Here at TVE we love a bit of disruptive thinking. And of all the examples I’ve seen of late, this is one of the smartest, most irreverent, and downright brilliant.

Earlier this year a tiny online start-up decided to take on the big guns, and so far their courage has served them well. When I say ‘courage’ what I actually mean is humour, clever viral marketing, a borrowed business model, and a shed load of creativity. Dollar Shave Club is the name and according to their Old Spice-esque YouTube video their “blades are f***ing great!”

When they launched in March 2012 they drew an impressive 17,000 subscribers in just one week. And all from a video that cost their CEO, founder and all-round comedian Michael Dubin just $4,500 to make himself. Five months on and that same video has received almost 6 million views on YouTube. Not bad for a brand that has taken an entirely social approach to marketing.

So, how does it work? For most men shaving is essential, so it’s understandable that the high cost of today’s razors is the source of some frustration.  Dubin realised that if he could sell blades direct to the consumer he could reduce costs, whilst still offering a product to rival everything else on the market. From as little as $1 per month he offered members the chance to receive high-quality razors delivered right to their door – no more running out of blades! Even the most premium option – the $9 per month 6-blade kit offered better value than the Gillette Fusion ProGlides of this world. And with his subscription model (based on Netflix’s own model) Dubin could ensure that he only had to get the customer in once before auto-renew kicked in.

The prediction is that if Dubin keeps up his current pace, he’ll have nearly a million subscribers by the end of his first year in business. So what does Dollar Shave Club’s success – a true David and Goliath tale if ever there was one – tell us about the capitalist model in general?

Whilst the balance of power remains in favour of established brands for now, small ones that think differently and communicate in a way that can’t be ignored have a chance to grow beyond start-up status. Dollar Shave Club has used social media to win visibility and trust directly from the consumer. And without a retailer acting as a middle man this sort of approach can go a long way to levelling the consumer products playing field.

It won’t work for everyone, of course; for a start, not every CEO can double as a comedy-sketch genius! But the important lesson all brands can learn from Dollar Shave Club is that sometimes a bit of clever thinking, a new and often unexpected approach, and a whole load of passion can go a long way. To a $60 million dollar business in a year if predictions about DSC are to be proven right!

It’s must for anyone who is interested in brands

It’s a must for anyone who likes a good, and in this case true, story

It’s a must for anyone who loves Lego

In a summer with a new Batman movie and the first part of the Hobbit trilogy on the way, the film I’m rating as the must see movie is a short beautifully animated feature called the LEGO ® Story – it has drama, heartbreaks, battles against adversity and ultimate success

Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdDU_BBJW9Y

The rapid pace of change among kids’ audiences – and the brands targeting them – can make it a challenge to stay on top of what’s happening.  That’s why we produce our quarterly Kidscan report, a free review of  what’s been happening with UK kids and families.  We bring together interesting news & info from the past three months with our own analysis, to give you an easy way to keep up to speed.

Hot off the (virtual) presses, our Summer 2012 edition of Kidscan looks at developments including:

• The big news in the children’s television, film & gaming charts in the past quarter
• How Kindle titles are taking over YA fiction
• The impact of the Games on children’s toys and games (and what a Games it was! We’re still reeling from the excitement of 29 gold medals…)
• Innovation Ella’s Kitchen-style, with the launch of ‘spouches’
• How Wagamama is catering to Gen Xers with its new kids’ menu
• Kellogg’s & the Dairy Council’s solution to getting the last of the milk from the bowl
• Whether Moshi Munchies are a step too far for the Brand of 100 Licenses
• LEGO’s Team GB minifigures – the hottest new collectible to hit the shelves
• Argos’ predictions of the Top 10 Toys for Christmas (yes, it’s that time again, sorry)

Of course, you’ll also find our regular round-up of news, stats and features from the UK kids & family marketing sector. As always, thanks our friends at Swapit for letting us share kids’ hot conversation topics in ‘What Kids Are Talking About’, drawn from their tracker research into the brands that children find cool in the world of FMCG, media, retail and more.

If you’d like to receive a copy of the latest Kidscan report, would like to find out more about our recent work with kids or are interested in our thoughts on a issue you may have on kids or family-focused branding, strategy or innovation, please do give us a call.

If you’re looking to stay up to speed in between reports, you can also follow TVE Kids @lou_ellerton for all the latest news.

Happy reading!

Alcohol has long been subject to high taxes but if you are a fizzy drinks or soda brand these are worrying times, as events in California unfold and further pressure is put on your business

Last May the City Council in Richmond, California agreed to put a measure on their November ballot to charge businesses a penny for every ounce of sugar sweetened soft drinks they sell. Aimed at helping to combat obesity it would mean a two litre bottle could go up from $2.19 to $2.87 (if all the cost was passed onto the consumer) – and so could represent a 30% increase in price.

Other cities and their councils are following suit and drafting their own ‘soda taxes’ or are actively monitoring the situation. Some 30 states already levy a sales tax on sweetened drinks which according to The WSJ averages about 5%. However this new tax is different as it is proposed as a business license fee imposed on the sellers and meaning it is up to them how and if they pass on the additional cost.

Now in the run up to the November ballot both sides are out and lobbying local people.

Currently 7% of Americans calorie in-take is in the form of sweetened soft drinks (source: US Department of Agriculture) but according to Beverage Digest there has been a decline in the consumption of these types of sugary drinks in the States. If passed it will be interesting to see if there is any direct impact on future consumption trends.

On my drive home the other day I chanced upon a talk on Radio 4’s Four Thought: architect Ali Mangera on ‘The Future of Shopping’. Given the closely-connected futures of the urban environment and shopping behaviour this made for some interesting listening.

In 2010 Mangera’s firm won a competition to design a new Tesco store in Nottingham. Identifying shopping not just as a function, but an experience, they started to draw inspiration from a number of other experiential environments. They looked at customer behaviour in museums and airports. They looked to the barrios of Spain, in which shopping is more intimate and the retailer and customer become lifelong friends. They looked to the likes of Ronnie Barker’s Arkwright in Open All Hours, serving one customer at a time, while the others chatted about so-and-so’s wayward daughter and the price of ham.

As it stands, today’s supermarket is just a large, hermetically-sealed box. Goods go in one end and are dispatched at the other. What it’s lacking in windows it makes up for in parking, and how! But is parking-a-plenty sufficient for today’s consumer? Ali Mangera and his team didn’t think so.

Consider your most recent trip abroad – what do you remember most? A vibrant Moroccan souk or buzzing bazaar? Or perhaps the local specialties of a French farmers’ market or Thai floating market? Those memories that stick with you are unlikely to be of the nearby hypermarket or shopping mall.

With their Tesco store design Ali and his team wanted to find a way of recreating the hustle and bustle of a market, whilst giving the supermarket what it wanted – a box. So they placed the box in the middle of the space, creating a hive of activity – piazzas, gardens, artists’ workshops etc. – around it. They reasoned that with shopping perfectly simple (and often easier) from home, customers need a reason to go out. And with the gradual transformation of shopping from necessity to leisure pursuit already underway, the idea of the supermarket as a social and entertainments hub made perfect sense. After all, those visitors to Arkwright’s store were arguably as much there for the gossip as they were for their fruit and veg.

In the end, the Tesco Nottingham project was canned and Mangera’s ground-breaking design never saw the light of day. But that’s not to say that it hasn’t provided an insight into what might be.

As internet retail expands, the ‘box’ is losing its value. In fact, it makes more sense to dedicate the space to stock for home deliveries, with fresh goods going direct to the consumer from the supplier, thus cutting down on energy and transportation costs. Of those parts that aren’t used for distribution, amongst other things:

• The roof could play host to a rainwater-fed garden or allotment, the fruits of which are sold in the market place
• With parking less of a concern, we could witness a rise in urban agriculture, with vertical, climate-controlled farms taking over old high-rise car parks
• Tesco’s digital points of sale are likely to become a more common sight
• Cameras could be used to monitor customer response to shelving and displays, with robotics reorganising the store according to this interaction
• New materials could be introduced e.g. NASA-invented nanogel as a glass replacement (lets in light, but not heat in)

Of course, the foods we consume will also change over time, with bio-engineering and digital printing leading to new types of food and food tastes, but it’s the store itself that’s of interest here.

As Ali Mangera observed, retailers and consumers have yet to understand the game-changing impact of digital retail on the design and development of physical space and the redundancy that almost certainly will lead to in terms of the traditional shop. In March 2012, Deloitte reported that up to 40% of high street shops could close over the next five years. In their place will be a high street lined with coffee shops and internet kiosks, as the boundaries between physical and virtual space become blurred.

The big question for TVE and our clients is what brands will need to do to adapt to this changing environment. How do the laws of competition differ on the digital shelf? As shopping centres become more general hubs of activity, what will be the opportunities for brand extension and diversification? With Tesco’s virtual fridges we’re already starting to see fairly significant changes in-store – we just need to keep our eyes and ears open to help keep our clients ahead of the game.