Content creator, boxer and now…personal care brand founder? Jake Paul wants to win at it all.
On Wednesday, Paul is launching a body care brand for men called W, a nod to winning, at Walmart. To start, the company is rolling out body wash, body spray and antiperspirant deodorant, all under $10, available in three scents, including W Original, Fresh Ice and Deep Woods. This launch comes ahead of Paul’s fight with Mike Tyson, which was rescheduled from July 20 to November and will be livestreamed on Netflix. The company is cofounded by Woodie Hillyard, brand builder and veteran of Safely and Casper, and Geoffrey Woo, cofounder of Paul’s venture capital firm Anti Fund. Hillyard will also act as the company’s chief executive officer.
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The W team shared exclusively with WWD that another scent, called Wave Breaker, will launch later this summer. Other products are in the pipeline, including two-in-one shampoo and conditioner, bar soap, face wash, pomade and hair gel.
“It’s taking over the whole bathroom,” Paul said. “There’s so much room to grow.”
According to Paul, the idea for the brand came to him about four years, though he seriously started developing it two years ago.
“It sounds crazy, but my assistant wasn’t with me for some reason, so I had to go to the store to buy deodorant,” the 27-year-old said. “I walk into the CVS and I’m like, ‘How the f–k [do some brands] still have 16 feet of shelf space and there’s no new brands?’ It looks the exact same from the time I was eight years old….This is a perfect opportunity and category to innovate and make a difference.”
When Paul started ideating what W would be, he had several non-negotiables, especially as he aims to target male Gen Z customers.
“Gen Z is continuing to learn more and want to improve on what they put in and on their body,” he said.
With this in mind, the products are formulated without parabens, phthalates, artificial dyes and harsh sulfates. Furthermore, he wanted to make the products more functional with ingredients that provide an added benefit — they are formulated with vitamin B, vitamin E, magnesium and biotin for their nourishing properties.
“[I] specifically wanted to infuse vitamins because transdermally your body can absorb vitamins and it turns out so many people in this generation are magnesium and vitamin D deficient. I was [both] when I went to the doctor,” Paul said. “[I] wanted there to be a product where if you’re putting this stuff on your skin, you might as well be getting better from it every single day.”
Scent was also a core element for Paul. He worked with Custom Essence, an independent division of Givaudan acquired in 2021, to create the elevated, mood-boosting scents. He opted to create vibrant packaging and a bold logo, both intended to elicit the feel of a streetwear brand.
“If we’re called W, we have to have the winning formula. We have to have the best winning product. [I] saw the packaging being so boring on counters and on shelves,” he said. “I wanted to create this streetwear essence.”
In the way of streetwear, W will be adding merch to its lineup.
By combining all of these elements, Paul believed he would have a winning brand, which of course inspired the name W.
“No brand has ever really been built around just winning in general and the term W being so pervasive in culture: [when] Patrick Mahomes wins the Super Bowl he puts W as his caption. Luka Doncic drops 70-something points [and] puts W as his caption. It’s in the last Drake album. He’s talking about Ws,” Paul said. “Taking that whole essence and turning it into this brand that stands for something that can help you be a winner.”
While Paul is targeting Gen Zers, he is expecting to draw in new consumers over time.
“The main customers will be Gen Z, but I think what will happen and what I hope will happen over time is that the sons and dads will change their deodorant together because I think the son will be like ‘Yo, why are you still using [that]? It’s old and this is a better product with less harmful things,'” he said. “Everyone’s becoming more health conscious.…We might be surprised by an older audience.”
However, with more than 26 million followers on Instagram, Paul’s new brand has a potential to reach a broad audience, though the brand declined to share specific sales projections.
“It’s for everybody who wants to be better and wants to win on a daily basis,” he said.