Gillette Middle East and Africa today said that its “Bend it with Beckham” consumer campaign, which ran in the GCC markets through April and May 2005, has achieved impressive business results for Gillette and partners in the region.
The “consumer retention rate” of the campaign reached 7%, surpassing the global standard of any FMCG campaign; usually falling between 3% and 4% (Consumer Retention Rate is the ratio of participants in a promotion from the sales achieved.)
The campaign run in conjunction with the most premium Gillette systems razors: MACH3Turbo blades and razors, MACH3Turbo Champion blades and razors, as well as the Gillette Series Shave Gel. Gillette and its trading partners in the campaign has achieved a 20% increase in volume sales through April and May 2005 across the three premium Gillette products.
“Bend it with Beckham” is the largest consumer promotion campaign for Gillette across the Middle East, Africa and Europe for this year. Gillette partners in this campaign included Memac & Ogilvy, Mindshare, Impact Porter Novelli, Aramex, CellmPower as well as Gillette’s distributors and customers across the GCC.
At a dinner event held in Dubai and attended by GCC officials, media and logistics partners who took part in the campaign, Dion Stander, Gillette Regional Business Manager – Blades & Razors said, “This competition was a fantastic opportunity for football fans to experience first-hand one of the greatest aspects of David Beckham’s game – his legendary free-kicks.”
He continued: ”Consumers response to the “Bend It With Beckham” competition was overwhelming in the GCC, which means that choosing David Beckham as a grooming icon appeals greatly to the region’s football fans. This success also means that our partners from the media, logistics management, telecommunication and trading industries who took part in driving the execution of the campaign did a fabulous job.”
During the dinner, officials from Saudi Arabia and the Dubai Chamber of Commerce conducted a live draw of three lucky winners from the GCC who will be spending a weekend with David Beckham in Madrid. For those not lucky enough to experience the trip of a lifetime to Madrid, Gillette offered them a variety of thousands of other prizes to those who entered.
