Dollar Shave Club (DSC) famously sold 250,000 razors in 2012 after its famous “Our Blades Are Great” ad (above).

What’s great about this ad

• Communicates the value proposition: That DSC razors are less expensive.

• Highlights how unecessarily exravagent competitor razor brands are.

Why this ad failed

• Humor being used for humor’s sake (per the company’s founder, Michael Dubin).

• Does not clearly communicate the company’s why.

But DSC ads improved over time:

Here’s how DSC started communicating its why

Establishing its “why”

1. Razors are expensive; and

2. Previous razor buying experience was difficult and unpleasant.

Previous experience:

• Products have unclear names, like “Mach X” and “Xtreme that.”

• Products are locked behind a display case.

• Employees are not helpful or enthusiastic about helping you.

Create a highly relatable experience

DSC acknowledged these poor customer experiences in its ads.

This focus on hyper-specific and relatable moments made customers feel like the company understood them, making DSC’s value proposition more clear.

The following iterations of ads are, in my opinion, some of the best examples of effective humor advertising.

They are both entertaining and communicate a clear message:

And:

Lesson: Identify relatable experiences with your current marketplace offerings. Position your product around these “status quo” experiences to create a powerful “why.”

🧠 Clever ad of the week

This ad from Vaseline 👇

🏆 Placement of the week

This ad from Western Union 👇

🗣️ Quote of the week