Dollar Shave Club ‘Order of the Blade’ Billboard
Courtesy of Dollar Shave Club
Dollar Shave Club experienced a spectacular rise to unicorn status when it was acquired by Unilever in 2016, just five short years after its founding, only to follow with a slow, steady decline into corporate obscurity. In 2023, Unilever saw the writing on the wall and sold off a 65% share in the company to Nexus Capital Management for an undisclosed sum.
Now under the guidance of an experienced leader, CEO Larry Bodner, who keeps in regular touch with company co-founder Michael Dubin, DSC is going back to its roots. Bodner candidly revealed that under Unilever’s ownership, “They neutered the voice of the brand. They tried to make it too corporate, and they lost that irreverent, ‘on the edge’ humor. And when you do that, you lose the customer.”
Sharpening DSC’s Competitive Edge
To put the irreverent humor back and revive the brand that lost its edge, DSC turned to its customers to co-create a new ad campaign to introduce its “Best Razor Ever.” The company recruited 23 customers and regular bros to spend a weekend at its “Order of the Blade” creative workshop in Chattanooga, TN.
Over the course of two day, the group tried out the new blade and, through guided exercises punctuated by games and other activities, they provided the nuggets of insight to shape an authentic voice-of-the-customer campaign.
The new work is just beginning to see the light of day, with the workshop resulting in an abundance of user-generated ideas to be featured in new spots, billboards and other creative outreach.
For example, traditional market research identifies two qualities as most important to consumers when it comes to razors: closeness and comfort. But during the workshop sessions, the conversation revolved around sharpness.
“Sharpness can be a proxy for closeness, but I think sharpness has more edge in communication,” Bodner explained. “Closeness feels a bit too nebulous.”
Bodner promises this is just the beginning of DSC rebirth. “We lost our edge, we lost our vibe,” he shared with me. “Now we’re taking it back to our roots. For us, it’s irreverence and humor first, then price/value. We keep it simple. You want a great shave at a great price right now, not all the ‘BS’ stuff with every feature on the crazy razor blades in the market.”
Rising Star
In 2011, when Dollar Shave Club burst on the scene, it’s easy to forget how outlandish its concept was: challenging the industry’s mass-market titans, Gillette and Schick, and turning the tables on the way men always bought razors with a direct-to-consumer subscription model promoted through viral social media campaigns.
It was still the early days of social media and online shopping, but Dollar Shave Club nailed it – and then some – with its first ad featuring company founder and CEO Michael Dubin declaring, “Our Blades Are F***ing Great!”
Produced for just $4,500, the tongue-in-cheek commercial – Dubin moonlighted in comedy clubs for years – generated 12,000 orders in the first 48 hours, offering customers automatic monthly razor deliveries at only $1 per month. The video went on to garner nearly 5 million views over the next three months.
Fall From Grace
Dollar Shave Club did more than engage customers. It caught the eye of consumer-packaged goods giant Unilever, which goes head-to-head with Gillette owner Procter & Gamble.
In 2016, Unilever ponied up $1 billion to acquire Dollar Shave Club, and the subsequent fading of the brand’s distinctive voice under layers of corporate bureaucracy followed. At the time, DSC was projected to do about $200 million in sales, a mere rounding error in Unilever’s personal care segment, which generated $27 billion (£20.7 billion) in 2017.
Despite Unilever’s reach into mass-market retail, it was slow to let Dollar Shave Club cross over from its DTC roots, only opening in brick-and-mortar retail with Walmart in 2020. By delaying, it gave Harry’s – DSC’s chief DTC competitor, founded in 2013 – a four-year headstart in Target stores.
By 2023, Unilever recognized DSC wasn’t a good fit and turned its focus on its top 30 power brands which generate over 75% of company revenue. It spun off 65% of the brand to Nexus, which also owns Toms footwear and FTD florist network, yet holds onto 35% in hopes of recouping more of its original investment in the brand.
Still Early Days
It’s still early days in DSC’s turnaround, but the brand is in good hands under Bodner’s leadership. He joined the company in November 2023, following a four-year tenure as CEO of Bulletproof 360, an omnichannel coffee and nutritional supplements company. Prior to that, he cut his teeth in finance, including stints with Del Monte Foods, the Walt Disney Company and Procter & Gamble, so Nexus can rest assured that he will watch over the company balance sheet.
Under Bodner’s direction, DSC introduced a collectible College Razor collection in advance of back-to-school shopping season in a distribution agreement with Walmart. The collectible handle features the official logos and colors of 14 leading sports schools, including the University of Texas, Ohio State and the University of Alabama. Priced right at $10.97 per handle plus two blades, DSC promises to add new teams to the roster, most recently Duke and the University of Kentucky joined the lineup.
Now with the creative “Order of the Blade” work under its belt, more irreverent humor is promised in upcoming ads. For example, one customer said, “It’s a great razor but I’m not going to pay more for it,” to which a member of the DSC team responded, “We’re making plenty of money, so we don’t need to charge you more for it.” The no-frills starter set sells for $4.99, including a Signature blade and handle with blade refills available for $10 per four pack.
More To Come
While Bodner doesn’t reveal DSC numbers, the best estimates are that it peaked with about 4 million subscribers before retreating to around 3 million at the time of the Nexus acquisition.
Direct-to-consumer, including one-time purchases or subscriptions, remains the company’s primary distribution channel, with mass merchants Target and Walmart in second place, followed by Amazon.
Bodner says it will be expanding into other retailers in the New Year. Getting more face time in stores is sure to generate renewed interest in the brand, revive lapsed members and bring new ones into the fold.
When they arrive, they will find additional male grooming aids besides razor blades and shave cream, including “Charlies Butt Wipes” and “Ball Spray” – I’m blushing as I write this, but you get the drift.
“This is where the brand differentiates itself – in managed absurdity. Let’s face it, getting 23 guys together to create our own campaign for the brand is a bit absurd. But that is the roots of the brand,” Bodner concluded.