Dive Brief:

• Edgewell Personal Care brand Schick has launched a new push for the Schick Xtreme line of disposable razors that celebrates baldness and includes a club for bald guys called BIP, which stands for Bald Important People, according to a press release. The aim of the effort is to "put an end to the fear of going bald" by promoting the idea that near-bald men can make a fashion statement by shaving their heads, per the release. 
• The campaign also promotes Xtreme razors while an accompanying website that offers visual recognition technology that detects if a user is bald, an obvious requirement for joining the brand's new club.
• Men who join the club between now and Sept. 4 will be entered into a contest to win a trip to New York City for a launch event. The event, called "The Baldest Party Ever," will take place on Friday, Sept. 13, during New York Fashion Week. The ticket will be a bald head, and the occasion will feature red carpet head shave stations, DJs and appearances by bald influencers.

Dive Insight:

Schick's BIP marketing campaign mirrors body-positivity efforts from women's brands as competition in the men's grooming space heats up. With baldness a point of insecurity for many men, Schick is encouraging men to embrace their authentic selves and recognize baldness as a fashion statement. 

Eighty-five percent of men have hair thinning by age of 50, according to the American Hair Loss Association, and 25% of men with thinning hair see it begin before 21. Schick's position is that, if you're going bald, you might as well go fully bald by shaving what's left. In the early 2000s, the brand helped tennis star Andre Agassi keep it all off.

Baldness is a topic that pops up repeatedly in marketing towards men, such as a campaign from hair salon chain Supercuts in which balding actor Michael Kelly expressed jealousy at those that get haircuts for a full head of hair. At the same time, a number of brands targeting men have embraced messaging that veers off from traditional depictions of male gender roles. Last year's "The Man I Am" campaign from Schick Hydro, for instance, tackled the changing definition of masculinity while a Gillette ad depicting a transgender teen shaving was mostly well received despite some backlash.

Schick's BIP effort comes as parent Edgewell Personal Care is dealing with falling sales amid strong growth for direct-to-consumer razor brands like Dollar Shave Club and Harry's, which Edgewell acquired earlier this year in $1.37 billion deal expected to close early next year. The push behind Schick's suggests that Edgewell will continue to support its physical retail brands even as it bets big on e-commerce sales to bolster its omnichannel strategy.