Bombay Shaving Company

The insight

A bad shave is difficult to hide. And sometimes the most effective way to recommend a product is to point out a problem without ever mentioning it. We wanted to turn that familiar, slightly awkward moment into an ad.

The idea

A corporate office lift. An employee is already inside when it stops on the seventh floor and his boss walks in. The boss turns round, revealing an unevenly shaved face covered in small cuts, with tissue-paper patches trying to stop the bleeding.

The employee notices. He leans towards his boss and quietly asks:

“Sir, aapne Bombay Shaving Company ka naam suna hai?”

Sir, have you heard of Bombay Shaving Company?

The doors close. The Bombay Shaving Company logo appears, and a dramatic, Western-style voice of God delivers the final line:

“Bombay Shaving Company naam toh suna hi hoga.”

Bombay Shaving Company. You must have heard the name.

The creative thinking

The idea relies on simplicity: one location, two characters, one uncomfortable observation.

The boss’s face sets up the problem, so the employee never has to explain it, and his question works both as a polite suggestion and as the punchline. The booming voice-over is a deliberate contrast with the understated office moment, turning an awkward lift ride into a sign-off people remember.

We wanted the humour to come from the situation itself, not from an elaborate script or extra dialogue.

On paper first

Both shots were drawn by hand first: the boss walking in, then the two men side by side as the doors close.

The two characters: the boss, patches and all, and the employee.