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As a young man, King C. Gillette (1855-1932) worked as a traveling salesman. Always interested in inventions, King received a number of patents, none more important than one for a disposable safety razor blade.

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In developing the blade, King was inspired by one of his employers, William Painter, who made his fortune inventing the disposable bottle cap. Painter advised Gillette to invent another disposable item that would create a steady stream of return customers. In 1895, Gillette worked out the idea for a razor blade that could be fit into a holder and replaced when dulled, thereby insuring a sharp blade for every shave.

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"The ad stated that Gillette was lowering prices because 'You said you wanted the best shave at lower prices.'"

"Framing the decision as not having to trade off between great quality and value, Gillette wrote that shavers wanted more affordable Gillette blades, and that they, Gillette, 'heard you.'"

[Is Gillette a trustworthy company?]

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On June 11, 2017, there was a major announcement, overlooked in the media cacophony surrounding Uber, Amazon, and Whole Foods.

P&G's Gillette bought full-page ads in the major U.S. newspapers announcing the lowering of (the majority of) their razor blade prices.

The ad stated that Gillette was lowering prices because "You said you wanted the best shave at lower prices."

Framing the decision as not having to trade off between great quality and value, Gillette wrote that shavers wanted more affordable Gillette blades, and that they, Gillette, "heard you."

For years, the Gillette model was: charge a reasonable amount for the razor, and make money selling razor blades. The razor will last a lot longer than the blade. To make the customer's life difficult, just like vacuum cleaner bags, each razor has its own unique blade design.

Then, Dollar Shave Club and Harry's emerged. Dollar Shave Club and Harry's sell affordable shaving (inexpensive, quality razors and blades), and grooming products online. They offer club plans where the blades arrive on a monthly basis. Why trudge to CVS or Walgreen's for razor blades and pay those high prices, when you have the personalized convenience of great, affordable razors and blades regularly delivered?

Let's accept that the shaving category has been "disrupted," and move on to what is the real issue: value. It is all about value. People talk about the increasing value-conscious consumer. This is wrong. Consumers have always been value conscious. Value is what you get for what you pay.

What you pay is more than just price. Cost is the total combination of money, time and effort. In addition to price alone, make it convenient, and make it easy.

What you get is more than just specific features. When people select a refrigerator, they evaluate more than just the features such as overall size, size of the freezer, water through the door. They also consider the design, the brand, and the warranty.

They consider how it will look in their kitchen. They question how confident they are in their decision. Do they feel good about their choice? What people get is more than just features.

People assess a brand's worth based on specific features, functional benefits and emotions for the money, time and effort. Think about the granola bar aisle. Something so simple is not really simple. Local supermarkets carry an overwhelming number of different choices. Do you want chocolate or peanut butter or both? Do you want oats, other grains, or rice? What about dried fruit, cashews, or almonds? Which brand do you prefer? High protein? Low fat? Low calories? Chewy? Sweet? Fiber?

Even if you have all the time in the world, it takes a lot of effort to figure out which is right for you. Is it worth the effort? Or, do you end up choosing the brand you trust?

Trust is the value multiplier. Trust is the consumer's belief that the brand will live up to expectations. It will deliver the promised experience relative to the costs. We call this Trustworthy Brand Value.

Trust answers the question: "How confident am I that this brand will deliver the promised experience for these costs?" If trust in the brand is high, then the brand value is increased.

If trust in the brand is low, then the perceived brand value is decreased. If there is no trust in the brand, if trust in the brand is zero, it does not matter what the promised brand experience is relative to the costs: anything multiplied by zero is zero. Then, you end up competing on price alone.

Gillette needs to take advantage of the trust that people have in its brand. If the Gillette message is that it is all about price when deciding to buy from Gillette or a shaving club, Gillette will lose. What does the Gillette brand promise in terms of features, functions, emotions, that the shaving clubs cannot promise? Competing on price alone is self-commoditization. This is self-administered brand suicide.

Promising and delivering a relevant, differentiated brand experience you can trust is the way to build a strong, enduring, loyal relationship with a customer.

Gillette took its customers for granted. They assumed that they could raise prices and not lose customers. Price increases, without increasing the benefits of the experience, hurt Gillette's value.

There was time and effort required to select the high priced Gillette blades. The Gillette brand experience started to pale next to the personalized experiences delivered by Dollar Shave Club and Harry's.

The shaver's trust-busting question is: "Why should I continue to pay so much for Gillette when the easiest choice, taking less time, and effort is to buy from these clubs? I get the same quality."

If just lowering price is Gillette's only message that needs to change to compete with these new competitors.

Here are some guiding principles:

1. Price and value are not the same thing. Stop using these terms interchangeably. Price is what brands charge. Value is what customers perceive a brand's offer to be worth. This is why we have two different words. It is really risky to define best value as lowest price. Every brand must aim to be a value brand.

2. The "value conscious" customer is not a customer segment. Every customer is value conscious. Different customers just value different things. Customers are no more or less value conscious today than they were years ago. Customers have always been, and will always be value conscious.

3. Management does not determine value. Management sets price. Customers determine the value.

4. Brand management is much more than marketing communications. Creating and strengthening Trustworthy Brand Value is the goal of brand management.

Running an ad to let people know you have lowered your price will not help your customer perceived value: there are other key elements. If the total brand experience relative to the total brand costs does not change, and if trust is low, mere price reduction will only move to lower revenues and profitability.

Larry Light, a global brand revitalization expert, is co-author with Joan Kiddon of "Six Rules for Brand Revitalization." He also is the Chief Executive Officer of Arcature, a marketing consulting company that has advised a variety of marketers in packaged goods, technology, retail, hospitality, automotive, corporate and business-to-business, as well as not-for-profit organizations. Prior to consulting, Light worked on the advertising agency side as a senior executive at both BBDO and CEO of the International Division at Ted Bates Advertising. He was global Chief Marketing Officer of McDonald's from 2002-2005 where he was involved in one of the most recognized brand business turnarounds. From 2010 to 2014, Light was Chief Brands Officer of the global hotels group IHG.

For more DAILY VIEWS, The News' contributor network, click here.

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Companies need to build brand value through trust

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On June 11, 2017, there was a major announcement, overlooked in the media cacophony surrounding Uber, Amazon, and Whole Foods. P&G's Gillette bought full-page ads in the major U.S. newspapers announcing the lowering of (the majority of) their razor blade prices.

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"Good Benefits, Great people, Best Product on the market."

"Company is very competitive and driven by principles of a high performing organization."

"Safety and Quality are the top two drivers of all activities within the site."

"There are many cultural celebrations throughout the year and outside activities to participate in."

"The company is very diverse and inclusive and it is an environment that fosters capability building and personal / professional growth."

"There are many leadership trainings available and capability sessions dependant on your job or area of interest."

"There are very intelligent hard working people work at Gillette and they take a lot of pride in their work."

"The best part of the job is the people and their commitment to the company and each other and truly making the best blades in the world."

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Working at Gillette: Employee Reviews about Culture | Indeed.com

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Reviews from Gillette employees about Culture

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Founder
(1855-1932)
Worked as a traveling salesman.
Always interested in inventions, King received a number of patents, none more important than one for a disposable safety razor blade.

https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1212407

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"Mr. Mockler joined Gillette in 1957 as staff assistant to the controller after two years with the General Electric Company and two years as a research associate at the Harvard Business School."

"He became Gillette's treasurer in 1965, moved up to vice president in 1967, then senior vice president, executive vice president, vice chairman of the board and, in 1974, president. He was promoted to chief executive officer the next year and chairman in 1976."

"A steadying hand"

"In 1988 Mr. Mockler successfully resisted an attempt by a New York-based investment firm, the Coniston Group, to take over Gillette in a proxy fight."

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Credit... The New York Times Archives

This is a digitized version of an article from The Times's print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.

Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.

Colman M. Mockler Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of The Gillette Company since the mid-1970's, died yesterday at his office in the Prudential Tower in Boston. He was 61 years old and lived in Wayland, Mass.

He died of a heart attack, a company spokesman said.

Mr. Mockler joined Gillette in 1957 as staff assistant to the controller after two years with the General Electric Company and two years as a research associate at the Harvard Business School. He became Gillette's treasurer in 1965, moved up to vice president in 1967, then senior vice president, executive vice president, vice chairman of the board and, in 1974, president. He was promoted to chief executive officer the next year and chairman in 1976. A Steadying Hand

Mr. Mockler brought a steadying financial hand to Gillette when he took the helm. The company, founded in 1901 and solidly lodged as the world's largest producer of safety razors and blades, had become multinational, selling Right Guard antiperspirants, Toni home permanents and a line of stationery products, including Papermate pens.

Three years ago Mr. Mockler successfully resisted an attempt by a New York-based investment firm, the Coniston Group, to take over Gillette in a proxy fight.

He announced last fall that he would retire at the end of 1991.

Mr. Mockler, born in St. Louis, was a graduate of Harvard College and held a master's degree from the Harvard Business School. Since 1982 he had been a member of the Harvard Corporation, the university's governing body, and from 1975 to 1981 he was a member of Harvard's Board of Overseers, the last two years as president.

He also served as chairman of the Corporation of Simmons College, as an overseer of the New England Medical Center, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Boston Symphony Orchestra and as a trustee of the New England Conservatory of Music.

He is survived by his wife, the former Joanna Sperry, whom he married in 1957; two sons, Colman 3d of Amesbury, Mass., and Andrew, of Provincetown, Mass.; two daughters, Joanna Hyde of Gales Ferry, Conn., and Emily Ryan of Dallas; two sisters, Mary Ann Malone of Manhattan and Christine Mikes of Harvard, Mass.; a brother, Robert, of Manhattan, and three grandchildren.

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Colman M. Mockler Jr. Dies at 61, Gillette's Top Executive Since 70's (Published 1991)

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This is a digitized version of an article from The Times's print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions.

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"Thirty years ago, Gillette launched their tagline, ‘The best a man can get”. Since then, Gillette has become more involved in conversations regarding masculinity and gender."

"Today, their main tagline is “The best men can be”. Gillette is committed to encouraging men to be confident and comfortable in their own skin."

"In 2019, Gillette debuted a short film, “We Believe”, which sought to redefine masculinity. The campaign made direct reference to the #MeToo movement."

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Our Passionate about Stories series looks at storytelling from organisations of all shapes and sizes. The series gives us an opportunity to learn from brands we love and develop our storytelling skills.

Nowadays, more brands are using storytelling to better connect with their audiences. Many brands use stories to convey their values or their history. Some brands use storytelling to build trust. Other brands use storytelling to educate people about causes that are close to their hearts.

This week, we're taking a look at Gillette's latest storytelling campaign which tells the story of a transgender boy experiencing his first shave.

How their story began

Thirty years ago, Gillette launched their tagline, 'The best a man can get". Since then, Gillette has become more involved in conversations regarding masculinity and gender. This prompted them to introduce a new tagline which is more in alignment with their brand values. Today, their main tagline is "The best men can be". Gillette is committed to encouraging men to be confident and comfortable in their own skin. Through this initiative, Gillette has been advocates for and donated to many charities which invest in the needs and wellbeing of men. Throughout the years, Gillette has run a variety of storytelling campaigns to empower men to be the very best that they can be.

The story of Samson

This particular campaign allowed Gillette to continue to explore and redefine the idea of masculinity. Gillette decided to make moves to redefine their brand vision to align with current conversations regarding masculinity. In 2019, Gillette debuted a short film, "We Believe", which sought to redefine masculinity. The campaign made direct reference to the #MeToo movement. The creative expands the brand's traditional tagline, "The Best a Man Can Get", to "The Best Men Can Be".

Gillette decided to launch a new ad which shows a traditional rite of passage: a father teaching his son how to shave. What makes this story unique is that this heartwarming moment features Toronto-based transgender activist Samson Bonkeabantu. Samson's story shows his father coaching him on how to shave and reassures him to not be scared. As his father instils a great deal of confidence in Samson, we are invited into the story to share this uplifting moment with them.

The Importance of Storytelling

Samson's story not only depicts a touching moment between a father and son. It illustrates Gillette's commitment to being thoroughly educated on conversations concerning masculinity and inclusivity. This directly propels their mission statement to empower men to be the best they can be. Gillette's storytelling approach is intrinsic to creating a more deeper and personal connection with their audience. The story sparked positive engagement especially from trans men who said they could relate to Samson's experience.

In the short video advertisement, Samson's story finishes with a touching sentiment, "Whenever, wherever, however it happens, your first shave is special." Check it out below!

Why not check out our Storyteller's Manifesto to discover how you can incorporate your brand's values storytelling into your storytelling endeavours? Find out how you can get your very own FREE copy .

Here at All Good Tales, our CEO delivers inspirational keynote addresses to audiences, teaching them how to tell powerful stories. To find out more or to arrange a consultation you can call us on (01) 454 0090. For more information click here.

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Passionate About Stories- Gillette: First Shave - All Good Tales

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Nowadays, more brands are using storytelling to better connect with their audiences. Many brands use stories to convey their values or their history. Some brands use storytelling to build trust. Other brands use storytelling to educate people about causes that are close to their hearts.