• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, October 1, 2018

@SchickHydro@MullenLoweGroup #shaving

Being a man isn’t what it used to be, and Schick is the latest men’s grooming brand to celebrate that fact. 

In “The Man I Am,” a new campaign challenging gender stereotypes, the razor marketer says it wants to spark new — and sometimes difficult — conversations about the nature of manliness. 

It’s also adding Kevin Love, the NBA star who has been outspoken on mental health issues, to its marketing roster for upcoming Movember events.

“The idea for the Schick Hydro campaign came from wanting to celebrate the individual, and recognize the struggle guys are having with what it means to be a man,”says Patrick Kane, marketing director for Edgewell Personal Care, which owns Schick.

The ads open with five seconds of a man silently shaving. “You think in five seconds you already know me — decided what kind of man I am,” one opens. “But you don’t get to tell me who to be.” The next seconds of each ad reveal something unexpected about the person shaving — that he has a fantastic voice, or is a beat-boxer or a dancer.

Kane tells Marketing Daily that one reason the company expects the men in the ads to connect with its audience is that they’re not actors, “just people carefully chosen based on the way they expressed themselves.” (Schick found them through content they posted about themselves.)

Kane says that while he can’t precisely pinpoint the turning point in the men’s grooming category — long associated with rugged, smooth-jawed men looking to score with the ladies — to an exploration of manliness and the power of individual expression, it’s very real. 

Other examples include Harry’s, with its recent tear-jerker of “A Man Like You”; Gillette’s honoring the inner challenges of athletes with its Shaquem Griffin spots; and Dollar Shave Club with its uniquely hilarious “Get Ready” spot, shot to Steve Lawrence’s rendition of “I’ve Gotta Be Me.”

“Some people theorize that this shift goes back to the recession in 2008, and certainly, the Dove campaign set the stage for people to talk about how they really feel, not just superficial advertising images,” Kane says.  

Schick Hydro is the official razor of the Movember Foundation, and as part of that effort, it’s teaming with Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love, who has made headlines sharing his struggles with anxiety and panic attacks. 

“When he wrote “Everyone is going through something” earlier this year, he broadened the conversation, not just about mental health but men’s health in general,” Kane says.

Love will star in webisodes called “Locker Room Talk” that feature well-known guests talking about masculinity. “Love is perfect for this. He brings gravitas to the issue,” says Kane.

The Movember Foundation aims to protect men from early death — and besides prostate and testicular cancer, it also focuses on mental health and suicide prevention.