Good Marketing is Leverage

Phillips Norelco's Bodygroom campaign is an official success, but I find it hard to believe they spent only $500,000. However much they spent it was a very smart campaign. Accepting the idea that the product itself is pretty outrageous, they set about having fun with it. They're lucky Howard Stern talked about it, but I think that's calculated luck--a lot of advertisers send him stuff, I'm sure. This campaign demonstrates that understanding your audience, not just throwing money at it, leads to profits. And that web site made it easy for guys to refer each other without having to get personal: "Man, I'm not saying I recommend this product, but you've got to see the web site."

USA Today: Marketers aim for 'engaged' consumers, 2006-Jun-20, by Theresa Howard

Talking posters at urinals in New York City bars and 13-inch rulers with the shaveeverywhere.com address helped build buzz for Bodygroom, Norelco's hair-removal device for men. At the site, a man instructs in a humorous (and racy) way about shaving male body parts. After Sirius' Howard Stern mentioned the site on the radio, more than 600 blogs were buzzing about the $39.99 Bodygroom and the website. Tribal DDB created it, and CEO Matt Freeman says that engagement is about selling. The site links to retailers and, "They have exceeded their sales goal," he says, with a campaign that cost Norelco just $500,000.