The men’s razor market has been under pressure for several years, as shaving habits change and younger consumers redefine grooming routines.
Gillette’s latest move in France is a good example of how a brand can respond when the category itself needs fresh energy.
According to LSA, Gillette is activating around three powerful levers:
Formula 1.
A partnership built around precision, performance and technology.
Influence.
A collaboration with French creator Joyca to reconnect with younger audiences in a more contemporary and culturally relevant way.
Retail activation.
Campaigns designed to bring the brand back into the shopper’s field of attention at the point where decisions are made.
That combination matters.
Because when a market is declining, brands cannot rely only on product superiority or heritage.
They need to create new reasons to care.
They need to show up in culture.
Create relevance beyond the shelf.
Reconnect with new rituals.
And make the category feel visible, useful and desirable again.
At ELMA, this article also brings back a great memory.
Around 20 years ago, ELMA ran a successful sampling campaign for Gillette, putting the product directly into consumers’ hands and showing the power of physical, targeted, household-level activation.
Different decade. Different media landscape. Same principle.
When people can discover, touch and try a product, marketing becomes more than a message.
It becomes an experience.
From an ELMA perspective, this is the real lesson: brand building and activation should not be treated as separate worlds.
A strong cultural platform can create emotion and recognition.
But retail media, sampling, in-store visibility and household communication help turn that attention into action.
Because even an everyday product needs to earn its place in the basket again.