THE KING'S BLOG

If Gillette made cars...

...they'd make Cadillacs.

WKoHamat 08

Honda F4 winners 2001 to Powerboat P1 winners 2007. Job Done. King of Shaves Back Winners. Well done James & Craig, good luck in 2008, Will & Herbie. WKoHamat 08

If you're a budding entrepreneur, this is well worth watching, much more so (in my opinion) than Dragon's Den (all about ego's, not about real-life). The programme explores what's involved in launching a new product to one of the world's most successful super-retailers, and it's delightfully light on indulgent celebridee and 'Look At Me'.

See it on Mondays, 9pm Channel 5. Read the backstory here

or...

Hawk Moat or Thaw Amok or What Amok or A Hawk Mot or A Hawk Tom or A Math Wok or Ha Tam Wok or Ha Mat Wok or Ah Tam Wok or Ah Mat Wok or Hawk Ma To or Hawk Am To or Hawk At Om or Ham At Wok or Hat Ma Wok or Hat Am Wok or WKoHamat

or...?

Courtesy Anagram Server

If King of Shaves designed and manufactured vacuum cleaners, these are what we'd make. WKoHamat 08

I first sailed aboard a Mylius yacht in September 2005 in Rome. I've since kept in touch with their development, and recently their founder, Mario Sassi (ex P&G Italy) emailed me this pic of their latest beauty.

As I originally wanted to be a yacht designer (before fluffing my A Levels) then I have a lot of time for yacht design. Performance must be married with Practicality, and optimised across a wide range of conditions. Design which is pure in form, effortless in function and optimised to deliver results is imperative. WKoHamat 08

Well, those marketing geniuses are at it full force at Gillette, I must say. Not content with the (costly) forced hardware upgrade of Fusion, they're now going after the Bic brigade with - Ta Dah - Mach3 Disposables.

C'mon. A piece of great shaving technology, that you bin every week, and that goes into Landfill Central (along with the tens of millions of Bics thrown away every week - more data on this coming soon). It surely doesn't make sense?

Everyone knows we live in a throwaway society. The government are even mooting tax legislation on plastic bags. But here we have a generally socially responsible company like P&G (who own Gillette) sanctioning the use of their 'cutting edge technology' in throw away form.

Guys, you are staring over the precipice of abject stupidity, just waiting to take that one step over the edge. Idea must have come out of that Ideation lab, by the watercooler at Gillette Lab Reading.

Disposable, when we should be planning Forever. That makes sense to me. Products that shave closer, last longer, cost less are surely the future - not ones that cost more, that you throw away even more frequently?

Never from King of Shaves. WKoHamat 08
(PS - it probably has one shaving grace though, it's shave will be much, much better than a Bic Dispo).

His name is Irwin Lee, and he's the UK GM of of P&G (who own Gillette).

"Trust is clean shaven" (those who remember the Norwegian brand, Ruud & Rye will smile at this phrase). R&R eventually morphed into the Lynx Three Blade Shave, then died at the Altar of Mach3. R&R made funny commercials though, see one here.

And by the way, WHAT is going on with that beard? WK0Hamat 08

I found this post from Badger & Blade, a forum devoted to DE (Double Edged) razors interesting. They certainly take their shaving seriously at BB, rightly so!

Read it here

Earlier this year, I blogged about why Gillette give away their (Fusion) handles free.

See this interesting observation as to why Free so never is...

WKoHamat 08

Not my opinion, but his. The final few paragraphs are worth reading. Watch out, there's a WKoHamat 08 about...

If King of Shaves designed and manufactured sports cars, with an eye to the future, this would be what one would look like! WKoHamat 08

When you are responsible for designing products from the concept through to shipping, it's always rewarding to see them actually on sale. So, seeing our new Patently Obvious range in Boots High Wycombe today (whilst visiting the new Eden centre) was great.

Advertising for the range starts next month in press, and we go on promotion with Boots towards the end of April. So if you want to make it Patently Obvious you care for your skin AND the environment, check out larger Boots stores nationwide, and get ready to Clean without Compromise!

Check back soon why I make this point.

They'd be Geox shoes. WKoHamat 08

With six feet of shelving at Tesco, widely acknowledged as the UK's most successful (and demanding) retailer, the team and I at King of Shaves must be doing something right.

Thanks for backing the 'King', Tesco.

A few days ago, I uploaded a photo of a pink stretch limousine, see it here

Reason was I'd just spied the latest in 'Unnecessary Secondary' packaging for Gillette's recently launched 'Venus Breeze' system shaving product for women.

Gillette - P&G - there MUST be a less environmentally impactful way of packaging your products, surely? Or perhaps enjoying a shaving monopoly means you 'do what you do, and be damned with the consequences'.

Surely you could do more, with less? That's certainly our Mantra at King of Shaves

WKoHamat 08

Gillette Fusion Power: Smooth.
King of Shaves WKoHamat: Smoother.

Our first press ad for Patently Obvious ran today in this Sunday's Observer Colour Supplement. The OCS was the obvious choice for our first ad, given the reader demographic. Look out for more PO ads coming over the next few weeks!

Gillette Fusion Power (Mondeo with Body Kit): Left side of face & neck.

WKoHamat 08 (Aston Martin DB9): Right side of face & neck.

Judges: Tim Wright & Andy Honour
Judgement: The Ayes to the Right.
WKoHamat 08