The marketing world, and Comic-Con, have a new walkabout brand icon and superhero – the Schick Hydro Robot Razor. His super powers include handing out tote bags and holding your place in line while you take a bathroom break.
While Comic-Con may seem iirritating to many, as an antidote of sorts Schick has turned the Robot Razor from its Super Bowl ad into a 7-foot-tall character who will stroll the giant comic book/sci-fi festival July 21-24 in San Diego
The effort, led by JWT, New York, with help from Edelman on PR, begins with a social-media campaign July 7. The brand is asking guys to tweet some of life's funniest irritations with the #HydroRescue hasthtag to the @SchickHydro account for a chance to win a trip to San Diego with a friend for Comic-Con -- and to meet "Star Trek" star Zachary Quinto.
Robot Razor will be handing out bottled water to people standing in long lines at Comic-Con, or offering to take their place in line so they can take bathroom breaks, said Edgewell Personal Care Senior Brand Manager Anastasia Tobias. He'll also be providing tote bags and sunscreen.
Part of the idea behind putting the computer-generated Robot Razor character into Schick Hydro's TV ad in the first place was always to have him become a live-action hero someday, Ms. Tobias said. To do that, JWT commissioned costume and prop maker Shawn Thorsson to make the slightly larger-than-life walkabout, said creative director Billy Faraut.
At the event, Schick also will have a Super Shave Shop, where guys can get styled in the manner of comic heroes and villains (Wolverine anyone?), and a Hydration Station, both as part of a partnership with Entertainment Weekly that also includes print and digital ads leading up to Comic-Con.
Schick has commissioned professional comic book illustrators Livio Ramondelli and Ryan Odagawa to draw real-time sketches illustrating some of the irritations tweeted to @SchickHydro. Three contest entrants will have sketches of their irritation submissions turned into limited-edition posters to be displayed at the Super Shave Shop.