“VP, Direct Marketing”
(Venice, CA)
Company Overview
Dollar Shave Club (DSC) is a fast-growing, privately-held men's lifestyle brand and ecommerce company, on a mission to change the way men address their shaving and
grooming needs. From their hassle-free razor subscription, to their Shave Butter chemistry,
to tomorrow’s cutting edge user experience—Dollar Shave Club is dedicated to inventing
smart products to make guys’ lives better and easier. They have an exploding member base
to show for it and are backed by top tier VC funds (Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers,
Andreessen Horowitz, Venrock, and the Pritzker Group, to name a few). Employees work in
an open-air historical building in sunny Venice, CA—minutes from the beach. Their culture is
original, creative, and pretty cool. For more information on the company, visit their web site
at dollarshaveclub.com.
Position Overview
The “VP, Direct Marketing” will oversee all acquisition, loyalty, and cross-sell/upsell efforts for Dollar Shave Club, which effectively makes this senior-level position
the principal driver of growth for the company, both in terms of customer count,
and revenue. To-date, DSC has done an excellent job driving customer acquisition, and the
rate of acquisition continues to accelerate. The new VP will need to work closely with the
Sr. Director, Acquisition, to help identify ways to accelerate acquisition growth even further.
As the installed base of customers grows, it will be critical to expand LTV by Marketing
and selling a broader basket of personal care and grooming products, to alreadyloyal customers.
Scope of Responsibilities
 Engagement Strategy – With input from colleagues (e.g., Brand Marketing,
Research/Insights), and with activation support from both Acquisition and CRM teams
below, lead definition of the optimal contact strategy to help determine “who gets what,
when and how” in order to maximize customer LTV. Continually help define customer
segmentation (demographics, psychographics, buying behavior and motivations, etc.) and
optimize for each critical customer segment product/solution, and channel (Email, Direct
Mail, In-Box, Mobile App, Web Site). In short, design the optimal contact strategy based
on Research, Insights & Marketing Analytics.
 Strategic Targeting – The new VP, Direct Marketing will be responsible for helping
identify the highest potential customers who offer the greatest lifetime value (LTV) and
appropriately allocate Marketing resources (both online and offline resources) in order to
capitalize on these segments and prospects. This individual will help improve and oversee
various analytics and customer dashboards to provide insight into current and future
customer behaviors and buying decisions. The key to driving long-term, profitable (LTV)
retention, is to acquire the “right” customers in the first place.
© 2015 Wiser Partners, LLC
Dollar Shave Club -- “VP, Direct Marketing”
Page 2 of 5
Scope of Responsibilities continued
 Customer Acquisition – As a top priority for the company, and critical to maintaining
the long-term health of the business and its portfolio of Brands, drive profitable Customer
Acquisition to ensure DSC meets its “net add” customer goals, across all brands, subbrands and products. The VP, Direct Marketing will work to optimize testing capabilities
(A/B) and protocols, across the multi-channel Marketing mix (TV, Radio, Print, Direct Mail,
Social Media, Referral Programs, Display, SEO/SEM, Email Marketing, Retargeting,
Outdoor, and Mobile Media). They will develop and monitor performance of all Marketing
activities against business goals and metrics, defining which channels and tactical
programs drive the optimal CPA.
 Retention & Loyalty – Continue to develop, test, learn, implement and measure, the
optimal contact and segmentation strategy to determine “the right message to the right
customer through the right channel at the right time” in order to increase loyalty,
maximize retention, and enhance LTV. Deliver these goals by utilizing relevant, targeted
communications, life-cycle management and other CRM tactics.
 Cross-Sell & Up-Sell – Work closely with the CRM team to develop a targeted effort to
encourage customers to upgrade or enhance their current membership (e.g., upgrading to
a high-margin razor, increasing purchasing frequency, buying extra cartridges), and
develop programs to encourage customers to buy other (non-razor) products (e.g., postshave cream, personal wipes, etc.). As the company grows, and extends into other
product segments, this effort will be critical to enhancing customer LTV, as well as overall
company profitability and valuation.
 Referrals & Endorsements – Working collaboratively with the Sr. Director, Acquisition,
and the Director, CRM, help drive new customer growth by leveraging the power of the
installed, loyal, and vocal DSC customer base, as a source of highly qualified and potent
endorsements for the brand and its unique subscription-based service.
 Financial Delivery – Play a key role in the definition and delivery of agreed-to financial
goals, including Revenue, Margin, Market Share, EBITDA, CPA, LTV and MROI. Effectively
manage and “own” the DSC Direct Marketing budget and related P&L.
 Brand Stewardship – While not directly responsible for managing the Dollar Shave Club
brand, this individual will be a senior Marketing leader for the company, and as such,
should collaborate and interact with all the Marketing leaders, internal creative personnel,
as well as with external agency partners, to ensure all DSC acquisition and loyalty
programs differentiate and enhance the DSC core brand—while reflecting its strategic
position and essence—across all customer touch-points, and all relevant channels.
 Analytics & Insights – This VP, Direct Marketing will play a leadership role in evolving
and enhancing the company’s Analytics ecosystem. This blueprinting will include
identifying and defining critical information needs across the Marketing operation, and
developing a suite of platforms, tools and data sources which will provide the information
required to inform better decision-making. This work will include close collaboration with
Business Intelligence, Engineering and Digital Product teams to: 1) capture, analyze, and
make actionable, comprehensive consumer & marketplace data; 2) build predictive
analytics capabilities; 3) enable personalization across the consumer contact experience
(Marketing channels, website, etc.) algorithmically and with automation; and 4) feed
other Marketing functions & departments (i.e., NPD, Brand Marketing, Digital Product,
Member Services) with rich consumer insights based on data infrastructure.
© 2015 Wiser Partners, LLC
Dollar Shave Club -- “VP, Direct Marketing”
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Scope of Responsibilities continued
 Organizational Development – Review and enhance, where necessary, all
acquisition, loyalty and CRM processes, measurements, information systems, etc., that
are needed to enable the DSC Marketing team to operate efficiently and effectively in
pursuit of its CPA and LTV objectives. The new VP, Direct Marketing will be responsible
for hiring, developing and promoting talent, as needed.
 Agency/Supplier – Seek, develop and manage external relationships, seeking “Best
Practices,” as well as a value-added approach whereby external resources are viewed as
“partners” vs. merely “vendors” or “suppliers.”
Performance & Success Measures
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Financial – Revenue, EBITDA and Profit
Customer – Customer Count (#), CPA ($) and LTV ($)
Brand - Brand Health Measures, Customer Sat (NPS), Social Engagement
Increase Marketing Effectiveness (ROI)
Feedback from key internal and external work partners
Reporting Relationships
The new “VP, Direct Marketing” will report to Mr. Adam Weber, SVP, Marketing.
Adam joined Dollar Shave Club in 2012, after leaving Procter & Gamble Co.'s high-end The
Art of Shaving retail brand to become Marketing Director of Gilt Groupe, a discount E-tailer
of high-end designer goods. As Senior Brand Manager at P&G, Mr. Weber worked on The Art
of Shaving from the outset of P&G's acquisition of the brand in 2009. Before that he was
Brand Manager on Gillette Male Personal Care, where he oversaw Marketing of deodorants
and the launch of Gillette body wash. Prior to that, he was Assistant Brand Manager on
P&G's now-discontinued Axe-fighter, Tag, where he led a brand re-design and launch of Tag
Records, a branded-entertainment program in partnership with Island Def Jam. Adam
earned his BS in Marketing from the University of Dayton. He may look young, but Adam
shaves once/day.
Staff & Resources
Acquisition Team
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Sr. Director, Acquisition
Sr. Manager, Media Strategy & Planning
Marketing Manager, SEM, Online
Marketing Manager, Facebook
Associate Marketing Manager, Analytics
CRM/Loyalty Team
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Director, CRM (TBH)
Sr. Mktg. Manager, Loyalty & Retention
Sr. Mktg. Manager, Owned Channels (TBH)
Mktg. Manager, Analytics (TBH)
© 2015 Wiser Partners, LLC
Dollar Shave Club -- “VP, Direct Marketing”
Page 4 of 5
Key Internal Operating Relationships
 SVP, Marketing
 Director, Brand Marketing
 Director, Marketing Ops
Compensation & Benefits
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Competitive base salary
Annual performance bonus
Stock options
401K
PTO/Vacation, Health/Dental Care
Relocation assistance (as needed)
Candidate Profile
Experience Base
 Direct Marketing – Candidates must be highly analytical and have current experience
leading a multi-channel Acquisition/Retention-based Marketing operation in a Direct
Marketing-driven sector.
 E-commerce & Digital – Candidates should ideally have recent experience managing
Customer Acquisition and/or CRM/Loyalty for an online business (actually selling products
or services) or an online retail channel (for a business selling in other channels, too). Must
be familiar with a variety of Interactive/Digital Marketing tools, including Email,
Retargeting, Display, Affiliate/Partnership, SEO/SEM, Social Media, and Mobile.
 Recurrent Model – Experience in member-based or subscriber-based business models
that are highly commoditized and recurring (Wireless, Cable/Sat-TV, Insurance,
Consumer Credit, Media/Publishing/Content, Home Services, etc.), would be highly-valued
and highly relevant to DSC.
 Entrepreneurial Experience – Ideally, secondary experience in a smaller, more
entrepreneurial, brand-driven, consumer-facing company. Of particular interest,
experience in lean businesses within industries with multiple communication and
distribution channels. Key here is learning how to be resourceful, adaptive, and moving to
market with urgency.
 Vendor/Agency/Functional Management – Serve as the key liaison between DSC and
its roster of external Direct Marketing supplier and Agency partners, and lead the Scope
of Work (SOW), compensation, negotiation, and process optimization processes,
Demonstrated success building organizational capabilities through process design,
organizational development, recruiting and training.
© 2015 Wiser Partners, LLC
Dollar Shave Club -- “VP, Direct Marketing”
Page 5 of 5
Skill Set
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World-class Direct Marketing skills and execution abilities (technically proficient)
Innovative and creative thinking balanced with pragmatism (fresh, big-picture thinking)
Organizational leadership and team development (leads through influence)
Intellectual horsepower (highly analytical & strategic)
Drives for results in prioritized manner (balanced sense of urgency)
Listening skills, minimal ego (listen first, then respond)
Complex problem-solving, with hands-on ability (create options, then converge)
Organized and attention-to-detail approach (strong tactical execution)
Highly resourceful (stretches people and money; compresses time)
Collaborative (works with peers across many functionalities within the company)
Financially minded (complete P&L responsibility)
Personality Profile
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Strong leadership skills
High degree of emotional intelligence
Self-directed/motivated
Flexible and adaptable
Results orientation with keen commercial mentality
Enthusiastic with pride and passion for winning
Blue-collar work ethic
Frugal – treats company resources as his/her own
High integrity and trustworthy
Flexible intellect and highly flexible work style
Comfort working in a fast-paced, highly dynamic work environment
Search Contact
David Wiser
Principal Partner – Cincinnati, OH Office
david@wiserpartners.com
513.919.4000 (M)
File: Position Specification/Dollar Shave/DSC VP, Direct Mktg. Spec (01 20 15-F)
© 2015 Wiser Partners, LLC