The Dream:

When Will King the enigmatic founder of King of Shaves was looking for a team to bring his new Azor to market he approached 3GL Director David Green with a view to becoming his Campaign Manager. With his new product that had been 5 years in development and taking on the 60 billion dollar giant Gillette Will was going to need some very creative ideas and mechanisms to get the necessary PR and Brand exposure to ensure a successful launch.

The product:

The product was both innovative, combative on price and performed better than the existing marketplace Duoploy of Wilkinson Sword and Gillette but none of this would matter if Will couldn't raise awareness around his product sufficiently to make the necessary inroads to the marketplace. The Azor definitely lived up to it's claims of "shaving you closer, for longer, for less" but with the current market dominance from the other two brands unless he was able to get sufficient people trying the product for themselves and experiencing the difference he wouldn't get the take up of the handles and subsequently the repurchase of the blades that he required. It was at this point he came up with the inspired idea of taking his Azor on a Campaign Trail ....

The Battlebus Campaign:

Not content with the usual methodology of advertising and PR, Will ( like Victor Kiam of Remington who liked the product so much he bought the company ) wanted to go out on the road to "Shave the British People". In his opinion too long had we been robbed by the price of replacement blades and endless complications ( including vibration and lights ) and now what was required was a simpler, purer, cleaner and cheaper shave. He wanted to broadcast this shaving revolution to the Nation and 3GL signed up to the campaign to help him do this. He even went to speakers corner to announce his manifesto which makes very good viewing on YouTube click here to view.

The concept evolved whereby we would take Will and his product out on the road with a Campaign Battlebus that could be used for events / hospitality / branding / fun and games and would also provide 4 shaving stations where people could experience the ultimate shaving experience. We helped to identify a mix of event venues that would combine high footfall locations with a mix of stores / entertainment and brand awareness.

The Bus:

We purchased a 76 seat, double decker Neoplan Skyliner Bus and set about "pimping the ride" to provide King of Shaves with the coolest mobile shaving emporium on earth. It has 2 monster pioneer stereo systems on board, an external PA system, a stage, a wi-fi enabled Media and comms office upstairs with a VIP lounge and a couchette for the driver and tour staff en route. We equipped the bus with a 5kw generator / microwave / towel machines / barbers chairs / 3 plasmas / 3 DVD players / 2 Nintendo Wii stations / fridge / hot and cold running water and an awning and then we wrapped it from top to toe in Azor graphics.

The amAzorbus attended the launch of the Azor at the Hempel Hotel in London to the clamor of the worlds press and this event also saw the launch of one of the supporting acts of the Tour a band called Beanius who had been formed especially for the Azor Tour.

The Events:

The events kicked off with a home-crowd BBQ for KoS Staff at the Plough Inn just up the road from KoS HQ in Chesham and was quickly followed by the roll-out at Sedley Place ( a Boots store in Oxford Street ), Lowestoft Airshow, Canary Wharf ( for the Capital radio gig with Johnny Vaughn and Lisa Snowdon ), Finsbury Avenue Square, back to Canary Wharf, Bluewater, Sheffield, Bristol and finally Manchester where Beanius played again. The events themselves can be seen in the events section of the 3GL website ( see 3GL events ).

YouTube and the Skyshave:

In amongst all of this Will King said he wanted to create some noise on the Web and in YouTube and we came up with the concept of a series of stunts entitled the "King of Close Shaves". Will decided that this would start with the world's first Skyshave ... quite simply chucking 5 professional skydivers out of the back of a plane at 13,500 feet with a barber's chair, some gel and an Azor seeing if they could perform the 1st Skyshave before the team hit the ground. It fell to 3GL and the owner of the Plough Inn at Chesham ( the craziest skydiver of them all ) to execute this extra-ordinary feet. No skydivers were hurt in the making of this movie but the result did warrant a double page spread in one of the world's top skydiving magazines asking - how did they do that ?

The footage from this was edited by 3GL Partner www.evofilms.co.uk and posted on YouTube where it immediately received over 12,000 viewings ... you can watch it yourself by following this link Skyshave Video

It caused such a stir and so many people asked how it had been done that we were forced to produce a 2nd edit ... the Making of the Skyshave which received similar hits on the web. The footage was also used at the launch of the Azor and subsequently on the DVD at events around the UK.

Highlights:

The high spots of the Tour included Will King with his head out of the top of the bus with a megaphone outside Buckingham Palace during the changing of the guard calling to the British People to wake up to the "stealth shaving taxes" and step forward to a "fairer shave" ... you can see the video of the London Tour on YouTube this nearly got him arrested ( as he was in breach of 7 local byelaws ) BUT the video footage was awesome.

The Blog:

One of the ways in which we ramped up the "profile" on the Tour was with the Tour Blog ... we took photos and video of every event and then uploaded them with text and pictures so that people could follow our antics and see what the King was up to today. During the live Capital Radio Event with Johnny Vaughn we were updating the Blog every 20 minutes and during that day more than 700 people viewed the Blog to see what we are doing – we raised over £30k for Save A London Child that day and reached millions of people in the Capital radio audience – a very useful mechanism for ramping up the brand. You can read the Tour Blog by following this link: The Amazorbus Blog ).

The Azor Guitar Challenge:

One of the challenges of the Tour was how to get people "engaged" with the bus and between us we came up with the ingenious concept of a Wii Hero Guitar Challenge whereby would be cosmic rockers could step up to the plate with the big plasma on the stage by the bus and rock to their hearts content in search of the ever illusive high score of the day. Winners got the chance to win a Guitar hero Game for the Wii and the all time highest score got to win a $2,000 US 5ft remote controlled replica of the King of Shaves Class 1 powerboat capable of over 45 mph. At times we had 30 people jockeying for position on the stage and high scores over 200,000 were not unusual ... it wasn’t unheard of for the King himself to be seen rocking in the quieter moments of the Tour.

Overall Results:

The Campaign achieved results … by the 1st August we had shaved nearly 500 people ( plus 350 heads shaved ) captured 2,500 peoples data, distributed nearly 16,000 mini gels and more than 4,000 Azors. More importantly the Campaign had secured coverage in endless magazines / got TV appearances for Will on CNN and BBC Breakfast, increased the readership of the KoS eZine and generated 28% market penetration in the sales of handles in 150 Boots stores around the UK. Much of the credit for the PR must go to the two other agencies involved namely: Brian MacLaurin Associates and The Communications Store who were at the heart of the PR Campaign. The Azor had actually outsold the Gillette Fusion in it’s launch month ( by volume and almost by value ) and the feedback on the Azor has been superb.

What’s next;

As the King of Close Shaves story unfolds there is talk of a “Wetshave” and a “Snowshave” and the UK Tour has been so successful that KoS have been receiving endless emails about why the bus hasn’t gone to Scotland. As a result there is a plan to extend the amAzorbus Tour to include Newcastle / Liverpool / Edinburgh and Glasgow … look out Scotland here we come .... follow the story on the blog ....

3GL will continue to serve KoS as the "special ops team" and the bus will continue on it’s way with King of Shaves being re-wrapped to serve the company and it’s many other in-house brands.

It has been a pleasure to play a part in such an innovative and challenging brand launch and to see such success in all aspects of our work. Will’s concept of the launch was indeed inspired and we have really enjoyed being part of it’s execution.  

Will King ( Founder of King of Shaves ) had this to say about 3GL and their contribution to the Azor Launch Campaign:

If you have a VISION of the way you want your brand communicated … Dave Green is the guy who “can get things done”. As my campaign manager on the king of Shaves Tour he helped us get the “rubber on the road” and kick arse with Gillette …. King vs Kong … in the big league … and we got the result we wanted … the British people voted for King of Shaves !!

If you want the 3Greenlights treatment for the launch of your product or the promotion of your brand then contact dgreen@3greenlights.com