Brand activation in a new market is always a tricky business. For Gillette in the Czech Republic, it meant introducing a more expensive "foreign" product when the local shaving populace was firmly loyal to the "local" brand (Astra, acquired quietly by Gillette).

My team was tasked with finding a creative campaign to switch customers over, but the more research that was done, the more it only showed that the Gillette brand was perceived as an expensive foreign brand.

So imagine the client's response when we suggested they just give the razors away!

The premise was simple; bring in your old razor, and get in exchange one of the "expensive" Gillette Sensors. As news of this promotion spread, we had clients bringing in old razor after old razor, and when the local media picked up on it, Gillette's dominance of the shaving market in the Czech Republic was complete. The concept was then used in other emerging market introductions.

We also did a series of in-store signage and brochures using the global image campaign, and in addition to copywriting and strategising, I also personally designed new packaging for Gillette's recently acquired Astra brand which suffered from different contractual manufacturers using different variants of package designs.

The new packages I designed: