Dollar Shave Club: Our Blades Are F***ing Great

Michael Dubin had trained in improv comedy at Upright Citizens Brigade in New York — which explains everything about how the video feels. He wrote, directed, and starred in a launch video for his razor subscription startup in one frantic day of shooting. Budget: $4,500. He walked through a warehouse making deadpan jokes about Gillette's overpriced blades while a toddler in a diaper shaved a man's head and a man in a bear suit played keyboard in the background. The warehouse belonged to a friend. The bear suit was a rental. The script was written in one night. The video went up on March 6, 2012. Within 90 minutes, the site crashed under the traffic load. By end of day, 12,000 people had subscribed. The company's customer service phone line received calls for three days straight. By end of month: 330,000+ subscribers.

The video worked because it was honest, funny, and specific. It didn't pretend to be a big brand — it leaned into being small, scrappy, and personal. It said exactly what it was: a better deal, delivered simply. The humor built trust instantly. The directness built conversion. And the visible low-budget production made it shareable — people felt like they'd discovered something, not been sold to.

12,000 orders in the first 48 hours. Site crashed on launch day. 3M views in 30 days. 330,000+ subscribers in the first month. Sold to Unilever for $1 billion in 2016 — roughly a 222,222x return on the video's production cost.