The debut campaign for the Harry’s shaving company has launched in the UK and will run across TV, digital and OOH for four weeks. The idea behind the work is “Shaving’s other guys,” which allows Harry’s to talk about itself as an 'alternative' brand that’s for every guy and one that puts the customer first. The campaign, created by Brothers and Sisters, uses largely black and white illustrations drawn by Brooklyn-based designer and illustrator Joey Pasko, which will appear in OOH, online, as well as on beer mats, TV and a specially built ‘bearded’ billboard. TV executions include a one off 40 second spot set to air during the final game of the Lions tour on 8 July, while the bespoke billboard will appear in an East London location and feature an actual 3D beard added onto it, along with the line: “East London. Worst place to launch a razor.”
Matt Charlton, CEO at Brothers and Sisters, said of the campaign: “We wanted to get British support through creating a sort of underdog spirit. Harry’s is already a success in the US, It has been a privilege to help the brand launch here in the UK.” Lorna Peters, VP of Marketing at Harry’s, added: “The idea for Harry’s was born out of a frustrating purchasing experience - we wanted to make shaving better for ourselves and for guys everywhere. We wanted to rethink the whole experience, including the expensive, over-designed and poorly packaged products. It’s been exciting to see the changes we’ve been able to provoke in the US, we realised that the U.K. has that same earlier dynamics. The category leader has been consistently raising prices, pocketing the profits, and taking advantage of their dominant market share. British guys have no real alternative and we wanted to fix that.”
The underdog mentality appears throughout the campaign, via a self-deprecating yet authentic tone designed to reflect the brand’s disregard for the rules and the “established way of doing things.” Harry’s razor blades are engineered in Germany and the company owns its own factory, which means it controls the value chain from manufacturing to point of sale to fulfilment and customer experience, allowing it to offer quality at every touchpoint. Brothers and Sisters was appointed lead creative agency for the brand in the UK following a competitive pitch. Media planning and buying is being handled by Goodstuff.
