THE KING'S BLOG

http://www.kingofshaves.com

Time for change.

1979

"We don't need no education,
We don't need no thought control,
No dark sarcasm, in the classroom,
Teacher, leave them kids alone".

So sang Pink Floyd in 1979, and a Nation's generation of kids rebelled, are you just another brick in the Wall?

1984

Apple declared why 1984 wasn't going to be like 1984. Old enough to remember the ad? If not, check it out here. But this anti Big Brother approach has powered the iGeneration, rebelling against the 'Might of Microsoft'. Do you eat apples, or gaze mindlessly at Windows?

2008.

I'll always remember January 10th 2008. It was the first time I enjoyed wet shaving without using a Mach3. Note the 'enjoyed' & 'without'. And no, I didn't use Wilkinson Sword. Do you want to shave like a King?

Well, if you share Sir Francis Chichester's (and my) motto: "to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield", and you simply won't accept any more dark shaving sarcasm in the bathroom, come and join the party, book your seat now.

WKoHamat 08.
Acknowledgements: The Lonely Sea and the Sky, Francis Chichester; Sea Fever, John Masefield; Pink Floyd, Another Brick in the Wall; Apple Computer Corp.

Since we launched King of Shaves in the USA way back in 2000, we've been pleased to work with Paul Mole, the iconic men's 73rd & Lexington men's 'old school' barber owned by Adrian Wood. Although King of Shaves has always tried to be in the forefront of product innovation (shaving oils, aloe based magnetized gels etc). getting a great shave is more than the software, it's the hardware too, and the technique.

So, a big up to Diane Wood, his 26 year old master barberess (if there is such a thing) and Roberto, who removed Letterman's beard, which has been growing away since the start of the strike of the Writer's Guild of America. How nerve wracking would that have been - the worry that you might nick Letterman with a cut-throat razor (sensibly they chose an injector straight edge rather than the sort Sweeney Todd migh wield, and even better, Diane used some of our King of Shaves shaving oil. How do I know this - well check out this article in the New York Observer here.

Well done Diane - I look forward to catching up with you at Paul Mole in a week or so, when I'm in town to attend a 'space age' event being hosted by one Richard Branson - I'll certainly be getting a King of Shaves from Paul Mole for that!

In November 2006, Simon Tarr (then a teacher at my old comprehensive school, Kirkley High in Lowestoft) invited me to give a talk to some of his students. This was part of National Enterprise week, and my pep talk (at which my Dad, once a teacher at the school, was also present) was a success.

On leaving, Simon mentioned a young boxer by the name of Anthony Ogogo, whom he thought it might be worth us meeting, regarding our Young Blades bursary scheme.

Jenny Moore, my head of brand communications made contact with Anthony, and he was invited to London for the annual Young Blades event, this time held in a gym in Fulham, where we'd invited John Terry along. Anthony sparred with JT, and the press picked up on it, due to Jose Mourinho being under threat of sacking at that time from Abramovich (Don't K. O. Jose - the Red Tops loved it!)

One of our young marketeers, Jay, video'd the event, and posted the piece (advertising our KU range) on YouTube, click here to see it.

When Big Brother decided to do the Celebrity Hijack, they were trawling for young sports people to invite, and this video flagged up, bringing Ogogo to their attention.

The rest is history...click here to see Anthony going into the BB house

...One moment, an obscure and unknown boxer from the 'Toft (Lowestoft), the next the star of the UK's biggest reality TV show.

True story. That's how life happens. Expect the unexpected (but be prepared for it)

here

here courtesy 3GL

here

Funny where Life leads you! Back in 2004 (or early 2005 - I can't remember exactly) a chap called Stephen Attenborough telephoned me at the King of Shaves offices, enquiring whether I would like to be a 'founder astronaut' for Virgin Galactic, the newly announced project to put human payload into space. Why me? Well, as Stephen put it, "we're looking for pioneering, innovative and creative entrepreneurial people, and your name came up". Flattery? Perhaps, But I was intrigued. Firstly, how would this project come to realisation? Secondly, when? And thirdly, could it tie in with a project I'd recently started on (here).

By late 2007, I'd had the fortune to meet both Will Whitehorn, by then the President of Virgin Galactic and someone who'd been by Branson's side for 21 years and Patrick McCall (Group Commercial Director) on business matters, seeking their advice on a couple of areas, and I thought well, "why not"?

So, at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC on 23rd January, I stood with a couple of hundred others (loads of press) and waited to see what Branson and Rutan were up to. Yes - I'd signed up as a piece of human payload (okay, okay - Space Tourist) to see what the real deal was.

And I wasn't disappointed. The audience and I were treated to an hour and a half of a visionary and 'never say never' billionaire and an extremely talented aerospace designer explain how they were taking the very first steps to making space travel a commercial reality.

People forget that great things have to start somewhere. And this, I think, is one of those somewheres. Sure, people say you have to spend $200,000 to go on this trip, but what they forget is that back in 1939, it cost $47,000 to fly one way across the Atlantic in an airplane.

Plasma screens were once the preserve of the few, costing $12,000 apiece or more. Now they retail at $400 or less. Ditto computers. Mobile phones. Cars.

Big things happen, because people take Big risks. And make something that is the preserve of the rich, ultimately accessible to many. Virgin Galactic's first steps into space will be through the construction of SpaceShip2 and WhiteKnight2 (the mothership, named Eve by Branson after his mum) and WK2 airlaunching SS2 so it can get into space quicker, with far less environmental impact than groundlaunching. WK2 is being designed to carry commercial payloads other than humans - low earth orbit satellites - and in this way, can compete commercially with existing ground launch systems. And out of this technology innovation, sub-orbital passenger planes may be developed, that can fly at Mach15 (or whatever) and bring Sydney closer to London, Singapore closer to New York).

Will this happen in my lifetime? Perhaps. There's a long way to go, and things like this are never easy. But, although Branson has his detractors (as do many, most all entrepreneurs) he's giving it a go. And I'm delighted to be able to be alongside him and his team. I'm number 73 on the list to 'Fly Galactic' in a Scaled Composites spacecraft designed and built by engineering geniuses, branded by an entrepreneurial genius, blessed with the 'Founders Focus' on believing things are possible, when everyone says they aren't, and who's life motto might be 'Why Not'.

Why Not Indeed'. Watch this space

Seems the men behind the best a man can get are being turned against (and rightly so!!!). The Gillette Mach3 razor launch back in 1998 was truly a great launch. But the Fusion? Like the article below says, "thanks a lot for costing us $30 dollars for 8 replacement blades" (sorry about the $, but am writing this in the King of Shaves NYC office, and the keyboard doesn't have a pound sign - it's 15 pounds).

If you read this and want to know more, why not check out my blog posting here (the 8th October one). And if you really want to be rid of TBAMCG, visit here