Following a June 2008 launch, Will King’s foray into the razor market has already resulted in a market share of almost 10%. This year’s Fast Growth Business Awards winner shares the secrets of his successful challenger brand.
When you first meet Will King, it can be hard to penetrate the soundbites. His tendency to slip into ad-speak with phrases such as “enjoy the King of Shaves without the ransom”, and “upgrade to the King, your face and finances will thank you for it,” takes some getting used to.
His delivery even verges on the Brent-esque, every so often. “So it became King of Shaves,” he says, when telling me how his dad suggested the name after turning over the king of spades in a poker game. “Quirky.”
But by the end of our first meeting last June, I get the impression that the catchphrases and flair are more than a tad tongue-in-cheek. After all, it is two weeks before the launch of the Azor, the first British-made razor for more than 100 years, and he is planning a pseudo political campaign to win the votes of the British shaving public by “removing stealth shaving taxes”.
Most importantly, it’s memorable. As someone who prefers to “zag when others zig”, likening himself to a political party pledging to introduce a shaving democracy (as opposed to “Gillette’s shaving dictatorship”) is a smart move based on a notion that will resonate with many. There’s a reason that razor blades are the most commonly shoplifted item in the UK: for something that is a necessity for millions of men, they’re scandalously overpriced. That more competition was needed in the market was unquestionable.
“Gillette is such a powerful brand, it chooses to charge what it likes for its products, and it’s been able to do that because it’s not had any substantive competition,” King said. “For too long the great British shaving public has been overcharged for a good shave, and we’re going to disrupt that.”
Nine months later, I’m even more convinced that underneath the slogans there lies an accomplished salesman. And what a great nine months it’s been for King of Shaves. With the exception of Asda (which will follow later this year) the Azor is now stocked by all the major retailers in the UK. Starting from scratch last June, and sailing on a promise to shave closer, last longer and cost less, it’s already tracking towards a 10% handle share in the razor market. “We’re on target to double my launch estimate of 5% of the handle market share within 12 months,” he beams.
A cut-throat market
Getting there was by no means easy. Between them, Gillette and Wilkinson Sword control around 95% of the global market for razors and blades. The former, now owned by Procter & Gamble, is the clear frontrunner, worth around $60bn.
King, who trained as an engineer, was prohibited from developing his razor until 2004, when a key patent held by Gillette on ‘open cartridge technology’ (which cuts safely but doesn’t clog), expired. This high barrier to entry is part of the reason Gillette has had a virtual monopoly on the market. (Wilkinson Sword uses a stacked blade technology, which clogs easily, he says).
“What people don’t realise where razors are concerned is that there are a lot of patents around them. It’s a very profitable business, which is why Gillette’s worth $60bn, and Wilkinson Sword, which is a weak global number two, is still worth $2bn,” says King.
One of his objectives is to bump Wilkinson Sword off the number two spot. It might sound ambitious, but he’s already achieved this in the other part of the market. His range of shaving oils is extremely popular, and was based on his need for a product no one else was offering. His skin was prone to razor rash, so after being made redundant in 1993, he researched aromatherapy and started mixing up his own oils.
The persistence he learned from cold calling in his first job, selling ad space for a magazine, coupled with an absolute belief in his product, helped secure his first listing in Harrods – and all the others since.
This time around, of course, he has been able to use his success in the shaving oils market as a bargaining tool to get shelf space for the Azor. “A lot of retailers took us at our word that we were going to make a success of it, so there was obviously a lot of hard work in advance,” he says.
He now has to live up to their expectations. Crucially, cartridge sales, which drive the growth of the brand, are doing well. A woman’s version has also just launched in Sainsbury’s.
Marketing push
When you consider that the Azor’s success so far has been supported by minimal marketing spend, it makes it all the more impressive. The launch campaign was largely viral, characterised by YouTube videos such as ‘Skyshave’, where a skydiver receives a gravity-defying mid-air shave, and one where King delivers his party manifesto at Hyde Park.
A party bus went on a six-week tour of the UK and will be out again this summer, and more than 200 million ads went out on Facebook, targeting different profiles of users with a variety of straplines and creatives.
“That sounds hugely expensive but it actually isn’t, because that hasn’t really been discovered yet by the mainstream advertisers,” he told me last year, having already delivered 675,000 impressions for £200.
The Azor clearly has its rivals worried. When we typed King of Shaves Azor into Google last June, Adwords served up a sponsored link for the Wilkinson Sword Quattro Precision. Whereas Google used to prevent companies bidding on trademarked terms, it’s now fair game.
