Helping one of the world’s best-known grooming brands redefine modern masculinity.
The Challenge
Gillette faced a pivotal moment as cultural shifts fundamentally altered the landscape of masculinity and male grooming. The rise of facial hair wasn’t just a fashion trend – it represented a deeper transformation in how men expressed their identity. Meanwhile, emerging discussions around toxic masculinity signalled a critical need to reconsider traditional masculine narratives.
For a brand built on the promise of “The Best A Man Can Get” and the perfect clean shave, these shifts posed existential questions. How could Gillette remain relevant in a world where the clean-shaven ideal no longer dominated? More fundamentally, how could the brand participate meaningfully in evolving conversations about masculine identity while maintaining its leadership position in male grooming?
Our Approach
We deployed a cultural strategy approach to understand the deeper meanings emerging around masculinity and male grooming. This involved decoding the fundamental shifts in how masculinity was being expressed, challenged, and redefined across culture.
Our semiotic analysis revealed several key dynamics:
- The resurgence of facial hair as an expression of authentic masculinity
- The growing tension between traditional and progressive masculine values
- The emergence of more nuanced, inclusive forms of male identity
- The evolution of grooming from a functional necessity to a form of self-expression
We mapped these cultural shifts against existing and emerging grooming practices, identifying opportunities for Gillette to play a meaningful role in shaping new narratives of masculine identity. This work went beyond surface-level observations to understand the deeper cultural codes that would define the future of male grooming and identity.
The Outcome
Our work provided Gillette with a strategic foundation for evolving the brand in alignment with changing cultural dynamics. As put by John Mang (VP Gillette, The Art Of Shaving at Procter & Gamble): “Space Doctors delivered a future-facing system for understanding the changing face of global masculinity and shaving behaviour. This was invaluable in helping us craft our purpose and connect more emotionally with Gillette users around the world”
Subsequent to our work, Gillette launched their landmark 2019 “The Best A Man Can Be” campaign – a bold evolution of their historic tagline that addressed toxic masculinity and promoted positive masculine values, and represented a fundamental repositioning of the brand’s relationship with masculinity.
The cultural understanding we developed also anticipated the launch of King C. Gillette, a new brand that embraced beard care products while nodding to the company’s heritage. This extension showed how traditional masculine codes could be reinterpreted for contemporary relevance.
These initiatives demonstrated how deep cultural understanding could help a legacy brand:
- Navigate sensitive cultural conversations with authenticity
- Expand from product-focused messaging to purpose-driven communication
- Transform potential threats into opportunities
- Bridge traditional and progressive masculine values
Perhaps most significantly, this work shows how cultural strategy can help brands anticipate and shape cultural change rather than simply react to it. By identifying emerging patterns in masculine identity and grooming culture, we helped Gillette move from defending their traditional territory to defining new possibilities for their category.
This transformation demonstrates how thoughtful cultural analysis can help heritage brands remain relevant while driving positive cultural change. Through careful attention to evolving cultural codes, we helped Gillette find an authentic voice in contemporary conversations about masculinity while expanding their relevance in the changing world of male grooming.