• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, June 27, 2006

Norelco's Bodygroom site goes where no man knew he should

It's amazing what subjects marketers will bring up on prime-time television: They think nothing of laying bare the liveliest infections and the sensitive orifices in which they thrive; celebrating the second coming of Granddad's sexual prowess, or rattling off a particular pill's potential side effects, from "leakage" to "oily discharge." Mercifully, however, the Web is emerging as an alternative medium to promote such stomach-churning products and services.

A case in point is the Web site plainly titled www.shaveeverywhere.com, created by Omnicom Group's Tribal ddb for Philips Electronics N.V.'s new Norelco Bodygroom shaver for men. The reason Philips shied away from pitching such a domestic device on national television? Partly because, as its name makes clear, the Body-groom is being sold as a tool to shave every inch of a man's body except his face. (It's also a lot less expensive to use the Web to sell 18- to 34-year-olds a distinctly niche product.)

Norelco's site employs a cheeky chap in a bathrobe who's sure to both instill and ease any guy's grooming insecurities. "If you're here, you probably know that body grooming is a sensitive issue," explains the all-knowing senior fraternity brother you never had. The site expertly employs Flash 8 video to make Norelco's sell as entertaining as possible. Rather than verbalize which body parts the shaver is meant for, the site smartly defers to evocative visuals  two fuzzy kiwis, a carrot  to do the job.

Without a doubt, Tribal ddb had a difficult assignment. Any way you slice the Bodygroom  as the height of refinement or as the embodiment of Madison Avenue's crusade to extend women's excessive body-consciousness to men  Philips is selling the solution to a problem many men don't even know exists. And even if they do, it's not a conversation many are comfortable having.

Or so I thought until I sat down for this month's Roundtable discussion with Ted Kacandes of Glow Interactive, BBDO's Ari Weiss, and Rob Hudak of thehappycorp.

Kacandes: Wait, is this thing for your face, too?

Weiss: No, it's for everything but the face.

Hudak: I like that it's an obvious sales pitch from the guy wearing the white robe. His haircut is great. You probably wouldn't let a door-to-door salesman show up at your house and sell you something, but it works as a Web site.

Kacandes: He's like the rich prep school kid you almost couldn't stand, but you love him because he's loaded. There's no doubt that the whole thing is cool  the use of the bleeps and iconography of the kiwis and the carrot was perfect.

Hadaka: It's Benny Hill, vaudeville humor, but the way the separated imagery is presented gives it a new twist. I really like that they're able to get the innuendo in there. I mean, they're actually talking about shaving, you know...

Kacandes: Nuts.

Hudak: Yeah. But they're able to present it in a way that's okay. It's very well written. I think they tied the innuendo well into a sort of fake-1950s feel. It's welcome these days, when everything is so obvious and over the top.

Kacandes: I think it ultimately wouldn't have been as funny if the guy were just saying "my balls." What's nice, too, is how seamless the whole site is  the connection between the different videos.

Weiss: The site starts in such a way that it's not taboo to start a dialogue. I think it's incredibly brave of Philips to do this. I appreciate them trying to stand out.

Hudak: Absolutely, I can't believe they did this.

Kacandes: I'm pretty impressed by that.

Weiss: It's an interesting way to go after market share, too  go after guys with a product they didn't know they needed.

Kacandes: The Flash itself was really well done  the coding of it.

Weiss: My only complaint is that it starts off a little slow. I think it has to engage you immediately. It's very funny once you spend five minutes with it, even one minute, but I believe it has to get you immediately, and it doesn't.

Hudak: On that note, I first saw it at work, and it didn't get me right away.

Kacandes: To contradict that: The guy, looking the way he looks and talking the way he talks, was enough to pique my attention.

Weiss: I'm probably coming from a less Web-based, more 30-second format, but I think the average person is going to think "eh."

Hudak: I think it's nice to see the site take its time, not be so in-your-face.

Kacandes: The viral potential here is big. I don't think anyone's going to come to this site to see a product. They're going to watch it for the humor, but I think ultimately it's going to sell products because there are tons of guys out there who'll get the message and think they need it.

Hudak: It'd be great if they could get this guy to come on talk shows to build buzz. He's a great actor.

Kacandes: They're doing a lot of things that have been done before, but they're doing it all really well. The "tell a friend" feature is good, but I'd like to see something where you can send a picture to get someone's attention.

Weiss: I agree.

Kacandes: Another thing is that they got this guy to do all this, which makes for total site continuity. I've found that no matter how famous or non-famous, talent is a pain in the butt and they tend not to do all this.

Hudak: That's going to be the Halloween costume this year: the Norelco guy.