The shortest post to compare a Brand’s two ads

Reading this post will take you 6 mins to see the ads, 1 min to read-through …and 10 min. to think how communications should work for the enjoyment, affinity, and recall of consumer as well as the business itself.

2013…

The Dollar Shave Club delivers high-quality razors and (recently) grooming supplies right to your door for just a few bucks per month. It came as a surprise in 2013 to be a viral video, at the start and then increasing to million of sales.

Can you picture the Brand’s proposition impact? One dollar for your shaving blade! Beat that.

Back in 2013, it was a startup (yes, a real startup-entity) challenging the Gillette’s market ‘status-quo’. Why buy a pack of 5 blades every month for €10, €13 or more? So Gillette can finance the expensive sponsorship with Roger Federer? That was back then, at the launch phase, this brand’s tough call. Unapologetic, dynamic, bit funny with a witty (semi-professional) character.

I think this was what people liked and commented favourably:

2018…

In 2016, Unilever bought the Dollar Shave Club for $1 billion in cash and the founder/CEO Michael Dubin will continue to run the company, which will operate its direct-to-consumer razor business as an independent entity. The acquisition changed and evolved the company as a scalable business; enriched its portfolio (far beyond razors-only …Unilever has tones of cosmetic products); reached new geographies as well.

But can this move impact negatively the initial dynamism of the Brand? Can it turn a witty character into an advertising ‘recipe’, like the millions of ads the Unilever knows how to produce? Can it turn a ‘guerilla’ into a consumer-me-too offering?

Here’s the ad in question (grandiose, rich production values, known for its music, too many target-users, 3+ minutes …but where’s the initial personality?):

Here’s my opinion…

Agree? Disagree? Do you have the same dilemma for your Brand’s communications? Comment and let me know.