“Epic,” 
“it’s the best thing since cornflakes,” 
“Where have you been all my life?” 

This might sound too good to be true but these are real Philips OneBlade customer online reviews. 

The Philips OneBlade is the #1 best rated shaver online. No lie. Seriously, go to Amazon and read the reviews (we’ll wait). There are tens of thousands of (unbribed) satisfied customers who post loving reviews. We get why you’re sceptical. They’re very good. Almost too good. But we promise you: they are real. And they are better than anything we could have scripted.

As we looked at our 50,000+ positive reviews, we thought to ourselves: ‘Wow, we don’t need to pay influencers, because we already have thousands of them.’ So, to promote our shaver globally and re-establish product superiority we’ve explored the tension between reality and fiction.  Based on true reviews but creating a fictional world that’s as real as it gets. 

We introduced our campaign as “One of a Kind” – referring both to the unique aspect of the OneBlade and the too-good-to-be-true, unbelievable experiences people have with the product. 

As the real OG of the category, we took a confident stance with a humorous tone. Our tongue-in-cheek films were based on quirky, real reviews that established our product as a one of a kind shaver.

We couldn’t really believe it ourselves at times.
Only a one of a kind product could make people feel like this:
 
“After years of struggling to keep the crown jewels in ceremonial order the answer to our dreams has arrived.” – ’The Jewels’ depicted an ordinary man turned French monarch shaving his ‘crown jewels’ with his OneBlade… as his shocked cats witnessed it all. 

“As modern day shakespeare might say: “To shave, or not to shave, that is the question.” The answer is the Philips Oneblade.” – a reviewer with a Shakespearean predicament answered by OneBlade – was dramatised into a Hamlet-recital-worthy film called ‘The Dilemma’. 

“My clockweights are smooth as mint Imperials” – we found a man whose ‘clockweights’ felt minty fresh after shaving with OneBlade.

“I started shaving things I’d never shaven before. FOR. FUN.” – a woman who shaved… everything, and more, while secretly enjoying it all. 

To name a few!
We used the fanatic love for the OneBlade as our canvas to prove that, when it comes to grooming, there’s nothing quite like it.

With the campaign’s enormous reach and recognition, something strange started happening. 

In a review-ception kind of moment, people started reviewing our review-based campaign. Yep, you heard right. 

For example, Parker Bob wrote on Youtube:

“This ad is beautiful. The joy that I derive from a kingly man bending over to shave his scrotum brings me joy unparalleled by any other razor ad to date. It reminds me of when I was born, or perhaps a first kiss while standing on the edge of a cliff.”

Yep. It confused us, too. But it’s just another sign of, how, by leaning into our history and reclaiming leadership of the category, we elevated OneBlade from a functional innovation to an emotional leader that people trusted – and drove the business forward at the same time. 

Inspired by our campaign and films, random TikTokers started creating their own one-of-a-kind films based on their own stories and personal, unique OneBlade experiences. From Wes Anderson to an action-themed OneBlade story, people had fun with the campaign without us asking for it.

One of a Kind gaming and influencer partnerships extended our reach. 
And for the final act, guerrilla movie posters caught attention inside of cinemas, where what seemed like normal film posters turned out to be… OneBlade ads. Scan to know more and you’d land on an IMDB page with, you guessed it: another sneaky product ad disguised as a movie synopsis.

With a reduced media investment this year, Philips’ reach was significantly lower year on year. Due to the global economic uncertainty, in some markets, media investment was reduced by 80%. And yet, we were still pleased to see that our work… 

• Increased OneBlade brand strength and consideration for OneBlade across all markets
• Achieved above the brand recognition target in the hero UK market, with similar figures across all markets
• Ad recall was doubled compared to the previous campaign
• Increased sales, as measured by Philips’ share of search across markets increasing by 6% – which has a statistically significant correlation with actual sha

By leaning into our history and reclaiming leadership of the category, we elevated OneBlade from a functional innovation to an emotional leader – and drove the business forward at the same time.