BIC promotes its Flex 3 Razor with the launch of ‘The Hipstervention’ via McCann, Melbourne
BIC Australia has taken aim at the hipster beard with the launch of a campaign via McCann Melbourne, aptly named ‘The Hipstervention‘.
The campaign for the BIC Flex 3 razor aims to save the world from the hipster beard and came to life via a Facebook page and an unbranded website, which amassed a community of over 20,000 followers over the course of a month, driven by engaging social content.
Targeting 18- to 34-year-old men, the campaign asks them to hold a ‘Hipstervention’ for a friend they have lost to hipsterism.
Two thousand free ‘Hipstervention’ kits are available from thehipstervention.com website, along with ways to identify the ‘Signs and Symptoms’ of ‘hipsterism’ as well as the ‘global effects’ ‘hipsterism’ has had.
The campaign has been active on social media for over a month with the Facebook and Instagram accounts garnering over 20,000 followers. Promotional activity in the past month has engaged over 2.5 million people, including 55% of the total target audience in Australia.
The campaign is part of a broader brand re-appraisal strategy to support the strong retail performance of BIC Flex 3 and make the BIC brand relevant for the Australian target market.
The Hipstervention social campaign is supported by print, street posters, POS, OOH and direct mail.
Says Hermann Jaaniorg, Shavers BIC oceania brand manager: “This campaign marks a fresh approach for BIC as we contemporise our brand in Australia. The Hipstervention enables us to do so in a tongue-in-cheek fashion, which we hope will resonate well with our target.”
Says Pat Baron, executive creative director of McCann Melbourne: “I used to worry for hipsters, now I feel sorry for them. Ironic beards have taken the face from a generation. BIC is saving a generation one shave at a time.”
BIC Australia New Zealand
Marketing Director, BIC Asia Pacific: Gregoire Mantoux
Brand Manager, Shavers BIC Oceania: Hermann Jaaniorg
McCann Melbourne
Executive Creative Director: Patrick Baron
Associate Creative Director: Ben Davis
Art Director: Ryan Clayton
Copywriter: Patrick Trethowan
Editor: Patrick Jennings
Managing Director: Adrian Mills
Business Director: Alec Hussain
Senior Account Manager: Alex Haigh
Digital Director: Tony Prysten
Associate Digital Producer: Allison Snow
Social Lead: Chris Baker
Digital Designer: Kenneth Sahoury
Head of Broadcast: Victoria Conners-Bell
TV Producer: Anne Comber
Production: Airbag
Director: Aaron Wilson
Executive Producer: Robert Stock
Production Manager: Johanna Rayner
Dirty Puppet
Animation: Cameron Gough
Illustration
Maisen Hall
31 Comments
It’s coming off tonight. I will miss you my straggly friend.
Probably made by a bunch of Hipsters.
Nice concept and funny execution. Ready for the beards to die, but I think that affects 80% of ad men!
Made me laugh
Sleep with one eye open Andy Jones.
I smell a scam.
Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.
And this execution makes the job of selling razors look anything but easy.
Beards remind me of cargo pants 15 years ago. Time to go. Well played BIC.
Sounds to me like the client’s behind this all the way. Well played indeed BIC. Very fresh approach for the category.
I smell a shit stirrer.
@Suss maybe you need to shave off your beard. That’s not scam you can smell.
What is with all the skepticism… applaud a good idea when you see one.
Scammy work on small clients does it.
Doesn’t society hate on hipsters enough already? Seriously, can’t we just all get along.
How is it scam? It seems to be doing everything except be in the Rouse Hill Times.
Or… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU64GI0Aj3A
Hipsters as a punchline?! Bold and original. Boy oh boy, this’ll get tongues a-wagging!
I’m getting pretty sick & tired of seeing people hate for the sake of hating on this forum. Can’t we just applaud creativity rather than shut down every goddamn idea?? And well done on Bic for taking a chance on this one. Love it. Time to go hipsters.
Ending on “my little boy is back” is not how you want to sell to men.
Disposable razor sales have plummeted since beards became fashionable. This is a smart idea. The only thing suspect about this is I ‘suspect’ we’ll hear more about this campaign. Nice
Meh. Tired targeting of the hipster.
And “The Facial Toilet Brush”, well. That’s been proven to be fake news as to faecal matter in the beard.
http://now.snopes.com/2015/05/05/beards-poop/
@Sick & tired, it’s not “hating for the sake of hating” – this is just an old joke that people are tired of hearing. Teasing hipsters has been done to death. Hard to get excited about that. Plus Schick referenced hipster beards so much better.
http://www.campaignbrief.co.nz/2014/06/schick-urges-kiwis-to-free-the.html
I would have taken a razor to the first 2 minutes – could have easily been cut down to 15 seconds to get to the actual idea. Hipsterbashing is old news (Northcote (So hungover) was five years ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxZiae16Ry8 ), the gags are laboured, and timing isn’t there. But the intervention idea and ‘Hipstervention’ portmanteau are funny and ownable. Dunno. Will the internet care enough to watch an in-love-with-itself three minute video? Feels a bit awards-baity / niche to sell many razors, which is its job.
He looks better with the beard.
Work that alienates the very market they’re targeting, as a rule doesn’t work.
Didn’t a beer brand do a Facebook intervention type idea for metrosexuals a few years back?
Obvious idea with a lame execution, but i’m sure the Award Entry video will be great. Classic McCannes.
The worst ads are the ones making people feel bad about themselves for being one way or another. What if I just happen to like having a beard? Can’t we just let people be whoever they want to be.
Here’s an idea: Instead of telling me that it’s not cool to have a beard, try to demonstrate the benefit of not having none. Take a set of twins, one bearded and one not, and see how they do with the girls, job interviews and so on. That might convince me, but this just feels like such a low hanging fruit.
@ Melvin, sorry but your idea sucks. Do you write copy to accompany before-and-after photos in liposuction brochures? Because if your copy is anything like your ideas, that’s where it belongs.
Well done gents at McCann! I reckon this is a smashing idea. Stuff the haters – 20,000 followers on social from a soft launch speaks volumes. It resonates with consumers… and idiots in the industry forget that thats what its actually meant to be about.
That you got to make it engaging, funny, creative and memorable at the same time is bloody awesome.
And lastly, who cares what Hipsters think of this campaign? If it makes every non-hipster want to buy into the brand, then you’ve done your job anyways.
Ace idea guys, love the art direction Ry!
Beards are the new tribal tats… Well played Patty and Ryan.