Dollar Shave Club launched an in-house campaign promoting Wanderer, its new body wash line by mocking the over-the-top ads of competitors.
You know the ones. While the approach may have fell out of favor in recent years, certain brands have certainly been guilty of their fair share of ridiculous and/or hyper-sexualized brovertising in the past.
Dollar Shave Club’s main pitch for its latest product is as an alternative to such brands. In “Massive Hero,” for example, a guy is out shopping with his girlfriend, when she suggests he pick up some Massive Hero bodywash. A living example of the product’s target demographic, a muscle-bound, possibly steroid-enhanced meathead, grabs a bottle and squeezes it until it bursts all over the floor. That’s when the voiceover asks, “How about a shower product that’s more you?” and suggests Wanderer as a less-testosterone-fueled alternative.
Other spots take a similar approach, with “Deep Midnite” taking aim at a product promising “24-hour pheromone release” and the club-hopping jerk who sprays it down his pants and a Neon Groove brand offering “relentless scent bursting” purchased by a guy who shotguns a bottle of water.
The approach works for the brand, as the pivot to the promise of “honest fragrances like mint and cedar” sells the idea that Dollar Shave Club offers a more grown up, down-to-earth product. There’s also the implicit argument that the brand doesn’t rely on gimmicky ads the way certain others do. While there’s a certain irony in that message being delivered in an advertisement, the in-house productions sell the brand’s no-nonsense approach well, making the alternatives look a bit silly in the process.
Credits:
Client: Dollar Shave Club
CEO: Michael Dubin
Assistant to CEO: Kristina Kovacs
CMO: Adam Weber
Assistant to CMO: Alex Danzer
VP of Brand Marketing: Nick Fairbairn
Director, Brand Marketing: Chrissy Cartwright
Sr. Manager, Brand Marketing: Oscar Weis
Agency: Dollar Shave Club In House
Creative Director, VP of Creative: Alec Brownstein
Creative Director: Matt Knapp
Creative Director: Matt Orser
Senior Producer: Matt Sausmer
Producer: Candice Vernon
Agency Director: Raechelle Hoki
Project Manager: Christine Melloy
Project Coordinator: Kristen Moran
VFX: Peter Quinn
Business Affairs: Ingenium
Legal Affairs: Allison Buchner & Vahid Redjal
Production Company: AMD Films
Directors: Spielbergs
DP: Zachary Galler
Producer: Clint Caluory
Editorial: Arcade Edit
Managing Partner, Executive Producer: Damian Stevens
Producer: Rebecca Jameson
Editor: Sean Lagrange
Animation: The Craft Shop
Score by: John Vella Music
Color Grade & Finishing: Moving Picture Company
Colorist: Ricky Gausis
Flame Artist: Mark Holden
Executive Producer: Mike Wigart
Executive Producer: Meghan Lang
Producer: Colin Clarry
Sound Mixing: Beacon Street Studios
Producer: Kate Vadnais
Associate Producer: Christa Jayne Sustello
Mixer/Sound Designer: Rommel Molina
Assistant Mixer: Aaron Cornacchio