The long-running competitive advertising battle between Gillette and Bombay Shaving Company has resurfaced, this time around BSC’s newly launched Switch4 campaign.
Bombay Shaving Company has introduced Switch4 as a four-blade cartridge that fits popular three-blade razor handles, allowing consumers to upgrade their shaving experience without replacing the handle. The brand has positioned the product around choice, compatibility and value, challenging what it describes as established conventions in the razor category.
The campaign features actor Gajraj Rao and builds its communication around the idea of switching without having to completely change one’s existing shaving setup. BSC says the cartridge offers four blades, dual lubrication strips and an additional back blade, while being priced lower than the alternatives it is targeting.
At the centre of BSC’s proposition is a familiar consumer behaviour: people often continue using the same razor handle and subsequently remain tied to the cartridges compatible with it.
Switch4 attempts to break that cycle by allowing consumers to retain their existing three-blade handle while switching to BSC’s four-blade cartridge. The company’s own communication describes the product as a way to offer consumers more choice without making them change what already works for them.
This positioning has naturally brought Gillette, the category incumbent, back into the conversation.
The Switch4 campaign is part of Bombay Shaving Company’s broader #KhulKeKhel brand platform, which has consistently attempted to challenge familiar grooming habits.
The product itself is central to the campaign’s argument. Switch4 is positioned not simply as another razor cartridge, but as an attempt to give consumers an alternative without forcing them to abandon an existing handle. BSC says the cartridge has four blades, two lubrication strips and an additional back blade for precision styling.
The two brands have crossed paths in advertising before, making their latest confrontation part of a larger competitive narrative in India’s grooming market.
For Bombay Shaving Company, Gillette represents the established category leader it is attempting to challenge through product innovation, pricing and more aggressive communication. Rather than competing only on brand recognition, BSC’s strategy has increasingly been to identify consumer pain points and build its proposition around them.
Switch4 is a particularly direct example of that approach: keep the handle, change the cartridge and get more blades without paying the same price.
And that is what makes the latest Gillette-Bombay Shaving Company face-off worth watching: the battle is no longer just about which razor gives a better shave, but about who gets to define how much consumers should have to change to try something new.
