THE KING'S BLOG

It was with some excitement that I attended the prizegiving for Esquire's 'Man at the Top' Awards ceremony this evening at the uber-cool Haymarket Hotel in SW1, hosted by Esquire editor Jeremy Langmead accompanied by Mariella Frostrup.

Lots of beautiful people and luminaries were there, the ubiquitous Dragons (Bannatyne & Caan) as well as the beautiful Elle MacPherson (who won an award for 'Woman at the Top' due to the success of her lingerie line.

Anyhow, somehow (don't ask me how, I have no idea how these awards work) I'd been shortlisted for the 'Best New Idea'. As I arrived, I saw who else had been shorlisted: Antony Jenkins (Barclaycard OnePulse)...Matt Jones & Matt Biddulph (Dopplr).

Looking good so far...

But then my inspiration/nemesis met me face on. Jonathan Ive CBE. Chief Designer for Apple, and the genius behind the iPhone.

Well, if you have to lose out to someone, he's probably the person you'd choose to lose to.

So, let me raise a glass of Glenmorangie to the Apple iPhone (and the King of Shaves Azor). Beautiful design, minimally executed, with stunning results.

Just wish I had a few hundred millilon marketing dollars to put behind the Azor...you never know.

Oh well, there's always next year.

PS - it was a Felipe Massa sort of day. Our Azor was beaten by Gillette Fusion in FHM's 2008 Grooming Awards for best razor. Our AlphaGel was beaten into second by Nivea's Shaving Gel. Maybe need to spend more marketing dollars with FHM... ;-)

With our Azor continuing to grow strongly in the UK, I'm delighted that our long term partners in New Zealand, Paul Irwin and Dave McLeod are going to be introducing the Azor to NZ KoS fans...

We've worked with Paul & Dave since 1997, they took our shaving oil first to NZ, then into Australia and have proven hard working, creative long term partners. In fact, their company name is Creative Partners, and they're going to be bringing back the famous King of Shaves ShaveSquad to Big Boys Toys, with a mission to get NZ guys "shaving closer, longer, for less".

They've gone for something a little nimbler than our 'Campaign BattleBus' - but equally as cool, and appealing for guys.

Look out for news from them soon - with our Pola & Warp Azor's being in Black & White (Team NZ colours) we know our razor will have a great future shaving the world 'down under'.

Bring it on!

Shortlist, the leading men's magazine today published its shortlist of contenders in shaving & skincare. I'm pleased our King of Shaves Azor is there, alongside Wilkinson-Sword's battery powered Lawnmower (sorry Quattro Titanium Precision Trimmer).

I'm also pleased that Shortlist haven't been swayed by P&G's ad dollars, and that for the first time (in living memory) Fusion isn't listed.

I look forward to seeing if the Azor is crowned the King of Razors with baited breath.

My sincere apologies to everyone who has tried to register for one of 4,000 free Azors via the Live Magazine feature in today's Mail on Sunday. Whilst the text mechanic works, the web demand appears to have crashed our server, resulting in only a Terms & Conditions page being displayed.

If you saw the feature, and would like to request to be entered into a draw for a free Azor, please email care@shave.com quoting Live Magazine Azor offer.

Thanks,

Will

I was delighted to be the main guest on BBC TV's 'Working Lunch' business TV programme, aired at 12.30pm.

It was great fun, and I spoke (hopefully usefully) about setting up King of Shaves during the last recession (early 1990's) and a bit about the brand, and why it's become succesful.

The presenters, Declan Curry & Naga Munchetty were great fun, and the entire production team had entered into the spirit of things, with almost everyone sporting a beard! See them here.

When asked how I would help 'jump start' the economy (a lot of the discussion centered around possible tax cuts) I suggested a tactical 7.5% cut in the rate of VAT for a year, this will mean that the cost of buying stuff from stores will be less, and as we are all consumers, 'every little helps'. If I'd been asked how to 'pay for it', I was prepared to say that the entire VAT regime should be overhauled, with no VAT payable between businesses (VAT is not a cost - it gets reclaimed between businesses) and through a simplification of HMCE then there would be cost shavings, sorry savings!

I was also able to briefly mention our Azor, when asked why I was going into space (on Virgin Galactic). I hope I came across well - I've had quite a few emails and voicemails saying it went well!

Thanks BBC2, Declan & Naga. Hope to see you again, sometime.

Earlier this year, we were asked to supply an Azor to Channel Five's 'The Gadget Show' for possible inclusion in a feature on the best razors. Sadly, the Azor didn't make it to the 'final 5' as it wasn't viewed as a 'Gadget'.

In top spot was Gillette's (battery powered, micro-pulsing) Fusion (no surprises there, then) and in 3rd place, Wilkinson Sword's (battery powered vibrating) Quattro Titanium (complete with cut skin and an on-screen inability to trim).

I'm glad, in a way, the Azor didn't feature. The other three razors were electric, and showed no new 'cutting edge' technology at all. Our Azor is hopefully 'shaving simplified, without the cost'.

Maybe when the 'gadget' piece is omitted from the razor test, we'll be in with a shot, next time..

PS - both Braun (with 'Gillette Blade Technology) & Wilkinson Sword ran ads in the break. I'll be watching this 'GBT' - Gillette Blade Technology bit with Braun with interest...

Each month, we pull our retail sales data on the Azor, to see how we're faring against 'Wilkinette'.

The Azor is currently only in 62% of available distribution (for example, it's not yet in Asda, Waitrose, etc.) and I'm therefore delighted that last month (the 4 weeks to the end of October) it was ranked Number 5 by value, and Number 3 by volume.

That's right! In just 4 months, the Azor has gone from zero to challenging for a top three slot!

Last month, Azor handles outsold each Wilkinson Sword variant (including their Lawnmower - sorry - Precision Trimmer) and has ahead of it only the eternally popular Mach3 and Fusion Manual (it sold 15,000 more pieces than Quattro Precision Trimmer, 11,000 more pieces than Fusion Power Stealth & 5,000 more pieces than Mach3 Turbo).

More importantly, the key handle to cartridge ratio is exactly where we hoped it would be, meaning that people aren't just trying the Azor and then reverting back, they're buying it and enjoying the 'King of Shaves without the Ransom' on a daily basis.

I'm delighted that King of Shaves is making good on its intent to become the Number 1 Challenger brand to Gillette, we have a ton of exciting 'stuff' planned as 2008 draws to a close and 2009 begins.

In addition, we also saw some data today that puts King of Shaves as the second most popular brand (by consumer usage) to Gillette, despite the Azor only having launched this year.

If you haven't tried the Azor yet - why not? I promise it will shave you closer, longer, for less and in these times of crisis and downturn, surely it makes great sense to spend just £1.25 per replacement cartridge, rather than a whole lot more on our competitors! After all, you have to shave if you don't want a beard, and at King of Shaves we are intent on this not costing you any more than it needs to.

You read it here first, and with Mach3 just 6,000 handles per month ahead, we're pushing for the Number 2 slot hard.

I often pop into Sainsbury's in Beaconsfield to see what the stock position of the Azor and King of Shaves software is, and grab a Starbucks. On Saturday, I happened to see a chap looking at razors, and (me being me I guess) introduced myself, and suggested he give our Azor a try. I then left to enjoy my Americano.

Lo and behold, he not only bought one, but delightfully, commented on it via email - he's given me permission to show this below. He's an innovation engineer within a Formula 1 team (I had no idea, obviously) so I was doubly delighted to receive his considered review.

Read on...

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Hi Will,

After your efforts of personally advertising the King of Shaves brand in Sainsburys Beaconsfield on Saturday I thought it would only be polite to respond by giving you some personal feedback.

On your advice I purchased the new 'AZOR' and furthermore more also tried the new 'MagnaGel MME Shaving Gel'. Having been both a champion and user of the King of Shaves gel for many years it came as no surprise that this latest evolution of the product delivered yet again. However; as a former design consultant, the most exciting trial was of the AZOR. For many years I have been an avid user of the Gillette M3 Power and many razors, including the Gillette Fusion and Wilkinson Sword Quattro, have failed to convert me.

By way of a step by step critique of the AZOR I thought the following would of use:

Aesthetics - intriguing, innovative and pleasing to the eye

Blade Removal - hesitant in resorting to the instructions, a generic male trait I'm sure, the removal proved both tricky and fiddly but once I finally read the clear and concise manual the blade came off with ease and fired straight across the room, this can be avoided if re-ejected directly into the replacement blade holder.

Blade Replacement - even after reading the instructions it was not entirely obvious which way round the replacement blade should be fitted but after several attempts and consideration the blade finally fitted effortlessly

Ergonomics - the design of the product is such that it can be held in many different ways and as such it is likely there is a grip position to suit all users

Performance - not being of the 'power' variety the shave was better than expected and certainty comparable to the halo'd M3 Power

Storage - the afore mentioned Gillette razors all have useful packaging for storage of both replacement razor blades and the handle, this feature is missing on the AZOR (for a green packing reasons I'm sure). The majority of the issues above could quite easily be resolved with a design tweak and an annotated product. The lack of storage has been resolved by simply storing the attached blade in the replacement cartridge holder.

On the whole the function of this razor is good and compares favourably and I'm quite sure that an innovative company such as yours will be trialling the 'powered AZOR' soon and I look forward to its debut.

I hope this information helps and goes part way to rewarding your personal advertising campaign.

Kind regards,

Mr. R.
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So, I think you'll agree - a favourable review, with room for improvement (which I assure you, Mr. R, we're working on...as I'm sure you're well immersed in your 2009 F1 car!)

Read about Gillette's latest (expensive, overbladed, overpriced) iteration of the Fusion Family here.

Buy the Apple iPhone 3G of razors here

I was delighted to be one of four panellists on 'The Bottom Line', the BBC R4 programme being broadcast this Saturday, 15th November at 5.30pm. See details about the show here, I hope it makes for interesting listening...the other panellists were Keith Clarke, CEO of Engineering & Design Firm, Atkins Global, Julie Meyer, CEO of Ariadne Capital & Leo McKee, CEO of Brighthouse.

Before I went in to do the recording, I asked Pudsey Bear to pose for me with the King of Shaves Azor & Gel, thanks Pudsey, and as part of this, helped in bidding up £2,500 for 8 songs to be played on Danny Baker's radio show in a couple of week's time...

We'll also see how many hits I have on this blog post (and my personal one at BrandRoyalty.com) and will donate to Children in Need a further amount.

With the week starting off at BBC TV Centre for 'Working Lunch' and ending at Broadcasting House for Radio 4, it's been an unusual week to say the least!

Being invited onto a BBC Radio 4 business programme was a real privilege, and I greatly enjoyed taking part. If you missed the broadcast yesterday, courtesy the BBC's website, you can here it here. My main piece is about 10 minutes from the end, but I hope the overall programme was useful listening.

I was also pleased to receive the email below today from a 77 year old chap, see his comments below on the King of Shaves Azor:

First Name: T
Last Name: M
Country: United Kingdom
Email: xx@aol.com

Enquiry Type: Message for Will King

a simple message to say, your new shaver ( to me at least ) is just magnificent, an absolute transformation to my shaving routine, I am ancient and shave daily, but had accepted "the" shaver as we knew it had reached its peak performance and the manufacturers produced graded down versions from depending on the price one wished to pay.

Your revolutionary design is so easy, safe and efficient, I would go so far as to say, shaving is almost a pleasure again after all these years.

For the record I'm 77yrs old.

With King of Shaves Azor just a few thousand handles behind Mach3, we believe you deserve to know about the 'change you deserve' switching from 'Wilkinette' to King of Shaves Azor, ie a closer, longer lasting shave for less of your hard earned cash! King of Shaves Azor is Change YOU Deserve!

Now we've been going a few months with the Azor, we're starting to get an idea of how much people are liking it. For example, check this blog posting out here. Now we're Number 2 in men's shaving (according to TGI anyway) we're going to be trying harder. A lot harder. After all although we're 2nd biggest, we're never content with second best.

I continue to receive much appreciated emails, such as the one below today from Mr. M. G.
Many thanks, I have also linked through to 'Handmade Naturals' on Mr. G's recommendation.
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First Name: M
Last Name: G
Country: United Kingdom
Telephone:
Email:

Enquiry Type: Message for Will King

I bought an Azor razor in Boots because I needed a backup razor for travel. Thought it would be like a "better disposable Bic". How wrong could I be...

I'd been underwhelmed by the Mach 3 I use. I've got very sensitive skin and use Shea Butter as a moisturiser after washing and shaving. (I get it from handmadenaturals.co.uk - I've no relation other than being a happy customer of theirs too). Still get burn and it doesn't do a good job around the chin.

I don't think I've ever written to a company before to say how fab their product is (normally whopping out the dosh is thanks enough!), but Azor just beats the crap out of the wibbly wobbly Mach3 that can't make up its mind whether to cut your whiskers or sculpt them. Simple, effective, and nice to look at. Top marks!

Maybe you should have a scheme where we can trade in all those unused Mach3 blades...
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Thanks Mr. G! Your feedback much appreciated, and we've got a lot of things planned on the 'switch from Wilkinette to King of Shaves' project for 2009...watch this space.

The Azor accolades are steadily streaming in, this one from Oliver Kitson, a drummer with Steve Appleton

----------------------

To: Care
Subject: shave.com enquiry: I have a product comment/review

First Name: Oliver
Last Name: Kitson
Company: Musician/Drummer
Country: United Kingdom
Telephone:
Email:

Enquiry Type: I have a product comment/review

Hello there!

I've used all the current big brand razors to date. Got the hybrid synergy system razor today and was blown away. Literally. Everything about this bad boy is perfect, the shape, the way it handles, the control it gives me. It's so damn smooth, gliding like silk and cutting like a laser. Function, and form in perfect harmony, and not at extortionate prices like the other manufacturers.

Your No. 1 fan
Ollie

I'm delighted we've garnered another great online review of the Azor, for the original posting click here to see it (or read it below):
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The Azor Razor

We do not like change, whether it be clinging onto our long serving car, way beyond it years or even trying a new shampoo, after using the same brand for years.

When were asked to give up our long serving razors to try the new Azor Razor, we did so but were apprehensive to say the least.

But, I am pleased to report, we are glad we did.

The Azor Razor is quite different from anything else.

It doesn't move much, doesn't have a battery and looks really strange, but it works, and works well. It was one of the finest and smoothest cuts we have seen, and you feel a little bit "trendy" as this is something really different.

It also came with a lovely smelling shaving gel as well.

Should you try them? OF COURSE !

Where it can be brought?

The Azor - Boots, Superdrug, Sainsbury, Tesco, Morrisons and from KMIshop.com

King of Shaves Gels, Oils and Skincare products Boots, Superdrug, Sainsbury, Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose, Wilkinsons, many independent retailers and chemsists and from KMIshop.com

How much it is to buy?

Handle plus 3 replacement blades £4.99
4 replacement blades £4.99
8 replacement blades £9.49

Shave Gels range from £2.99 to £4.99

Top Azor Tips

Get to know your Azor! The Azor has a flexible hinge - it will flex to around 90 degrees - but due to the design, it isn't perhaps obvious to all. Try bending the head back to get a feel for just how much movement there is. Don't be shy - it won't snap - so add a little pressure if it feels stiff and you will feel the flex increase.

Pressure. The Azor is designed to be light and simple to use (like an iPod), but this does not mean that you need to use extra pressure when shaving. Simply let the Azor glide across your face - you do only need a minimal amount of pressure.

Under the nose. A tricky area to get the hang of for some people. A little perseverance, a little nose pulling and a shift in grip should help you master it. You might want to move your fingers to the back of the head of the Azor to give a little more control.

Sideburns. Again, place your fingers on the rear of the blade head (on the handily positioned squares) as this will allow you the precision you need to trim your sidies.

The contrast colouring on the handle is the area to hold as this has the grip.

Blade Change. Isn't as complicated as it looks! Again, use the squares on the rear of the blade head as your guide and line it up over the blade and lightly push on. The lift and pull back. Simple!

Holder. The Azor doesn't have a case or a holder (a waste of precious resources) - but we recommend that you use the blade cartridge pack as a holder - it looks funky and does the job. And if you are traveling, just click the blade back into the holder and pop the blades and the handle in your wash bag.

We're delighted to be launching the women's version of our topselling Azor, the 'Azure' early next year. We've banished pastels and overpriced replacement cartridges, going with sexy black & gold, to bring a bit of sassiness to your leg, underarm or bikini shave.

The Azure will be stocked by most major UK retailers by Spring, watch this space for more details, coming shortly!

I'm delighted, overawed, amazed - we won the hotly contested 'Best Company' category in the 2008 Growing Business Awards sponsored by Real Business Magazine & the CBI.

Along with Herbie, I was delighted to accept this hugely prestigious award on behalf of all our staff from William Hague MP, Shadow Foreign Secretary. More to come - what a GREAT NIGHT!

Many thanks to Clare Bullock & Robin Pensfold from HSBC who I'm delighted were on our table, along with Andy Hill, Tim Wright and of course Herbie.

"We are King of Shaves - join us in changing the face of shaving, for better, forever!"

Brilliant!!!

Plus, as an added bonus, Herbie won the top raffle prize - an exclusive behind the scenes tour of Strictly Come Dancing hosted by Claudia Winkleman - keep Growing - and Shaving!

One of my ex-employees, Mandy Kirk emailed me this photo - she now lives in the USA, and found KoS in her local Target store. We've been in Target since 2000 (a lifetime ago) and although we don't have the multi-million dollar spends of our competitors (note the profusion of orange) we manage to hold our own in this competitive space.

Thanks Mandy.

Click here to see a nice article about our launch in NZ, spearheaded by our partners Dave Macleod & Paul Irwin of Creative Partners.