The Boston Red Sox’s turnaround was one of the most inspirational sports stories of 2013, from scuffling underdogs to beloved World Series Champions. Along the way, the Red Sox players began growing beards. Big, bushy beards. Beards that became a unifying symbol of the team, a good luck charm and a look that captivated the huge World Series television audience.

For Boston-based Gillette, this posed a hairy dilemma. The Red Sox were their home town team. But how could Gillette celebrate men who refused to shave? Beards and stubble were already being promoted in popular culture and shaving frequency had plummeted. Online media was even buzzing: “What does Gillette think about the Red Sox?”

We thought about it and decided it was the opportunity of a lifetime.

Gillette would support the Red Sox in all their bearded glory. Then stage the most celebrated shaving event in history. We invited Red Sox heroes David Ortiz and Shane Victorino to Gillette’s World Shaving Headquarters for a “cutting edge” media event. And to really engage our target demographic, we invited bearded local fans to vie for the chair next to them.

On November 4th, to a packed house of national media, Gillette shaved the storied beards of Ortiz, Victorino and friends while cameras rolled. And just for fun, we auctioned off the shaved beards of Ortiz and Victorino for charity, which became a landslide media event of its own.

Generating more than a billion earned media impressions, the campaign showed the world what clean-shaven Red Sox looked like.

They looked like winners.

The shave the world was waiting for

The moment the baseball season ended, we were ready with the most celebrated shaving event in history. Series MVP David “Big Papi” Ortiz and fan favourite Shane Victorino would shed their beards at Gillette’s World Shaving Headquarters in Boston, along with Boston police officer Steve Horgan, another bearded local hero seen by millions during the World Series. To further engage our target demo, bearded Boston fans entered a contest for the chance to come clean next to their favourite player.

And to pay homage to Boston Pride, Gillette donated $100,000 to The One Fund, a charity dedicated to Boston Marathon bombing victims.

We weren't done. After Ortiz and Victorino showed their clean-shaven faces to the world, we auctioned off their famous beards in a custom-designed “Beard Ball Trophy” featuring the Gillette products that shaved them. The eBay auction raised more than $14,000 for charity and fuelled another wave of publicity.

A clean (shaven) victory

The Boston Red Sox did their part, winning the World Series. And we scored a grand slam by showing the world what a clean-shaven hero looks like. From start to finish, the campaign garnered 1,180,318,897 earned media impressions, securing 575 placements ranging from Bleacher Report and Bloomberg to live remote coverage by NBC’s Today Show.

Word of the Red Sox shave-off earned 91,452 social media engagements, 15,525,022 Facebook impressions and 117,020,538 Twitter impressions.

What’s more, Shane Victorino and David Ortiz’s beard “shavings” were auctioned off for a total of $14,628.46, with 100% of proceeds going to Movember, a charity raising funds for men’s health awareness.

While it’s too soon to tell whether Gillette turned the tides against the stubble trend, recent events have been promising. When asked by ESPN about the future of his facial hair, scruffy Sox outfielder Jonny Gomes said “the beard’s coming off.” A small but sweet victory for Gillette in its home town of Boston.