Shavemate: As Seen On TV Shave Mate

The Shavemate is a cool new product being featured on Episode 3, Season Two of The Discovery Channel's Pitchmen. Pitchmen has launched some very successful products over the past couple of years and gives inventors all the help they need bringing a product to market.

But, Shave Mate is one of the most interesting products they've featured to date. Why? Because shave mate is entering a niche that is competitive and dominated by big players. Ever hear of Gillette or Schick? How can anyone compete with them?

Let's assume for a moment that Shavemate is the greatest shaving product ever invented. Do you think that Gillette would just step aside and say "nice job fellas!"? Me neither. The two options for the big players are to either try and squeeze them out of the market or let them develop in the market and then buy them out. The latter would probably be a win win for a company like Shave Mate but they have to "develop" first. So How?

Even with the worlds greatest product, it takes a lot of money to elbow in on floor space with large retailers and even the smaller ones will begin to see a lot of perks coming from the big boys trying to protect their products. So if getting into a retail situation is tough, you have to get customers to come to the retailers looking for the product instead of the other way around. Easier said than done, but the guys over at Shave Mate made a pitch to Anthony Sullivan and he bit. If anyone can do it, Sully can!

So before we take about shave mate and why it is a winner or not, let's take a look at the Shavemate commercial so you can get an idea of what it is and why it's different from the zillion other shavers on the market.

Ok, so you can see by the Shave Mate commercial that this is a neat little item.  Now one thing about As Seen On TV items that makes them so cool is that each one seems to be something we all feel we could have thought of ourselves.  In this case, I did.  I remember as a kid watching war movies with my dad and noticing how hard it must be to shave at war.  The films always showed guys shaving in their down time and it seemed to me they had a lot of extra junk they had to bring a long just to look good in a case a girl ran by the bunker.  It occurred to me then that it would be cool if the military gave out razors that shot shaving cream out of the handle so soldiers wouldn't need to carry cream.

It seems that the Tomassetti brothers must have been mind readers because they eventually invented one of these.  Their shave mate is a lot better thought out than that of a 9 year old kid at the movies but the fact that they were able to make shaving simple is perhaps nothing short of brilliant. 

As an adult, I admit that I shave in the shower and it does include a bit of difficulty.  I actually gave up on sticking my mirror to the tile and now have to hold it.  This leaves me little room to hold the shaving cream and the razor at the same time. Even just putting the cream in my palm before I grab the razor proves to be tricky because I always end up rinsing the cream before I even start.  So the shavemate solves a problem for me and I like that.

So far the Shave Mate Reviews are very positive, and why not, it is a really unique product that does not exist in the crowded shaving market. The shavemate actually has six blades. I don't even know what that a sixquatrotuplet blade? Regardless, it shaves close and has a flex neck, aqua flow blade rinse, on/off valve for the cream and a no slip handle. Everything you need for a quality shave, especially if you are on the road.

The commercial does a great job of pointing out all the shortcomings of traditional shaving, mostly the rust rings the cans leave on the tub and the cost of creams and blades. A $9.99 three pack and pretty reasonable for what you get and if you compare it to other outrageously priced cartridges out there, people won't complain a bit.

The shavemate marketing team creating great packaging which is slick enough to get your attention but stays away from the campy As Seen On TV packaging which in my opinion serves to cheapen some products. The most important thing about the shave mate is not convenience, but the shave itself, which is prominently featured in the show. Talk about WoW factor!

One thing they do on Pitchmen is entertain, and when it was time to page the shave mate to the test, they did it in style. One thing we've learned over the past 2 seasons is that it is Women who buy most of the As Seen On TV products. So if it doesn't rate highly with women, it won't sell well on TV. Remember, they don't care if the product is terrific, if it doesn't sell well on Television, then it is not right for direct response marketing.

Luckily for Shavemate, there are two unique versions. They are the cleverly named Titan 6 for men and the Diva 6 for women. To find out for himself if the consumer was ready for 6 bladed self creaming shaver, Sully found a focus group which would help sell razors to women and get the attention of the shaver buying male. A Beauty pageant!

I was a little surprised at how much the group liked the product but I think it had something to do with mob mentality. If someone didn't like it I think they would go along with the others and keep it quiet.  But Sully was able to get an idea of the pricing and the fact that these girls liked it.  It was enough to get him to push ahead and face the incredible challenges of competing with the industry giants.

Well besides being a close shave and a hit with our most beautiful citizens it looks like shave mate is a winner. Sully's infomercial testing proved that the demand was there for a new product in the multi-billion shaver market. The competition with Gillette and the others is on the way, and much to the joy of the Inventors Sully told them that a top chain retailer has ordered 7000 displays for stores.

So the Shavemate pitch to the Pitchmen paid off and the long wait for the Tomassetti brothers is going to pay off, but it makes me wonder about the infomercial. I think the shavemate will sell well in stores, but will we see it on infomercials? Will people pay shipping and handling charges and wait a few weeks to get shavemate delivered to their homes? Only time will tell but for shave mate it looks like smooth shaving ahead.

Read Other Pitchmen Hubs like Fridge Locker and Grill Glove.