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Father and son duo, Josh and Steve King from San Diego entered the Shark Tank seeking $500,000 for a 7% share of their company, Manscaped. Manscaped is a company that is aimed at below-the-waist male grooming and hygiene. They launched their company in January of 2017 after recognizing that 73% of men now practice self-grooming. This number is up from 6% in 2008. In 2017 they generated $1.7 million and in 2018 year-to-date they are at $2.8 million which demonstrates attractive growth to the Sharks.
Their current business model has been focusing on infusing humor in marketing to generate shareable advertisements and videos. This has been very successful for them and they have generated 48 million views since they launched. They have decent margins which are attractive to the Sharks, however, their customer acquisition costs are high at $16 which greatly cuts into their established margins. Their hope is that a customer starts with a package of products and then continues to buy the replacements for the consumed kit components through their replenishment plans.
Part of Manscaped clever humor comes from their product and branding which reflects landscaping humor and puns. Their electric trimmer is named “The Lawn Mower” while their safety razor is termed “The Plow.” Their line of body wash, toner and deodorant are called, “Crop Cleanser,” “Crop Reviver,” and “Crop Preserver.”
All of the Sharks really love the brand and the humor but there is some hesitancy about if the company’s business model, strategy and margins are nailed down enough to make their investment worthwhile.
This pitch is a riot! #sharktank #manscaped
— Barbara Corcoran (@BarbaraCorcoran) October 29, 2018
Whaddya say, gentlemen? Yay or nay to manscaping!? Does your partner care what’s down there? #SharkTank
— Kevin O’Leary (@kevinolearytv) October 29, 2018
This was probably one of my favourite pitches – great humor thats perfect for the actual product #sharktank
— Robert Herjavec (@robertherjavec) October 29, 2018
.@LoriGreiner likes a proper lawn care pun! #SharkTank pic.twitter.com/xrnG3l9Nnl
— Shark Tank (@ABCSharkTank) October 29, 2018
Shark Tank fans loved Manscaped, their product pitch and their brand humor.
#manscaped pitch is hilarious. Are men into manscaping; grooming below the waist? #SharkTank
— Yvonne Chase (@ItsYvonneChase) October 29, 2018
The manscaped presentation on #SharkTank was hilarious lmao
— ♠️shley (@electricbabeee) November 4, 2018
Shark Tank deal for Josh & Steve ~ Kings of Manscaped. Better than a weed whacker. #SharkTank #manscaping #kingme pic.twitter.com/9LDkfMKWS2
— Gerri Findley (@gerri_findley) October 29, 2018
Thoroughly enjoyed this pitch… so did the skarks! #manscaped #sharktank https://t.co/CAGva7IaaD
— Shalom ☮️ (@KagisoRam) October 31, 2018
Yeah, @kevinolearytv! Listen to @LoriGreiner! #Manscaped should 100% be marketed to women! My husband wouldn’t be caught dead buying it! 1st Christmas gift! ✔️@ABCSharkTank #SharkTank
— Kelsey Wright (@Orlana88) October 29, 2018
Watching @ManscapedGents on @ABCSharkTank adds to the awesome creative marketing these guys have done in the social space! Taking care of yourself is important!
Good luck @mcuban & @LoriGreiner on your new venture with these manscaping keepin clean guys!#manscaped #sharktank
— Frank J Wilkinson (@POTUSBowling) October 29, 2018
Charles admitted that he can’t connect with the market and declined to make a deal. Kevin felt as though he may not be able to get his money back and felt that their business model isn’t quite nailed down and so he also did not extend an offer. Robert made the first offer to Manscaped for $500,000 for 35% of the business. While Josh and Steve are considering this offer, Mark Cuban makes a joke that he would front the money just to see Lori pitch this product on QVC. Lori takes him up on that offer. Mark and Lori collectively offer $500,00 for 25% of the company. Because this is a better offer than he extended, Robert backs out of his initial offer. Manscaped accepted Mark and Lori’s offer. They are very happy to have two strategic leaders on board.
What do you think about Manscaped and Mark and Lori’s offer? Would you purchase this product? Sound off in the comments below!
For a full summary of this episode, check out this article. Shark Tank airs on Sundays at 9:00 PM EST on ABC.
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