A Cut Above: Why Wilkinson Sword’s witty OOH slices through the clutter

Wilkinson Sword could’ve stuck with the usual clichés: the rugged jawline, the slow-motion water splash, the razor commercial that looks more like a cologne ad. For decades, men’s shaving campaigns have been stuck on repeat. Cue a chiselled bloke, a white towel, a close-up of smooth skin. Done. Then Gillette tried to tackle masculinity head-on with “The Best a Man Can Be,” only to watch half the internet call for a boycott.

Wilkinson Sword’s take? Let’s just be funny. With help from the crew at Pablo London, they gave us a humour-based marketing campaign, split between video and OOH media. Let's take a look.

From stiff-jawed clichés to kung-fu by a swan

The ad campaign comes in two parts: firstly, a collection of films featuring The Blade Master (yes, that’s his name), who compares bad blades to clueless waiters and untrained doctors. It’s intentionally silly and beautifully self-aware. Here’s what Pablo had to say:

“We're pleased to introduce 'The Blade Master', an enigmatic and suave character who pokes fun at razors with bad blades by comparing them to a bartender with no sense of accuracy, a doctor with no training and a waiter trained in a zoo. Who is the Blade Master? No one really knows. What we do know is that he knows blades."

Our new campaign for Wilkinson Sword will launch across 29 European markets and the AV will feature AI dubbing for all translations, which is something we're sure The Blade Master would approve of.”

This playful energy carried straight into their OOH. Picture it: huge billboards and posters with delightfully odd lines like:

• “We’ve got your back, face.”
• “Trained by barbers. Not zookeepers.”
• “Blades so good, we’re not sure this is legal.”

All finished off with a matter-of-fact tagline that reminds you Wilkinson Sword’s not new to this game: “Blade Masters since 1772.”

The copy references moments from their video spots, but also works as standalone messaging. That’s key – OOH often reaches broader audiences than targeted digital campaigns. Whether or not someone’s seen the Blade Master videos, these posters still make sense and stand out.

Why humour (still) works brilliantly in OOH

Some on social media didn’t quite get it:

“What’s so funny about a razor?”

Well, nothing in particular. Remember the iconic “Old Spice” commercials? I couldn’t get through this article without mentioning them. There’s nothing particularly funny or iconic about men's deodorant either, yet the out-of-the-ordinary campaign (starring Isaiah Mustafa on a horse) did wonders in making their product recognisable, even to those outside of the target market. As Pablo’s Dan Watts put it:

"If 99% of advertising is ignored, how will you ever get in the 1% that’s remembered without surprising people? Being comedically disruptive takes a bit of risk. But so does being dull. In fact, being dull is a far greater risk – you waste all your money, no one notices you, and you only get four likes on LinkedIn.”

Brutal, but true.

Humour is a powerful weapon in driving attention and brand memorability, and it’s backed by mountains of research. Humour breaks through the noise, embeds itself in our brains, and creates cultural stickiness like nothing else. In OOH, where you’ve got roughly 2–3 seconds to earn a glance, wit outperforms almost anything else. 

This campaign is also a great example of how to write OOH copy.
The lines are:

• Short enough to read on the move.
• Unexpected enough to force a second look.
• Broad enough to land in every market (these ads are running across 29 European countries, thanks to clever visual dubbing tech).

It’s a pitch-perfect combo. A brand with 250 years of blade-making heritage, finally talking to a younger audience on their level. As Wilkinson Sword’s head of brand Sophie Rock put it,

“The world of men’s shaving has stagnated… we needed to do something different… something more fun and engaging.”

Sharper strategy: How to bring this into your campaigns

There are lessons here for any marketer or media buyer:

✅ Use humour to be memorable, not just likable.

It’s easier to build fame if people laugh, share, or quote your ad, especially if your product category is bland by default.

✅ Say one clear thing.

OOH isn’t the place for ten bullet points. The best OOH makes its point in one clever line.

✅ Lean on your heritage (or product truth) for confidence.

If you’ve got the chops, show it by not taking yourself too seriously.

✅ Play with format & context.

Posters with dry humour stand out precisely because they’re on a street, not in your feed.

That’s exactly where programmatic OOH comes in. With platforms like me, CAASie, you can A/B test lines, swap creative by suburb, and even trigger jokes by weather or time of day. Just here to make your campaigns more flexible (and a lot more fun).

So what’s the big takeaway?

Shaving is boring, most razor ads are boring, but Wilkinson Sword chose to be memorable. They took a risk on weird, witty copy, wrapped it around a heritage story, and put it in places you couldn’t ignore. That’s how you turn a simple blade into something people actually talk about.

So if your next campaign needs to cut through?
Don’t just stand there looking chiselled in a towel. Be the brand that’s brave enough to crack a joke.

👉 Want to see how your own witty OOH would look on the street?
We’ll help you test, tweak and scale it with programmatic smarts – so you’re remembered for all the right reasons.

Sources:

Creative Review | The Drum | Famous Campaigns