CASE

Study

THE NATURE OF MARKETING

Marketing to the Swarm as well as the Herd

Philips Norelco: Bodygroom Campaign

Creating a digital marketing outbreak

Social networks move very quickly when they share information with each other. But can you get them to talk aboutyour product?The key is that digital communities pass along things that interest or entertain them, in person or through theblogosphere. You probably understand people getting word around quickly about a hot music video or a breaking newsstory. But how do you get them talking about an electric shaver?Men’s grooming products are not traditionally a hot topic in the blogosphere. But when our client Philips Norelcocreated a new body trimmer designed for shaving below the neck, we saw an opportunity to get men to look at whatwas really important to most of them: attracting women. Moreover, we did it with a very edgy and funny campaign thatcreated a network of men talking to each other about the ad

and

the product.The centerpiece of this campaign was a video advertisement that you would most certainly never see on television. Init, a man in a bathrobe talks frankly about trimming body hair in a way that is rarely heard in polite company. For example, he starts out by saying things like, “Grooming your back, chest, (bleep) and (bleep) demands a certaindelicacy,” while kiwi fruits, peaches, and carrots strategically appear on-screen in place of bleeped-out body parts

Pitching the benefits of the Philips Bodygroom in a viral video.