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Marketing, crystallized

If you've ever lost a minute of sleep, concerned that commercial speech isn't given its due under the First Amendment, please take a second to consider this sentence from a weekend obituary for Dick Kress* former President of Norelco:

To counter a problem that Norelco's two rotary heads, intended to give greater comfort, took longer to shave, Mr. Kress changed the product name to "Speedshaver"

I'd wonder what the weather was like in Hell, Mr. Kress, but my skin is just so smooth!

* This article is for subscribers only - until now.

Richard Q. Kress (1927-2006)
'Norelco Man' Boldly Marketed Electric Shavers

A 'Gotcha!' Television Ad
Nicked Blade Competitors;
He Liked to See Red

By ELLEN BYRON and STEPHEN MILLER
November 25, 2006; Page A6

Costumed as the "Norelco Man," Dick Kress zipped along a cable suspended between two buildings and tangled with a professional fighter named Mark the Butcher. He also liked to don a Stetson hat with a band of the electric-shaver company's rotary heads.

He preferred the motivational stunts at sales meetings because he claimed to be a shy public speaker. But there was nothing timid about Mr. Kress's marketing, which gave Norelco command of the electric-shaver market by boldly confronting blade shaving.

He thrived in an era of dueling prime-time television ads and legal battles starting in the 1970s, when advertisers first were allowed to name the competition. Norelco steadily built its market share to about 60% from about 20% during Mr. Kress's 18 years as president of Norelco, then a division of North American Philips Corp., which eventually became wholly owned by Philips Electronics NV, based in the Netherlands. His "innate genius ... manifested itself in taking chances," former Norelco Vice President John Gray says of Mr. Kress, who died Oct. 14 at age 78.

Dick Kress in one of the barber chairs he kept in his office.

When he strayed from shaving, though, Mr. Kress faltered. He led Norelco into what he called "other rooms of the house" with a slew of electric devices ranging from coffee makers, toaster ovens and can openers to home-security systems and portable vacuum cleaners. He abruptly retired in 1986 after what former colleagues describe as disagreements with his counterparts at parent company Philips. Philips eventually disposed of almost all of his product extensions, which fell short of the success of Norelco's electric razors.

When Mr. Kress joined North American Philips Corp. as advertising director in 1963, Norelco was an established brand best known for holiday ads showing Santa dashing through the snow on an electric razor, renaming the company "Noelco" with the tagline, "Even our name says Merry Christmas."

Gillette's aggressive marketing of its disposable razors had eroded gains made by electric shavers in the 1950s. Mr. Kress first focused on gaining share against other electric shavers, including Remington, Sunbeam and Schick. To counter a problem that Norelco's two rotary heads, intended to give greater comfort, took longer to shave, Mr. Kress changed the product name to "Speedshaver" -- "at least leaving the impression that it shaved fast," Mr. Gray says. Philips engineers later added a third shaving head for greater speed.

Mr. Kress prevailed against Remington in court battles, winning fights over the exclusive use of the "Tripleheader" term, fending off antitrust allegations to sell shavers under the Schick name after it purchased the company's electric-razor assets, and asserting its boast that the Norelco shaver was selected for use by the 1983 Challenger astronauts.

In 1974, dissatisfied with incremental gains against other electric-shaver makers, Mr. Kress declared war on razor blades, still the dominant way of shaving. One memorable TV ad depicted a man slathered in shaving cream, suddenly grimacing from a razor nick. The word "Gotcha!" filled the screen. The ad "changed the market for Norelco," says Royal Bruce Montgomery, who worked on Norelco campaigns at McCaffrey & McCall, then the company's ad agency.

Mr. Kress diversified into coffee makers with equal zeal, challenging then-leader Mr. Coffee and its ad spokesman, baseball great Joe DiMaggio. Norelco signed comedian Danny Thomas, who had been a spokesman for Maxwell House coffee. "Danny and Dick were kindred spirits," Mr. Montgomery says. "They both smoked enormous cigars. When Danny was on the set shooting a commercial for us, Dick was there too."

Former colleagues say Mr. Kress was guided by simple rules. Among them: "Only hire those people you would invite to your home to play poker," recalls Pat Dinley, who worked with Mr. Kress and was Norelco's president from 1991 to 2002. Product packaging could be any color "as long as it's red." At football games, Mr. Kress would remind companions how easy it was to spot red shirts in the crowd.

By his 1986 retirement, Mr. Kress said that during his tenure as president Norelco had sold more than 55 million electric razors. In 1993, Mr. Kress briefly became president of an old competitor, Remington Rand, a division of Remington Products Co.

In addition to the selloff of his diversifications after he left Norelco, Mr. Kress witnessed the gradual decline of the electric-shaving segment and Norelco's share. The segment's $666 million in annual sales are about 2% lower than seven years ago and dwarfed by the $1.8 billion razor-blade market, while Remington has about a 39% electric-shaver share versus Norelco's 33%, according to Euromonitor, a market researcher.

But Mr. Kress remained loyal. In his bathroom, according to longtime companion Kathy Wagner, a Norelco electric shaver still sits on a gold-plated dish.