Edge® Shave Gel, you know the colored gel that turns into a soft, light foamy shave cream once applied, yes that one, has begun trying to solve the irritations in every day life by taking its plight to the online world. This sensational play on words for transposing the skin irritation of the face or legs (for the ladies) equated to shaving to what irritates us in every day life. They have pulled away from the association of skin irritations for which their product hopes to solve into getting us talking about what irritates us in our daily lives and doing what they can to solve it.
What Irritates You?
What irritates us? A lot. The lack of time, the inability to get things done, the slow driver in front of us, the person who cuts across 2 lanes that makes us slam on our brakes, the customer service rep who forgets that they are a consumer too, the automated telephone of pressing 1 for this, 2 for … etc, the person who never responds back to us online … it goes on and on. We are always ready to talk about it as we have to get it out and hope that others share that irritation. We vent, we share, we dwell when really all we want is for someone to fix it, solve it and make it better.
Edge® Shave Gel Anti-Irritation Zone
Edge® Shave Gel’s anti-irritation zone wants to hear from you about what irritates you via the EdgeShaveZone.com website or on Twitter (the Facebook page drives you to their main site) and they will try and solve it. They cannot solve every problem however, according to AdAge, a gentleman was irritated that he could not get tickets to the NY JETS vs New England Patriots game and they responded with tickets for him (unfortunately for him, he had to witness such a fantastic devastating loss).
The site is is very engaging as they have a map of each state and the irritations posted by users along with a right side bar that contains research performed by Sterling’s Best Places which places Atlanta high a top of the list for the most irritated in the nation; followed by Houston, Washington DC and Baltimore to round out the top 4.
A Positive Spin On Irritation
We are irritated in life and that irritation lends itself for negativity. We all are negative about things but breaking it down to the core, we are seeking a solution. Yes, we are looking for others who share that irritation and negativity but it does not solve it. We are seeking a voice in numbers to comfort and not be alone in the irritation but really we are hoping someone hears us to fix it.
Edge® Shave Gel is trying to address and fix our irritations by drawing attention to them. When was the last time you heard someone talking about their shaving cream and the irritations that they caused their skin? Shaving cream is not water cooler or locker room talk (although could be “I checked out the medicine cabinet talk” girl talk ) and generally there is not much thought to it as young men when starting to shave grab what is in the house (and the girls grab the nearest razor and hide when someone is screaming the next day with bits of toilet paper on their face the next day). Irritated skin is not a big topic of conversation but what irritates us is.
Will Irritations in Life Drive Sales?
Big question and of course that is yet to be seen. When we sit back and think about what we would say that irritates us that we hope is getting the attention to solve, for many is making us look at what brand of shaving cream is in our cabinet and how much is left. We think, can I really respond having never used their product? Sure some will as the contest is the enticing factor to get the win, but many will think. That think factor is not only a hesitation but a driver to go and see the displays, talk with friends about what we should write to win which gains awareness of the product and gets people talking. Some positive and some negative but it gets pople talking about shaving cream.
This campaign has been well thought out (did we expect anything less from something powered by Edelman??) and the site is almost a time consumer as you want to click on your state to see what people are saying and then other ones to see what irritates them. Quite frankly I really do like this campaign but I am not in love with the colors on the site. The amount of information and detail had me engrossed for a while and wanting to go back to see more as well as follow their tweets. And, not only because Las Vegas was finally on top of a list for something positive!
So what irritates you? Will you tell them? Is this about getting what you want or a voice heard?
photo credits: Edge Shave Gel website