Are you becoming your Dad? This is the question Schick Hydro is asking in its tongue-in-cheek new campaign to get men thinking about their shaving routine.
The campaign, which runs until October, features mopey-looking 20-somethings morphing into 50-somethings, complete with pleated slacks and lazy facial hair. It’s part of a strategy built around a fake medical condition: “Becoming My Dad” syndrome (BMD).
The hope is that it’ll make guys think about their grooming routine a bit more, and not just do what their dad did.
Hector Padilla, senior brand manager with Schick, said the brand wanted to get away from the more serious industry marketing of “how many blades” or “this blade is the strongest,” and give its target audience – millennials – something funny that it can relate to and, of course, share online with friends.
The campaign is unique to Canada and the creative was created collaboratively with its agencies, 6Degrees, MEC, Paradigm Public Relations and Real Interactive, Padilla said.
The heavy use of social media and humorous sharable content (there’s no TV ad, just online pre-roll) is an attempt to meet the audience where they work and play.
“This is a fairly new territory for us,” Padilla said. “We want to see if we can reach our target audience this way and be effective. We are hoping to learn from it.”
The multi-channel campaign includes PSA-style videos, a contest, digital advertising, social media, public relations and in-store support. There’s also a campaign microsite BecomingMyDad.ca, and supporting Twitter and Facebook pages.
The site features a quiz to see if visitors are “at risk” of BMD, and of course suggests a cure for those affected – using a Schick Hydro.
The parody videos about BMD, created by Real Interactive, features men who can no longer use technology, start watering the pavement and break into cheesy dance moves.
The media buy includes radio sponsorships in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver to be rolled out from August to September.
In terms of in-store display, 6Degrees is promoting a chance to win $10,000.
MEC took care of online media buys on properties such as Youtube, Vevo and Craveonline.