“There is no other article for individual use so universally known or widely distributed,” Gillette once said. “In my travels, I have found it in the most northern town in Norway and in the heart of the Sahara Desert.”
Gillette felt he had created the perfect product. Not only was it disposable, forcing customers to keep buying it, but its target market was almost half the population. With that in mind, Gillette refused to ever miss the opportunity to market his product, since he knew that wherever he went, the potential was there.
No matter what the situation, Gillette always looked at it in terms of how he could use it to his advantage. Before World War I, Gillette’s involvement in the day-to-day operations of his company was waning, but he made sure to keep himself abreast of the company’s affairs. When the War hit, Gillette returned to his company to make a vital suggestion: he proposed that the company give a Gillette razor to every soldier in the service.
Company executives loved the idea and decided to take it one step further: they wanted to sell their razors to the government at cost and let them distribute it as they pleased. They designed a special metal-cased shaving kit for every American soldier, with ads touting that “every man in khaki ought to have one.’
The U.S. government took Gillette up on its offer and ordered 3.5 million razors and 36 million razor blades for all of its soldiers. As a result, Gillette had to hire more than 500 new employees, who worked around the clock to get the order filled.
But Gillette’s suggestion was not just about being a one-time promotional scheme. By supplying American troops with his razors, he was securing his future. He had created a huge base of customers who had grown accustomed to the Gillette razor, and who would keep coming back for blade refills long after the war was over.
World War I proved to be a huge boon for Gillette and his company. He had seen an opportunity and seized it before anyone else could. As a result, he built a loyal base of customers who appreciated the Gillette razor.
In the decade after the war, Gillette saw his strategy work as sales continued to rise. But he did not stop there. He embarked on a period that has since been called the company’s “give-away” years. Making a profit on the razors was no longer his top priority. He decided to give them away with anything and everything he could think of – Wrigley’s gum, pocket knives, canned meat, and more.
In the end, Gillette’s strategy of marketing and selling more blades worked. In the six years after his original patents expired, he sold four times as many blades as before. Although later Gillette CEOs would criticize the move and the company’s founder for trying to achieve growth at any cost, Gillette demonstrated his willingness to seize the marketing moment.
Lesson #4: Make The Most Of Potential Marketing Moments
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