With A New Campaign Starring Chief Creative Officer Christopher Stoikos, Hardworking Gentleman Is Spreading A Message Of Nontoxic Masculinity

After going through five agencies, grooming brand Hardworking Gentleman hadn’t landed on an effective advertising strategy. Desperate, CEO and founder Reid Ryan decided to take matters into his own hands and last year enrolled in a course from Chapell Digital Marketing to learn how to produce and run ads himself.

“We had spent a ton of money in the past doing really high-end production, very aspirational content with really not a lot of purpose, it was just kind of aesthetically pleasing to look at,” he says. “So, when we stripped it all down to, ‘Hey, this is me the founder, these are the products I created for myself, this is why they’re great, give ’em a go,’ it seemed to resonate with our customers, the simplicity, the honesty, the authenticity of it.”

The ad pivot was critical to HWG’s 2022 sales increasing 186%. The brand was wiped clean of merchandise by October last year, causing it to miss out on holiday purchases. This year, HWG’s growth is tracking at 649%. It’s expected to hit “high seven figures in revenue” and is “very profitable,” according to Reid. About 90% of the brand’s revenue is coming from direct-to-consumer distribution today versus 90% coming from wholesale venues—barbershops, salons and boutiques—up until the middle of last year. On its website, it’s notched a 60% customer return rate.

Validated by the newfound success, HWG is doubling down on spreading its message. It’s brought on board Christopher Stoikos, former CEO and founder of The Beard Club, previously Dollar Beard Club, a men’s subscription beard care goods that he helped reach $40 million in sales in part through viral ads featuring him, founder of ad service Viral Response and hopeful minor league hockey player in the United States, as chief creative officer and star of a campaign that premiered Wednesday.

“I was aligned with what they were selling, and there was a connection with Reid that felt very natural and effortless. He had an instantaneous trust and belief in me to be able to market and put out the messages that I wanted to do for the brand,” says Stoikos. “And I was very excited to be able to step into a role where I didn’t have to do operations or any of the accounting or legal or other day-to-day stuff. I can strictly focus on the creative side.”

Fueled by HWG lifting its ad budget 400% this year, the campaign starring Stoikos is kicking off with an around 2-minute video on YouTube. Along with YouTube, elements of it will be on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and HWG’s site. Meant to convey the brand’s understanding of what a considerate hardworking gentleman is, the video shows Stoikos cavorting in nature, staying out of a scrap while playing hockey and spritzing HWG’s Sea Salt Spray on his hair and beard in a locker room.

During the locker-room scene, Stoikos says, “A gentleman knows that his grooming habits and his presence of scent are crucial to putting a well-polished foot forward, and, no, we’re not talking about dousing yourselves in a vat of chemical-based cologne masking your lack of general cleanliness. We’re talking about that pristine balance of pleasant aromas.”

Although HWG products are in the video, Stoikos stresses he isn’t a fan of being overly salesy in ads. “The intention is to leave a subconscious imprint of inspiration in the viewer after they’ve watched the ad, and when that can leave an emotional foundation for them that feels like they’ve been attracted to something that they resonate with, it gives them the ability to shop with confidence if they want to purchase our products,” he says. “Them buying stuff from us is a natural byproduct because we’ve served them with a beautiful piece of marketing that wasn’t trying to push anything down their throat.”

The campaign is geared to HWG’s core demographic of 25- to 45-year-old men, an age group that Stoikos and Ryan aren’t coincidentally in. “What’s great about that span is that it’s a huge transition in most men’s lives,” says Ryan. “We’re done with our education, we’re into our professional career, likely moving into our first serious relationship, marriage, whatever that is, starting a family, moving up the ladder of the professional world.”

Amid that transition, he suggests men are reconsidering their grooming routines and perhaps turning to better-for-you products. A big component of HWG’s positioning is its clean formulas. The brand’s ethos is encapsulated in the slogan, “Nontoxic men’s grooming with nontoxic masculinity.”

HWG has about 20 products. Its bestsellers are $18 Clay, $16 Deodorant and $24 Body Wash. A bundle with 10 trial sizes of its top products has been an integral customer acquisition tool for the brand. Expanding HWG’s skincare selection, particularly with sunscreen, is a focus for it. From there, the brand plans to expand outside of the bathroom to housewares. It plans to expand its ad reach, too, and connected television and out-of-home ads are possibilities.

HWG’s move from wholesale dominance to DTC dominance is rare in the current consumer packaged goods era pushing omnichannel distribution. However, Reid, who was formerly GM for North America of grooming brand Uppercut Deluxe, is quick to point out that HWG hasn’t abandoned wholesale. “We want to be very selective in who we partner with on a wholesale channel. So, we’re talking to some of the bigger box retailers at the moment,” he says. “We’ve passed on a few, just focused on what’s in our immediate future, but, by this time next year, we’ll be in a very different place in terms of our omnichannel strategy.”

HWG was originally called Parker Provisions, and Reid says he invested $100,000 to launch it. The brand changed its name due to a trademark dispute. Under the old name, its tagline was, “Essential goods for hardworking gentlemen.” As HWG attempted to find its ad footing and erect distribution, Reid’s investment in the brand jumped to $500,000. He sold his house and poured money from the sale into the brand. He says, “It’s still a bit of a touchy subject. It was a house I built myself with my wife, my father and father-in-law.”

HWG has also raised $1 million in outside funding from investors Reid describes as “very strategic people that I love and trust.” He says, “I feel really good about the people we have involved in this business. I’ve made the mistake in the past of bringing in too many investors in other businesses, and it gets messy, and it has the ability to completely ruin a business. I care too much about this one to let that happen.”