Dollar Shave Club is a subscription company that initially became famous for shipping razors to its customers every month. The company’s viral launch video, released in March 2012, cost just $4,500 to produce and played a pivotal role in its early success.
With the company stocking products in retail stores and expanding its inventory list to include beard oil, shower gel, and shaving cream, most people would assume that the brand was built through Facebook ads or offline methods.
The truth, however, is that Dollar Shave Club is a content marketing success story that began with a single viral video and became hugely successful online.
The launch video has since garnered over 27 million views, showcasing its widespread appeal.
Dollar Shave Club’s straightforward value proposition revolves around affordability, convenience, and high-quality products, contrasting sharply with the traditional razor market’s focus on luxury and unnecessary add-ons.
We’ll take a look at that ad while reverse-engineering its success.
Then, we’ll discuss how you can apply Dollar Shave Club’s video marketing principles to your business.
- How Dollar Shave Club's $4,500 video generated 12,000 subscribers in 48 hours and reached 27 million views.
- The three core elements that made their launch video go viral: humor, storytelling, and direct sales pitch.
- Why the company captured 10% of the razor market within two years using video-first marketing.
- Actionable strategies you can apply to create engaging video content on any budget.
How Did Dollar Shave Club Create a Viral Video?
Creating a viral video like Dollar Shave Club’s “Our Blades Are F***ing Great” requires a deep understanding of what makes content shareable. The company’s first video, which was shot with a budget of $4,500, was a huge success and racked up over 25 million views.
The video’s success can be attributed to its creative process, which included a focus on storytelling, humor, and highlighting the benefits of the product.
The video’s script was written by Michael Dubin, who has a background in stand-up comedy and improv, and was designed to appeal to the company’s target audience.
The use of a bear suit and other humorous elements made the video more engaging and shareable, ensuring it captured the attention of viewers and encouraged them to share it with others.
What Was Dollar Shave Club’s Video Launch Strategy?
Dollar Shave Club launched the video strategically on YouTube when the platform was transitioning its algorithm to prioritize watch time over view counts. The company promoted it through Reddit, where it quickly gained traction with the platform’s young male demographic.
Within 48 hours, the video had crashed Dollar Shave Club’s servers due to traffic spikes.
The team amplified reach through email to their small existing list and encouraged social sharing, which resulted in organic media coverage from outlets like Forbes, TechCrunch, and AdWeek within the first week.
Dollar Shave Club’s Viral Video Made a Rock-Solid Sales Pitch
When watching the viral video that launched Dollar Shave Club’s success, viewers are immediately struck by the humor on display.
Dollar Shave Club’s innovative approach to providing affordable razor blades directly to consumers through a subscription service disrupted traditional industries.
Even though the video’s more surreal elements include the bear mascot, a dance party, and one-liners about a grandfather with polio, the ad relies on well-established marketing best practices to get its point across.
- The video presented its flagship one-dollar offer and mentioned the company URL twice within the first ten seconds.
- It highlighted the benefits of the razors.
- There was a strong punchline when the founder said, “Our blades are f**king great!”.
Traditional vs. Dollar Shave Club’s Approach
| Traditional Video Marketing | Dollar Shave Club’s Approach |
|---|---|
| High production budgets ($50K-$500K+) | $4,500 total production cost |
| Celebrity endorsements and influencers | Founder-led authenticity |
| Focus on product features and specs | Problem-solution storytelling |
| Professional actors and studios | Real people and humor |
| Multi-week production timelines | Fast, scrappy execution |
| Risk-averse messaging | Irreverent, bold positioning |
As part of Dollar Shave Club’s broader expansion of their men’s grooming product line, they introduced innovative products like shave butter.
Many marketers think that promoting products and entertaining viewers are mutually exclusive goals. However, Dollar Shave Club’s video marketing campaign is a real-world example of how brands can craft content that evokes strong emotions without forgetting to sell the product.
How Did Dollar Shave Club Capture 10% of the Razor Market?
The razor market is a highly competitive industry, with many brands vying for market share.
Dollar Shave Club’s ability to capture a significant share of the market can be seen as a testament to its innovative business model and marketing strategy.
The company’s focus on providing high-quality razors at an affordable price, with a low monthly fee, was a key factor in its success.
The use of a subscription-based model, which allowed customers to receive razors delivered to their doorstep, was also a major factor in the company’s rapid growth.
The company’s ability to understand its target audience and create content that resonated with them was also crucial in its success.
By addressing the pain points of traditional razor buying and offering a convenient, cost-effective solution, Dollar Shave Club was able to disrupt the market and establish itself as a leader in the industry.
Within two years, the company captured 10% of the razor market by competing on price and convenience.
Dollar Shave Club’s Video Content Marketing Provided Brand Storytelling
During a program, multiple Stanford students gave short speeches that included three statistics and a story.
Roughly 63 percent of listeners remembered the story, while just 5 percent could recall a statistic.
When a company can make brand storytelling a part of its overall marketing, it has a better chance of being memorable. This approach significantly boosts brand recognition, as seen with Dollar Shave Club’s impactful video.
Many marketers don’t think of storytelling as video marketing, but when you review Dollar Shave Club’s content, the company is clearly telling a story to its target audience. It explains that conventional companies like Gillette are over-charging for their product and that most of the money is spent on filling the pockets of influencers.
For many people who were used to picking up razors at the store without looking too closely at the price tag, this observation may have singlehandedly turned them into problem-aware prospects.
If the audience is the hero of the story, Dollar Shave Club spends the video positioning itself as the straight-shooting ally who will help the viewer save money and time while getting a smooth shave.
This narrative, in turn, helped drive the immediate spike in orders that the company received, making their offer a no-brainer.
As a digital marketer, your ability to tell a story with your content can help you convince prospects to give your company a chance.
5-Step Framework to Replicate Dollar Shave Club’s Video Success
You don’t need a million-dollar budget to create effective video marketing. Here’s how to apply Dollar Shave Club’s principles to your business:
- Identify Your Audience’s Core Pain Point
Dollar Shave Club recognized that customers were frustrated with overpriced razors and inconvenient shopping. What problem does your product solve? Make this the foundation of your story. - Position Your Audience as the Hero
Don’t make your brand the star—make your customer the hero and your company their ally. Dollar Shave Club framed viewers as smart consumers being taken advantage of by Big Razor. - Use Humor to Maintain Engagement
The bear suit, dancing toddler, and one-liners kept viewers watching beyond the first 10 seconds. Inject personality that reflects your brand voice, whether that’s humor, inspiration, or authenticity. - Include Clear CTAs Early and Often
Dollar Shave Club mentioned their URL twice in the first 10 seconds and their $1 offer immediately. Don’t bury your call-to-action—make it impossible to miss. - Optimize for Platform Algorithms
In 2012, YouTube favored engagement and watch time. Today, that means optimizing for short-form vertical video on TikTok, Reels, and YouTube Shorts while maintaining storytelling fundamentals.
In short: Great video marketing isn’t about budget—it’s about a clear pain point, a memorable story, and a direct offer. Use this framework as a checklist before you hit record on your next video.
The Company’s Videos Maximized Engagement While Benefiting from YouTube’s Platform
A significant contributor to Dollar Shave Club’s success was YouTube itself.
Until October 2012, the video streaming platform tended to favor view counts over time watched. With its one-liners and fast pace, Dollar Shave Club’s video is designed to get the initial view while keeping people engaged in the content.
The company’s methods to highlight the features of its razors are an excellent example of this emphasis on engagement. Dollar Shave Club’s viral marketing campaign played a crucial role in its success by combining humor and relatability in their branding.
One moment, we have the founder telling the audience about how the blades have stainless steel and an aloe vera lubricating strip, stating, “Are our blades good? No, they’re f*cking great.” The next, we see a toddler sitting behind a man who looks like he’s seated in a barbershop.
These are just a few of the ways that Dollar Shave Club was able to produce the shares and engagement needed to go viral.
In 2026, YouTube reaches 2.7 billion monthly active users and 122 million daily users, with viewers spending an average of 58 minutes per day on the platform. Video marketing spending is projected to exceed $223 billion globally this year, reflecting the continued dominance of video content.
Dollar Shave Club’s video managed to balance the algorithm’s preferences with the desire of YouTube watchers to be entertained. It starts by making people laugh at the outset, and then it keeps people watching to see what will come next.
Whether you’re making social media posts, writing blog content for SEO, or doing social media video marketing in the present, your content will go farther if you can lean into your platform while holding your audience’s attention.
Applying These Principles to Modern Platforms
While Dollar Shave Club’s viral success happened on YouTube, the same formula works across today’s dominant video platforms.
The combination of immediate hook, storytelling, humor, and clear CTA translates effectively to TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts.
The key difference is adaptation: what worked as a 90-second YouTube video in 2012 now needs to capture attention in 15-30 seconds on short-form platforms.
Modern marketers can replicate Dollar Shave Club’s success by maintaining their core principles—authenticity, humor, and direct value proposition—while adjusting format and pacing for each platform’s unique algorithm and audience behavior.
Pro tip: Want a battle-tested playbook for actually doing this on Instagram? Check out our Advanced Instagram Growth Strategies Guide for hooks, content formats, and CTAs that work on Reels.
How Did Dollar Shave Club Scale Beyond Viral Video Success?
After the initial splash made by its viral social media video, Dollar Shave Club was hard at work delivering orders. Many companies would have been content to keep riding that success, but Dollar Shave Club instead chose to expand its online reach while developing an omnichannel international scaling strategy.
Eventually, Unilever bought the company for $1 billion, marking its transition into one of the largest D2C brands in the razor market.
In addition to their online success, Dollar Shave Club recognized the importance of brick-and-mortar stores for retail growth, catering to customers who prefer purchasing products in physical locations.
The brand’s products became available at retail locations, including Target and Walmart, to capture new customers.
From search engine algorithms to ad platform changes, the marketing industry is constantly going through changes. To prevent your brand from fizzling out, it’s important to think two steps ahead.
If you’re an e-commerce company that relies on video marketing for sales, the next phase of your marketing efforts could be a text-driven content marketing strategy. Or alternatively, if you sense that you’ve started to saturate your market on one platform, you may want to think about adopting your own omnichannel approach to marketing.
Dollar Shave Club’s Continued Video Innovation
Over a decade after its viral launch, Dollar Shave Club continues to push creative boundaries in video marketing.
In December 2025, the company released its first AI-generated advertisement, once again taking shots at legacy razor brands while embracing emerging technology.
The 60-second spot features a fictional “Razor Corp” boardroom where executives scramble to cut costs after Dollar Shave Club launches its “best razor ever”.
The campaign, titled “We Put Our Money Where It Matters,” demonstrates how the brand’s irreverent positioning remains effective years later.
Working with creative boutique Too Short for Modeling, Dollar Shave Club used AI to animate complex visuals—like a towering skyscraper shaped like a razor—while completing production in just weeks.
The ad cleverly makes AI the punchline itself, with the fictional CEO suggesting replacing employees with AI while rejecting more sensible cost-cutting measures like selling the company jet.
This evolution shows that while production methods change, the core principles that made Dollar Shave Club successful remain constant: humor, authenticity, and challenging industry conventions through video storytelling.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many subscribers did Dollar Shave Club get from their video?
Dollar Shave Club gained approximately 12,000 subscribers almost immediately after releasing their viral video in March 2012. Within two years, the company had captured 10% of the razor market.
What made Dollar Shave Club’s video go viral?
The video combined three critical elements: humor and entertainment value, authentic storytelling that positioned customers as heroes, and a clear value proposition with calls-to-action mentioned within the first 10 seconds.
What happened to Dollar Shave Club after the viral video?
Following its viral success, Dollar Shave Club expanded into an omnichannel brand available in retail stores like Target and Walmart. In 2016, Unilever acquired the company for $1 billion. The brand continues to create innovative video marketing campaigns, including its first AI-generated ad in December 2025.
Conclusion
Dollar Shave Club’s rapid success may have looked like it was caused by a funny viral video. However, upon closer examination, the company’s launch video is an example of brand storytelling, video marketing, and marketing fundamentals rolled into one.
Today, content marketing is still helping businesses grow their brands and reach new audiences by telling stories, much like Dollar Shave Club did to establish a unique identity and achieve rapid growth.
Contact us to see how we can help you craft your next marketing campaign.
English 
German