The NFL’s first ever one-handed player stars in Gillette’s new football-season commercial: the spearhead of a campaign that aims to redefine the brand’s 30-year-old ‘The Best a Man Can Get’ tagline.
Gillette chose rookie linebacker Griffin as the face of its new initiative that refreshes the brand’s long familiar ‘The Best A Man Can Get’ with a vocabulary twist to ‘The Best Never Comes Easy’.
The film, created by Grey New York, explores the challenges Griffin faced after he was born with amniotic band syndrome which led to his left hand being amputated.
It also features his brother (and now new NFL teammate) and his father Terry and features scenes ranging from backyard football drills to his dad teaching him to shave.
In addition to running on US national television, the campaign also includes online long-form video, PR, activation marketing and social media amplification (with hashtags #Kickoff2018 and #NothingComesEasy) by both brand
Your best never comes easy. Just ask @Shaquemgriffin. pic.twitter.com/tuw4KCrfD8
— Gillette (@Gillette) September 10, 2018
and player.
The journey can be tough, but achieving your best never comes easy. Dad taught me that. https://t.co/UlDy67Uj14 #GillettePartner #NothingComesEasy
— shaquem griffin (@Shaquemgriffin) September 11, 2018
Gillette’s content says the brand is proud to share his inspiring story and drives viewers online to learn more about Shaquem Griffin’s story.
The ad, which debuted on 10 September at the start of the new NFL season, is also the first 2018 flagship work in the USA from Gillette’s creative agency Grey, New York.
The spot is just part of Gillette’s wider attempt to redefine the brand for a new generation.
“We were asking ourselves what would be the best way to modernize and redefine ‘The Best a Man Can Get?'” says brand director Pankaj Bhalla.
“Once we started to learn about the Griffin family, and what they’ve gone through …we knew the story was compelling.”
Comment:
Powerful stuff!
The scenes that involve the brothers and their dad certainly sits seamlessly with Gillette’s ongoing celebration of paternal bonding moments.
Shaquem Griffin has been generating plenty of headlines since the Super Bowl.
Indeed, while Colin Kaepernick has (unsurprisingly) dominated the media and consumer attention around Nike’s new anniversary ‘Just Do It’ campaign (see case study), Shaquem Griffin was one of the other athletes also fronting the sportswear giant’s high profile campaign.
The 23-year-old seems a great fit for both Nike and Gillette: dynamic, young and powerfully inspirational.
Shaquem played college football at the University of Central Florida with his twin brother Shaquill.
In 2018 he was named 2018 Peach Bowl Defensive MVP and 2016 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
His cornerback brother Shaquill joined the Seattle franchise last year and April saw the Seahwaks draft Shaquem.
This NFL activation strand sits alongside Gillette’s primary US 2018 TV advertising strand – a spot called ‘Gary’ that features workers at the Procter & Gamble’s Boston manufacturing plant.
This creative, which remains running on US television, began as an online video campaign in 2017 and aims to consolidate the fact that Gillette’s blades are made in the USA (in contrast to those of Unilever-owned Dollar Shave Club – which are made in South Korea’s Dorco – and rival Harry’s – which are made in Germany).
Gillette may have lost market share in the last couple of years to the likes of Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s, but Bhalla claims that it has been ‘picking up momentum both offline and online the past year’.
Other recent sports led campaigns from Gillette range from its 2018 work starring soccer star Neymar Jr’#s post World Cup ‘A New Man Every Day’ (see case study) to its eSports campaign (see case study).
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