How Four Dudes changed the way you clean up your butt?
Yeah, that's right. Lets talk about your morning rituals.
We know how important our gut health is, don’t we?
Imagine eating a burrito, pizza & some spicy Mexican starter and getting up the next day having some burning sensation.
And uh-oh, your dry toilet paper is not going to do the job.
Your girlfriend is heavily bashing you about how you stink.
We all have been there !!
That's where Sean Riley, Brian Wilkin, Ryan Meegan, and Jeff Klimkowski started Dude Wipes from their apartment in Chicago around 2010.
Some statements they have stuck to
”We wanted to give guys a brand of their own”
"We were active, normal, 25-year-old guys, and we wanted a funny message.
“Our competition is Charmin and Cottonelle, and it's boring and bland with bears and puppy dogs, lets change this“
”Our packaging is contemporary and new and fresh and fun and catching”
These guys knew how to get closer to their customers
2014
Dude Wipes sponsored Tyron Woodley who wore a sports uniform with a company logo. That strengthened the image of Dude Wipes as a man product.
Dude Wipes was featured on Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory on MTV
2015
Founders appeared on the startup TV show “Shark Tank” requesting a $300,000 investment for 10% of their company. Famous American businessman Mark Cuban got interested and invested in Dude's $300 000 for 25% of shares. In a week after the episode was shown on TV Red Dress Shop alone brought the company $1 mln in revenue.
2016
Launch of the The Dude Shower — a new line of full body wipes.
In Men’s Health, it was mentioned as the best way to freshen up without taking a shower. That same year the company earned $14 mn.
Why did they succeed?
finding a new audience — guys saw undiscovered opportunities in an already existing product.
collaboration with sports celebrities — thanks to them the brand is associated with sports events;
taking part in a popular TV show — brought not only new customers but investors as well;
freshness and easiness of marketing strategy — funny commercials and slogans.
Lets dig deep
That's a huge number.
Dude wipes just went to this 50%.
Their landing page messaging is so on point.
We live in a world now people trust and buy from people.
In a world of influence, Dude wipes partnered with creators , sports celebrities and became viral on twitter.
When the community started to brew up, they released an ambassador program with amazing benefits.
They tapped into dudes in streets, sports events, colleges, offices and yeah men’s toilet 😛
The effect of virality can change things overnight for a e-commerce brand. Thats what happened when dudes started talking about their products on reddit.
Once you win the online world, the offline world does its magic.
Thats what happened when Dude Wipes started their offline expansion
Closed a deal with TARGET to appear in 75 Chicago & Central Illinois store in 2017.
Over a span of 6 years, they are now in 15,000 stores in America
Lessons learned 🤓
1. Nail your brand purpose, and messaging in the initial days
Try out different narratives, tie up with different creators, and enable them to start talking to their community.
2. Know the influence your creators can help with
They went diversified partnering up with MMA fighters, basketball players, military men, and travelers and sharing their product across as these folks had few things in common.
Dudes love to watch them play
Dudes inspire us to be them.
3.It's possible to stand out in the market by being fun & catchy
They disrupted a boring market with their content and products. Every e-commerce store wanting to stand out in its category need to approach it this way.
4. Build for the omnichannel presence
Hire an A team who can be building you an amazing digital presence and extend partnerships in retail.
What was your key learning’s from Dude Wipes? Share it on LinkedIn or Twitter
I hope you’ll enjoyed reading the second edition of DTC Drive. If you’ll got any feedback or suggestions regarding the newsletter, please share them with us by replying to this email.
Which ecommerce brand should we pick next?