Chapter 108 - King C. Gillette, The Man and His Wonderful Shaving Device
Today’s Chapter is based on the book “King C. Gillette, The Man and His Wonderful Shaving Device” by Russell Adams.
King C. Gillette was an American businessman best known for inventing the safety razor and founding the Gillette Safety Razor Company in 1901, which revolutionized personal grooming with its disposable blades. His innovative marketing strategies and manufacturing practices helped establish Gillette as a major player in the global market for shaving products.
Here’s what I learned:
Simple Innovation
“Innovation, like evolution, is a process of constantly discovering ways of rearranging the world into forms that are unlikely to arise by chance – and that happen to be useful.”
— Matt Ridley
The story of how King C. Gillette invented the modern shaving device is a perfect example of how the most disruptive innovations usually come from extremely simple ideas. As a matter of fact, King C. Gillette’s revolutionary invention emerged from identifying and solving an everyday problem that had plagued mankind for centuries: How to shave in a cheap and efficient way? The genius of his innovation lay in its simplicity; a thin, disposable blade that could be discarded when dull.
Gillette explained that “In retrospect, it seems a simple enough idea. It does not appeal to the average mind as being a great invention.” This idea of a disposable razor came to him while he was shaving. He mentions, “On one particular morning when I started to shave, I found my razor dull, and it was not only dull but it was beyond the point of successful stropping and it needed honing.” This frustration led to the revolutionary idea of creating a disposable blade that was not only effective but also inexpensive.
Gillette’s story also reflects the essence of true innovation: the ability to identify a persistent problem and devise a solution that not only addresses the issue but transforms an entire industry. Gillette recognized that no significant advancements had been made in razors for centuries, and he felt compelled to change that. As a matter of fact, traditional razors required constant maintenance, honing, and stropping. Many men, unable or unwilling to invest time and money in visiting barbers, would shave only sporadically. Russel Adams notes in his book that “Indeed, many men who might have wanted to indulge in a daily shave were prevented from doing so because of the expense involved in having a barber perform the task.”
“The thought occurred to me that no radical improvements had been made in razors, especially in razor blades, for several centuries, and it flashed through my mind that if by any possibility razor blades could be constructed and made cheap enough to do away with honing and stropping and permit the user to replace dull blades by new ones, such improvements would be highly important in that art.”
— King C. Gillette
King C. Gillette’s innovation of the shaving device is also a reminder that the solution for a problem is often overlooked by the experts. It usually takes someone with zero technical knowledge and with a different perspective to create innovation, especially in products and industries that have not changed in ages. As a matter of fact, experts dismissed his idea of a disposable blade as impractical, even laughable. Russell Adams explained that "People who knew better—cutlers, metallurgists, and the like—told him that it couldn't be done, and the kindest thing that could be said of Gillette's idea was that it was laughable, as chimerical as his plan for a world corporation."
“If I have been technically trained, I would have quit or probably never would have begun.”
— King C. Gillette
King C. Gillette’s story reminds me of James Dyson’s. In fact, Dyson invented the bagless vacuum cleaner despite having zero engineering knowledge. He had to learn everything on his own by reading everything he could find on the subject. He believed that anyone could become an expert through reading and experimenting. As he once said, “Anyone can become an expert in anything in six months, whether it is hydrodynamics for boats or cyclonic systems for vacuum cleaners. After the idea, there is plenty of time to learn the technology.”
“We’re taught to do things the right way. But if you want to discover something that other people haven’t, you need to do things the wrong way. Initiate a failure by doing something that’s very silly, unthinkable, naughty, dangerous. Watching why that fails can take you on a completely different path. It’s exciting, actually. To me, solving problems is a bit like a drug. You’re on it, and you can’t get off.”
— James Dyson
Marketing Genius
“Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business.”
— Steve Forbes
While Gillette’s invention was revolutionary, the Gillette Safety Razor Company’s success was equally rooted in his marketing genius. From the very beginning, he understood the importance of creating demand and building consumer loyalty. Advertising became the backbone of the Gillette Safety Razor Company, ensuring that the name “Gillette” became synonymous with shaving.
In fact, Gillette believed that advertising wasn’t just about selling a product; it was about shaping perception and driving consumer behavior. One of his key strategies was to make the customer demand the product from dealers, ensuring both consumer and retailer buy-in. This approach created a feedback loop, where dealers recognized the growing demand and stocked Gillette products, further expanding the company’s reach.
Thomas W. Pelham, then the vice-president of the Gillete Sales Company was the man behind this ingenious concept. He explained that, “Our manner of advertising was to get the user to demand of the dealer that he supply him with the article. Our advertisements also stated that if the user could not procure the razor from his dealer to write to us, and we would supply the demand direct. (…) Immediately after the advertisements appeared, we began to get inquiries from prospective users in every part of the United States, and within a short time thereafter we began to get inquiries from the dealers, stating that they had received calls for the Gillette safety razor and asking for terms and prices."
Furthermore, King C. Gillette’s marketing campaigns extended beyond traditional methods. In fact, he also recognized the power of sports as a cultural unifier and capitalized on it. Gillette’s marketing campaigns started featuring testimonials from famous athletes, further embedding the brand in American culture. By associating his brand with beloved baseball heroes and major sporting events, he created a strong emotional connection with consumers. As Russell Adams mentions, “In a prophetic move that heralded a long and close relationship between the Gillette Company and the sports world, Gillette advertising began to feature testimonials from baseball heroes of the day—who were presented with gold-plated, engraved razor sets as a reward for their cooperation.”
“The whole success of this business depends on advertising.”
— King C. Gillette
This reminds me of what we have learned from David Ogilvy, often considered the “Father of Modern Advertising”. Ogilvy is notorious for promoting the idea that companies should take advertising not as an expense but as a long-term investment to build the company’s brand. He once said that “every advertisement is part of the long-term in the personality of the brand.”
As a matter of fact, Ogilvy explains that the company “who dedicates his advertising to building the most favourable image, the most sharply defined personality, is the one who will get the largest share of the market at the highest profit—in the long run.” For this reason, Ogilvy mentions that he must plan ten years ahead when writing advertisements for his clients, as he must create a sharply defined personalities for his companies. Once that is done, he must stick to those personalities year after year.
“Today, I have come to believe, with Gardner and Levy, that every advertisement must be considered as a contribution to the complex symbol which is the brand image. And I find that if you take that long-term approach, a great many of the day-to-day creative questions answer themselves.”
— David Ogilvy
Perhaps due to his own incentives, Ogilvy has always been critical of companies who cut on their advertising expenses. He believed that if the managers of the company were thinking in terms of long-term, they would be much more willing to invest more in building the brand name of the company.
Beyond the Book
Read "The Ingredients For Innovation" by Farnam Street
Read "The 7 Myths of Innovation" by Farnam Street
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