Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Will guys buy Vaseline Men if a former NFL star tells them to?

3/30/11

Unilever has just announced that they are launching a campaign for their Vaseline Men line tied to the NFL draft and featuring Michael Strahan, former defensive end for the NY Giants.

The focused effort includes an online game, a technique that the brand has used successfully in the past as it has delivered double-digit growth in the two years since its launch in 2008.

The stated goal in the selection of Strahan as spokesperson for the line is to communicate the fact that “it’s perfectly macho for men to moisturize.” (Neff, 2011)

What do you think? Will this strategy be successful? Does it make sense to address men directly rather than their wives, who may do the family shopping?

Neff, J. (2011, March 30). Vaseline Men Kicks Off NFL-related Promotion Despite Lockout. adage.com. Retrieved March 30, 2011, from
http://adage.com/article/news/vaseline-men-kicks-nfl-related-promotion-lockout/149631/

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I actually think this idea is brilliant. I think men will be much more likely to buy a "moisturizer" by Vaseline than by a brand that their wife or girlfriend uses. If he sees a pink Olay tub in her bathroom, he'd feel a bit skeeved out buying one of his own (even if it came in black). But Vaseline even sounds fairly masculine. And it's not associated with women, or soft skin, or anything girly, it's known as a practical product. I think that Strahan is a perfect spokesperson. Much like the commercial we watched for the chunky soup which was being endorsed by football players, this angle says "manly men use this". And I think it's smart to target men because either they'll be the ones picking it up, if they're a single dude, or they'll request it by name to their wife (without feeling embarrased - it's not like they're asking for La Mer). Plus, I would bet that these days, just as many guys do the shopping as do the women!

Anna P

Tomo said...

In my opinion, this campaign is not good.
I have two reasons.

The first, the family shopping is usually done by housewives. This is the PJ's point.I agree that.
Second reason is about this creative. Needs of vaseline for men is not known to women well. Why do they talk about "grip"? Is it real benefit? They must talk about needs of vaseline. And I played this online game. But it was too terrible & boring... 5 minutes was limit...

Anonymous said...

I believe this strategy could be very successful for the Vaseline men line. All men look at a famous athlete like a model body type. Even though they know they are very unlikely to get a body like that they want try to get the closer possible, so they exercise, go to the gym run and for this reason expose their skin to the sun, cold weather and frequent showers. If they don’t want look older sooner they have to protect and hydrate their skin.

Johanna

Unknown said...

Hmm I'm a bit torn on this. I've seen the ads for Vaseline's line for men before and I think it's fantastic. The dark bottles are "manly" and not intimidating to males, they don't seem girly or overly feminine at all. However, I've always liked and respected Vaseline for using "real" people in its advertisements - I've purchased this product in the past because it promised soft skin, not because a celebrity was endorsing it. I believe that this same approach could work for men as well. If a "regular" guy was shown using the product in a commercial, whilst still maintaining the brand's "manly man" message, this would be much more successful as for sales of the product go.

Julia G.

Andre said...

I think is great! its true that wives do the shopping, but men are going to tell their wives to buy the vaseline for them. To choose a former defensive player to use it, will prevent any men's prejudge regarding the masculinity of the product.