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In July of 2011, consumers were introduced to a new way of acquiring razors and the blades that go with them. They became available at a fraction of the cost of purchasing them from a retailer, and the goods would be delivered right to customers’ doorsteps. It was called Dollar Shave Club.
In July of 2016, the multinational consumer goods company, Unilever, acquired Dollar Shave Club, reportedly paying $1 billion dollars in cash.
This narrative is the perfect example of just what effective marketing can do. It’s important to offer quality products, but it’s not the products alone that create success, nor is it the price. A company can only achieve a strong online presence and through-the-roof sales because of effective, programmatic marketing; placing ads in front of consumers with the highest propensity to buy.
In Dubin’s case, he had a broad audience and he was willing to spend the money that it took to get the word out to the right crowd. If he had not placed such a heavy emphasis on marketing, there would be no viral videos, no effective marketing, and the company would not be the success that it has become.
There are millions of incredible products and services in the marketplace that could have been a monstrous success, but were not because consumers never knew about them. These products usually go by the wayside, never having had their “breakout moment” simply because the world was never made aware that they were available.
Then there are savvy business owners who can take a product that has been around for decades, rebrand it and change up the way it’s marketed, and success follows, which is just what Dubin did. He discovered a need, fulfilled it, and paid dearly to let the public know about it. Obviously, his marketing platform paid off … in a very big way.
Dubin’s initial video ad appealed to a huge crowd. If you were to ask twenty people why they found it so entertaining, you’d probably get twenty different answers. From a machete-wielding CEO to a shaving baby, the tightly scripted video, “Our Blades Are F**king Great,” has a gimmick that appeals to every taste. In the first three months after the startup posted the clip on YouTube, it racked up 4.75 million views-thanks in large part to shares on social media sites. In the first 48 hours after the video debuted, some 12,000 people signed up for the service.
Dubin, a big believer in the power of marketing, stated, “This is what you get at an ad agency. Not every entrepreneur has the ability to think comedically and think about their business in the way that we did.”
This marketing philosophy is what has made Genius Monkey a leader in the advertising industry. We help companies grow by getting the word out to the right consumers in a timely fashion.
In the case of Mike Dubin and his Dollar Shave Club, he can offer several reasons why he is such a believer in effective marketing-at least a billion of them!
