The scan above is a direct mail piece I received yesterday. It's for a new Schick® razor that I'll be trying tomorrow morning, for free! Yay!
But don't be surprised if I'm forever changed by the experience. In fact, I'm a little scared (but I'm going through it because Fear is bad and it's not going to cost me any money).
Poor Schick® - they've struggled at being #2 to Gillette forever. Maybe it's the lack of slotting fees, vibrating blades or Sicilian connections but it sure isn't lack of trying, hence the giveaway. And I'm "in" - the kids have been warned that this afternoon is "Trip to Target® day! Yay!" (collective groan response).
Or it could be their weird Creative.
Firstly, their slogan, "It's like a blast of hydration to your face!™" This has to have been thunk up by women because to a man, a blast of hydration to the face is followed by a charge and a right hook to the kidney. It's the law of summer water fights. And any self-respecting man who rubs his cheeks after shaving complaining of, "Hydration issues" is probably too weenie to be trusted with sharp metal anyway.
Bah. I know a man who spent a week in a WW2 jungle and he shaved every day using a dull razor, skin oil and rain water. I can only imagine the dumbfounded stare he'd give me if I asked, "Bill, how did you deal with facial hydration while you were behind enemy lines?"
Weirder yet is the ™ mark - clearly, some Creative Director thought, "No one's gonna steal that slogan from us, it's just too good!" Good luck on the "blast to face" brand extension.
Anyway, secondly, the OTHER slogan is even more thought provoking - "Free your skin®." This one is ® too.
Mirror check. Stare deeply at our parched cheeks and repeat after me: "My skin needs to be freed." From the rigid confinement of muscle tissue?
I guess those Schick™ razors are pretty sharp!
Maybe this is where the Hydration comes in?
Note: A Sadvertising reader - a 90 year old man, no less, just responded to me with this:
One day I read where using water was just as good and a lot less expensive. Remembr, I grew up during the Great Depression.
Well, I started shaving in the shower with water pouring over my face keeping it real wet as I made strokes with my razor. It worked. No pain. Good shave, no delayin trips to the hotel gift shop. I still do it. I have not used any kind of shaving cream i in 50 years. Also, I dry my razor after using and change blades about once a month.
Not sure this would be satisfactory for a man with a real fast-growing, heavy growth of facial hair, but it works for me. I shower, shave and exercise in the shower every morning (hip squats and toe-touching) Just became 90.
