THE KING'S BLOG

Thanks Tim! This was published in Marketing, today, 11th March 2009

Great blog by 'Jason B Standing' - click here to see it! Thanks Jason!

When you've created a product leading to a brand, you're always 100% dialled into consumer feedback, whether good (obviously preferred) or bad (in which case you try to personally get to the bottom of the issue/problem).

Nicky Springle, my head of customer care at King of Shaves was delighted to receive this email from Evan earlier this week, and he's agreed to let us publish it in full.

Evan, you made our week - I forwarded your mail to everyone at KoS, and also to Tim, my Director of Sales & Marketing, who's in the US this week planning our forthcoming foray into the USA with Azor...watch this space (Stephanie can keep you updated).

Without further ado, here's Evan's email (it's also at http://www.brandroyalty.com)
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-----Original Message-----
From: eherberg
Sent: 13 March 2009 05:28
To: Care
Subject: Message from shave.com

The following information was submitted via the "contact us" form on http://www.shave.com/.

Nature of Enquiry: I have a product comment / review

Name: Evan Herberg
Email:
Company:
Address:Michigan
Postcode:
Country: United States
Telephone: 763

You probably get a lot of messages like this - but even still, I wanted to drop you a line to let you know how pleased I am with your product. I can't recall ever being motivated to contact a company like this before - but my experience has been so good, it only seemed right to let you know.

I had been generally dissatisfied with most shaving products for nearly 25 years now. As somebody who has always suffered from neck irritation from shaving, I've spent most of those years trying various shavers and products as they came out. Tried all manner of multi-blade shavers, gels, creams - even the old brush was given a go. Sometimes I would get a day or two of (what I would think) was hope when irritation was lessened - but a week didn't go by when irritation, redness, or bumps wouldn't come back.

When I discovered the Azor on the website - I'll admit that I was first drawn by the unique design of the razor. After reading through the thought that went into the design process - I decided to order one from the US KMIShop website. As long as I was ordering - I decided to get a range of King of Shaves products (face wash, MagnaGel, and moisturizer). After using the products for a month now - it looks like the search is finally over. The entire line performs so well! The first week of shaving using both the Azor and the KOS gel produced an effortless shave - a really close shave - and more importantly not a hint of irritation. I tried shaving using my old razor and using the KOS gel and found I still got no irritation - thanks to the gel. Going back to the Azor for comparison proved to me I was getting a better shave when I would notice at the end of the day less stubble regrowth than my old razor.

With a month of using the Azor as well as the KOS product line - I'm pleased to report that there hasn't been a day that I've experienced any irritation, redness, or bumps. None. Experiencing that in combination with having a shave that leaves my face baby-smooth is something that I haven't seen in many, many years.

So - I wanted to send you all a note. Again - I realize you must get a lot of notes like this, but I wanted people who work on and sell these products to know that your work is really appreciated every day. For me ... being able to finally be this satisfied with a shaving product has turned an experience that I dis-liked for *years* into one where my only regret is that I didn't try the line a long time ago.

Thanks to all!

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Evan, many thanks to you and this email. "Different & Great" & 'Enthuse, Exceed, Enjoy!" have long been mantra's at KoS, glad you're now enjoying the King of Shaves on a daily basis - spread the word!!!

Nicky and I were delighted to receive this email from James E today regarding the King of Shaves Azor - immediately shared with Team King of Shaves.

Remember, King of Shaves and the Azor is on promotion for a month now with Boots, Sainsbury and Tesco - there's never been a better time to 'Shave Better & Save Cash'!

Be sure to look out for some exciting announcements regarding King of Shaves next week - it's all about 'B'eing the Best!

In the meantime, here's what James had to say. Thanks James!
--------------------------
The following information was submitted via the "contact us"
form on http://www.shave.com/.

Nature of Enquiry: I have some general feedback

Name: James E
Email:
Country: United Kingdom
Telephone:

As an avid non-shaver (AKA 'lazy') I tended to give up on the leading brands due to expense and poor quality of shave, and gave up on the disposable razors due to the fact that I would lose half my face whilst shaving - ouch!

Enter the Azor...everything a razor should be and more.

Will and team... Thanks for being men. Thanks for understanding shaving. Thanks for enhancing and easing the experience for us all.

In the Azor you've created a razor that doesn't grip, it glides. It doesn't catch the skin, it cuts the hair. It doesn't clog up, it keeps clear. And it's like a swedish armchair, designed for style and comfort!

I kneel before you King of Shaves.

My first sighting of our new Azure razor for women - no more stealing your partner's Azor ladies, now you can shave 'smoother, longer for less ' with the stunning metallic gold and black Azure! Instore now (at no price premium to Azor either)! Note the Azure's 'skinniness' against our 'fat packed' competitors!

Nicky was emailed about the above today and I was delighted to browse Which? magazine's online website, and find that our King of Shaves Azor has been awarded 'Best Buy' status by the UK's leading unbiased consumer product magazine. No mention of Wilkinson Sword or Gillette Fusion Manual, the other razors rated were Gillette Fusion Power (handle £9.99 versus our £4.99, cartridges £2.50 versus our £1.25) and the 11 year old Mach3.

Here's what Which? had to say:
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71% King of Shaves Azor £4.88

The four-blade Azor from King of Shaves looks more like a tuning fork than a razor but it delivers a close and comfortable shave at a reasonable price. Rather than a pivoting head, the Azor reaches the nooks and crannies of your face by the blade cartridge being fitted to a flexible rubber head, a bit like a bendy-toothbrush. It comes with three replacement blades. There is a version in black (Warp), white (Pola) and limited-edition red (Rari).

And, perhaps most tellingly of all, Which? made the following comments:
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The costs of using a shaving system

Replacing the blade cartridges for a shaving system can be expensive and, unlike printer cartridges, you won't be able to find cheap unbranded blades to attach to big-name razors. Manufacturers are keen to protect their razor-innovations and Gillette have 70 patents on the Fusion alone.

We found that the six shaving systems we tested had similar durability, but there were striking differences in cost.

For example, when we checked, the Azor from King of Shaves was half the price of the Gillette Fusion Power Stealth and came with three replacement blades, while the Power Stealth came with one. And buying a pack of four replacement blades for the Azor was half the price as well.
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FANTASTIC RESULT!