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Big Buzz Video nominee: Dollar Shave Club

In the YouTube era, every company wants its marketing videos to go viral. Only a few smart – and somewhat lucky – ones manage to pull it off.

Count Dollar Shave Club among the very smart and very lucky. Its cheeky, almost-NSFW video for its $1-a-month online mail order razor blade service hit the jackpot – 6 million views and counting – with a deceptively simple combination of humour and honesty.

In a post-recession era where consumers are increasingly seeking value, traditional feature-based advertising doesn’t punch like it once did. Ever more knowledgeable consumers won’t necessarily buy something just because an athlete’s been paid a ridiculous amount of money to be a corporate shill.

Instead, Dollar Shaving Club’s CEO, “Mike”, poked holes in every advertising stereotype there is, and in doing so hit the consumer sweet spot with a message that rang true to buyers.

How successful was it? Type “shave” into Google and it’s near the top of the list. The company didn’t have to pay for the privilege, either. No pay-per-click advertising campaign needed: It’s all organic, earned popularity thanks to one low-budget video filmed in a warehouse.