Ad of the Day: Gross Old Razors Bring Cutting Humor to Dollar Shave Club’s New Campaign

Ever since his famous 90-second ad in 2012, Dollar Shave Club CEO and founder Michael Dubin has served as the brand's charming pitchman. But now he has company in the form of some talking mascots—sort of. 

For the mail-order razor service's latest campaign, Dubin is joined in three 30-second spots by dirty, crusty, disgusting old razors who work as anti-mascots for the brand's competitors. It's a fun, albeit gross, concept. 

"In the last campaign, we had fun with some customer frustrations in the store," said Dubin. "With this campaign, we're having some fun with another customer frustration, which is having to use or overuse an old razor because a) a new razor is so expensive or b) you forgot to buy a new one." 

The spots build on the brand's central conceit—that the mail order is cheaper and more convenient than buying razors at the drug store—and make it a bit weirder.

The spots, which were co-written by Dubin and Dollar Shave Club creative director Alec Brownstein, are on-brand and fun—even if it is a little risky to make your content intentionally off-putting.

The mail-order service now has 2.2 million members and since the launch of its commercials its share of the U.S. cartridge market is up to 16 percent by volume from 8.8 percent.

CREDITS

Client: Dollar Shave Club

Writers:

Michael Dubin, Founder and CEO, Dollar Shave Club

Alec Brownstein, Creative Director, Dollar Shave Club

Director: Aaron Stoller, Biscuit Filmworks

Producer: Linda Rafoss and Maggie Dunn, Zebra NYC

Production Company Credits:

Managing Director: Shawn Lacy

Executive Producer: Holly Vega

Director: Aaron Stoller

Producer: Mala Vasan