Dollar Shave Club has some of the most effective viral marketing ads that have come about in this new age of niche markets. Michael Dubin, CEO and writer for Dollar Shave Club (DSC), launched their first ad 2 years ago and it has over 14.1 million views - for an advertisement that people are searching out to watch. They are selling razors. In this social media commercial, Mr. Dubin strings together a steady flow of logical fallacies in a hilarious plain-folks pitch to help you “Shave time” and “Shave money”. No frills, no celebrity endorsement, just a man, a bear, and Alajaundra using the association principle to show that not only are they selling men comfort and convenience but doing so in a manly way and creating jobs doing it. 

Virtually over night this start up company selling razors online, in a way exemplifying the nature of the new internet economy, grew large enough to get the attention of the overloads of the men's razor industry. “Gillette spokesman Damon Jones said his company became aware of the Dollar Shave Club the day it launched because of the Internet buzz”.¹ This is the new face of the American Dream. They grew so large, with the aid of a die hard fan base who sold the product for them, they were able to develop a new product line called “One Wipe Charlies”. This new and improved “butt wipe tech” furthered their position as a thorn in the sides of the men's toiletries market monolpolies. “Now Dollar Shave Club is threatening to tip over the apple cart.”² The new video follows the same principles as the first and with over another 2 million hits in the first 10 months of it's presence on YouTube, has demonstrated that Mr. Dubin has a knack understanding the needs of DSC's membership.

1 “A David and Gillette Story”, Emily Glazer, The Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2012, http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidvinjamuri/2012/04/12/could-your-brand-be-dollar-shave-d/

2 “Big Brands Should Fear the 'Dollar Shave Club' Effect”, David Vinjamuri, Forbes, April 12, 2012, http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidvinjamuri/2012/04/12/could-your-brand-be-dollar-shave-d/

 

These ads are powerful in their simplicity and their humor. The target audience is large (all men) but their needs are specific and straightforward. Just like the ads. The humor used is not only categorically distinctive in regards to it's targeted audience and lends itself to viral, gorilla style marketing led by its consumers.

 

A new ad campaign is under way and time will tell if they can keep up the momentum. It's called the “Clean-Snap Campaign” and it's enlisted the endorsement of four NFL centers to hawk the “One Wipe Charlies, "Travis Frederick of the Dallas Cowboys; John Sullivan of the Minnesota Vikings; Eric Wood of the Buffalo Bills; and Nick Hardwick of the San Diego Chargers"¹, a big change from DSC's previous model for advertising. The other big change in advertising is that of medium. Michael Mcarthy of AdAge says that “the centers will promote One Wipe Charlies in radio spots created in-house”.² Time will show whether this move to celebrity endorsement and radio will be effective. Will they expand the reach of DSC into the more sport focused male, a demographic potentially left out of social media? The good thing is that the endorsement of centers in the NFL costs only a fraction of what a quarter back makes and they have found a very fitting way to incorporate their celebrities into the hawking of the product. What better way to sling butt wipe than with the most recognizable asses in sports! My opinion is that DSC and Mr. Dubin will continue to be an irritant to the faces and asses of the men's toiletries giants and good for them.

1 “Butt Wipes Sign Rare Endorsers: NFL Centers”, Michael Mcarthy, AdAge, september 16, 2013, http://adage.com/article/news/butt-wipes-sign-rare-endorser-nfl-center/244177/

2Ibid.