(Bloomberg) -- Fresh off his widely watched fight on Netflix with former boxing champ Mike Tyson, YouTube star Jake Paul is expanding his W grooming products early next year to the H-E-B and Kroger grocery chains, along with Amazon.com.
W will be available starting in January in 400 H-E-B LP stores and 1,900 Kroger Co. outlets, chains that are prominent in Texas and the Midwest, where Paul has core audiences, company officials said. It will also be available on Amazon.com and Amazon Live, the site’s live streaming platform. Later in 2025, W plans to launch on TikTok Shop.
W, which sells products including body spray, body wash and shampoo, has carved out a home in 4,300 Walmart Inc. stores nationwide through social-first marketing and bold packaging. The company, which targets young men between the ages of 18 and 44, competes with legacy brands such as Procter & Gamble Co.’s Old Spice and Unilever Plc’s Axe.
Paul, a social-media star turned professional boxer, launched W in June. He has been instrumental in building buzz for the brand by promoting it to his 65 million or so followers across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
“Our customer is the young male consumer, but oftentimes the shopper for these products is the mom,” Woodie Hillyard, W’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said in an interview. “So we think being in grocery is a really important channel for us to expand into.”
The company pitches its body spray as a long-lasting, odor blocking tool that has been tested on “sweaty training, stinky weight lifting” Paul himself. The limited edition F Jake Paul Hater Spray smells like “unbothered confidence.”
Investors have shown interest lately in backing brands led by online creators. Their large audiences can help products make a splash in the crowded consumer goods space.
W previously raised $11 million from investors including Shrug Capital, tennis player Naomi Osaka and entrepreneur Paris Hilton, valuing the brand at more than $150 million.
“If you can tap into culture, you can stand out in a way,” said Shrug Capital Managing Partner Moshe Lifschitz, who also invested in MrBeast’s Feastables, another line backed by a social-media star. “It tends to be much easier to convince people to buy your product, try your service, whatever it might be.”
Feastables, the snack brand launched by MrBeast, is on a path toward $500 million in sales this year. Prime, the energy drink co-founded by Jake Paul’s brother and fellow YouTuber Logan Paul, reported sales of more than $1.2 billion last year.
Jake Paul uses his social media prowess to drum up sales for W, wearing merchandise branded with W logos on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and using the products before his fight with Tyson.
The Paul-Tyson fight turned out to be one of the big TV events of year, drawing 65 million viewers at peak, and was a key part of the brand’s launch strategy. In the 24 hours after the fight, W’s revenue at Walmart doubled, the company said.
W is headed for $50 million in sales in its first year, and the company estimates next year’s revenue could approach $100 million. The brand is already in talks for more retail partnerships and plans to launch additional products.
(Corrects time frame of sales forecast in last paragraph.)
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