Read this article for free.

Already a subscriber? Log in here

Media Startups Google Facebook

Growing Cost of 'Viral' Videos Shows Shift in Marketing Landscape

Tom Dotan

Mar 11, 2014 11:37 AM PDT

Dollar Shave Club’s first marketing video was so good some people wondered if the razors by mail service was fake.

The 2012 clip featured founder Michael Dubin strolling through the company’s fulfillment center, talking to the camera with an arch bravado. The tone hewed closely to TV spots by brands such as Old Spice and the ad soon went viral, racking up millions of views on YouTube. Today, the 93-second spot announcing Dollar Shave is hailed as a prime example of viral startup marketing.

But the appearance of an organic groundswell belies a canny marketing scheme that involved spending as much as $10,000 a day on paid advertising.

Read this article for free

This article is part of our archive of over 2,400 stories and is only available to subscribers. To give you a preview of the work we do, you can enter your email to access the full article.

Already a subscriber? Log in here

What Is The Information?

Notebook b5103017ee163370a1667c9ce59ab0ef023875a17888105d26c185cadf31bb69

Daily news analysis

Every weeknight, we'll send you our reporters’ views on the day’s top tech news—distilled into one email.

Notes bb3aa5069205d702dda37fc71dc6f1c59df2310c4379304e9f1199f052af4884

Exclusive Articles

We broke it first. Receive original reporting, stories, and exclusives you won't read anywhere else from the largest newsroom in tech.

Conference calls

Go deep into areas like crypto and VC diversity—or get real-time analysis of breaking news—via conference calls with our reporters and other experts.

Events 499acedd16cffc41445edd76bfd302b2836c2a27419890f17130a6b10e2aa3df

Special Events

For no extra fee, subscribers get access to more than a dozen events yearly, from intimate dinners to larger gatherings with marquee speakers.

Access the best reporting on the tech industry read by tens of thousands of global executives.

Become a contributor

Share your views and find other subscribers by completing your profile. You’ll be listed in our contributor directory.

Org Charts

Access the only collection of tech company org charts. Our expanding database includes companies like Amazon, Snap, and Uber.

Slack community

Discuss topics and current events with our subscriber-only Slack group and share news about your company with other subscribers.

Share with your team

Subscribers can unlock any article and share it with friends and co-workers through a special share link.

Stay up to date on Silicon Valley

Sign up for Jessica Lessin’s (The Information’s CEO & Founder) free Saturday newsletter and also receive a complimentary week of our daily afternoon tech commentary email.