Dollar Shave Club CEO Larry Bodner is under no delusions about the brand’s recent performance.
Addressing a room full of employees assembled for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the company’s new headquarters in Durham, N.C., earlier this month, Bodner was optimistic but candid as he spoke of “bringing the brand back.” In an interview with Fortune, Bodner went even further.
Post-acquisition, Unilever moved the brand away from its core values while also scaling back its investment in product quality, said Bodner.
“They neutered the voice of the brand. They tried to make it too corporate, and they lost that irreverent, ‘on the edge’ humor. And when you do that, you lose the consumer,” he said.
Since prior leadership under Unilever was worried about cannibalizing its bread-and-butter consumer sales, it was also slower than its competitors, like Harry’s, in releasing products in stores, Bodner said.
A spokesperson for Unilever did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Dubin, who reportedly snagged a $90 million payout during the Unilever acquisition, left in 2021, but his 2012 viral video, “Our Blades Are F***ing Great,” still defines the company’s culture. In fact, there is a framed photo of a poster featured in the video in its Durham office.
While the original video was peak millennial humor, Bodner shies away from the idea that Dollar Shave Club is a “millennial” brand and said internal data shows the company is tracking well with Gen Z.
With its new headquarters in Durham, the company is also now located near schools like the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University, as well as Duke University, where Bodner earned his MBA.
Although he admits the direct-to-consumer business is competitive, he thinks the company has an edge over two of its closest competitors.
“One unnamed competitor, the largest one, is all about technology and telling you what you need and [the] latest gizmo. Another one is about the elite on each coast, and that’s not really us,” he said.
The company’s marketing and its unique voice, Bodner said, still lead its efforts to distinguish itself from its competitors and are central to its comeback.
“The question is, How do we bring fun back to a routine? And that’s exactly why you need to evoke some emotion with the brand,” he said.
