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Gen-Z, Millennial D2C Opps: Wahl sees surge in demand for its instructional videos & clippers amid coronavirus-related restrictions

Americans stuck at home due to the global pandemic had to learn how to cut family members' hair, resulting in a surge in clipper demand. Clipper company Wahl smartly responded to this trend with the arguably best marketing effort it has initiated in years. Roughly five years, ago, Wahl made its website stand out with instructional videos that have become hugely popular among DIY Americans. Almost overnight, the company's original simple website refresh turned into a huge marketing tool. Since mid-March, the company's site traffic has skyrocketed by 1.4k%. All of the videos are for men's hairstyles, but it's fair to assume they also target women doing the hair cutting.

Unsurprisingly, this increase in site traffic was accompanied by higher sales. According to marketing VP Steven Yde, "The numbers went through the roof." 

In order to continue building its eCommerce sales, Wahl hired global eCommerce channel manager Katia Villamil in May 2020.

According to . 

Per iSpot, Wahl has not aired a national TV ad since spending around $3.4m in H1 2019 and $5.6m in 2018. It mainly targets Gen-Z and millennial males via this channel (see targeting right). 

Kantar reports the company also invests in local print (B2B magazines) and radio ads. Wahl tends to target both male and female consumers, as briefly mentioned, along with professional barbers. All of its instructional videos are under 3 minutes long, which will appeal to younger consumers with shorter attention spans. They are meant to instruct amateurs, which will appeal to a wide audience. Wahl's clippers, both for humans and for pets, are available online, which likely also aided its sales surge since customers are shopping online right now more than ever. Wahl seems to have been unsuccessful reaching Gen-Z and millennials through national TV, so decreasing this channel allowed the company to allocate a larger amount of budget toward digital display. Since young audiences are consuming more media than ever, you should also consider offering paid social, podcast and/or OTT ad space.

Agency & martech readers - Prospect elsewhere for now, readers; we don't see major signs of upcoming agency reviews. Wahl's creative and media AOR is Hoffman York.