Being a disrupter might land you a billion dollar deal. That’s the case for Dollar Shave Club, which has reached an agreement with Unilever for the consumer packaged goods giant to acquire the male grooming company for a reported $1 billion price tag.
The grooming company’s innovative ad strategy pays off.
Founded in 2012, Dollar Shave Club initially made headlines for its pithy advertising, which featured the company’s CEO Michael Dubin as an endearingly passionate pitchman arguing that consumers didn’t need brand name razors.
It all started from a mail-order business model.
The work, which was created by the company’s in-house creatives and continued to feature Dubin prominently, became a point of differentiation for Dollar Shave Club beyond its mail-order business model.
It makes sense then that the company’s advertising strategy will stay in-house, instead of shifting to one of Unilever’s myriad agencies once it is under Unilever’s brand umbrella. “Things aren’t changing,” according to a spokeswoman for the Dollar Shave Club.
Unilever declined to comment beyond its press release.
“If Unilever is smart it won’t muck with it,” said Allen Adamson, founder of Brand Simple Consulting. “Typically, with an acquisition like this, most companies will homogenize the company they acquire and force their way of doing things on it, force them to use their agencies, do it their way and in doing it that way they miss a big opportunity to change how they market and how they advertise.”
He added: “Because it’s such a different business I don’t think they’re going to do that here. They will let it do what made it successful and see how they can help.”
Made a total of $152 million in sales a year.
Since it was founded five years ago Dollar Shave Club has grown significantly; it now has 3.2 million members and it made $152 million in sales last year. The company has also evolved from solely a razor subscription service, adding a skin care line and other grooming products as well as its own men’s lifestyle site, Mel.
“Dollar Shave Club is an innovative and disruptive male grooming brand with incredibly deep connections to its diverse and highly engaged consumers,” said Kees Kruythoff, president of Unilever North America in a statement.
