FC NOW: The Fast Company Weblog
September 14, 2005
Creativity Gone Wild!
Gillette announced that next year, they're releasing the Fusion: a razor with five blades.
While I look forward to an easier shave, I wonder if they're going too far. Five blades? I had thought Mach 3 was kind of extreme. Then Schick released the Quattro, with four blades. Now Gillette is one-upping them with a fifth blade on the back of the razor. Will number five really make a difference? Sounds like marketing madness to me. Or is it simply creativity run amok? There is a point of thinking so far outside the box, you lose sight of the original goal.
What do you think about the Fusion? What other products have been too "imaginative"?
Update: The Onion, a popular humor newspaper saw this coming. Note: due to strong language this is NOT work safe.
Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at September 14, 2005 10:40 AM | Category: innovation + creativity |
4 Comments
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This is outrageously funny. At this rate, I had written in my post of a few days back, we will have the razor blade equivalent of Moores Law. http://ecophilo.blogspot.com/2005/09/hair-razing-pace-of-innovation.html
What are they thinking of...shaving a porcupine? or perhaps they were inspired by the photo of Saddam as he was captured from his hiding place. Or is this a request from Rumsfeld and the DoD to have special razors to shave all the terrorists they either capture or render?
"Fusion" is the right name for the product. That much thin-slicing on our face will most likely result in a new kind of look for us. We may be 'smooth', but I have to wonder what kind of new fusion will happen on the surface of our skin. Maybe we could be creative about it and add a little "toner" to the razor and criss-cross our face to end up with a look like the baseball field after they are "shaved".
The new battery-powered razor for women made me laugh. They promise the vibration gives you silkier, smoother legs - but it came across to me as a pathetic attempt to do something different with a pink plastic shell. (Disclaimer: I have not tried the razor. I just can't. It makes me laugh.) ;)