The New York Times Wednesday (June 13th) had an article by Andrew Adam Newman (p. B3) about a piece of "branded entertainment" content Schick (the razor company) has had made entitled: Clean Break. In this short subject TV-show/movie promotional item thingy, three men who are said to be "stuck in a rut" are flown off to Hawaii where they go surfing with some pro surfer, go swimming with pro sharks, go skydiving, etc. And after doing all of this macho stuff, they go back home, only to get stuck back in the same rut, whereupon they commit suicide, and this is all Schick's revenge on them for using Gillette razors (!!!). Actually, that's a joke: this program of activities is intended to show these guys going home and bucking this rut, having proved their mettle and whatnot. And throughout this entire show/movie/promo/whatever thing, Schick is not mentioned nor a logo shown at all whatsoever; the show thingy is merely produced by Schick as a sneaky ad/marketing ploy, only without any of that pesky brand-building crap that never helps products or influences anyone to buy anything ever.
The article goes on to say that this whole rigmarole is intended to attract 18- to 34-year-olds to purchase and use Schick-brand razors, particularly the Schick Hydro razor. (You know: the ridiculously expensive one that teenagers always love blowing their allowance on. Oh, and college students love blowing their beer money on them. And new employees at the bottom of the totem pole love paying their entire salary for them.) But is making a show about three depressed dudes acting like daredevils temporarily really a good way to attract consumers? The company making this content says: "Yes!" (I'm paraphrasing here.) But I might suggest a different tack here, if I worked for Schick.
Look, I understand that they don't want the brand to appear intrusive and cause the whole thing to feel exploitative, but they can achieve this brand connection by employing another approach here: simply incorporate the product somehow into the storyline of this film in a major way, like BMW Films does, and do it in such a way as to make the product seem badass to the extreme (again, like BMW Films does for BMWs). So, how do you incorporate razor blades into surfing? Why, you simply have the guys riding surfboards that are enormous razor blades with Schick written on them really big (like a sponsor), and then these guys can ride these razor boards on the clogged surfing lanes and swerve back and forth, running into other surfers and cutting off their feet at the ankles and so forth, causing them to wipe out and bleed into the water, attracting sharks, etc. And then the guys can fight the sharks with their razor-sharp razor-boards. And this, I assure you, will attract the 18- to 34-year-old market big-time! (Hey, I'd buy Schick razors if they did this! But then again, I already buy and use Schick razors, so it probably wouldn't help them in my case.)
Next they simply have to figure out how to employ razors into the other activities shown in this video content, such as skydiving, etc. But I like the surfing best, so let's stick with that. Besides, they're in Hawaii, so why not simply stick with beach-related stuff anyway? So how about a Limbo contest with an edge? (A razor's edge: literally!) They could set up another enormous Schick razor blade on the beach, get everyone all liquored-up, and then peer-pressure them into a "Limbo to the death" contest! (If they don't want to participate, simply question their manhood: it works every time on drunk guys.) It will be positively riveting, with the losers thinly sliced-up like deli meat! Then it will make even Limbo an exciting spectator sport, and the Schick razors will simply fly off the shelves!
And here it is, without further ado, our feature presentation: Schick Hydro's Clean Break (Please turn off all cellular phones/devices! I mean, unless you happen to be watching it on one, and it's the only way you can see it, that is.):
http://www.schickhydro.com/hydrovideo-cleanbreak.asp
And for those of you without Flash, here it is on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuA85oD3MMI
BTW: If you like my ideas here better than this Clean Break program, then lobby Schick to hire me to write their next one! (It could be fictional, and use horror-movie gore effects: it need not truly be real, you know! They could even make a zombie movie where the zombie apocalypse happens, and the only self-defense our heroes have are Schick razors! Then they could slice 'em up good and proper! Or how about a house painter who uses Schick razor blades to scrape off the little bit of paint he accidentally got on a window, and when he does it, he accidentally overhears a plot conspiring to kill some world leader, and he foils the plot and saves the day, and all thanks to Schick razors!)
