Gillette Scores with Fusion Launch

How do you pull off the biggest product launch in the history of the men’s grooming category? How do you make certain that — in one week— a new product goes from backroom boxes to a dramatic appearance on the shelves and in displays in 18,000 stores nationwide?

For the Super Bowl XL launch of its Gillette Fusion™ shaving system, Gillette turned to Retail Merchandising Xpress (RMX). With a dedicated field team plus cutting-edge scheduling, monitoring and reporting technology, RMX and partner NaturalInsight delivered a blowout win for Gillette.

The Business Issue: Looking for the Big Play

Mobilizing a field team for a massive, nationwide retail implementation takes a great deal of planning, logistical support and organization. There are the issues of aligning employees in the field with stores in their area; educating the field team about their responsibilities; and, of course, monitoring job status and reporting results back to the client. It can be a daunting task.

In the past, completing just the scheduling portion could take weeks, or even months, requiring a long and logistically challenging series of phone calls, faxes and emails. On the reporting side, faxes from the field team to confirm store visits had to be entered into a central database manually, another time-consuming activity.

And then there are the expectations of the client, wanting to know exactly what is going on as they prepare for a massive marketing campaign. How can a retail merchandising company make certain that its field team is mobilized, educated and ready, and then report back to the client in a timely and efficient manner to meet and exceed expectations?

“This has been a very successful launch.”
— Ray Wright
Gillette National Broker Manager

Gillette’s Challenge to RMX: Go Deep

After years of development of the Gillette Fusion, the company wanted to capture the attention and imagination of consumers everywhere and reinforce its position as the manufacturer of nothing less than the best shave ever. Gillette turned to RMX for the solution … and RMX relied on NaturalInsight to make it happen.

Gillette’s ad campaign kicked off during the Feb. 5 Super Bowl and continued in heavy rotation throughout the Winter Olympics. Gillette also supported the launch with a PR blitz and revolutionary Web site. It was, quite literally, the Super Bowl of product launches. The company issued the following challenge to RMX: “We want to pull off the biggest product launch in the history of the men’s grooming category. Our new Fusion products will redefine men’s shaving. This is not just big; it’s huge. Can you handle it?”

The answer from RMX: an immediate and confident “Yes.” RMX prides itself on the ability to mobilize a field team quickly and facilitate store promotions and deliveries at any level, in any area of the country. RMX also has a secret weapon: NaturalInsight scheduling, reporting and project management software.

NaturalInsight, combined with an integrated TDLinx database of 280,000 stores, gave RMX the technology advantage it needed.

The RMX Approach

Auto-Scheduler Sets the Team in Motion

Rather than relying on endless phone calls, emails and faxes to assemble and assign a massive field team, RMX utilized the NaturalInsight auto scheduler function. NaturalInsight allowed RMX to load details for the launch into a web-based system and match up opportunities in the field with reps in the area based on availability and proximity.

Within 24 hours of creating the new project to visit 18,000 stores in seven days, RMX had 80 percent of the stores scheduled. Within just a few days, the project was fully scheduled. “This simply could not have been done with phone calls and emails,” said Kenny Bell, National Director of Operations for RMX.

NaturalInsight allowed RMX to set guidelines for project acceptance, such as the requirement that field reps live within a certain distance to a store, thereby limiting associated travel time. NaturalInsight also helped RMX manage the complexity of the project. Gillette created many different types of in-store displays. In order to perform effectively, field reps needed to know which displays would be waiting for them before going to each job so they would be adequately prepared to accomplish their task in store.

When it came time to visit stores, each RMX employee had to confirm the arrival of Fusion products and promotional materials, set up materials in high-traffic areas, and complete a store-specific survey and questionnaire to be signed and stamped by a store manager.

After completing these tasks, they faxed the form, which included a barcode, to a number set up with NaturalInsight. Once transmitted, the barcode identified the store, and data in the fax could then be reported side-by-side with data already known about the store in the NaturalInsight system.

Every day of the intense period leading up to the Fusion launch, RMX sent updated reports to Gillette management based on information collected in the field and pulled together using the NaturalInsight solution. The data also allowed RMX to identify and address any potential issues.

“We are extremely proud that our technology helped RMX deliver a Super Bowl win for Gillette and the new Gillette Fusion brand,” said Stefan Midford, president and CEO of South 49 Solutions, NaturalInsight’s holding company. “This was a true team effort that leveraged the strengths of RMX and NaturalInsight; it is also an indication that together, we can deliver effectively on the biggest and most critical retail merchandising projects in the marketplace.”

Results: Perfect Execution, Instant Score

In the seven days leading up to the Super Bowl, RMX field service reps visited nearly 18,000 drug stores and supermarkets to coordinate and maximize the impact of the Fusion launch.

Ultimately, RMX “wow-ed” Gillette by helping the company create an “orange glow” of Fusion products in supermarkets and drug stores nationwide. Throughout the process, Gillette had complete visibility and peace of mind, knowing that its Fusion products were properly displayed in retail outlets in time for the Super Bowl launch.

Said Pamela Carey, Director of Retail Operations for Procter and Gamble, parent company of Gillette, “Wow! Great results and we so appreciate the support and effort to make Fusion the biggest launch in the health and beauty category history. Thanks for the passionate commitment to make this happen!” Said Bell of RMX, “We were 100 percent completed within our timeline. With the NaturalInsight system, we were able to clearly communicate our objectives to the team throughout the process and articulate the results back to Gillette.”

Most importantly, Gillette loved the work that RMX — with help from NaturalInsight — conducted on its behalf. “This has been a very successful launch,” said Ray Wright, Gillette National Broker Manager. “Everyone gave 110 percent to make this happen and the results speak for themselves. Thanks to everyone for a job well done.”