarkson might say, "Why?".

And, 5 blades at What Price? And here is the killer punch. 5 blades is not a Killer App, yet $5 dollars (or £2.50) per Replacement Cartridge lands a big hit to your pocket (and a Big Boost to Procter & Gamble's bottom line (P&G bought Gillette for $57 Billion dollars in 2005, read about it here. They also gave Jim Kilts, the outgoing Chairman of Gillette a $167m dolalr payoff, read about that (fat cats - astounding amount) here. A lot of money for making a phone call, and building the brand on a clever patent from an English boffin. I leave you to mull over this.

£2.50 per replacement cartridge. 1 cartridge (on average) used every week. £130 pounds per year. £7,800 if you shave for 60 years (my Dad who is 75 in November has been shaving since 15). That's a lot of money. But because Gillette is 'The Best A Man Can Get' then that's the price you pay for shaving satisfaction.

Perhaps not. Let me rewind you to 1993, when one of the most costly monopolies was eventually thwarted (and not without its share of drama, espionage and celebrity along the way) Click here to read all about it!

So, what are the key points you can take from this particular blog posting? Well, that shaving isn't rocket science (although Kevin Powell clearly believes it is) and innovation comes from boffins in research, devlopment & innovation departments, they aren't 'Ideated'. Secondly, that if Gillette aren't allowed to say that 5 is better than 4 is better than 3 is better than 2 is better than....1 (professional barbers using a cut throat razor use one finely honed blade remember) then why are they selling you a 5 bladed cartridge at £8 for 3 or £16 for 8? Why are they never discounted? And why are the handles sold cheaply or even given away free (theres' no such thing as a free lunch remember). There isn't. Honestly.

That's enough for today. Why not subscribe to my blog so you can hear about the next instalment in 'Shave Wars' because it is to be continued...the future of shaving is (getting) closer!

PS - if you want a laugh, take a look at a little site called ShaveCon. Gives me a chuckle every time.

Marketing students will be aware of the 5 P's. Product. Packaging. Price. Promotion. Place.

Students of Gillette however, will be aware of their 5 P's: Preparation. Power. Protection. Perfection. And, unmentioned in this ad, PROFIT.

Chris Kemp Salt of Kempt and I are delighted that King of Defenders has been shortlisted for two prestigious industry awards for the best use of viral gaming. Click here for details of the IMA award and here for details of the BIMA award.

The King of Defenders statistics are simply awesome. Since it went live in early June 2006, just prior to the World Cup) the chance to 'Be John Terry' has got us over 27,500,000 visitors, of which over 15,400,00 were unique and 43% returning to play again. In the month of June, over 4,000,000 unique vistors played the game, and even now, every single day, a year and a half on, over 35,000 people are playing the game daily. That's right - 35,000 people are still playing the game, getting traction with the King of Shaves brand!

I know this through visiting memecounter - another innovation that Chris and his team at Kempt have had award nominations for. I am looking forward to attending the Awards celebration in mid November along with Chris and members of his team, along with KMI staff to see if the King of Viral Games is crowned winner.

Other games Chris has developed for King of Shaves include King of Skeleton (tying in with Kristan Bromley and Shelley Rudman competing in the 2006 Winter Olympics - Shelley won a silver medal) and King of Power, where you can pilot a Class 1 Powerboat alongside two times World Champion James Sheppard.

Look out for new games from Kempt for King of Shaves in 2008

I heard this line on TV this evening, made me laugh:

Girl to Boy: "Is that Obsession by Calvin Klein you're wearing?"

Boy to Girl: "No, it's Buy 2 get 1 free by Lynx".

I spent the weekend at ExCeL on our KOS PRO stand at Salon International, and was more than amazed that we were the ONLY stand there catering explicitly for men's grooming. Either this market is so small as to merit no interest (???) or we have once again zigged when others zagged, caught the zeitgeist of 'Macho is the new Metro' and will be able to build a substantial business in the salon, professional & high end barbering sector.
Many thanks to everyone who was there, with especial thanks to Sally and her team, our compere Mick and the teams of salon stylists and barbers who made the stand 'stand out' so successfully.
I leave you with a pic of Alex Expstein enjoying the "KOS.EXP - King of Shaves Experience' on our unique immersive brand experience served up via Apple's iPod Video Nano - whilst he's getting a great haircut!
Well done everyone, looking forward to doing it even bigger and better next year.

Check out this blog posting from 'Thoughtcat' relating to the Observer article on Gillette a couple of weeks back. As he says "blades so sharp, they blunt quicker". Genius (not).

I'm not normally home to watch The One Show, but tonight I was, and caught this piece on Unnecessary Secondary packaging, sung by the Complaints Choir.

Click here to watch...

Back in 2003, this spoof appeared and the world laughed.

But with the launch of Gillette's 5 bladed Fusion just a few short years ago, it was only a matter of time until their bladecount was exceeded.

Enter the DORCO PACE 6. More blades than you'll ever need for a close shave...? Truth it seems, is stranger than fiction.

Men's grooming continues to boom at P&G with the following reported in their latest quarterly earnings guidance:

Grooming sales advanced 9 percent, to $2 billion, with the global market share of blades and razors up to about 71 percent. (Fusion razors, for instance, delivered double-digit volume in every geographic region).

Big market share with Gillette, eh...Healthy? Mmm. Jury's out on that one.

Courtesy EEDA (East of England Development Agency) I was delighted to be interviewed by Alex Bellinger of SmallBizPod.co.uk yesterday in advance of my speech on 'Razor Sharp Leadership' to be delivered at next Tuesday's Destination Growth 07 conference.

You can listen to my piece here, or alternatively visit Alex' great site here.

Thanks Alex.

Enthuse, Exceed, Enjoy!

As well as delivering the King of Shaves (what we humbly believe is the World's Best Shaving brand), we're also delighted to bring you our new King of Games 'landing' page for our hugely successful online exploits including games, videos, how to's and a lot more including video footage of JT, our powerboat crash and how to fish for (and hook) girls.

As far as we know,we're the first men's shaving & toiletries brand to go about things in this 'immersive brand experience' fashion and it is certainly the future! Leading digital experience company, Kempt (our favourite online brand building partner) have designed this microsite, linked to from our 40m plus player gaming sites.

So, when you've enjoyed the King of Shaves, you can play the King of Games.

King of Shaves. The Future of Shaving is Fun!