Marketing to Young Men: 10 Campaigns and What Worked

Marketing to young men worked in these 10 campaigns when a brand picked one platform, put a person or an event on it and tracked one number. The results below come from the companies or from major news reports, and they range from 12,000 orders in 48 hours to a $1.4 billion valuation. Two cases, Gillette and Prime, show the limits of attention.

I chose campaigns with public numbers and clear platforms so each claim can be checked. Every figure is attributed to its source, and several are company-reported, which the last section addresses.

Which 10 campaigns reached young men, and what did each achieve?

The ten campaigns below span 2007 to 2024 and five platforms: television, YouTube, email, in-game events and Instagram. Each entry names the platform, the reported result and the one lesson a brand can reuse.

Halo 3, 2007: a launch built around a fictional museum

Microsoft's Halo 3 launch ran on television and the web, and Microsoft said the game earned about $170 million in US sales in its first 24 hours, according to TechCrunch's report on the announcement. The campaign began with a trailer at E3 in May 2006, and the final push, called Believe, started on September 11, 2007 with videos and a handcrafted battlefield diorama shown online.

The lesson is timing. The studio built its audience over more than a year, then used one story in the last weeks to give that audience something to share.

Old Spice, 2010: a spokesman who answered the internet

Wieden+Kennedy's Old Spice campaign, starring actor and former NFL player Isaiah Mustafa, launched online on Super Bowl weekend in February 2010. The agency's own case page says the sales goal was a 15 percent increase in body wash sales and that Old Spice Red Zone body wash sales were up 60 percent from the previous year by May 2010. You can read the claim on Wieden+Kennedy's Old Spice page.

The agency's media buy targeted environments where couples would watch together, so the campaign spoke to young men through the people who often buy the product. In July 2010 the agency followed with personalized video replies, and its Cannes Lions entry credited that response campaign with 65 million views. The lesson is that the audience you address and the audience that buys can differ.

Dollar Shave Club, 2012: one video and 12,000 orders

Dollar Shave Club launched on March 6, 2012 with a YouTube video starring founder and CEO Michael Dubin, and the video produced 12,000 orders in the first 48 hours. Unilever bought the company in July 2016 for a reported $1 billion in cash, as summarized in the Dollar Shave Club entry on Wikipedia, which cites Fortune.

The lesson is that the video carried an offer. A viewer who liked the joke could subscribe in the same sitting.

Red Bull Stratos, 2012: a live stream as the campaign

Red Bull streamed Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner's jump from the edge of space on YouTube on October 14, 2012, and YouTube reported more than 8 million concurrent live streams at the peak. Guinness World Records lists the event as the most concurrent live YouTube views.

The lesson is that when the event is the content, the pitch is a date and a link. The brand did not need to explain the product, because the product was the stunt.

Harry's, 2013: a referral list before the site existed

Harry's co-founder Jeff Raider wrote that the razor brand gathered nearly 100,000 email addresses in a one-week prelaunch campaign, before its online store went live. His account, republished on Tim Ferriss's blog, says the plan rested on a credible referral from a friend.

The lesson is that a prelaunch list turns the first sales day into a sales day with an audience. The tactic needs a clear sharing mechanic and a short deadline.

Gillette, 2019: a values film that divided viewers

Gillette released its We Believe: The Best Men Can Be film on January 13, 2019, and NPR reported within days that the YouTube video had more than twice as many dislikes as likes. In July 2019, Procter & Gamble took an $8 billion non-cash writedown on its Gillette business, which Reuters reported. P&G pointed to currency, competition and men shaving less often, not to the film.

The lesson is about measurement. Views and reactions told one story, the sales picture told another, and the two should be tracked separately. A message about values will split an audience, and a brand should decide in advance what reaction it can accept.

Fortnite and Travis Scott, 2020: a concert inside a game

Epic Games said more than 12.3 million players joined the first Travis Scott Astronomical show in Fortnite in April 2020, and later said 27.7 million unique players took part across five showings. Game Developer's report carries both figures.

The lesson is placement. The campaign ran where the audience already spent hours, so no one had to be pulled to a new platform.

Gymshark, 2020: athletes and influencers as the channel

Gymshark, founded in 2012 by Ben Francis when he was 19, built its early audience by working with athletes and social media influencers. In August 2020, General Atlantic bought a 21 percent stake in a deal that valued the company at more than £1 billion, as General Atlantic's own announcement of the investment states. FashionNetwork's report on the deal said the brand had 4.6 million Instagram followers at the time.

The lesson is that the founder was close in age to the customers and the channel was the one they used every day. For programs of this kind, see the influencer marketing services page.

Prime, 2022: two YouTubers launch a drink

YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI, whose channels had a combined 40 million subscribers, announced the Prime drink on January 4, 2022 in a live Instagram feed. Bloomberg reported sales of $250 million in 2022 and $1.2 billion in 2023, and NielsenIQ data reported in the press showed UK sales falling in 2024.

The lesson is that a creator audience can produce the first purchase very quickly, but repeat purchase depends on the product. Attention that arrives fast can leave fast.

Liquid Death, 2024: heavy-metal branding on a water can

Liquid Death, founded by Mike Cessario, sells canned water with heavy-metal branding, and in March 2024 it announced a $67 million round at a $1.4 billion valuation. The company reported $263 million in retail sales for 2023 and 113,000 retail doors in the US and UK, according to Benzinga's coverage of the funding round.

The lesson is consistency. The same tone shows up on the can, in the videos and at live events, so the audience can recognize the brand in a second.

What do the ten campaigns have in common?

The ten campaigns share four traits that a brand can check against its own plan. None of them depends on a larger budget.

• Each picked one main platform where young men already spend time, such as YouTube, Fortnite, Instagram or television on Super Bowl weekend.

• Each put a specific person or event on that platform, such as a spokesman, a founder, an athlete or a record jump.

• Each produced a public number that others could repeat: orders, concurrent viewers, email addresses, sales or valuation.

• Most paired the content with something to do or buy: an order, a referral link, a key or a can.

The same pattern appears outside consumer products. The creative tech PR stunts piece found that the strongest stunts turn a claim into something a journalist can see, film or verify. The developer influencer marketing guide applies the creator model to a technical audience.

What should a brand do differently when it targets young men?

A brand should choose the platform first, the number second and the message third. Most failed plans reverse that order.

Start with where the audience spends hours, and check that the brand can show up there with something native to it. Then decide the one result that counts, such as orders in 48 hours or signups in a week, and write down the source. Only then write the message.

Check who buys, as Old Spice did. Test the message for backlash, as Gillette's case shows, and decide what reaction is acceptable. Plan for retention, as Prime's case shows, because the first wave of buyers is not the lasting audience. Games and entertainment brands can apply the same steps with the video game launch PR timeline.

What do these results not prove?

These results do not prove that any tactic will work again, because most figures are reported by the companies themselves and measure different things. Orders, concurrent viewers, email addresses, sales and valuations cannot be compared with one another.

Several figures also do not show cause. Wieden+Kennedy's sales numbers describe a period when the campaign ran, and the agency's page does not rule out other factors. The Gillette writedown is a company decision whose stated causes did not include the film. The Prime figures come from press reports that cite Bloomberg and NielsenIQ and may be revised.

Treat each case as evidence of what was reported, not as a forecast. A brand that copies the tactic without the audience, the platform and the product will not copy the result.

Frequently asked questions

Which platform reaches young men best?

The best platform is the one where the target group already spends hours. The campaigns above ran on YouTube, Instagram, Fortnite, email and television, so check where your own audience watches before choosing.

Does a founder need to be on camera?

A founder does not have to be on camera, but two of the cases put the founder or athletes in front of the audience. Dollar Shave Club used its CEO in the launch video, and Gymshark built its audience through athletes and influencers.

How should you measure a campaign aimed at young men?

Pick one countable result before launch, such as orders, signups or concurrent viewers, and record the date range and the source. A number with no date and no source cannot be repeated by a journalist.

Is controversy a good tactic?

Controversy is not a plan. Gillette's film drew heavy attention and a divided reaction, and the company's writedown was attributed to other causes, so decide in advance which reactions you can accept and measure sales separately from views.

Choose the platform where your audience already spends hours, name the one number you will report and the date it will be measured, and test the message with a small group of the people it is meant for before it goes public.