Recently, The New York Times profiled Michael Dubin, the newest hot entrepreneur.
But this story’s a little different. Michael’s Dollar Shave Club is a very simple concept that isn’t really techie. And it’s a runaway hit. OK, the tech part is that his wildly popular viral video has propelled Dollar Shave Club, generating lots of sales and attracting venture dollars, while competing with the big boys like Gillette.
Here’s the humorous video that has generated more than 10,000,000 views:
>EMAIL RECIPIENTS: CLICK HERE TO WATCH DOLLAR SHAVE CLUB VIDEO<
For a low price, Dollar Shave Club will send you new razors right to your home. So, it’s about making the lives of guys easier, alleviating the need to shop for blades.
But here’s the kicker. As I was reading through the interview, Dubin was asked about the media he’s used to get the word out about Dollar Shave Club.
And his response?
Radio.
Yes, you read that right – this new startup has been marketed with radio ads – not national TV spots, Pandora :10s, or web banner ads.
To learn more about the media plan, I contacted Dollar Shave Club and asked Michael to be more specific about his media plan, and of course the big question:
FJ: Why radio?
MD: Impactful creative. Dollar Shave Club has a strong, recognizable brand voice and a simple, straightforward message that we felt could resonate to a radio audience. Whether it was coming directly from the brand or an endorsement, we think it will break through the clutter and help us to acquire new customers. Radio also enables creative flexibility and relatively low production costs, which allowed us to test and learn how the audience was responding. (And) targeting. (Radio) enabled us to find a lot of our guys at once that are engaging with content where we felt our message would have high receptivity – sports and humor. It also was scalable at both a national and local level, which enabled us to test and target specific cities, demographics and content arenas quickly.
FJ: How much of your buys are endorsements from personalities, and can you talk about why this was an avenue you pursued as opposed to recorded spots?
MD: We can’t disclose the percentages between endorsements vs. recorded spots, but we’ve actually found success in both routes. Endorsements gives us a familiar voice the audience trusts, and also puts our message in or surrounding the content – which is when engagement is at its highest. It delivers a large volume of highly qualified consumers to our site. Recorded spots directly deliver the brand’s voice, which allows us to tell brand stories and weave messaging in over time. With lower costs than endorsements, it also enables us to deliver stronger frequency.
Smart radio operators have long known about the power of local personalities to pitch products. Here in Detroit, WRIF’s Meltdown was one of the DJs who has done live reads for Dollar Shave Club. I’m sure many of you have heard these endorsements and recorded spots around the country.
And when asked about the bottom line – did it work and why – Michaels told me, “Yes, we’re acquiring new customers profitably.” In this case, men. As he points out, one of radio’s great qualities is its ability to target key customer groups – something that Dollar Shave Club has obviously taken advantage of in its foray into media advertising.
Michael also noted that “radio will continue to be in our future plans,” as long as it continues to attract new business in an efficient way.
This is another of those great stories for radio with an interesting twist – how to power a viral video and launch a hot new company by using the traditional medium of radio, as well as the time-honored format of live personality reads. When we take a deep dive into the findings of Techsurvey9 in less than two weeks, we’ll look at the reasons why consumers continue to listen to radio. As was the case in last year’s study, those “emotional triggers” continue to be important to listeners – and advertisers can tap into that.
It’s about a success story for Dollar Shave Club and web video – a novel concept with a humorous side that proves that new businesses and great concepts can come out of nowhere.
And it’s also an important success story for radio’s ROI.
A simple concept, an edgy video, and radio.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Right on! Personalities with the right products really does work. If Radio can tackle the accountability factor it would really boost it sales. As he said in there as long as they can measure success and it succeeds. I have my own ideas on how that could be fixed. I don’t think Radio really wants to be held accountable all the way back to not be willing to post.
I recently had a client who had 600k non spot for 2-4 markets. They wanted results, period. I tried to sell them on how using Radio would increase their brand awareness AND deliver results. I struggled trying to find a solution with the Radio Stations. The sales people went right too “don’t buy the other guys”.
So we placed it in Digital and Social. Now it is really easy to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, PPC etc. and measure leads, sales and profits. You have a dashboard with real time results so you can adjust your buy on the fly.
The more stories like this the better.
In a world where ROI increasingly becomes part of the conversation, radio’s leap of faith mentality may be a tougher and tougher putt. Success stories will help. I think more Dollar Shave Club stories that point to a brand’s launch and rise would work wonders. Constant Contact is another – a tech company that relies heavily on radio to mass communicate its message and to build its brand. Thanks for the insights, Dave.
Any chance you can post some of the radio creative? I would love to hear what is working so well. I have to admit I have never heard about this until I saw this article.
Peter, I will work on this. Thanks for the note.