A Carrot and Two Kiwis

Earlier today I read about the Norelco Philips Bodygroomer and its sucessful consumer generated campaign. I have to admit that, I first saw www.shaveeverywhere.com about three months ago and was immediately hooked. The clean cut young man and his dialogue had me laughing nonstop. I sent the link to a few friends and I am sure they passed it one to others generating a tremendous buzz for this shaver. That resulted in the website being linked on over 500 blogs.

The article I read stated that by taking a nontraditional approach to marketing this product they were able to exceed sales targets by 300% of their already lofty goals. The fact that this campaign was geared towards younger males (25-45) made it an easy decision to use a nontraditional marketing approach. Would a print advertising campaign been as successful? With the hundreds of ads that we seen in print everyday this product would probably have been looked over. But by using a funny buzz campaign you are able to engage the consumer with a witty dialogue that keeps his attention for much longer than the average print ad.

Buzz for the Bodygroomer was just as sucessful seeing 300,000 unique hits in the first week and doubling to 600,000 in the second. To date the Bodygroomer has seen 1.7 million uniques and growing. If they had just targeted traditional media the buzz would have limited to the lifespan of the printed material. But by placing it on the web, people seem to still be trading the link and prolonging the campaign sans involvement from Norelco Philips.

I think most importantly they have presented a good product to the public that they can stand behind. As an owner of the Bodygroomer I can say it is great piece. Long live the carrot and two kiwi's on the web.