Celebrate Who You Are
The Brief
Based on our understanding of Chinese trends and sub-culture, Proctor & Gamble approached us to create a campaign to drive awareness of their brand, Art of Shaving, among a young male audience. A new approach was needed – young men no longer respond to slick steel razor messages that promise a smooth shave.
The Idea
Celebrate who you are
Research revealed that young Chinese men feel pressure from all sides: 69% complained of workplace stress, 49.6% of young people cite depression as a consequence of living alone and 94% of Gen-Z declare that looking good at work influences salary increases.
But how do we define ‘looking good’? Since China opened its doors to the world in the 90s, nowhere else has there been an abrupt and sudden cultural vacuum quite like the one Chinese Gen-Zs are facing. Young men are confused between the older generation’s expectations of masculinity vs new cultural influences from Korea and Japan, they’re lost between society’s conformist expectations of how they should dress vs what they see in the wider world, and they’re conflicted between ‘strong’ male figures they’ve seen growing up vs the more gender ‘fluid’ images they see in Chinese sub-culture today.
And in this hyper-connected era, they’re constantly exposed to social media messages that compound concerns over self-image, self-doubt and depression. It was clear that unlike anywhere else, a male identity crisis was looming in China. Our audience is at a crossroads – and they don’t know which way to turn.
We felt that there was an opportunity for AOS to play a valid role in tackling body image issues and make a positive contribution towards addressing the Gen-Z male identity crisis.
By enlisting fashion content creators and style commentators, we made a commitment to tackle negative body image issues among Gen-Z. By inviting our creators to produce content, our aim was for Art Of Shaving to give young men the tools, inspiration and voice to rebuild the confidence of a generation in crisis.
Our specialists, drawn from the 666 database, aren’t traditional influencers whose attention Art Of Shaving is ‘borrowing’ – these are authentic culture-shaping trendsetters who are gaining a following because they believe they can make life better.
Our aim was to spark a movement towards creating a culture that celebrates everyone’s self-identity. As far as we’re concerned, there is no right or wrong identity. This is our safe-space where no one judges you.
Launch content
We commissioned creators to engage our audience in 3 phases:
PILLAR 1 – AWARENESS
I see myself in this
Be yourself, not a follower. Our creators launched a series of films celebrating everyone’s identity. No one has the right to judge you.
PILLAR 2 – INSPIRATION
I’m inspired to be who I want to be
You are not alone. With the intention of instilling self-belief to be who you want to be, our creators produced films that showcased the diversity of fashion trends, complete with tips and hacks.
PILLAR 3 – UNITE
Find your voice and start a movement
Our creators generated films that mobilised our audience into finding their collective strength. United, you have the power to change the world by fighting prejudice – men have the right to appear as they wish and without hate. During this phase, having defined what Art Of Shaving stands for, our creators introduced the products that enable you to create your look.
The Results
Targeting young men, we chose Douyin as the launch social media platform and posted content on Art Of Shaving’s owned channel.
