When your job is to sell razors, beards are bad news. And in recent years beards have been everywhere. Among certain groups of younger men, almost everyone has a beard. In Israel, the figure is around 40% for all ages. Beards means that less people shave and those who do shave, shave less often. As market leader Gillette takes the biggest hit. When beards first became cool we were pretty relaxed. They’ll change when they get their first job we thought. But, in-fact, the opposite happened. Even the boss now has stubble… Our objective was to find a way to reverse the rising tide of facial hair before it was too late.

Central to our message was touch and our strategy would look to be based on four key principles: Firstly, we would highlight new/expecting parents to raise awareness to the importance of Skin To Skin communication. Second, we would put that skin sensation in their hands and be much more experiential. A unique digital experience would allow men to feel what it’s like to touch a beard or stubble and contrast that with a smooth-shaven face. Third, we would focus our message on moments when new mums and dads were thinking about their newborn or about to be born. Finally, we would involve the mums too by presenting many of our message at times when they would be watching, ensuring they added additional pressure for their man to “do one little thing” for the baby. After all, mums make huge sacrifices to give birth

Our campaign worked in four stages: First, we built awareness of the emotional power of touch. TV spots celebrated dad’s willingness to make sacrifices for their newborn. Second, we showed dads what stubble felt like to babies. Print ads in leading male magazines used sandpaper to bring the experience to life, while a unique, first of its kind haptics technology app, allowed men to run their finger over the screen to feel actual beard stubble. Thirdly, we went to meet new dads, promoting the app at baby-fairs, and at preparation-for-birth courses as well as having a Gillette branded shaving-booth in Israel’s biggest maternity ward, where 10% of all the country’s babies are delivered. And finally, we also created an online daddy's club, customizing sister brand Pampers’ vast information bank to provide guidance on key moments such as how to make a first bath.