1. A report on
UNIQUE BRAND ELEMENTS
USED BY GILLETTE
FOR
MACH3 RAZORS
Group Assignment
Submitted to:
Prof. Jones Mathews
Submitted by:
Dipendra Raj Tomar (PGFA1115)
Garima Tyagi (PGFA1116)
Gaurav Khatri (PGFA1117)
Muniza Arif (PGFA1128)
Pushpam Shree (PGFA1134)
Timsi Luthra (PGFA1154)

2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Gillette has been the leading brand in men grooming industry in India and
across the globe. Gillette with its wide range of products caters to the premium
segment of the men grooming market. Gillette owns 70% market share in the
disposable razors range worldwide. (Source: P&G Financial Statement 2008-
09).
This report aims at identifying the various Brand Elements associated
with a product Gillette MACH 3 and then analyze them in detail. By definition,
a brand element is defined as visually or verbally distinct information that
identifies and differentiates a product or service. Examples of common brand
elements include names, logos, symbols, characters, slogans, and packaging.
Marketers often choose brand elements to build brand equity--to enhance
consumers' brand awareness or facilitate their formation of strong, favorable,
and unique brand association.

3. CONTENTS
S. No. Topics
1. Gillette- Introduction, Gillette Mach3, Benefits
2. Brand Elements: Concept and Use
3. Brand name
4. Slogan
5. Logo
6. Packaging
7. Bundling
8. Brand Equity: Concept and building
9. 4Ps strategy: Product, Price, Place & Promotion
10. Leveraging secondary associations: Celebrity
spokesperson
11. Segmenting, Targeting & Positioning of Gillette
Mach3
12. Value Proposition of Gillette Mach3
13. Conclusions
14. Recommendations
15. References

4. Gillette is a brand of Procter & Gamble currently
used for safety razors, among other personal hygiene
products. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, it is one of
several brands originally owned by The Gillette
Company, a leading global supplier of products
under various brands, which was acquired by P&G in
2005. Their slogan is, "The Best a Man Can Get".
The original Gillette Company was founded by King
Camp Gillette in 1895 as a safety razor manufacturer.
The Gillette Mach3 is a line of safety
razors produced by Gillette and
introduced in 1998 after more than
$750 million in research and
development costs. The three blade
design is marketed by Gillette as
allowing for a shave with less pressure
to the skin and with fewer strokes,
thereby reducing skin irritation. While
many customers do experience greater
comfort with the three-bladed models,
some individuals, depending upon skin
and beard type, have experienced increased irritation or razor burn as the
number of blades has increased.
Due to clever marketing by Gillette (and not
the actual cost of producing the blades), the
Mach3 is more expensive than many other
razors, as consumers are willing to pay more
for it. The recent release of the Gillette
Fusion with 5 blades is more expensive still,
continuing the Razor and blades business
model, or a "loss leader" model, pioneered
by Gillette in the early 20th century. Since
the increased price of the newer cartridges
creates slower consumer adoption of each
new model, Gillette has heavily discounted the newer models through
newspaper and in- store coupons and in many cases mailed free copies to

5. individuals on purchased mailing lists. While this practice has accelerated
adoption of both, Gillette still has a strong customer base using their two-bladed
razors as evidenced by their wide availability and high sales volume. The blades
used by Mach3 only cost a few cents to produce, but can sell for over $2 each.
This shows that profit margins on Gillette razor blades are typically over
4500%.
Other razors in the Mach3 series are the Mach3Turbo and the M3Power. All
Mach3 series razor blades are interchangeable between the three. The Venus
series of female razors are based on their Mach3 counterparts. The Venus is
based on the Mach3, the Venus Divine based on the Mach3Turbo and the Venus
Vibrance is based on the M3Power. The Venus models feature different grip
shapes and lengths than their Mach3 counterparts design to assist with the
differing angle and reach needs of women shavers.
BENEFITS
 3 Spring Mounted Blades
 Progressive Blade Alignment
 Reduces Cutting Force
 Closer Shave
 Less Drag & Pull
 Greater Comfort
 Closer Shave As Fins Stretch The Skin
 Increased Lubrication, Improved Razor Glide
 Consistent Fading Indicates When To Change
 Less Irritation
 Enhanced Grip
 Better Control

6. BRAND ELEMENTS
A brand element is defined as visually or verbally distinct information that
identifies and differentiates a product or service. Examples of common brand
elements include names, logos, symbols, characters, slogans, and packaging.
Marketers often choose brand elements to build brand equity--to enhance
consumers' brand awareness or facilitate their formation of strong, favorable,
and unique brand association.
Before coming up with the product they collected some facts
through research:
 There are about 30,000 beard hairs on the face of the average.
 The ideal shave angle (razor blade meeting the face) is28-32 degrees.
 Hair on the neck grows parallel to the skin. 42% of men report that they
prefer to be clean shaven.
 The average shave lasts 3½ minutes.
 The average man spends 10-15 hours a year shaving.
 The average man begins to shave regularly when he begins to work
regularly.
 Men between the ages of 18 and 24 shave an average of four times a
week.
 Men over the age of 35 shave an average of six times a week.
Brand Name & URLs
The Brand name is the name used to recognize the brand and to distinguish it
from the competitors‟ brand.
Gillette Mach 3 uses the name MACH3 for its razor. Mach means the ratio of
the speed of an object to the speed of sound in the surrounding medium.
For example, an aircraft moving twice as fast as the speed of sound is said to be
travelling at Mach 2.
So MACH3 denotes a shaving speed equivalent to three times the speed of
sound in the surrounding medium i.e. air. The name is attributable of speedy
close shave.

7. Brand URL
URL or Uniform Resource Locator refers to the web address of the brands web
page. More and more brands are moving on to the web to increase customer
touch points and to increase brand awareness.
Gillette MACH3 has a website www.gillettechampions.com which use some
famous international athletes such as Roger Federer (Tennis), Tiger Woods
(Golf), Thierry Henry (Football) and Rahul Dravid (Cricketer)(for South Asian
countries only) on the website to endorse its products.
Gillette also has its own website as www.gillette.com which lists all its products
including Gillette Mach 3. The webpage is so designed that the visitor can zoom
and see the various product features of MACH3 razor.
Slogan
For the most effective branding results, the slogan selected should be a short
sentence which is memorable or „catchy‟ and, again, easily remembered by
customers. This will then combine with the name to strengthen the branding
structures working for the product. In order to generate ideas for slogans to lead
the branding, focus on the potential customer should be maintained.
GILLETES SLOGAN: THE BEST A MAN CAN EVER GET
Now going by the slogan we can make out two meanings from it, either Gillette
is the best shaver a man can get or with the use of Gillette products a man is
“the best he can get”. But the more obvious and intended meaning is thought to
be the former that Gillette razors with their superior and innovative technology
and instant ability to recognize consumer needs are able to offer the best shave a
man can get out of all the available options to him.
Going through its features what makes it admirable, efficient and popular
among the general public are installations like sharp blades, easy to clean, good
handle design and not to mention the number of blades-three to be precise in the
mach 3 version of its razors, not seen in any other brand. The slogan is what
catches the attention of most potential buyers of razors as it gives a strong
meaning and identification to the buyers that what the product offers is nothing
but the best that is not offered by any of the other competitors.

8. As said above it is the slogan which plays a very important role in catching the
attention and signifying what the company is intending to offer to its buyers and
what the buyers can derive out of the product, and in the same lines Gillette‟s
slogan of „the best a man can ever get‟ gives out a strong signal to the buyers
that what they are going in for is the best shave they can get and thus shapes the
buyers perceptions about the product as well. This again is well accompanied by
its extensive features as listed above which re- affirms their belief.
At the same time being such a strong statement by declaring itself the best
among others it acts as a catchy phrase that consumers will always remember,
as buyers being rational would always want to go for the best they can get to
satisfy their need at competitive prices, and Gillette‟s slogan thus will always
remain in their mind. Whenever they think about shaving and shaving blades
they think of the best being Gillette.
Logo & symbol
Logo is a term used to refer to a graphic symbol
or emblem commonly employed by commercial
enterprises, organizations and even individuals
to aid and promote instant public recognition. At
the level of mass communication or simply in
the high street a company's logo is today often
synonymous with its trademark or brand.
Gillette Mach 3‟s logo has the words Gillette Mach 3 printed on it with three
horizontal stripes present on the left hand side. The word Gillette is written in
the same fashion as that present in the parent brand‟s logo. In order to provide
continuity and to avoid confusion Gillette uses the strategy of using the parent
brand‟s logo as a part of the logo of all its sub brands.
The three stripes which are sharp and somewhat faded at one end signify the
speed, accuracy and comfort which the triple blade action formula present in
Mach 3 provides.
The three horizontal stripes which are blue in color and the letter „M‟ in Mach 3
which has a tinge of blue on a white base hint at the freshness that a „Gillette
Mach 3 shave‟ gives to its users.

9. Therefore it can be said that Gillette Mach 3‟s logo somewhat fulfills the
requirements of all the parameters that we discussed above and has been a
constant driving force in its brand building process
Packaging
Packing is the container in which a product is shipped, displayed, sold and/or
purchased in. It can represent the brand‟s category while also enable transport,
storage and consumption ease.
Gillette has come up with packing which fulfill all the essentials of packing the
material, color, size and shape has been designed well. Its packing is very eye
catching. Gillette created similar packaging for both the Mach3Turbo and
Gillette Series brands, which enabled the creative team to develop POP designs
that visually linked the products while maintaining their individuality.
The front of the Gillette razor pack is transparent allowing the customer display
of the product. Also for men‟s razor the colors that have been chosen are dark
and solid but for women the colors have been kept soft and feminine. For
women also the packaging has been designed well and different women razors
like its Venus model has shown.
The cartridges are packed in similar blue box and comes in sets of 4,8 and 12
cartridges. The only difference in the packing of cartridge is that it is packed in
hard multilayer corrugated box and the inner pack is a plastic casing which
protects the blades.
Bundling
More and more companies are bundling their products with other accessories to
use the product. Bundling is the process of packing and selling more than one
product with related features or use together.
The MACH3 comes with a shave gel combo in which the customer can save
upto Rs.100.

10. BRAND EQUITY
The value premium that a company realizes from a product with a recognizable
name as compared to its generic equivalent. Companies can create brand equity
for their products by making them memorable, easily recognizable and superior
in quality and reliability. Mass marketing campaigns can also help to create
brand equity. If consumers are willing to pay more for a generic product than
for a branded one, however, the brand is said to have negative brand equity.
The basis of brand equity lies in the relationship that develops between a
consumer and the company selling the products or services under the brand
name. A consumer who prefers a particular brand basically agrees to select that
brand over others based primarily on his or her perception of the brand and its
value.
One situation when brand equity is important is when a company wants to
expand its product line. If the brand's equity is positive, the company can
increase the likelihood that customers will buy its new product by associating
the new product with an existing, successful brand.
Brand Equity can be build by using:
 Brand elements
 4 Ps strategies
 Leveraging secondary associations
Brand elements have already been discussed earlier. 4Ps will are discussed
below:
Product:
The Gillette MACH3 Turbo razor combines sophisticated shaving
technologies that work together as a manual system to deliver a close,
comfortable shave. The Gillette MACH3 Turbo razor combines Gillette‟s 3
Blade Shaving Technology with Anti-Friction blades that gently glide over your
face. Its pivoting razor head with 10 Microfins follow every contour on your
face for outstanding comfort and closeness.

11. PowerGlide Smoothness
Gillette's 3 Blade Shaving Surface Technology with Anti-Friction razor blades
gently glides across your face with incredible shaving ease and outstanding
facial hair removal. With a shave this smooth, comfort is a slam-dunk.
Pivoting Precision
A forward-pivoting razor head with 3 progressively spaced blades and 10
Microfins on the cartridge helps deliver a smooth shave by gently following
every curve of your face. A razor this comfortable will keep you on top of your
game.
Ultimate Sensitivity
The Indicator lubricating strip releases more lubrication over time giving great
razor glide and adding to shaving comfort. The green stripe fades with use to
signal when you may no longer be getting an optimal shave. A close
comfortable shave means you can put your best face forward.
Price:
Gillette Mach3 uses Perceived Value Pricing model. It means the valuation of
good or service according to how much consumers are willing to pay for it,
rather than upon its production and delivery costs. Using a perceived
value pricing technique might be somewhat arbitrary, but it can greatly assist in
the effective marketing of a product since it sets product pricing in line with its
perceived value by potential buyers.
The price range of Gillette Mach3 is between Rs. 125 to Rs. 360.
Place:
Gillette uses Hub and Spoke method of distribution. 20 hub cities and spokes
are Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities have been covered in India. Also, the distribution
channel of P&G is being used.
Promotion:
 Strong and sustained advertisement all through out

12.  Gillette brand has high recognition rate
 Massive influence, recall and salience—reminder advertising
 Successful MACH3 launch campaigns
 Focus on brand values, innovation and cutting edge technology
 AIM- to educate consumer on product advancements and improved
shaving performance.
Leveraging secondary associations:
Celebrity spokesperson:
Gillette roped in famous athletes for its MACH3 advertisements which included
Roger Federer (Tennis), Tiger Woods (Golf), Thierry Henry (Football) and
Rahul Dravid (Cricketer)(for South Asian countries only) the company named
them as Gillette champions and showed them shaving and winning in their
advertisements. Gillette also roped in football star David Beckham for MACH3
Power. The advertisement was aired the most during sporting events such as
FIFA World Cup, Barclays Premiere League, US Open, Wimbeldon, Cricket
matches T20 world cup etc.
Another publicity stunt Gillette roped in Bollywood celebrities like Milind
Soman and some famous models and also cricket ace MS Dhoni to shave with
Gillette MACH3 and tell how confident, good, and smooth it feels.
Consistency is the key to successfully building and managing brand equity.
Having a long-term outlook and projecting a consistent image of your brand to
the customer will maximize the results of building brand equity.

13. Customer Based Brand Equity Model
Brand Salience:
Brand Salience measures awareness of the brand, how often and how easily the
brand is evoked under various situations or circumstances. It is the same as
brand identity i.e. Who are you?
The Gillette brand is associated with best quality razors. For many people, razor
is Gillette and no other brand will do. The core value of quality supports the
brand. Consumers know that they can trust a razor that carries Gillette branding.
The brand has been successful in establishing the link, in the mind of the
consumer, that razor equals Gillette.
Being an international brand, Gillette mach3 has gained immense awareness
worldwide. It has penetrated the market so well that the males are able to clearly
recognize and identify as a razor very different from the rest. The product has
been on top of the mind of consumers since a long time now. Moreover, its
usage does not need the user to be extra careful because of its flexible quality.
Brand awareness among men is quite pervasive as every second man is using
Gillette mach3.

14. Brand Performance:
Over the years it has survived in a highly competitive market with electronic
razors and manual blade clippers and has developed its competitive advantage.
It is successful in communicating the customers that it is still the ultimate in
shaving experience. The consumers can acknowledge the durability of the
product. The attractiveness of packaging alone can be instrumental in
stimulating a purchase especially impulse buyers.
The brand is the first choice of the consumers. Its various products like shaving
gel, shaving foam, shaving cream, after shave lotions, razors and blades has
performed extremely good in the market as far as satisfaction is concerned and
therefore has been completely accepted by the end consumers.
Brand Imagery:
It depends on the extrinsic properties of the product including the ways in which
the brand attempts to meet customer‟s psychological or social needs.
The intangible association to Gillette includes experiences. The product could
be bought from supermarket or from department store or specialty store through
impulse buying. It has developed a recognized image in the minds of
consumers. Being an expensive product, people see it as a premium and a
reliable brand.
Brand Judgement:
These are customer‟s personal opinions about and evaluations of the brand,
which consumers form by putting together all the different brand performance
and imagery associations.
Brand Quality: Consumers trust the brand because there is certain level of
quality attached to it.
Brand credibility: Gillette being such a trusted name since 1895 enjoys a sort
of monopoly in the market. The brand has provided such an immense
satisfaction to users that all the products under this umbrella brand has gained
acceptability by men.
Brand consideration: the Gillette razors have completely eradicated electric
shavers from the market. People find it convenient to use this because of its
flexibility property and a cool effect after shave. Moreover, the blade lasts for

15. more than a month which is one of the reasons of its wide acceptance by the
male section.
Brand superiority: the quality which the product carries with itself is
superiority. The premium price and the ease of usage define its brand
superiority.
Brand Feeling:
These are customers‟ special responses and reactions to the brand. The feelings
that are evoked by the marketing program or by other means. People feel that it
is a compatible, smooth, non-burning or itching, flexible and an easy to use
device.
Brand resonance:
It describes the nature of this relationship and the extent to which customers feel
that they are “in sync” with the brand. It is characterized in terms of intensity, or
the depth of psychological bond that customers have with the brand, also the
level of activity engendered by this loyalty (repeat purchase rates and extent to
which customers seek out brand information).
Segmentation, targeting and positioning of Gillette Mach 3
Market Segmentation
Gillette Mach 3 has been particularly produced for higher income consumers.
Thus, we see that income segmentation has been the main factor when Gillette
decided to segment the market. Mach 3 has also been successful in those
countries where the major segment of the population considers shaving to be a
desirable activity and the means to look clean and sophisticated for example
India and America. Thus, this type of international segmentation has also
benefited Mach 3. Another interesting to note is that, Gillette after seeing the
success of the Mach 3, decided to offer a similar product for women. Thus,
Venus Power came into existence. So, Gillette also gender segmentation.

16. Target Marketing
Gillette Mach 3 market segment has proved to be extremely attractive and
profitable for the company. The segment size is increasing at a rapid pace in
India and America. Furthermore, the segment is made more attractive because
of the fact that there are no strong and popular competitors of Mach 3. This has
provided Mach 3 with a lot of market power.
Substitute products like shaving machines are not considered as suitable enough
to replace Mach 3. The high price of Mach 3 proves that customers do not have
enough power to reject the product and that the company is in a far stronger
position than its suppliers and its customers. The company‟s objective that
Mach 3 should be considered by the customers as the best shaving product has
been complimented by the investment of a lot of money in the product in terms
of increased promotion and advertising.
Selecting Target Segments
Mach 3 marketing strategy was differentiated marketing from the beginning.
Gillette wanted to differentiate it from other shaving products and to target
several market segments. Some segments purchased Mach 3 because of the
income factor. Some did because of their preferences and particular lifestyles.
Gillette converted Mach 3 into Venus Power just in order to cater to the
segment of women users. So, Gillette designed separate offers for different
market segments.
Positioning for Competitive Advantage
Mach 3 position in the market place is extremely strong and secure. Consumers
definitely consider it a superior shaving product compared to other products.
One can definitely say that it occupies a unique position in the minds of those
consumers who want to have an extremely close and smooth shave.
If we analyze the position of Mach 3 on a positioning map, we will see that due
to its higher price, it will be situated on the upper portion of the map. As far as
luxury and performance are concerned, Mach 3 is more inclined towards
performance due to its three blades and other product features. These product
features have provided Mach 3 with a strong competitive advantage. The value
proposition of Mach 3 is definitely “more for more”. Extra product features
have prompted Gillette to charge a higher price. Mach 3‟s positioning statement

17. should be: “To those people who want to get up in the morning with a desire to
succeed in this world, Mach 3 is a three blade shaving product with extra
features that allows you an extremely smooth and close shave which lasts for
the whole day”.
Value Proposition of Gillette Mach3
Gaining consumers' share of mind is an art form. Getting them to try a new
product and offering a "reason to believe" has never been better orchestrated
than with Mach 3. The first and most important step is creating a clear value
proposition for the consumer.
For the Mach 3, the value proposition had to be compelling, succinct and easily
understood by a vast consumer base around the world. Like everything else in
the development process, it was a painstaking endeavor. Indeed, the value
statement took two full years, countless meetings and innumerable focus groups
to write. The value had to be there for a wide cross section of shavers, from the
serious system user to the disposables user.

18. Conclusions
 Strong brands provide value and have a variety of benefits.
 To customers, brands provide direction, they provide reassurance. Brands
reduce risks and they provide a way to self-express.
 To marketers, brands provide a competitive advantage. They provide the
means and the way of differentiation.
 Strong brands are based on a relevant differentiated position, without that,
you cannot build a strong brand. A variety of associations are linked to a
strong brand.
Recommendations
Use of a Character
 Gillette has used character/spokesperson to build brand awareness and
create brand equity. A character would be more fitting as it could be
designed in alignment with the brand‟s meaning an also be easily
transferable through future brand growth.
 Thus we can conclude that use of character could have been a
contributing factor in Gillette‟s success.
Increased use URL
 Gillette has not used its URL or SMS postings effectively. Most of them
have been developed by bloggers only to share their views.
Market Penetration
 Gillette Mach 3 has been particularly produced for higher income
consumers. Thus, we see that income segmentation has been the main
factor when Gillette decided to segment the market. So customer sees
mach 3 as a premium product, so its penetration is limited to high class
group only.

19. References
1. www.google.com
2. www.investopedia.com
3. www.scribd.com
4. www.gillette.com
5. www.studymode.com
6. www.strategy-business.com