How Dollar Shave Club used video to grow to a $1 billion exit?
It’s no secret that video marketing can be pretty effective, but Dollar Shave Club (DSC) changed the game.
They took a topic like shaving that’s quite boring and turned it into entertaining humor worth sharing with a friend. The video went viral and generated 12,000 orders within 48 hours. That initial video had over 20 million views and grew DSC to 1.1 million subscribers, leading to a tremendous exit.
Michael Dubin, the co-founder of the Dollar Shave Club, had a budget of only $4,500, which was enough to shoot DSC’s viral launch video. The video features himself pouncing around a warehouse and proclaiming that DSC blades are “f***ing great”.
The video is a textbook example. It Communicates the main value proposition in the first 10 seconds (“For $1 a month, we send high-quality razors right to your door.”), it names the website address several times, packs a great punchline (“Are our blades good? No. Our blades are f***ing great.”), and present clear benefits. Most importantly, it’s fun and makes you want to share it with your friends.
The Results
That viral video was just the initial growth activity. DSC continued providing great videos, services, and products. Pretty soon, they took a meaningful market share from Gillette. That eventually caught Unilever’s attention. After four years in operation, Dollar Shave Club received an astounding $1 billion all-cash offer from Unilever. It was the first time a direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand joined the unicorn club.
