Clarisonic Introduces Sonic Cleansing Device For Men's 'F-ing Face'
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
L'Oreal brand follows outfits such as Dollar Shave Club in its direct approach to men, rationalizing the $189 investment in its new Alpha Fit sonic cleansing device as prudent "because it's your f-ing face!" Clarisonic is targeting the uniquely engineered unit to "metro- and lumber-sexual men alike" with its biggest digital ad campaign to date.
L'Oreal USA's Clarisonic unit has perhaps taken a page from Dollar Shave Club's marketing manual in its bid to sell men on the Alpha Fit sonic cleansing device, available for $189 at the brand's website and luxury retailers nationwide.
Potentially anticipating some initial skepticism from men – 56% of whom currently use their hands to wash their face – Clarisonic is not mincing words in laying out its sales proposition. With its largest digital ad campaign to date, the brand asks, "Why cleanse your skin properly? Because it's your f-ing face!"
Dollar Shave Club, whose sales more than tripled in 2014, has taken a similar tack in promoting its "f-ing great" blades (Also see "Dollar Shave Club Focused On Growth Post-Viral Video Sensation" - HBW Insight, 24 Jun, 2015.).
But while DSC's angle has been undercutting leading razor brands with affordable blades delivered to subscribers' doorsteps monthly, Clarisonic aims to trade men up from hands and bar soap to its sonic cleansing technology and caffeine-infused Alpha Cleanse formula.
The brand is investing accordingly, targeting "metro- and lumber-sexual men alike" with planned social-media messaging and print advertising, and its new device is engineered with two settings to accommodate both demographics – i.e., clean-shaven and bearded users.
Reportedly, the L'Oreal division is reaching out to women as well with a softened version of the "f-ing face" tagline – "Hello, it's your face" – which also will be used on Facebook due to the platform's profanity standards.
Women could be the product's primary purchasers, if only to keep significant others from using their own devices, a trend Clarisonic has noted. The brand says Alpha Fit is designed specifically for men's unique skin needs, with a brush head "jam-packed" with 26,000 bristles, which are shorter "for men's resilient skin."
Clarisonic so-founder and Global President Robb Akridge states, "Let's face it, men's skin is different and they deserve a Clarisonic device built just for them – providing a great cleanse, a better shaving experience and a way to clean the hard-to-reach skin underneath facial hair."
According to the brand's website, more than 90% of men with beards "felt a cleaner, softer and more comfortable beard" in testing over a two-week period. Meanwhile, a comparable percentage of clean-shaven users "experienced less shaving nicks, razor bumps and a closer shave" after using Alpha Fit for four weeks.
Clarisonic is positioning the device as a worthy investment. Cheryl Ricketts, the brand's VP of U.S. marketing, notes, "A man is likely to spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on his shoes, his watch, his car – his image. So why not his face?"
A 'Better' Rather Than Extra Step
With convenience commonly noted as a high priority for male consumers, Clarisonic stresses that Alpha Fit "isn't an extra step for men in their cleansing regimen, just a better one."
The company commissioned Harris Poll to survey more than 2,000 U.S. adults online to gain insight into men's facial-care habits. It found that 56% of men use their hands to cleanse their face, 33% of them doing so with body wash or bar soap and 9% using just plain water.
Clarisonic is hopeful that germs data can help persuade men to rethink their routine. It notes that "a man's hand carries 3,200 bacteria from 150 species," making the manual, versus sonic, approach to face cleansing roughly equivalent to scrubbing with a circulated dollar bill, according to the brand.
Alpha Fit does a superior job of cleansing as well – six times better than hands alone – "sweep[ing] away dirt, oil, sweat and pollution from a man's tougher, thicker skin from the first use," Clarisonic says.
L'Oreal picked up Clarisonic with its late 2011 acquisition of Pacific Bioscience Laboratories Inc. (Also see "L’Oreal USA Plugs Into Device Category With PBL/Clarisonic Acquisition" - HBW Insight, 14 Nov, 2011.). Since its launch in 2004, the brand has sold more than 10 million sonic cleansing devices, with a global footprint that covers 50 countries.