Gillette Dry Idea (B)

Q1) Comment on the bake-off assignment and implementation plan followed by Gillette Vice president Bob Forman, after listening to Carols reccomendations, decided to hire Ames, another agency, to assist BDDO on the brand assignment. Identical letters were sent to Ames and BDDO with details of the bakeoff plan. The bake-off assignment: (Background) It detailed the commitment Gillette had towards the product. Dry Ideas form extension work results were provided in detail. Resolving the brands creative crisis was stated as urgent matter. Stressed the need for a better brand personality.

(Tasks to be done by March, 84) A new break-through advertising campaign to be developed. Strategic business plan to be remodelled. Form concept testing with a strong candidate.

In my opinion with the background of Gillette Dry Idea (A), Gillette has addressed the three major issues they had with their BBDO assignment They have asked the two agencies to develop a new strategic business plan and to have a fixed direction. Roll-ons market share was declining, so form extention was required. Form extension by way of a new solid advertising plan was asked from the agencies. Agencies were to develop a new creative and assist it with an effective campaign to tackle the lack of effective advertising that existed.

Plan implemented by Gillette It consisted of four major phases and was to run for 6 months up till April. Bake-off agency participants were given a brand orientation. BBDO and AMES were asked to work independantly on the assignment

A joint plan was to be made after the 2 agencies made separate presentations to Gillette. The new dry idea advertising should be consumer tested.

Following are the comments on implementation plan Both BBDO and Ames were given similar brand orientation by Gillette. However, the orientation plan should have been better for Ames since it was new on the project. Amess showed a reserved and unauthoritative approach in the campaign development probably due to such an orientation. The two agencies should have had their campaigns evaluated against each other. However Gillette wanted to evaluate them on test vehicles for which the scores or old dry idea campaigns were available so that they can be compared. Gillette was looking at form extension and hence this wasnt a good idea. Q2) Based on the case facts, Exhibit 3, 4 & 5, who won the bake-off? Justify. Lets compare the campaigns against each other on various factors, Rank 4 being highest and 1 being lowest Get Together Body At Work Never Never Spokesman Related Recall Sales Message Recall Audience Reward 2 2 1 1 3 3 4 4

Not Available

Audience Reward data is not available for The Spokesman advertisement. Looking at the rankings it seems like Spokesman could have won had it been on the list. However, assuming it was only used for reference, and the three new campaigns are being evaluated, Never Never would probably win the bake-off.

Q3) How would Gillette-BBDO relationship be impacted? Was the bakeoff decision an appropriate for the Dry Idea problem?

Gillette and BBDO would have had a positive relationship for the following reasons: Having worked with Gillette for so long BDDO has become complacent. Bringing Ames in lets them know that they can lose the Dry Idea product account and trust of Gillette. If BBDO develops a better campaign after this bake-off and forms a sound strategy, Gillette would have more trust in the abilities than what they had before. Bake-off decision was not the appropriate decision. Giving BBDO another chance would be better because of the following reasons: The risk for misunderstanding is there with a new agency and it takes time to bring them upto speed. This was somewhat indicated in the case by Ames reserved and authoritative approach Costs of marketing is doubled without a guarantee of a better campaign. Employees and BDDO would feel more stressed. Foe almost 25 years now BBDO has been working with Gillette. They understand the brand and its products well; sometimes the campaigns do not work for reasons unknown. Thus is feel BDDO should have been made aware of the consequences and asked to deliver what was expected from by Gillette.