A hairy situation?

Seriously, shaving has to be the worst thing in the entire world. It is such time consuming and tedious work that I usually just do it in a hurry and end up with cuts all over my legs. Also, having never been a man, I'm not sure if men feel the same way about hair removal as women do. An interesting article titled, "University of Michigan students win $40,000 P&G marketing prize" investigates how Braun can target a younger male generation. I'm not so sure that they can convince me to think of shaving as an enjoyable experience, but we'll see.

Last September Procter & Gamble Co. launched the "Create a Buzz for Braun" contest to business-schools across the nation. This contest featured its Braun brand who makes electric shavers and other household products. The contest was pitched to students who would develop a marketing plan targeting college males for either Braun's Pulsonic shaver or for what will be a new Braun product, a male boy groomer for back, underarm, and other below-the-neck hair. The winners were an all-female team from the University of Michigan who called their campaign "Manscaping America, One College Campus at a Time," won the grand prize of $40,000.

The winning team was comprised of Emily Hoffman, Karima Holland, Mihira Patel, and Holly Sharp. They researched by talking to 150 college males about body hair issues, their media habits and other information. Their plan included online contests and promotions (yay!) as well as a "Manscaping" campus comedy tour. These type of college marketing contests are popping up all around the nation and are giving students realistic practice at presenting business proposals. A spokeswoman for Braun, Kelly Vanasse, said that the competition helped Braun learn more about the sometimes hard to understand market of college aged males. Vanasse also said the contest got potential top business recruits in contact with P&G and promoted the brand on campuses through publicity about the contest.

I think that the idea behind this contest was absolutely brilliant. College students (especially marketing students) are always a great resource to use when you want to know what's 'hot' and whats 'not'. The experience that these students also receive from these contests are important stepping stones to their futures in the communications world. Congratulations to the winning team and all of the runners up. Also be looking out for contests around you because you never know when you might get lucky!

PS- Tip for the day: Guys, nobody likes unwanted body hair.