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RUNNING HEAD: HARRY’S RAZORS 1

MKTG 450 - Harry’s Razors


Jeremy Williams

Morgan Smith

Lexcie Lewis

Adam Leblanc

Oleksandr Podgurskyy
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Problem Identification

Harry’s has recently introduced a new marketing campaign titled “A Man Like You”. In

this ad, a young boy shows a man how to “be a man”. The man claims he is not from here and

asks the child for help. Through this ad, Harry’s is attempting to break through social barriers of

what society counts as a “real” man. while promoting their company. Harry’s is committed to

intensifying what being a man is.​(BrandStudio, 2018). ​ The ad is only posted on YouTube,

therefore, it does not have a large reach. Is the “A Man Like You” advertising campaign

resonating with the target market?

Background

As an American company that manufactures in Germany, Harry’s strives to make

“products for all men thoughtfully” (Harry’s, Our Story). Our company was founded in 2013 by

Jeff Raider and Andy Katz-Mayfield after a trip Andy made to a drug store in 2011 that left him

frustrated due to the high prices and locks on razor cases. As a member of the marketing team of

Harry’s, we believe men should not have to settle on the products they use frequently. Our

marketing team has conducted research over the past few months to see if our current advertising

campaign “A Man Like You” is resonating with our target market. Our target market consists of

millennial males 18-34.


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Our team conducted numerous surveys to gather this data which will be discussed later

on. Our major finding is that the ad is not ultimately resonating with our target market, and many

reasons are playing into this factor such as ad length, lacking the use of social media, and it is

only posted to youtube. Harry’s aims to increase revenue by 10% in 2019. With that being said

there are certain steps that will be taken such as brand expansion, increased utilization of social

media and ultimately creating a new advertising campaign. One of our top competitors, Dollar

Shave Club has increased brand expansion already with lines for both men and women, and also

a dental care line. Dollar Shave Club also takes full advantage of their social media use and has a

very fast response rate when it comes to customers who use social media. Harry’s lacks effective

social media use when you compare the two companies. With our target market being millennial

males social media is a huge factor for us seeing that the majority of this group utilizes this tool.

The problem we are facing is that the ad is not resonating with our target market and our

marketing team has conducted extensive research to confirm this. The next steps we will take are

detrimental for the increase in revenue by 2019. With a new, shorter ad, product line expansion,

and increased use of social media we believe the increase in revenue by 10% is possible if such

steps are taken. Following you will see information on our research design, how the data was

interpreted, and recommendations for our company’s next steps.

Research Design

We decided to test the effectiveness of the advertisement through primary and secondary

research. Descriptive research was used to examine the market potential that Harry’s could take a

position in. For this research, we used a systematic approach in our design. Our secondary
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research consisted of internet findings to get information about the company and their presence

in their market. Our primary research was used as a research instrument that consisted of surveys

conducted through Google. These emails were sent out to our target market which was millennial

males age eighteen to mid thirties. We decided to target millennial males because we believe

they are more susceptible to a new brand like Harry’s for a more unbiased group. Our survey

consisted of ten questions ranging from their grooming habits to asking direct questions about

feedback on the effectiveness of the ad. The survey contained a link to the ad in case the ad was

not seen before. We also asked their preferred brand of razor and an open-ended question if they

were enticed by the advertisement to take action and try Harry’s.

According to our surveys, most of our market has not seen the ad. Lack of media

selection was one the underlying problem of the ad campaign. Harry’s only showing the ad on

YouTube has limited their reach. According to Business Insider, about 80% of millennials still

use Facebook every day. Another significant finding was discovered that more men prefer

Gillette but men that used Dollar Shave Club had more loyalty to the brand than Gillette. This

caters to the customer’s psyche and the way their buying behavior can affect Harry’s. Through

our open-ended portion of our survey, more men used nostalgia as their influence to buy. There

was a recurring pattern that men used products that their fathers used. The reasoning behind this

was that they could trust the product not because it was better but was familiar. Through this

research methodology, we can interpret the data further to get concrete trends and further

examine data collected.

Data Interpretation
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Based on the results from the survey, we were able to determine that our primary research

method was effectively reaching our target market of millennial males. Among those who

recorded their age, 70% of respondents were in the age range of 18 through 22 years old.

According to the Strauss-Howe Generational Theory, a millennial is anyone born between 1982

and 2000 ​(Strauss & Howe, 2008)​. According to this definition, 82.4% of respondents fall in

this category, we also had 12% aged between 23 and 30. The large percentage of individuals

taking the survey strengthened the belief that our method of research is a good representation of

the target market. Among the respondents, 83% reported shaving every week and 11% shave

every day. Millennial males shave regularly, creating a high demand for razors in a highly

competitive industry. Since men shave regularly, they will need to purchase razors often, 45%

said they buy razors every month.

Harry’s has plenty of opportunities to increase sales, grow their brand, and increase their

revenue. Harry’s can create brand loyalty in new and existing customers by continuing to

provide the consumer with a quality product at a fair price. One of the survey questions asked if

quality or price is more important when purchasing a razor. The majority of men prefer quality

razors over cheap razors, 61% of respondents selected quality, while only 28% said the price is

more important. Harry’s mission is to provide men with an inexpensive, quality razor. This

creates a competitive advantage for Harry’s since they can provide consumers with the quality

they are looking for at a lower price than competitors such as Gillette. Harry’s produces quality

razors for approximately $2, while the typical cost is $4 ​(Mueller-Soppart). ​Harry’s has a lot of

opportunity in the shaving industry, among those who responded, 50% preferred Gillette, while

17% prefer Harry’s. On a positive note, more people prefer Harry’s than Dollar Shave Club.
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Harry’s can obtain new customers and increase their market presence since they produce quality

razors and have competitive pricing.

Harry’s certainly needs to increase their market presence, only 50% of those surveyed are

familiar with Harry’s. The company can also benefit tremendously by using different mediums to

promote their brand. The ad that was researched. “A Man Like You” did not have a large reach,

only one-third of the respondents have seen the ad. We provided a video of “ A Man Like You”

so we can get impressions while the ad is fresh on potential customer’s minds. Unfortunately, via

our open comments question, we came to the conclusion that the ad is doing a poor job of

resonating with the consumer. A few people said the ad enticed them to purchase Harry’s but the

majority were not enticed. Several people mentioned that they did not see how the ad was related

to razors. Other complaints about the ad were about the length of it, specifically that the ad is too

long. The ad received negative feedback such as “The ad is irrelevant” and “they did not

mention the razors”. The open comments question also showed that Dollar Shave Club has

created brand loyal customers. The data obtained from the survey as shown that the campaign

needs improvement before it will resonate with consumers.

Conclusion

In conclusion, our primary research, which was done through the survey, has successfully

reached our target market of millennial males. However, according to our survey findings,

Harry’s advertising campaign “A Man Like You” has not resonated with our target market. Most

people responded that Harry’s ad confused them because it had nothing to do with a product that

Harry’s promotes(razors). In addition, most of the respondents mentioned that they didn’t even

watch the ad, because they thought it was too long.


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As Harry’s marketing department, we have prepared a set of recommendations to improve

Harry’s advertising campaign and help them to attract new consumers.

1. Making an ad shorter.​ Making an ad shorter will provide a lot of convenience for the

consumers since they will not have to spend too much time watching the ad.

2. Be more clear about the purpose of the ad.​ Making an ad more clear about the purpose

of the ad is the most important step for Harry’s to improve their advertising campaign.

Making an ad simple, short and connected to the product will greatly benefit Harry’s in

their future campaigns.

3. Increase social media presence.​ Harry’s is one of the newest firms in the shaving

industry is in a big disadvantage compared to their competitors since they still don’t have

a well-developed brand loyalty among their customers. One of the ways to improve their

brand loyalty and bring new customers is to increase their social media presence.

Enhancing their presence in social platforms like Twitter and Instagram will attract a lot

of new consumers.

4. Expanding their brand and product line.​ Harry’s has already started expanding their

brand by partnering with a brick and mortar store like Target. However, there are still a

lot of opportunities for Harry’s to expand even further by partnering with the famous

brick and mortar stores like Walmart, CVS, Rouses and Walgreens.

Expanding their product is a very important step for Harry’s. Right now, they are losing

to their competitors in terms of variety of the products they provide. Expanding their

product variety by adding products lines like, Dental Care, beard oils, hair gels, cologne,

will help them attract new customers and create a competitive advantage.
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In conclusion, if Harry’s manages to make these changes, we believe that they will be able to

meet their ultimate goal which is increasing their revenue by 10% by the end of the year 2019.

References

(n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2018, from ​https://www.harrys.com/en/us/our-story

Strauss, W., & Howe, N. (2008). ​Generations: The history of Americas future, 1584 to 2069.​

New York: William Morrow.

Tran, K. (2018, March 05). Social platforms are most popular among 18- to 29-year-olds.

Retrieved from

https://www.businessinsider.com/social-platforms-are-most-popular-among-18-to-29-yea

r-olds-2018-3

Mueller-Soppart, L. (n.d.). Harry's Razors Shaves Away Poverty. Retrieved November 15, 2018,

from ​https://www.northeastern.edu/sei/2013/10/harrys-razors-shaves-away-poverty/

BrandStudio, W. (2018, April 04). A man like you. Retrieved November 15, 2018, from

https://www.washingtonpost.com/brand-studio/harrys/a-man-like-you/
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