Gillette's 'It Takes a Real Man' campaign, created by Proximity Madrid in June 2019, used six Spanish male celebrities to reframe modern masculinity and boost
Gillette Redefines Spanish Masculinity With Proximity's 2019 Campaign
Gillette's 'It Takes a Real Man' campaign, known in Spanish as 'Hay Que Ser Muy Hombre', is a June 2019 film campaign created by Proximity Madrid for the personal care brand in the Spanish market, featuring six prominent male public figures who demonstrate that emotional openness, care, and vulnerability are expressions of genuine strength.
The campaign centres on a single hero film of 45 seconds, supported by two 20-second films, each presenting authentic moments of masculine behaviour that deliberately contradict conventional stereotypes. Actors Paco León and Jesús Vidal, singer Dani Martín, footballer David Silva, synchronised swimmer Pau Ribes, and photographer and drag performer Rubén Errebeene each appear in scenes depicting men caring for others, expressing emotion, and occupying spaces rarely associated with traditional ideals of manhood, according to reporting by LBBonline and Ads of the World. The selection of these six figures is itself an editorial statement: the casting spans entertainment, sport, art, and gender expression, signalling that the campaign's definition of a real man is deliberately pluralist.
In Spain, the campaign operated as Gillette's local interpretation of a global repositioning that had already generated significant cultural conversation earlier in 2019. Proximity Madrid built the work under the platform 'Hay Que Ser Muy Hombre', which carries an ironic charge in Spanish — the phrase can be read both as admiring and gently subversive, depending on context. That linguistic duality is central to the campaign's strategic identity, inviting Spanish audiences to reconsider what the expression actually means. The Clapboard Score for this campaign is 63 out of 100, reflecting solid strategic coherence and cultural relevance alongside a creative execution that, while purposeful, operates within a well-established category conversation rather than pioneering entirely new territory.
Proximity Madrid grounded the campaign in a specific and verifiable consumer truth about Spain. According to research cited in reporting by Contagious, 75 percent of Spanish men did not identify with the traditional male stereotype at the time of the campaign's development. That single statistic reframes the entire strategic proposition: rather than asking Spanish men to change, Gillette's campaign validated an identity many already held but rarely saw reflected in personal care advertising.
Gillette's global context shaped the local brief directly. The brand's repositioning had accelerated in January 2019 with the release of 'We Believe: The Best Men Can Be', a digital film addressing bullying, harassment, and rigid masculine norms, according to reporting across Mediapost and Gillette's own published materials. That global move represented a substantial strategic shift from the 'The Best a Man Can Get' positioning the brand had maintained since 1989, as documented by Mediapost and Wikipedia. In the Spanish market, Proximity translated that global commitment into local cultural language rather than simply adapting international creative assets.
The competitive environment for Gillette in 2019 was consequential. Gillette had seen its share of the US razor market decline from approximately 70 percent in 2010 to roughly 47 to 50 percent by 2018 and 2019, according to reporting by Axios and QZ. Schick, a direct competitor, held between 10 and 17 percent of the US razor market during the same period, according to reporting by Axios. Subscription-model challengers had further eroded category loyalty. In this context, repositioning around values rather than product performance represented a deliberate attempt to rebuild emotional equity with a generation of men who had demonstrated they were willing to switch brands. In Spain specifically, Proximity's insight-led approach gave Gillette a credible local voice within a global values platform, rather than an imported message.
Director Miguel Angulo helmed the production for 'It Takes a Real Man', with Igloo serving as the production company and Carat as the media agency, according to reporting by Ads of the World and LBBonline. The choice of a local director and local production infrastructure was consistent with the campaign's broader strategic intention: to present a genuinely Spanish reading of a global brand idea rather than a dubbed or adapted export.
The creative execution relies on observed, intimate moments rather than declarative speeches or product demonstrations. Each of the six public figures — actors Paco León and Jesús Vidal, singer Dani Martín, footballer David Silva, synchronised swimmer Pau Ribes, and photographer and drag performer Rubén Errebeene — is depicted in a context that subverts the visual grammar of conventional male grooming advertising, as noted across coverage by LBBonline and Marketingnews.es. There are no razors being brandished in slow motion. There is no athletic performance for its own sake. Instead, the film finds its meaning in the spaces between expected behaviour: a man caring for a child, a man in a costume that challenges gender norms, a man whose professional world is defined by grace rather than aggression.
Eva Santos, Global Chief Creative Officer at Proximity Worldwide, stated directly that developing the project with Gillette was 'a real privilege', as quoted by LBBonline. Marta Yllera, Client Services Manager at Proximity Madrid, articulated the campaign's structural intent clearly, stating that 'both brand and company can stimulate a positive impact transmitting constructive values to society and leaving a legacy for the younger generation', according to LBBonline. Yllera also described the work as 'our local interpretation of the brand's global commitment', a formulation that precisely captures how Proximity navigated the tension between global brand coherence and local cultural specificity in the Spanish market, per LBBonline.
The campaign produced measurable results in the Spanish market. Brand awareness increased by eight percentage points following the campaign, according to Proximity. That figure represents a meaningful shift for an established brand operating in a mature personal care category where awareness movements of that scale are not routine.
The attitudinal data is equally significant. According to Proximity, 80 percent of men who saw the campaign agreed that Gillette was a brand that helped them feel more secure about themselves. That response metric matters structurally because it maps directly to the campaign's stated strategic objective: not simply to generate awareness, but to rebuild emotional affiliation between Gillette and Spanish men who had grown distant from the brand's traditional masculine codes. The campaign did not win verified recognition at Cannes Lions, Effie Awards, The One Show, D&AD, the Clios, the Webby Awards, or WARC Awards, based on available public records.
Structurally, the campaign demonstrates that a celebrity-led film format can carry genuine values content without collapsing into endorsement mechanics, provided the casting is doing real editorial work. The selection of Paco León, Jesús Vidal, and their fellow public figures was not incidental to the message — it was the mechanism through which the message was delivered. Each figure carried pre-existing cultural meaning for Spanish audiences, meaning the campaign could communicate plurality and emotional intelligence through association as much as through explicit narrative. In a personal care category where product parity is high and emotional differentiation is the primary lever, that structural clarity is what gives the campaign its effectiveness floor.
Gillette's 'It Takes a Real Man' campaign, known in Spanish as 'Hay Que Ser Muy Hombre', is a June 2019 film campaign created by Proximity Madrid. It features six Spanish male public figures in moments that challenge traditional masculine stereotypes, operating as Gillette's local interpretation of its global 'The Best Men Can Be' repositioning.
Gillette's 'It Takes a Real Man' campaign features six Spanish public figures: actors Paco León and Jesús Vidal, singer Dani Martín, footballer David Silva, synchronised swimmer Pau Ribes, and photographer and drag performer Rubén Errebeene. Each was chosen to represent a distinct and pluralist expression of masculinity for Spanish audiences.
Miguel Angulo directed the Gillette 'It Takes a Real Man' campaign films in Spain. Production was handled by Igloo, with Carat serving as media agency, according to reporting by Ads of the World and LBBonline. The campaign comprised one 45-second hero film and two 20-second supporting films.
Brand awareness increased by eight percentage points following the campaign, according to Proximity. Additionally, 80 percent of Spanish men who saw the campaign agreed that Gillette was a brand that helped them feel more secure about themselves, according to Proximity, indicating strong attitudinal impact within the personal care category.
Proximity Madrid built 'It Takes a Real Man' as a local Spanish interpretation of Gillette's global 2019 repositioning. Eva Santos, Global Chief Creative Officer at Proximity Worldwide, described the project as a real privilege, per LBBonline. Marta Yllera of Proximity Madrid called it the agency's local reading of the brand's global commitment to positive values.
Proximity's research showed that 75 percent of Spanish men did not identify with traditional male stereotypes at the time of the campaign, according to Contagious. This insight led Gillette to validate existing attitudes rather than demand change, positioning the personal care brand as a mirror of modern Spanish masculine identity rather than a corrective voice.
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