Dollar Shave Club spent just $400 on a generative AI-powered ad that it says is the most successful campaign in its history. The brand today is launching another AI-driven spot, "Danglers," as it doubles down on using the technology to cut production time and costs while reclaiming its original irreverent voice.
In-house AI slashes production time and budget
The "250 Years. No BS. Still Free" campaign, which launched July 1, was created entirely by Dollar Shave Club's in-house team. Chief Brand and Innovation Officer Laura Higgins briefed the ad, and the team spent three days concepting it with AI tools. A week later, the campaign was essentially finished. The speed and low cost mark a sharp departure from traditional agency timelines and budgets.
"Never in any of the older, more traditional, more established companies that I've worked for would we have been able to do this, and I think AI has a lot to do with that," Higgins said. The team used tools including Higgsfield and Claude for generative video and other assets. Higgins said the process did not remove the human component of comedy, but allowed for rapid iteration.
The shift is altering the brand's relationship with its external agency, Too Short For Modeling. While the shop created earlier AI ads and initially briefed the "Danglers" work, Higgins expects to use it less now that the in-house team has proven its capabilities.
AI brings absurd concepts to life
The "Danglers" campaign promotes the brand's Ball Spray product with a 15-second hero video that uses a pair of truck nuts as a stand-in for male anatomy. A voiceover describes daily friction, sweat, and grime before the truck is rebuffed in bed. "AI enables us to take a cartoony look at things and bring them to life in a way that really lands and lets the consumer understand the joke," Higgins said. A second spot, "Size Matters," positions a travel-size bottle as a lifestyle and fitness hack for gym shoes and clothes.
The over-the-top concept would not have been feasible with the same speed and cost without AI, Higgins noted. The campaign also signals a return to the brand's early, provocative voice after years under Unilever ownership. "We are the original troublemakers. We have to break through and be irreverent and different in order to break through the marketing clutter that is out there," she said.
The "250 Years" ad takes a similar tone, inserting Dollar Shave Club and competitors Gillette and Harry's into Revolutionary War paintings to link colonial tax outrage to modern hidden fees. Higgins said the $2.50 starter kit offer drew consumers in, but they ended up buying more than just the kit, crediting the concept and price point.
Why this matters for Creatives
Dollar Shave Club's AI experiments show that generative tools can handle repetitive production tasks, freeing creatives to focus on strategy and humor. "It allows the creatives to be creative, it allows the brand managers to be strategic and it takes that minutiae out of their job so that they can really be focused," Higgins said. The ability to iterate quickly and test absurd ideas on a tiny budget opens new possibilities for creative work, a shift that mirrors broader trends in AI for Creatives. For in-house teams, the speed and cost savings mean more room to experiment and recapture a brand's voice without waiting on external agencies.
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