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A tiny startup used one funny, honest founder video on YouTube to win 12,000 sign-ups in two days and build a brand that Unilever later bought.

By Jignesh, , 4 min read

Brand
Dollar Shave Club
Industry
Consumer products, online subscription
Channel
YouTube video
Year
2012

Results

  • 12,000

    people signed up in the first 48 hours after the video went live

    Source ↗

  • 4.75 million

    views in the first three months

    Source ↗

  • 3.2 million

    members when Unilever agreed to buy the company in July 2016

    Source ↗

  • US$152 million

    turnover in 2015, as stated in Unilever’s announcement

    Source ↗

The challenge

Dollar Shave Club was a small online company selling razor blades by subscription. It was up against some of the biggest brands in the world, with huge TV budgets and shelf space in every shop.

The founder, Michael Dubin, could not outspend them. He needed people to understand a new idea quickly: good blades, delivered to your door, for a low monthly price. And he needed them to remember it.

What they did

Instead of a polished ad, the company made one short comedy video with the founder himself as the star. He walks through the warehouse and explains the offer in plain words, with a lot of jokes about overpriced razors.

The production cost was kept very low. Entrepreneur reported that the company spent just $4,500 on it, while the director estimated that a similar video would cost most companies about $50,000.

The video was posted on YouTube in March 2012. It did one job: tell people what the product is, why it is cheaper and how to sign up. The website was ready to take orders the same day.

Because the video was funny and easy to share, viewers did the distribution. People passed it on to friends, which brought in traffic the company could never have paid for.

What your business can take from this

  1. The owner is often the best face of the brand

    You do not need a celebrity. A shop owner who speaks honestly on camera, with a bit of humour, builds more trust than a stock photo. Record a short video on your phone and talk to customers the way you talk at the counter.

  2. Say the offer in one breath

    The video made the offer clear in seconds: what it is, what it costs and why it is better. Before you make any ad, write your offer in one simple sentence. If you cannot, the ad will not work either.

  3. Have the next step ready

    Attention is wasted if people cannot act on it. Before you post, make sure your website, WhatsApp number or order form works and that someone will reply quickly.

  4. Small budget, big idea

    Money spent on production matters less than the idea. Put your effort into a message people want to share, then spend on ads only to push the content that is already working.

Sources

  1. Entrepreneur: How a Dollar Shave Club’s ad went viral
  2. Business Wire: Unilever acquires Dollar Shave Club (July 2016)

An independent study of a public campaign, written from published sources. Musafir Infotech did not work on this campaign.

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