Building Category-Dominant Brands: The CPG Playbook for Growth

In this session of Thanks for Holding, we hosted a LinkedIn Live with Joey Thomas, VP at Dude Wipes, to break down what it actually takes for a CPG brand to evolve from scrappy challenger to category-dominant leader.

Drawing from Dude Wipes’ journey from niche disruptor to national retail staple, Joey shared how the brand stopped trying to compete inside the category and instead redefined it.

Rather than relying on incremental product innovation, the conversation focused on clarity, cultural permission, emotional positioning, and the power of narrative ownership.

Category Dominance Starts with Focus

One of the most pivotal moments in Dude Wipes’ growth came when the company made a hard decision:

Stop expanding. Start owning.

Early on, the brand experimented across multiple “dude” products, deodorant, body spray, ball powder. But growth accelerated when they narrowed their focus to one core identity:

We are a butt wipe brand.
And toilet paper is the enemy.

That strategic clarity shifted everything.

Instead of competing against other wipe brands, Dude Wipes reframed the battlefield. The real competitor wasn’t another flushable wipe, it was dry toilet paper.

By positioning toilet paper as outdated and inferior (“wet cleans better than dry”), they created a simple, memorable category narrative.

Category dominance begins by defining the enemy.

Challengers Can Say What Incumbents Can’t

Legacy CPG brands are constrained by tone, corporate risk tolerance, and decades of positioning.

Challenger brands are not.

Dude Wipes leaned into directness and humor:

• Everybody poops
• Dry toilet paper isn’t actually that clean
• You wouldn’t clean mud with dry paper

By saying what legacy brands couldn’t, they earned cultural permission. The messaging felt bold but honest, irreverent without being inauthentic.

As incumbents later attempted to adopt similar language, it lacked credibility. When you’re first to say it, you own it.

Challengers win by leading the conversation, not by copying it.

Emotion Turns Commodities into Brands

Flushable wipes weren’t a new invention. The product category already existed.

What changed was how consumers felt buying them.

Dude Wipes made the product visible. The packaging is bold. It lives on the back of the toilet. It signals identity.

Buying generic wipes feels neutral.
Buying Dude Wipes feels intentional.

The brand turned a low-interest, private purchase into a subtle badge.

That emotional layer, humor, boldness, relatability, transformed a commodity into a cultural object.

Category leaders don’t just sell products. They sell identity.

Community Is the Growth Engine

Another core theme of the conversation: community isn’t an afterthought, it’s the strategy.

Dude Wipes engages directly with its audience:

• The CEO personally responds to comments
• The brand trolls playfully and authentically
• Social isn’t fully outsourced to automation

They use AI where it improves efficiency, but the brand voice remains human.

This approach builds advocacy, not just awareness. People don’t just buy, they participate.

Social becomes the arena where the brand’s personality compounds daily.

Follower count matters less than emotional ownership.

AI as a Tool, Not a Substitute

Joey emphasized a balanced philosophy around AI:

Remove the human where machines perform better.
Protect the human where brand voice matters most.

AI is leveraged for:

• Influencer and creator outreach
• SEO optimization
• Supply chain forecasting
• Operational efficiencies

But when it comes to voice and community?
That stays human.

Efficiency should amplify identity, not dilute it.

Retail Follows Narrative Gravity

As cultural awareness grew, retail followed.

Dude Wipes didn’t outspend legacy competitors. They built brand gravity first.

By the time consumers saw the product on shelves, the narrative already existed. Retail became reinforcement, not discovery.

That’s a fundamental shift in modern CPG growth:

Build culture first.
Let distribution follow demand.

What Category-Dominant Brands Do Differently

Across the conversation, a clear pattern emerged. Brands that move from challenger to leader:

• Narrow their focus instead of expanding too early
• Define a clear competitive enemy
• Speak boldly where incumbents hesitate
• Create emotional resonance around a commodity
• Treat social as community, not just a sales channel
• Use AI strategically without losing authenticity
• Commit to long-term narrative ownership

They don’t compete for share.

They redefine the category.

Final Takeaways

Category dominance isn’t about inventing something new.

It’s about owning the story.

As Joey shared, Dude Wipes didn’t invent wipes, they rebranded the act of buying them. By focusing relentlessly on one vertical, embracing cultural boldness, and building real community engagement, they transformed a functional product into a category-defining brand.

When you own the conversation, scale becomes a byproduct.

A big thank you to Joey Thomas for sharing his insights, and to everyone who joined us live.

Spotify link here.