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Richard Piatt ReportingShaving is a part of life, there's no getting around it, and these days, advertisements are a fact of life too. So, when one Utah company decided to design an ad for a shaver for body hair, they came up with an idea that's edgy, risqué, and successful.
On the privacy of your own computer, you search for a lot of things. But what you'll find at ShaveEverywhere.com, is an ad for a men's body hair shaver--presented in a funny, frank and racy fashion.
"Let me tell you, this whole topic used to make me feel uncomfortable. But with a well groomed back and shoulders…"
Here's where we get to the 'racy' part, because the guy in the robe gets pretty personal. It's an ad too much for TV. But apparently, it's not too much for the Internet.
The ad has sold a lot of shavers, in six weeks, thousands more than Philips-Norelco projected to sell in a year. It's created a huge buzz on the web. It's won awards: Including a prestigious Gold Lion at the Cannes Film Festival.
A lot of ShaveEverywhere fans don't know it, but a Utah company, Struck Design, created the website. It's among the first to use interactive, immersible and entertaining elements as a new generation of product-pushing.
Mike Kern, Struck Design: "In terms of advertising, there's so much noise out there in the industry that in order to successfully get though to your end consumer, you really need to do something different and something that's going to make them think twice."
Even when it points out grooming benefits for your romantic life, the creators acknowledge a line they come close to, but don't cross.
Jason Bangerter, Struck Design: "Yeah. It's edgy. But I don't feel it's over the top."
Struck helps promote other products, too, such as Xango juice, Sweet's taffy, athletic bags and more. But it is this little shaver that's quickly creating a worldwide Internet buzz among body groomers and beyond.
