Dollar Shaving Club strives to return to its comedic roots by launching its first national campaign since Unilever sold a majority stake in the company to private equity firm Nexus Capital Management in 2023.
The campaign’s goal is to put the healthcare brand “back on the map” after effectively ending its seven-year partnership with Unilever, Dollar Shave Club CEO Larry Bodner told ADWEEK. Nexus Capital acquired a 65% stake in the company in October 2023, while Unilever retains 35%.
As a pioneer direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand By the 2010s, Dollar Shave Club was known for its quirky marketing promoting inexpensive razors. Like many DTC brands of that era, it was eventually acquired by a former consumer packaged goods (CPG) competitor when Unilever purchased the brand for $1 billion in 2016.
However, Unilever would have had difficulty growing the business and integrate it into the multinational conglomerate. Dollar Shave Club now faces increased competition from rival DTC skincare brands like Harry’s.
“After years of rapid, at-all-costs growth under Unilever, we lost our way and our brand identity lay dormant for many years,” Bodner said. “However, Dollar Shave Club remains united and fully focused on returning to our disruptive and irreverent brand personality. This campaign is truly a big step in bringing humor and awareness back to our brand, while continuing to generate revenue.
Directed by Zack Seckler via Good Times Production, “The Club” has a similar tongue-in-cheek, absurdist humor to the brand. viral launch video. The new ad imagines the shaving brand’s subscription service as a physical space, showing a man admitted to the club after saying the password “shave money.”
Greeted with a soft bathrobe, he is taken to a locker room where men of all ages and shapes groom themselves, from shaving their shoulders and chests to trimming their nose hairs. The concierge welcomes the new member by introducing them to the brand’s range of products and giving them a surprise pat on the butt as they prepare to soap themselves.
The campaign aims to reconnect with Dollar Shave Club’s core audience of men aged 25 to 45, while attracting new users through its own platform and numerous major retailers. It will be broadcast on CTV, YouTube, Spotify, podcasts and owned digital properties.
Dollar Shave Club will also offer subscribers the opportunity to connect to the real world with exclusive events, free tickets and merchandise.
“Since Dollar Shave Club’s inception, ‘Club’ has always been an implicit part of our brand,” Bodner added. “We wanted to bring it to life and redefine what it means to be part of Dollar Shave Club in a physical manifestation, and we think now is the perfect time to introduce it.”
