GILLETTE: A CASE STUDY IN HOW TO REBRAND
An Ode to the Gogos Who Became Fathers
Globally, Gillette undertook a massive brand reinvention exercise with its controversial The Best Men Can Be short film. This tapped into the #MeToo movement, targeting toxic masculinity and holding men accountable. Gogo Nozizwe is Gillette’s South African spin on this movement. Launched on Women’s Day 2020, the evocative campaign thanked the gogos who are raising the next generation of South African men. In South Africa, two out of three children are raised in households without fathers. The film calls attention to this, subtly speaking to men, while honouring women.
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Danielle Marais, Brand Manager at Gillette South Africa – a brand under the Proctor and Gamble (P&G) umbrella – says,
“In South Africa, gogos play a pivotal role in raising our men. They carry a whole generation on their backs. We wanted to thank them for this, while bringing a very prevalent issue to light. The idea was to frame a serious problem through a beautiful lens. To deepen the impact, we partnered with the Character Company, which provides boys from households without men with mentorship, so they have positive father figures in their lives.”
South Africa was one of several countries that took the original Gillette #MeToo movement and contextualised it. In Canada, Gillette created a short film where a young trans man experiences his first shave with his father. In India, two girls pose as boys to run their father’s barber business, after he passes away. Each country took the original message and sensitively made it its own, in a way that resonated with local audiences.
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#GogoNozizwe shares her experience raising her grandson Akhona. When Akhona started growing body hair and asked his ‘mama’ about it, that’s when she realised how tough it would be to raise a teenager without a father figure around. ‘Because these things he is asking me now are things he should ask his father.’ The film is a touching tribute to Akhona’s Gogo (his mama), who raised him to be a good father to his own son one day.
The narrative is a dramatic departure from Gillette’s previous communications. It reflects the brand’s internal reassessing of its priorities and purpose. Marais says,
“We took a bold stance and reinvented the brand to be socially conscious, staying true to our purpose – to build a better community. We are a brand that has been speaking to men for the last 120 years. If we can’t hold men accountable and say the difficult things, then who will? We recognised it was time to use our platform as a force for good.”
It’s an example of a brand joining a movement authentically. Many brands still shy away from taking a stance on tough topics. If there’s no connection to the brand purpose and jumping into the conversation feels opportunistic, then brands are right to stay silent. But, when there’s an opportunity to speak up, add value and be brave, in a way that’s sensitive and genuine, then it’s time for brands to start talking. Which is exactly what Gillette did.
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Younger generations especially prefer brands that are socially conscious, with values that match their own. The Gillette campaign resonated. The business saw an increase of almost 10% in sales in the sequential months. Consumer verbatim included 96% positive comments, according to Gillette’s social listening tools. #GogoNozizwe also trended organically on Twitter, with people joining in and thanking the women who raised them.
Reach was amplified using influencers – again, carefully chosen to really add meaning to the message. Olympic record holder Wayde van Niekerk thanked his gogo, for example. The timing to coincide with Women’s Day was also cleverly calculated. Marais says,
“Again, this film does not attack anyone. It strategically opens with an inarguable fact about missing fathers. And then it goes on to place the focus on the women raising boys to be men. It sends a strong message, but in a non-attacking way.”
9 months of planning played out in a 48-hour execution. The result perfectly positions Gillette as a purpose-led brand with a whole new meaning to its longstanding strapline – “The Best a Man Can Get.” Masculinity is a major part of the Gillette brand. The campaign yielded such success, it was chosen as Global Ad of the Day by ADWEEK and nominated for a Cannes award.
Marais concludes,
“The #MeToo campaign and subsequent, country-specific films recognise the reworking of the concept of masculinity. They advocate for a more inclusive, positive, healthy version of what it means to be a man. And, in the South African version, what it means to raise men.”
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