Gillette
During the Great Depression, Iacocca’s father once told him that even if people have absolutely no job to do or they have no buying power left, they would, in any case, need to eat for survival. And when all the other industries were failing, they opened a successful restaurant. Like hunger, there are some things nature has gifted to human beings that you really can’t help. They just keep growing. Beard is one of these “ever growing” things! (May be that’s why Kishore Kumar named one of his movies “Badhati ka Naam Daadhi”J)
In the modern days, a clean shaved face is considered a symbol of masculinity and sobriety. So, almost every morning, shaving becomes a scheduled task for most of the men around the world. And if there’s one man they would be unknowingly thankful to for making shaving easier and safer, it’s King Gillette.
King Camp Gillette was born on January 5, 1855 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. His father George Walcott Gillette was a post master, editor and had tried his luck at many other professions. When King was 4 years old, the whole family moved to Chicago where his father set up a hardware shop. However, in 1871, the Great Fire in Chicago destroyed their business and King, aged 17, was soon working as a salesman to support his family. While traveling all around the country, he happened to meet and work with William Painter who had invented the Crown Cork Bottle Cap. Working in Painter’s “Crown Cork and Seal” company, King came to know about the business of this first disposable item. With a dream to become a successful businessman, Gillette had tried his hand at stuffs like Water Valve and Electric Cable. He had secured the patent for them as well. But things didn’t quite work for him. Moreover, he lost $19000 in a futile attempt to produce carbonated water. Losing this big a sum was a major setback for him. Then, Painter advised a dreamy King to invent something like Bottle Cork that is disposable, something that assures great sales and repeated customers. King questioned him how many things there could be that are disposable except for pins, needles and other such stuff!
Well, the revelation of his life was soon to come on an 1895 morning while shaving. The irritation and may be a few cuts here and there must have made him wonder what if if I could come up with a safety razor that is disposable. The idea occupied his mind for coming few days. He asked for help from some MIT metallurgists but they turned him down thinking that it is impossible to produce a thin blade with sharp edge at a profitable price.
Finally 6 years later, a MIT graduate William Emery Nickerson came up with a blade Gillette had dreamed of. After making some modifications in the design, Gillette patented his product and started “American Safety Razor Company” in September, 1901 along with Nickerson. The company's name was changed in July 1902 to “Gillette Safety Razor Company”. However, actual production started in 1903 because it was very difficult to handle thin steel and sharpen it. The first year of 1903, saw a sales of 51 razor and 168 blades only! Gillette thought that this attempt is also a big failure. But the sales for next year: 90000 razors and 123, 000 blades made him stay in the business. He was also awarded the patent for Razor and Blade in 1904. By 1908, they had established manufacturing facilities in the United States, Canada, England, France and Germany. To make a brand for blades, Gillette started aggressive advertising. In 1910, a popular Baseball player named Wagner appeared in the Gillette advertisement. The tradition still continues…
Like Coca Cola, Gillette too faced problems with the imitators. Looking at the great market blades offered, lots of other companies tried to take away a bit of the pie. Imitations of the patented safety razor emerged and forced Gillette to pursue lengthy battles at court. In many cases, Gillette resolved the dispute by buying up ‘the imitator’!
World War I offered more opportunities for Gillette to grow as US Government equipped all the armed forces with Gillette safety razors, making 3 million razors and 32 million blades in circulation.
The company, thus, grown with productline including not only blades but also shaving creams, After Shave lotions and other shaving related stuff.
Associating Gillette with maleness, the company branded its products aggressively on radios and TVs, making it a global company. Gillette acquired several other companies in the personal care sector and expanded into other categories as well. Duracell, the battery brand, for instance, is part of the Gillette Empire and so is Braun, Oral – B. The Design of the patented Razor
On 1st October, 2005, Proctor and Gamble bought the Gillette Company (trading symbol G) for a staggering $57 Billion, making P & G the biggest personal care and household products company.
Even when Gillette himself was the founder Chairman of a global company like Gillette, he was a staunch anti – capitalist. According to him, Capitalism is the most unjust system in the world. It is the sole reason for poverty, illiteracy, misery and crimes. Money, to him, is the evil root of all. However, he advocated monopoly of big corporations, at the same time.
He was also a utopian socialist. He had published a book “The Human Drift” in 1894 advocating that all industry should be taken over by a single corporation owned by the public, and that everyone in the US should live in a giant city called “Metropolis” powered by the Niagara Falls. This city would have 25 storied buildings and anyone who wishes to stay in this city would have to work without any salary for 5 years! He had offered $1 Million salary for the then US President Teddy Roosevelt to become the president of this “Gillette World”. But Roosevelt, thankfully, turned it down. A later book, “World Corporation” (1910), was a prospectus for a company set up to create this vision. His last book, “The People's Corporation” was written with Upton Sinclair.
Retiring from the active business, Gillette spent next few years traveling around the country with his wife Atlanta. He handed over the company’s controls to his friend John Joyce who didn’t pay much attention to Gillette’s anti – capitalist philosophy and focused on new and improved blades and their branding. He introduced the famous Track – II blades having two blades for a smoother shave. The company invested a lot on the “Sensor” blades and how shaving can be made more comfortable. It took 5 years and $150 Million to invent Sensor blades. All the money was proved worth to invest as 240 Million Sensors sold in the first year itself!
And as fate would have it, the creator of so much wealth, the King of his “Gillette World” – King Gillette died in an almost bankrupt condition in 1932, as the Gillette stocks plummeted drastically during the Great Depression…
I know, by now, you must be wondering about the ups and downs Gillette saw in his life and the games Destiny played with him… And reflectively, your hand would have surely reached your chin rubbing it… And if it’s a bit rough there, it’s time to have a good shave with Gillette… Well, that’s “the Best a man can get”!
In the modern days, a clean shaved face is considered a symbol of masculinity and sobriety. So, almost every morning, shaving becomes a scheduled task for most of the men around the world. And if there’s one man they would be unknowingly thankful to for making shaving easier and safer, it’s King Gillette.
King Camp Gillette was born on January 5, 1855 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. His father George Walcott Gillette was a post master, editor and had tried his luck at many other professions. When King was 4 years old, the whole family moved to Chicago where his father set up a hardware shop. However, in 1871, the Great Fire in Chicago destroyed their business and King, aged 17, was soon working as a salesman to support his family. While traveling all around the country, he happened to meet and work with William Painter who had invented the Crown Cork Bottle Cap. Working in Painter’s “Crown Cork and Seal” company, King came to know about the business of this first disposable item. With a dream to become a successful businessman, Gillette had tried his hand at stuffs like Water Valve and Electric Cable. He had secured the patent for them as well. But things didn’t quite work for him. Moreover, he lost $19000 in a futile attempt to produce carbonated water. Losing this big a sum was a major setback for him. Then, Painter advised a dreamy King to invent something like Bottle Cork that is disposable, something that assures great sales and repeated customers. King questioned him how many things there could be that are disposable except for pins, needles and other such stuff!
Well, the revelation of his life was soon to come on an 1895 morning while shaving. The irritation and may be a few cuts here and there must have made him wonder what if if I could come up with a safety razor that is disposable. The idea occupied his mind for coming few days. He asked for help from some MIT metallurgists but they turned him down thinking that it is impossible to produce a thin blade with sharp edge at a profitable price.
Finally 6 years later, a MIT graduate William Emery Nickerson came up with a blade Gillette had dreamed of. After making some modifications in the design, Gillette patented his product and started “American Safety Razor Company” in September, 1901 along with Nickerson. The company's name was changed in July 1902 to “Gillette Safety Razor Company”. However, actual production started in 1903 because it was very difficult to handle thin steel and sharpen it. The first year of 1903, saw a sales of 51 razor and 168 blades only! Gillette thought that this attempt is also a big failure. But the sales for next year: 90000 razors and 123, 000 blades made him stay in the business. He was also awarded the patent for Razor and Blade in 1904. By 1908, they had established manufacturing facilities in the United States, Canada, England, France and Germany. To make a brand for blades, Gillette started aggressive advertising. In 1910, a popular Baseball player named Wagner appeared in the Gillette advertisement. The tradition still continues…
Like Coca Cola, Gillette too faced problems with the imitators. Looking at the great market blades offered, lots of other companies tried to take away a bit of the pie. Imitations of the patented safety razor emerged and forced Gillette to pursue lengthy battles at court. In many cases, Gillette resolved the dispute by buying up ‘the imitator’!
World War I offered more opportunities for Gillette to grow as US Government equipped all the armed forces with Gillette safety razors, making 3 million razors and 32 million blades in circulation.
The company, thus, grown with productline including not only blades but also shaving creams, After Shave lotions and other shaving related stuff.
Associating Gillette with maleness, the company branded its products aggressively on radios and TVs, making it a global company. Gillette acquired several other companies in the personal care sector and expanded into other categories as well. Duracell, the battery brand, for instance, is part of the Gillette Empire and so is Braun, Oral – B. The Design of the patented Razor
On 1st October, 2005, Proctor and Gamble bought the Gillette Company (trading symbol G) for a staggering $57 Billion, making P & G the biggest personal care and household products company.
Even when Gillette himself was the founder Chairman of a global company like Gillette, he was a staunch anti – capitalist. According to him, Capitalism is the most unjust system in the world. It is the sole reason for poverty, illiteracy, misery and crimes. Money, to him, is the evil root of all. However, he advocated monopoly of big corporations, at the same time.
He was also a utopian socialist. He had published a book “The Human Drift” in 1894 advocating that all industry should be taken over by a single corporation owned by the public, and that everyone in the US should live in a giant city called “Metropolis” powered by the Niagara Falls. This city would have 25 storied buildings and anyone who wishes to stay in this city would have to work without any salary for 5 years! He had offered $1 Million salary for the then US President Teddy Roosevelt to become the president of this “Gillette World”. But Roosevelt, thankfully, turned it down. A later book, “World Corporation” (1910), was a prospectus for a company set up to create this vision. His last book, “The People's Corporation” was written with Upton Sinclair.
Retiring from the active business, Gillette spent next few years traveling around the country with his wife Atlanta. He handed over the company’s controls to his friend John Joyce who didn’t pay much attention to Gillette’s anti – capitalist philosophy and focused on new and improved blades and their branding. He introduced the famous Track – II blades having two blades for a smoother shave. The company invested a lot on the “Sensor” blades and how shaving can be made more comfortable. It took 5 years and $150 Million to invent Sensor blades. All the money was proved worth to invest as 240 Million Sensors sold in the first year itself!
And as fate would have it, the creator of so much wealth, the King of his “Gillette World” – King Gillette died in an almost bankrupt condition in 1932, as the Gillette stocks plummeted drastically during the Great Depression…
I know, by now, you must be wondering about the ups and downs Gillette saw in his life and the games Destiny played with him… And reflectively, your hand would have surely reached your chin rubbing it… And if it’s a bit rough there, it’s time to have a good shave with Gillette… Well, that’s “the Best a man can get”!
posted by Gyan for the Day! | 5:14 am
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