The Only Functional Fragrance Brand

Review #27 - DedCool👃

Baby’s first laundry detergent selfie!

My soap enthusiasm has reached new heights. Welcome to my first laundry detergent review. Side note: the nose emoji is really freaky IMO but nothing else fit. Sincerest apologies.

Review #27 - DedCool👃

What Is It

DedCool makes, in their words, scents to live in. According to their website, DedCool is “the only Functional Fragrance brand that empowers all people to smell and feel good through scent.” It’s so funny to me when brands make these types of claims.

As a shock to everyone involved, I’ve actually been using a perfume of theirs for a while. But Katie, how can you not know what perfume you’re wearing? you ask. And to that I say, great question. The only answer I can give you is that it was one of those black-out purchases I made at Credo when I needed to “go for a walk” and ended up with a new $50+ object to play with. What an embarrassingly unintentional purchase for a hyper-personal item, and pretty out of character for me.

Huh, well would you look at that

I didn’t put two and two together when I proceeded to buy one of their laundry detergents because someone asked me to review it. It’s that simple, people. I’m talking about their Dedtergent in the scent “Milk.”

Brand

Positioning

DedCool thinks “everyone should have a signature scent that extends beyond a glass bottle.” The brand is intermingling fragrance “across mediums into otherwise mundane products from laundry detergent to car fresheners, so that scent is practically applied in your everyday life.”

Reminds me of Comme des Garçons

Sort of a mouthful, so TLDR: they’re detaching “scent” from “perfume” by making utility products that smell good. If that’s the headline, this is the subtext:

• The fragrances they make are gender-neutral

• And vegan, cruelty-free, sustainable, all the progressive marketing words, etc

  • by making them “cleaner” they’re also making them more potent, a byproduct of removing water and other potentially harmful additives

• They’re bringing the joys and complexities (layering, scent profiles) of fragrance to a younger and relatively untapped audience

They’ve signed up for a lot of education work. Just from a cursory overview, I see two main points of discussion:

• Explaining to Gen-Z the intricacies of fragrance. We know “smell-maxxing” is a thing (TBH I wish I didn’t), but that doesn’t mean young consumers automatically know what “top notes” are. The good news is that scent is congruent with vibes, and if anyone is going to buy a vibe on the internet, it’s a chronically online young adult.

• In order to sell “clean fragrance” you first have to explain that other fragrances are not “clean.” You’ll also have to do this in a way that doesn’t sound like fear-mongering but frightens the consumer a little bit in order to incentivize a new purchase.

Their work is cut out for them, so let’s see how they pull it off.

Visual Identity

Funky, the preeminent adjective for Gen-Z oriented brands, is definitely appropriate here. However, the flavor of funkiness is less Girlie Pop and more Urban Outfitters.

There’s a twinge of Venice Beach here, so the 😜 is not as ✌️ as it is 🤘. Sometimes emojis are better at expressing my thoughts than words are, and that’s a cross I’ll have to bear as a member of a digitally native generation.

Gradient = clear West Coast indicator

It feels really of the moment; I have a hard time envisioning any sort of legacy attached to this brand, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Because so many fragrance brands are trying to tap into elegance and timelessness and sensuality, their branding accidentally airs on the side of old-fashioned and stodgy. Or it’s Pink Sugar-y.

So while DedCool certainly isn’t evoking a feeling of heritage, it is unique, and that’s something I can always appreciate. It also fulfills the promise of gender neutrality, which, now that I’m looking at this spectrum, feels pretty easy to do.

Vocal Identity

I’m aware this makes me sound ancient but I really hate text-speak from brands. “Ur” doesn’t belong on printed collateral, and that’s a hill I’ll die on. We have to keep some things sacred.

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Mini self-reflection that has a broader application alert: That was a very New York take, and DedCool as a brand sounds incredibly Los Angeles. Proof that there are distinctions within the Coastal Elite umbrella. #NotAllCoastalElites!

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It was a real hurdle for me to get past the internet lingo, but now that I’m here, I’m realizing I don’t dislike the copywriting. In fact, I think the product descriptions on their PDPs are pretty good.

not my favorite UX but we can’t win em all

“Familiar, like warm, clean skin” is a winning laundry detergent scent description. I’m in.

Marketing

Social Media

Like any youthful brand (attempting not to use the phrase Gen-Z), their social presence is going to be essential. Because they’re speaking to an internet-savvy (wow, I’m elderly) audience, they have an advantage when it comes to trends since they can participate in the majority without feeling too cringe. That is, depending on who you ask. Don’t forget cringe is subjective.

Sometimes I find their content funny and sometimes it’s too much for my taste. As my dad would say, that’s what makes horse races.

Here are some standouts:

dedcool

A post shared by @dedcool

I’m a sucker for a Capricorn meme unfortunately.

dedcool

A post shared by @dedcool

When they provide value, they’re doing well.

dedcool

A post shared by @dedcool

But they’re at their best when you can feel the creativity flowing.

dedcool

A post shared by @dedcool

Ultimately, they’re taking big swings on social and I got nothing but respect for that.

Partnerships

The co-branded products could be the strongest spoke in their creative marketing flywheel.

• The collab with Ouai is smart. Melrose Place was already a fan-favorite for Ouai enthusiasts, so partnering with a “functional fragrance” (ahh, now I get why it’s called that) company to expand its reach it really smart.

theouai

A post shared by @theouai

• The Cosmic Release scent with Youth to the People is big time synergy. I can’t help but think about consumerism in Venn Diagrams, and an ideal collaboration is when you can seamlessly merge the two brands’ audiences into one perfect circle.

  youthtothepeople

  

  A post shared by @youthtothepeople

• Same with the Starface co-branded air fresheners. Fun.

• I really like this holiday bag collaboration with Madeline Porterfield. Merch that does more, you could say. Actually, I like the sound of that…

  madeline.porterfield.knitwear

  

  A post shared by @madeline.porterfield.knitwear

Oh, and they’re still on the social media giveaway junket, but at least there’s humor at play.

Community

The secret DedCool users walk among us, and they’re the people you least expect. This data comes from very scientific consumer insights testing: I posted 1 instagram story of my recent laundry detergent purchase and the DMs were flooding (flooding = approx 5 messages).

Their points program is—ostensibly—keeping that community strong. If you had asked me what third party affiliate community platform they’re on, I’d have guessed TYB (as most better-for-you Gen Z brands are), but interestingly enough they have one of their own. On it, users can join the “DedClub” and earn “Dedcoins” to unlock rewards and exclusive access to sales and launches.

dedcool

A post shared by @dedcool

Once again, consider this an open invitation for members of the community DedClub to reach out and share their experience with me.

My Experience / Efficacy

Going into this, I’ll admit, I was scared. When I was growing up, I had a rash that two different dermatologists diagnosed as two different things: a reaction to my laundry detergent or an allergy to the sun. The latter was the one we took seriously (in hindsight, literally why) but the former never left me. I became really conscious of irritants and fragrances in my laundry detergent, and have since been buying unscented versions of any soap product.

welcome to the dungeon

Good news! No rashes AND my laundry smells good. It’s a little bulky for the trek down to the basement of my building (I’m outing myself as middle class in the scheme of NYC laundry situations), especially on top of my towels, sheets, etc, but it makes one of my least favorite chores considerably more enjoyable and I think, in the words of Mastercard, that’s priceless.

I also like that it’s refillable and the aluminum is ultimately recyclable. Spoken like a real climate warrior over here.

Overall Thoughts

Before I forget, no I don’t know why it’s called DedCool. Moving on.

This is where I recognize that this brand is not meant for me. I like to think of myself as a relatively unserious person, but I think this genre of silly is out of my jurisdiction. I also feel as though I’m at a point in my life where my fragrance should not come from a brand that also sells “Poo Drops.” I’ll probably eat my words on that, though.

Separating my own self image from my thoughts on this brand, I can appreciate the uniqueness of their offering. While Big Fragrance is allegedly booming, the industry feels overwhelmingly focused on Millennials+, with the exception of You, which is a separate case that I won’t be getting into today.

dedcool

A post shared by @dedcool

Big takeaways: DedCool succeeds at gender neutrality, brand collaborations, and making laundry fun again. From a personal perspective, I learned that maturity is now a factor in my purchasing decisions. Who knew.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

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In Other News…

• The probiotic that was I subscribe to is now in Target. I guess big box money is still better than subscription money.

• Lemme get on Ozempic—this brand fascinates me to no end.

• My brain felt cluttered this week but this podcast episode by

  A Thing or Two
  was a nice 30-minute reprieve.

That’s all for now. If there’s a product you want reviewed or just want to chat, reply to this email or leave a comment. :)