The case study was a part of the curriculum of Marketing Communication course at the University of Groningen in 2015.

1. Group C1
Sanne van Dijk s1868489
Klasina Holthuis s2198762
Jacobien van Klinken s2023121
Mariam Talakhadze s2818353
Tzu-Yu Wu s2854031
Marketing Communications, University of Groningen

2. Selected Ad: Gillette Venus -
#UseYourAnd

3. What it is about:
— 70% of the women - labeled by a stereotype as young as
10 years old,
— Labels have had a negative effect on 47% of them.
— Focused against one-dimensional views;
— Encouraging women to use their “ANDs”;
— Target audience - users of Twitter and Facebook:
— hashtag #UseYourAnd - invites all women to share stories
— The re-vitalized music video and lyrics with updated
message.
Ref: Wakefield Research for Gillette Venus

4. Well-applied Principles
— Principle #3: EMOTION
– Self-expression
Showing the product allows customers to
express their personality;
— “step outside that box and
forget it”
— Venus emphasizes being
yourself and explicitly tells
women to describe themselves
in multiple dimensions;
— This proposition attracts women
and encourage them to take a
stand against labels.

5. Well-applied Principles
— Principle #10: MOTION MEDIA
– Music and Sounds
Using music or sounds for low-involvement
products
— Speech: slow but powerful tone;
— Pace: slow, with occasional
silences;
— Music: light, subtle, pleasant;
— Peripheral processing:
peripheral cues (music) can
lead to a positive attitude for
low-involvement products.
Ref: Stout & Leckenby (1988)

6. Violated Principles
— Principle #7: MESSAGE – Ad Consistency
Make elements of an ad reinforce each other
— The models they show all have beautifully hairless legs;
— “…Gillette […] basically saying, “Hey ladies! Ditch all those
demeaning and limiting labels -- except that body hair stuff. Definitely
shave your legs, armpits and any other area of the body deemed
necessary by the powers that be.”
— This does not match the particular message of this ad about labels;
Ref: Emma Gray (The Huffington Post)

7. Violated Principles
— Principle #8: ATTENTION – Slogans & Taglines
Consider a short memorable slogan (tagline) with the brand name and
benefit
— Slogan: relates to the product (good in terms of benefit!), but promotes
great “unshaved” legs (bad in terms of message consistency!);
— Tagline: Not clear, difficult to understand (without watching the video),
ambiguous;
— Is there enough interest to search and find out what it stands for?..
Tagline Slogan

8. Wrap up
Good
— Beautifully executed,
inspiring, powerful;
— Puts real issues on the
agenda;
— Creates a platform for self-
expression;
— Brand building è Values;
— Emotional appeal: Good for
low-involvement products
Bad
— Does not promote sales in
any way;
— Inconsistency with the
intended message – hence,
long-term success is
uncertain;
— Slogan/Tagline – unclear;
— ONLINE negative word-of-
mouth è publicly
available!
The effect on sales will only be positive if the brand building goals are
reached – which is questionable because of inconsistency!

9. Potential Improvements
— Making the advertisement consistent:
— Should not focus on legs at all;
— All women will more likely develop positive
associations – if clearly communicated that no
woman is obliged to shave parts of her body;
— Use a clear slogan:
— Make it memorable, relevant;
— “DefeatingLabels” as a hashtag/tagline;
— “She’s got it” as a slogan – related to the brand,
relevant to message;
— Encourage customers to make predictions about their behavior:
— ending the message with a question: “Will you step outside that
box?”
— Increase customer involvement; encourage positive behavior (using
hashtag, sharing the video, etc.)
Ref: Fennis & Stroebe, 2010; Cialdini, 2003

10. Thanks!