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Dive Brief:
Harry’s on Wednesday released a new campaign, “Man, That Feels Good,” alongside a refreshed brand identity, per details shared with sister publication Marketing Dive.
The campaign includes three 15-second ads, one 30-second ad and a long-form 70-second spot that use crime movie tropes to accentuate the things that its line of grooming products can’t do beyond making men feel good, such as altering their persona.
The brand refresh includes a new visual style that looks to unite the company’s portfolio. Harry’s has refreshed its brand identity across packaging, logo, color palette and photography, a visual style that will roll out across product, digital, social and physical retail.
Dive Insight:
Harry’s is preparing for the next phase of its brand with a new campaign and refreshed visual style.
Brand refreshes have become a fixture of CPG marketing, especially for brands that began as DTC before moving to other retail channels. The company helped kick off a DTC boom when it launched in 2013 but has moved beyond selling razors with a product portfolio now spanning shave, body, hair and skin care.
“Just over twelve years into our journey, Harry’s is much more than a razor brand and has grown far beyond our DTC roots,” said Giselle Balagat, vice president of Harry’s Brand, in emailed comments. “We know there’s a huge opportunity to grow awareness of the other categories we play in as a total men’s grooming brand.”
While some of those items are featured in “Man, That Feels Good,” the campaign centers on a brand truth: Harry’s can’t infuse consumers with “handsome bad boy aura” or transform them into a rugged man of mystery. Instead, the brand’s line of men’s grooming products “just make you feel good” and “give you a smooth shave at a fair price,” said Tim Gordon, partner and chief creative officer at Zulu Alpha Kilo New York, the creative agency that worked with Harry’s on the campaign. Mythology developed the brand refresh with support from Collins.
“We wanted to stand out in a category full of hype, overpromises, and adolescent humor. Grooming is always being pitched as a means to an end — use this product and you’ll be more confident, get the girl, be an athlete. For Harry’s it’s a more honest proposition,” Gordon said in emailed comments.
The spots start in the bathroom before spinning out into increasingly elaborate scenarios ripped from crime films. Two 15-second spots revolve around becoming a getaway driver for a poorly planned art heist and using forged documents and unlicensed plastic surgery to assume a new identity, respectively. A long-form spot is an epic in miniature that sees a man have his heart broken, accidentally witness an arms deal, flee from henchmen, brave the elements and eventually reach an understanding with wolves.
“We wanted to tell the story in the straightest and most cinematic way and we knew a gritty look and feel would stand out in the category,” Gordon said, citing films including “True Romance” and “Ronin” as inspiration. “The films had to be like beautiful instruction videos of what it would ACTUALLY take to achieve the overpromises the rest of the category claim.”
The effort is running on streaming TV platforms including Hulu, Netflix, Peacock, ESPN, Disney+, NBC Sports and Prime Video. It also features digital out-of-home in high-traffic areas in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, along with a “significant investment” on YouTube and paid social across Meta and TikTok. Harry’s has further activations planned around influencers, brand partners and social media in the coming months.
Harry’s is part of the Harry’s Inc. family of brands that also includes women’s grooming line Flamingo and deodorant brands Lume and Mando. The company, which was valued at $1.7 billion in a private fundraising round in 2021, reportedly filed confidentially for an IPO last year. A proposed merger with Schick owner Edgewell fell apart after the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the deal in February 2020 over antitrust concerns.