Following my most recent blog entry on the topic of ludicrous shaving equipment, I was quite pleasantly surprised to get a blog comment from someone at King of Shaves – in fact, not just someone there… it was from the founder, Will King.
Great blog, really enjoyed reading it – and delighted you’ve eschewed the (overpriced, overvibrational, overpackaged) dark side, and have ‘chosen different, shaving better’ with azor. drop me a note via email and i’ll reward your insightfulness. best wishes, will king (founder, king of shaves)
I realise that his attention to my post would have been drawn by some kind of trawling alert service looking for instances of the company name or product names, and given the way it appeared in my WordPress comments rather than via the Disqus system I use it suggests that there’s some kind of blog-commenting tool in use here… However the fact that a corporate Head Honcho (this year’s turnover is expected to be £25 million) is taking the time out to build his brand personally is properly impressive & admirable, no matter which way you look at it.
The part I suspect that impressed me the most was the followup message – as Will suggested, I emailed him to get some free goodies on Thursday and shortly later received a response:
hi jason, tks for the note – i’m currently on hols, but have cc’d in nicky, my head of customer care who’ll sort you some “shwag” as you put – it – an azor wave perhaps nicky, and azor gel?
best
will
Not only is this guy personally out brand-building, but he’s also responding to MY email when he’s on holiday.
If it weren’t for the fact I’ve been more or less religiously using the King of Shaves products since 2000, I’d be definitely be giving them a sturdy go now. As it is I fell in love with KoS Alpha Shaving Oil because, aside from giving the best shave, the 15mL plastic container didn’t clutter up my bathroom shelf, and lasts easily as long as a can of regular foam/gel, and doesn’t leave a rust ring on the bath edge. AND because there’s no ridiculous foam, you can see which bits you’ve done already.
Seriously, give it a go – it rocks.
On the topic of shaving: one thing which has recently come to my attention and is a little more… bemusing, is an ad campaign by Wilkinson Sword for their range of ladies’ razors. I’ve studied this several times now, and am still in two minds as to whether it’s outright hilarious, a bit offensive, or just another piece of pointless advertising it’s wholly worth ignoring.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvFSgXpyhoM
Of course, by posting it here I guess I’ve excluded it from the third of those categories.