Updating Americana AbramsonEhrlich Revives Burma-Shave, Recalls Rural Roadside Icons for Cable TV

By Katy Eckmann





ATLANTA–Burma-Shave is back.





For the first time in 30 years, the shaving cream–an advertising icon famous for its rhyming roadside signs–has re-entered the U.S. market with a cable television spot created by AbramsonEhrlichManes in Washington, D.C.





AbramsonEhrlichManes (AEM) was hired a year ago by American Safety Razor in Staunton, Va., which recently bought the Burma-Shave trademark from Philip Morris. The agency’s charge was to revive a dormant brand that had been out of the market since the late 1960s.





AEM decided to leverage two facts discovered through research: most men over age 45 recognize the Burma-Shave name, and competitors have focused primarily on the 18-34 age group.





‘We’re going to let Gillette and the big boys talk to all the young people,’ said AEM creative director Joe Moscati, who developed the commercial with associate creative director Hal Swetnam.