Bulldog launches ‘biggest ever’ campaign: sign of healthy male grooming category?

It’s a move that appears to confirm recent market analysis ​that points to a need for male grooming players to be bolder in attracting new consumers to the category.

Nick Parker, Head of Marketing at Bulldog Skincare For Men, says; “At Bulldog we sometimes hear men’s skincare described as a low interest category. We don’t believe there’s such a thing as a low interest category, only low interest brands.”​

The marketing chief describes the company’s new campaign, ‘The Telepathic Bulldog’, as a “funny, provocative and distinctive way of raising Bulldog’s voice in the category, and making our category more interesting to men in the UK.”​

The campaign has received a five star rating from The Drum​.

Male grooming: get outside the box​

Bulldog’s ambitious campaign comes hot on the heels of market research insight that suggests the category as a whole would benefit from a bolder approach to engaging men.

A recent report from market insight firm Two by Two suggests brands generally have “become trapped in the category language and ‘For Men’ cliches​”, suggesting that quickly evolving consumer sensibilities, particularly of younger men, need to be better catered to.

Similarly, Google recently picked out male grooming as one of its top four trends to watch this year, suggested there is a lot of untapped white space in the category, with scope for many more men to buy into the category.

“As searches for men’s skin care-related products are evolving from more general terms like “men’s skin care” to more specific terminology such as “men’s face wash,” there is opportunity to educate men (and those who shop for them) on the different nuances for each product type,​” the internet giant’s insight team explain in its Beauty Trends 2017 report.