According to Forbes, Dollar Shave Club was acquired by Unilever for $1 billion in 2016 just five years after its founding, but saw a steady decline that led to Unilever selling a 65% stake to Nexus Capital Management in 2023. New CEO Larry Bodner revealed that Unilever “neutered the voice of the brand” by making it too corporate and losing the irreverent humor. The company recently recruited 23 customers for a creative workshop in Chattanooga to co-create a new “Best Razor Ever” ad campaign, shifting focus from traditional market research about “closeness” to customer-driven emphasis on “sharpness.” Dollar Shave Club peaked at around 4 million subscribers before declining to approximately 3 million, and is now expanding retail distribution beyond its DTC roots while introducing products like collectible college razors at Walmart for $10.97.
When big companies kill what made brands special
Here’s the thing about billion-dollar acquisitions: they often become corporate assimilation stories. Unilever bought Dollar Shave Club at its peak, when that legendary “Our Blades Are F***ing Great!” video had already proven that authenticity beats big budgets. But then the bureaucracy set in. Bodner’s admission that they “neutered the brand” is brutally honest – and probably explains why so many acquired startups lose their magic.
Think about it. That original viral ad cost $4,500 and generated 12,000 orders in 48 hours. Under Unilever? The brand became just another rounding error in their $27 billion personal care segment. They didn’t even let DSC into physical retail until 2020, giving competitor Harry’s a four-year head start. Basically, Unilever treated Dollar Shave Club like a science experiment rather than the disruptive force it was.
Turning to the bros for salvation
So now they’re trying something genuinely interesting – bringing actual customers to Tennessee for what they called the “Order of the Blade” workshop. Instead of traditional focus groups, they got 23 regular guys together for a weekend of trying blades and generating ad ideas. The result? They discovered customers care more about “sharpness” than “closeness” – which Bodner says has more “edge” in communication.
And that’s the core of their strategy now: irreverence and humor first, then price/value. They’re literally telling customers “we’re making plenty of money, so we don’t need to charge you more for it.” After years of corporate speak, that kind of transparency feels refreshing. But can they really recapture that original magic when the shaving landscape has changed so much?
The new battlefield for blades
Remember when Dollar Shave Club first launched? The idea of challenging Gillette seemed crazy. Now the market is flooded with DTC razor companies, and even Unilever decided DSC wasn’t worth the trouble compared to their power brands. The company that once revolutionized razor shopping now finds itself playing catch-up.
Their current moves are smart – the college razor collection at Walmart, expanding into more retailers, and sticking with those wonderfully absurd product names like “Ball Spray.” But the real test will be whether they can make people care again. When your entire brand was built on being the anti-corporate rebel, getting bought by a giant corporation tends to undermine that message permanently.
The future is “managed absurdity”
Bodner calls their approach “managed absurdity” – which honestly might be the perfect description for trying to resurrect a brand that lost its soul. Bringing customers together to create ads? Calling butt wipes “Charlies?” It’s all very on-brand for what Dollar Shave Club used to be.
The question is whether today’s consumers will respond to the same humor that worked in 2011. Social media has changed, comedy has changed, and the novelty of DTC razors has worn off. But if anyone can pull off a comeback, it might be a company willing to admit they lost their edge and are desperate to get it back. The shaving world could use a little more absurdity anyway.
