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January 15, 2025
Dollar Shave Club Returns to Irreverence in Cheeky New Ad Campaign
DTC success story Dollar Shave Club first made waves back in March of 2012, when a YouTube ad for the brand titled “DollarShaveClub.com – Our Blades Are F***ing Great” first hit the video streaming platform. More than a decade — and 28 million views — later, Dollar Shave Club would become a staple in the men’s grooming segment, spawning a sea of competitors from Harry’s to Manscaped.
Now, as Marketing Dive detailed, Dollar Shave Club is returning to its irreverent roots in its latest ad campaign, one sure to please the brand’s core audience while attracting new eyes to the product lineup.
Dollar Shave Club Welcomes You To ‘The Club’ in Latest Ad
In DSC’s latest YouTube ad, a young man stands at a desk opposite a concierge inside of a swank curtained lobby. A neon lobster and what appears to be a carved wooden owl are part of the set dressing.
After fumbling the password — the young man attempts “razor burn” — before successfully speaking up with “shave money” (a cute pun), our protagonist is led to the inner sanctum.
“Welcome to Dollar Shave Club,” the concierge says, handing the young man a plush robe embroidered with the brand’s logo.
Inside, a trio of men are attending to their various grooming needs.
“We’ve got something for every body, and every budget. We think that’s pretty f***ing great,” the older man tells his younger guest.
Turning to reveal the inside of his suit jacket, arrayed with traditional razor blades and handles, electric trimmers, as well as shaving creams and butters, the concierge leads our initiate to the sink — but not before departing with a cheeky tap to the lad’s rear end.
“Welcome to the club!” the concierge says enthusiastically as he struts away.
Having been posted only a little over a week ago, the ad has nonetheless already racked up over 540,000 views. The ad is poised to be featured on CTV, YouTube, Spotify, several podcasts, and other channels.
Dollar Shave Club CEO Speaks to Modern Inclusivity, Humor
Installed as DSC CEO in November 2023 — shortly after news broke that Unilever was selling the company after about 7 years of holding it as an asset, per a Retail Dive report — Larry Bodner spoke to the changing nature of humor in today’s era, and how it inclusivity has become central to the brand’s approach to staying relevant, as well as irreverent.
“We [myself and DSC co-founder Michael Dubin] spent a lot of time on what humor means to our [consumer],” Bodner said. “How do we bring irreverence to light in this current culture? How do you bring back some breakthrough edginess while still being inclusive?”
Bodner pointed to the inclusion of several different male body types and grooming habits as visually representative of that sort of inclusion. Notably absent, the clean-shaven beach-body male model common to most men’s grooming commercials of yore.
“The resulting balancing act is apparent in ‘The Club’: not too ‘bro-y’ but disruptive and fun in a way that plays into longstanding — if latent — brand equity. Keying into the brand’s strength while making it contemporary meant highlighting different body types and grooming styles,” Marketing Dive underscored.
Dollar Shave Club Joined by Target, Wendy’s in Appealing to an Playfully Edgy New Ad Approach
Dollar Shave Club isn’t the only one leaning in on a new trend in advertising — that of making ads cheeky or edgy in a playful or fun way, without getting too graphic or overtly offensive.
In November of 2024, Target launched a series of short advertisements featuring a “hot” Santa Claus, or Kris for short. The ads featured the muscular stand-in for the traditional Santa plowing through the snow to a Steppenwolf soundtrack, or helping a harried shopper locate the best holiday deals in store.
And earlier, in September of that same year, Wendy’s threw a little bit of shade at competitor McDonald’s. At the time, Wendy’s partnered up with website McBroken.com — a website which tracks which of the Golden Arches’ ice cream machines are out of operation — to promote its own Frosty desserts as an always-available alternative.
Discussion Questions
How has the cultural landscape shifted as to what works in advertising versus what turns audiences off completely?
Which brands have made the biggest ad blunders when it comes to attempting to leverage current trends, humorous or otherwise?
Poll
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Gary Sankary
Retail Industry Strategy, Esri
Richard Hernandez
Merchant Director
Lucille DeHart
Principal, MKT Marketing Services/Columbus Consulting
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This is a nice return to the roots of Dollar Shave Club, which used to be an irreverent, slightly edgy, and quirky brand with a good sense of community. Under Unilever, much of this uniqueness was lost, and the brand became a bit also-ran in terms of its marketing efforts. That wasn’t good enough to cut through in what remains a very competitive category.
I’m not sure the landscape has changed much at all with respect to “cheekyness”: humour always has had – and always will, hopefully – a place for many products. But there are limits…ultimately you have to offer a quality product.
It’s a good ad, I like the story. A lot of ads these days try too hard to be irrelevant and ultimately miss the point. Dropping the F bomb doesn’t make you cool.
Like Craig, I also do not think the ad landscape has changed, the creative has just gotten better.
I like that they were out of the box before in their advertising. Nice to see them go back to it. Always liked the message because it was different and not the norm.
So many examples of getting it wrong, starting with Bud Light, moving to Target, then further down the aisle Harley Davidson. Further down the “got it wrong” aisle would be the observation that the tilt to inclusivity has been so dramatic the last six plus years.
Does this mean we should go back to the 50’s? Absolutely not-just balance the scales a bit to be more irreverent, etc.
One could argue that Dollar Shave Club got to where they are today with its humorous ads. They positioned the brand as a quirky alternative men’s grooming provider. In the last seven years, it feels like their differentiation has evaporated, and they’re just another razor company. This campaign is a promising new start to reposition the brand.
This is a case of you can’t really go back. What made the Dollar Shave Club ads unique was that they were low budget and authentic for the start-up. Trying to recreate the roots as a huge portfolio comglomerate-aka, Unilever can be seen as forced. DSC was among the early trenders who were matter of fact in their approach–think Lume and Axe. One exception is Old Spice who was able to be stand out even as a legacy brand.
What’s more engaging and memorable? A humorous ad that makes you smile and chuckle, sometimes belly laugh…or…an ad offering 40% off for the eleventeenth time…or…an ad preaching some kind of behavior change…??? Right…humor.
Humor for the win!
Humor sells! At least it gets a brand noticed. Views/impressions make a difference in brand recognition. It’s nice to see DSC getting back to the roots that put them on the map. Often when a BIG corporate company like Unilever takes an entrepreneurial brand over, it loses the entrepreneurial spirit, which could include an irreverent (PG/R rated – because of language) marketing campaign. (I admit to being a member of the club!)
I f#$&@;g love the Dollar Shave Club ad. Personality and a genuine sense of humor are closely tied to authenticity and transparency. Many of today’s consumers appreciate the approach.