THE KING'S BLOG

Here LIve in 10 days or so... ;-)

The pic above was taken in Tesco today. For the first time in 11 months, Gillette don't have their Fusion handle on 'half price promotion' with any major UK retailer. Here, they simply have a secondary location promoting it.

Since we launched our Azor in mid-June 2008, both Gillette and Wilkinson-Sword have been promoting their handles at half price. Result - well - Gillette's sales of their handles are 300% up when on deal, but at the same time, sales of Fusion cartridges have been OVERTAKEN in volume by 11 year old Mach3. Constant half price handle promotion, given the COGS (cost of goods) of the handle must have terrified their UK FD, who has not only see our King of Shaves Azor track steadily towards 10% handle market share, but has seen sales of Gillette software decline by £4m and with the exception of Azor, no shaving brand is in growth.

So, not only have we disrupted the market to the consumer's advantage with the Azor (shave closer, longer, for less) but have made shaving as a whole more affordable. I'm very proud of that. Looking forward to unleashing our next phase - bookmark MoneyShavingExpert.com - live in 10 days or so - you'll be glad you did.

Oh yes, and Azor will be in all Asda stores and all Morrison's stores within the month, with our shaving software going into LloydsPharmacy, shortly being followed by Azor.

King of Shaves = The Future of Shaving!

We've had a really encouraging response in the first 24 hours to our Shaving Bond, which is really, really gratifiying. Thousands of visits to ShavingBond.com and I know, a good level of applications. And this is before our adverts, which will run this weekend in a range of quality newspapers.

In addition, I was amazed and impressed with the media response to our Shaving Bond which has been almost universally positive, including 'Quote of the Day' from the London Evening Standard "It's better than the tuppence ha'penny you get down the Nationwide!" Priceless. The value of the PR generated alone for King of Shaves has been in the hundreds of thousands of pounds, I've blogged about my comments on the bond launch on my Brand Royalty blog, read them here.

In trawling the many blog postings on the bond - is it a good thing to invest in - will it work - I came across a particularly insightful one, where the poster pointed out that the interest coupon will actually be in excess of 6%...

Which, of course, it will - as we will be providing free product for the duration of the bond, which you'd otherwise have to buy. We're still working out what this will be - and will be aiming to give our Shaving Bond holders a choice - but it will be in the tens of pounds per person, and of course, this is a direct saving on having to buy our King of Shaves or Azor products from a retailer.

If you choose to subscribe - which I hope you'll consider doing - rest assured that we'll be making your investment with us work on your behalf, over and above the 6% interest rate we're paying on your investment - whether it's £1,000 or £5,000.

Choose different, shave (and save) better with King of Shaves & Azor.

We're going to be the future of shaving (and saving).

Following the positive article by The Times on our Shaving Bond issue on Tuesday, Patrick Hosking has followed up with a somewhat more sceptical article that looks at our initiative in a little more depth. You can read it by clicking here.

I gave an extensive, open interview with Patrick today, and also put him in touch with a partner at BDO (who approved our Shaving Bond issue). In my eyes, the article reads unnecessarily negatively, with him questioning our business, the data we have made available and other concerns (although to give credit where credit's due, he says it's worth buying our razors!).

In issuing the Shaving Bond, we took months working out the details of the issue - what it will mean for our (already successful) company, how we will use the funds (marketing leading to brand awareness & continuing sales growth), and why it was far more important to have 5,000 'investor-saver-partners' than one.

The fact that bonds have historically been used by 'blue chip' (ie 'solid') companies means little - GM was 'blue chip' until recently, and many companies, banks, lenders, institutions have had their financial strength downgraded, or been 'bailed out' by us, the taxpayer. On this subject, Patrick writes: "Bonds are traditionally the preserve of big beasts -- blue-chip companies or governments that have the track record and resources to gain an impressive credit rating, and big institutional investors that can afford the usually huge minimum investment levels. The foray into this world by a tiddler like King of Shaves is unheard of".

Well, the fact it is 'unheard of' to me means 'maybe more people should hear about the opportunity'. Last year, it would have been 'unheard of' that a 'tiddler' like us would garner 10% system razor handle market share against US$57Bn Gillette. We may be small compared with companies Patrick is more used to speaking with, but we're still a profitable multi-million pound turnover FMCG business. And, as I make it clear in the ads, in my blog postings and in all the interviews, on radio, TV and press, we're not after risking someone's life savings - £1,000 is the minimum amount we chose, and there is a £5,000 maximum that can be invested. I would prefer 5,000 people x £1,000 rather than 1,000 people x £5,000.

The fact we've had thousands of visits to the Shaving Bond offer website is testimony to the interest people have in making a return on their somewhat underwhelming investment options, and why not back a brand that is growing strongly, in the UK, and internationally - a British business daring to succeed in the face of global adversity?

Simply put, up to 5,000 adults aged over 18, who ideally use King of Shaves, spread all over the UK, to help us spread brand awareness and word of mouth, are the people I'd like to back our Bond. Not the sophisticated "City Investment' types. Not the "professional investors". Regular people, doing regular jobs, who are looking to do things a little bit differently, a little bit better, with - perhaps - a little LESS risk.

After all, 1,000,000 men aren't stopping shaving overnight with King of Shaves.

Sweeney Todd was the 'Demon Barber of Fleet Street'. Well, let me assure you King of Shaves is no cut-throat barber going about business in the backstreets. Our business partners are Boots, Sainsbury & Tesco, our bankers are HSBC, our shareholders are my close friends and family, and as I pointed out in the interview: "The only thing that's certain in the future - is - uncertainty, and the fact men's beards will grow overnight"

I stand by the integrity of our Shaving Bond in the same way I stand by the integrity of our award winning razor, the Azor and the fact we're over 16 years old and maturing nicely.

Maybe I shoud have called our issue King of Bonds ;-) But I'm not so arrogant as to consider that, King of Shaves 'Shaving Bond No. 1' is just fine.

Three advertisements for the King of Shaves Shaving Bond appear today in the Sunday Papers - Mail on Sunday, Sunday Times & Sunday Telegraph.

I'm writing this whilst attending the NACDS 'Marketplace' convention in Boston USA, where we're introducing the Azor to US buyers from major drugstores. The show's pretty quiet, but we've had plenty of appointments, and we've had a great reception to it. Sales in the UK are very strong - this week will probably be our biggest sales week ever - helped, no doubt, by the huge publicity surrounding our Shaving Bond issue.

I wanted to restate again why we decided to issue this innovative savings bond to the general public, and explain in greater depth my rationale, as a couple of recent articles in what I'll call the 'serious' investment sector have questioned us actually doing it, indeed cited it as more risky (than in my opinion) it is. A typical article - this one is on the Investors Chronicle website - can be read here.

Firstly, King of Shaves has been established over sixteen years. Earlier this year, my board and I took the decision to demerge the company from its parent - KMI - along with taking on an inward investment of c£4m. This was done solely so my management team and I could focus on growing the brand, nationally and internationally and allowed my business partner, Herbie, to do exactly the same with KMI Brands - a company that owns or licenses a portfolio of successful brands.

The success of a brand like King of Shaves is entirely reputation based. Every day, over a million men shave with our products - shaving gels, serums & oils - and of course with our razor. If our products don't perform, and deliver a great shave, then simply put, people won't buy them again. However, the overall demand for King of Shaves, reflected in our market share data published by IRI Infoscan, is substantially up. Within 12 months, we've garnered approximately 10% system razor handle market share, and built on our 12% market share of shaving preparations.

Men, and women, enjoy using our products - they buy tens of thousands of them each week, and our brand has grown every year, over the past sixteen years.

So, why did I issue the 'Shaving Bond'? For two reasons:

Firstly, to "involve" fans - evangelists - enthusiasts - of King of Shaves in a way that could help us (spend more money on marketing) and help them (save money over the duration of the bond). Almost everyone I spoke to about the idea prior to the launch loved it, and in many cases, it has been reported very positively.

Secondly, because it simply seemed like a good idea - the sort of thing a consumer facing, challenger brand would do, to continue its growth in a different, exciting & engaging way. It would get the brand publicity - mostly positive - some, of course, negative - and bring us to a wider awareness. The cost of actually issuing the shaving bond, including legal fees & press advertisements has been a substantial six figure sum - an amount the company is more than capable of investing, alongside our more 'conventional' press & poster ads featuring the 'Better because it Bends' strapline.

Most emails I've received - I would say 99% - have been positive. People seem to be excited about the issue, they want to be part of our success story, and feel they can play a part.

I have made it clear that I'm not after someone's 'life savings' - I am no financial shyster - no Bernard Madoff or Allen Stanford. It's no Ponzi scheme. No ficticious 'Certificates of Deposit' drawn on a bank in the Caribbean with unbelievable rates of return.

This is about involving people in a way that maybe is as much about fun, as raising funds. My ideal would be for between 500 to 5,000 adults, each investing £1,000 apiece, and who understand the risks associated with the Bond issue, as explicitly pointed out on our website. 6% seemed about the 'right' interest level to pay, and with us issuing free product over the bond's duration, the real money saved will of course be more than this. The bond has been professionally laid out by BDO in association with our lawyers, Memery Crystal, and we have followed to the letter guidelines that need to be adhered to regarding this sort of savings/investment opportunity.

Indeed, until you tick the boxes to signify you have read and understood the bond issue, you can't apply. I'm sure some people - massive fans of King of Shaves - will apply without reading the t's and c's, but of course I recommend that everyone who applies reads them, and understands there is a risk associated with the issue.

I can't predict what the future holds - but I can confidently assert that men's beards will continue to grow, if they don't want to grow a beard, they need to shave, and choosing King of Shaves products delivers a great shave.

Whether we raise £500,000 or £5m - I don't mind. We may not even raise £500,000 - the minimum amount. Who knows! It's not been done before, in this way. But, what I do care about passionately, and have done so since the 'get-go' with King of Shaves, is people having trust in our brand's reputation - whether that's in the shaving, or saving, sector and realise that this is a serious way to make some money, whilst helping my team and I continue to build a British brand, largely manufactured in the UK, and sold world-wide.

If you've read this blog post, please do read all the press articles associated with our Shaving Bond. The good, and the bad. And then, make your own mind up whether it's for you. It's your decision.

(from Reuters - link to subsequent article here

LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - King of Shaves, a British shaving products firm, has invited customers to invest in a 5 million pounds ($8.21 million) bond, showing companies are capitalising on a surge in retail investor demand for such fixed income assets.

Institutional investors have already gobbled up some 200 billion euros ($280.4 billion) of corporate bonds issued in the first half of the year and now retail investors have worked up an appetite too.

King of Shaves' bond is tiny, but a string of big European companies, including oil company BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research), car maker Volkswagen (VOWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), Italian oil company ENI (ENI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) and France's EDF (EDF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) have issued several billions of euros in bonds, partly aimed at small investors and more issues of this kind are expected.

Today, the Daily Mail published this article on price reductions on Gillette Fusion & Mach3 replacement cartridges. I have blogged at here at BrandRoyalty and reproduce my blog below.
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When we launched the King of Shaves Azor last year in the UK, I was adamant that our shave should not cost a ransom. We decided to fairly price our Azor system razor at just £4.88 (for a handle & 3 replacement Endurium cartridges) and sell replacement blades at £4.88 for 4 and £9.49 for 8.

Back in June, the Daily Mail ran an article on the huge mark-up some of our competitors were making, no guessing who they were. My original blog post on that article is here. Today, the Daily Mail ran a further article saying that Asda had decided to substantially - like SUBSTANTIALLY - drop the prices of the cartridges - to £5 for 4 Fusion cartrdges a shaving (sic) of up to £3.30.

BUT - and this is a big but, our King of Shaves Azor cartridges, fairly priced at full price - £4.88 for 4, are currently on promotion with all major retailers, whilst our new King of Shaves Shaveolution (Bend the Rules) TV ad airs. This means, you can get the King of Shaves for just £2.44 for 4 cartridges, 61p per cartridge - again, making a mockery of Gillette's (Asda forced), recently lowered price.

Where will this end? Well, from our perspective, we've always been about Quality, Performance & Affordability. We're not about exploiting our consumers with ever more complex products, ever more expensive. As Leonardo Da Vinci (apparently) said, "Simplicity is the ultimate Sophistication" and we couldn't agree more.

The Blade Wars are well and truly on in the UK - it'll be a Battle Royal.

A very interesting article was published in the Wall Street Journal today on the cost of shaving.

The author, Neil Templin writes "Instead of competing on price, the two big razor makers largely seem to be engaged in a silly arms race to improve a product that already works perfectly well."

And tellingly, he concludes (having trialled a new Fusion Power ProGlide, launching in the USA this summer at an RRP of $12.99, handle & 1 blade & $17.99 (£12!!!!) for 4 cartridges.

"I used the new razor over the weekend before sending it back to Gillette. It was a closer shave. But when I finished, the smooth face I saw peering back in the mirror was still my own, not George Clooney's. And I'd still feel like a sap spending $4.50 each time I changed blades.

Feel like a Sap? Not feel the best a man can be? Neil, check out our King of Shaves Azor. Shave closer, longer, for less - forever - we'll treat you like a King, not a sap!