How Duke Cannon Has Changed The Face Of Men’s Grooming By Being Proudly Unpolished
Forbes | May 18, 2021
Very few brands can find themselves on the shelves of both Ace Hardware and on Ulta.com. But Duke Cannon Supply Co. isn’t typical. Duke Cannon is proudly unpolished, leading the company to be one of the fastest growing brands in the men’s grooming space. Ryan O'Connell, Duke Cannon’s president and CEO shares the brand's unique approach.
Duke Cannon was started as a premium men's grooming brand. They launched their bar soap as direct to consumer and since growing distribution in small brick-and-mortar stores and other channels. Currently in over 30,000 stores across the U.S. with a strong D2C business, they've been able to expand product assortments from body washes and hair washes to aftershaves and beard care products.
The category has evolved over the last decade from being dominated by big national brands like Dove for Men, Axe and Old Spice. In the last five years, premium and challenger brands have been able to catch on across Food/Drug/Mass and D2C. That is only going to continue with a lot more entrants in these next couple of years, mainly because men are increasingly engaging in personal care.
"At Duke Cannon, we focus on function, fun, and purpose to differentiate and power our brand. It's being proudly unpolished, being approachable, talking about lifestyle interests—not just grooming—that has fueled a sense of camaraderie among the Duke Cannon community and, as a result, created a loyal following," O'Connell shared.