Part 1, top takeaways for influencer advice that actually works, not generic B.S fluff
Read this for the measured version of the 2026 Meta traffic quality problem, with real CTR, CPM and conversion rate deltas from three nine-figure brands, plus Ridge's category launch.
Founder · September 11, 2026 · 65 min read
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Inside DTC Marketing: Why Meta Ads Are Underperforming Right Now
Read this for the measured version of the 2026 Meta traffic quality problem, with real CTR, CPM and conversion rate deltas from three nine-figure brands, plus Ridge's category launch playbook and a sharp argument that TikTok Shop's real value is creator activation, not revenue.
The TikTok Growth Expert: The Strategy That’s Printing Millions Right Now
The most detailed creator-programme account in this library for a supplement brand: the three hour orientation, the three tier Discord with a gross merchandise target to stay in, the recruiting done by poaching other agencies' creator pools, the prize structure, and the exact economics of top affiliates. It also gives the retail counterpart, including the Walmart failure and why they now refuse a big account with bad placement.
Channel Diversification in Ecommerce: Biggest Mistakes & Wins
Read it for the influencer section: a low six figure celebrity deal that returned 20 to 25 thousand dollars, the shift to 80 percent paid and 20 percent organic, shorter deals with 3 to 4 months of usage rights, and how they split a 30 thousand dollar deal between content cost and media.
Clean Cause protein drinks brand positioning
Anyone interested in brand strategy and the evolution of the protein drink market will find this insightful.
Culture Pop's founder on modern soda and the Noah Kahan can
A short but useful read on how a founder who has done this twice picks partners: Culture Pop's first celebrity deal came from a relationship rather than a search, they have never chased actors, fashion people or big influencers, and the influencers they do work with came to them. Also has the modern soda framing with poppi and Olipop, and the pricing story from Nantucket Nectars.
Vita Coco founder on the supply chain moat against Coke
The clearest celebrity-endorsement case study in this batch: two household name deals done with equity rather than fees, both starting from the celebrity already using the product organically, one of them triggered by a paparazzi photo. It also has the best account of what a strategic buyer does wrong to an acquired functional beverage brand.
The Influencer Marketing Playbook - with Lily Comba, Founder & CEO of Superbloom
The most directly useful episode in this library for anyone selling influencer work: it gives real budget minimums, the AOV screener, the exact code leakage checks and multiplier method, the YouTube 25% watch time rule, and how whitelisting rights get negotiated into every deal.
Bucked Up CEO on affiliate roots, 300 million and micro influencers
Read it for the creator economics stated in cash: a $1,000 macro post that returned about 50 sales, a sub 10,000 follower creator on pay-per-sale who matched the big names, 100,000 ambassadors with 200 applying a day, McGregor at $700,000 in three days, and a single DeChambeau discount stunt worth over $4 million in 24 hours that paid his whole year. It is the clearest statement of the split between awareness talent and purchase talent from a brand doing 300 million.
Inside DTC Marketing: Why Meta Ads Are Underperforming Right Now
Marketing Operators · Cody · 21 Jul 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F3UcH5iyIQ
Not put in a category yet
**1. **Cody thinks TikTok Shop is still underrated: like missing Meta ads in 2019, you may miss a $5 CS, but still get a $30 CAC against the $100 CAC you'd get now. 56:25
“And it's like if you look at the long-term trends of some of these stocks, it's like sometimes when you think it's still early, it's like and like everyone has jumped in and you think you think it's too late and you've like missed it. If you zoom out in the in the grand scheme of things, it's probably early. It's obviously not as early as it was.
It's like it's like, you know, meta ads in 2019, you know, like yes, you missed the $5 CS, but you're still going to get a a $30 CAC that in and compared to the $100 CAC that you're going to get now,
**2. **If HexClad runs a loyalty programme it will be a brand play with a custom Black Apron Club reward. 63:21
“I think if it's like, loyalty programs need to be thought of as a brand marketing exercise, and maybe not for every brand, but at least for Hexcloud, that's how we were thinking about it. If we ever roll out a loyalty program, it'll be a really cool brand play where you spend X. We have three tiers.
If you spend X dollars and get into the Black Apron Club, you get a custom-designed Black Apron that says Black Apron Club that no one else is getting.
**3. **Motion's 2026 benchmarks report analysed over 575,000 creatives from 6,000 advertisers and over a billion dollars in ad spend. 8:20
“What is normal? How many ads should we actually be shipping? What is a healthy hit rate? And which formats really win? The report analyzes over 575,000 creatives from 6,000 advertisers and over a billion dollars in ad spend to answer these exact questions. The report has some really interesting findings.
The fact that only 4 to 8% of ads actually become winners, and over half of ads actually lose.
**4. **The chains launch was built with a number of creators engaged up front to produce a full toolbox of ad creative. 43:22
“We did a video, we did a photo shoot. We activated across all the channels. We had multiple emails set up.
We spent a lot of time on the performance creative front.
Let's come into this with a number of different concepts and angles, and let's engage a number of creators. So we've got a full toolbox of ad creative.
We're going to launch it on Meta. We're going to launch it on YouTube. I guess one thing I'll add here, because I've brought this up on the podcast before, is we continue to see success in layering in non-DR brand creative as a percentage of the budget, especially for these new launches.”
**5. **Wyatt from Mary Ruth Organics says they stream TikTok Shop lives 24/7 and hired D-list actors to run them. 55:41
“I think it's perfectly rated finally. I think it was underrated leading into this year, but I think brands are - you hear about Grunes has a whole TikTok shop studio.
I was with Wyatt from Mary Ruth Organics last week. He said that they're streaming 24/7. He said they're never not streaming on a TikTok shop live. They hired D-list actors to run these lives.
I know at Hexcloud we're investing more and more in the platform even though our product price point doesn't lend itself as much to the platform.
**6. **Grunes has a whole TikTok Shop studio. 55:41
“I think it's perfectly rated finally. I think it was underrated leading into this year, but
I think brands are - you hear about Grunes has a whole TikTok shop studio.
I was with Wyatt from Mary Ruth Organics last week. He said that they're streaming 24/7. He said they're never not streaming on a TikTok shop live. They hired D-list actors to run these lives, and I think we're seeing more and more of that. I know at Hexcloud we're investing more and more in the platform even though our product price point doesn't lend itself as much to the platform. But yeah, I think it's pretty well rated right now.”
**7. **Comfort is named as a natural TikTok Shop fit for its promos, big TAM, and impulse pricing. 57:09
“I think to get success on TikTok Shop, there are some brands that are natural fits for it. Mary Ruth Organic is one. The way that Comfort does their promos and their products, it's big TAM, it's women-oriented, it's impulse prices, it's really well done. It feels to me, at least, the way that it will have to work at Ridge.
I spoke to another executive at another company who oversaw TikTok Shop and merchandising, which I thought was a really interesting point because I do think many brands, in order to win on TikTok Shop, will have to take a different merchandising approach for us.”
**8. **Connor's core view is that TikTok Shop's real function is activating creators at scale.
“We're seeing a $30 tracker card work. If Ridge is going to be really big on TikTok Shop two years from now, we'll probably need a lot more small, high-utility impulse purchase price products. It will force us to take a new merchandising strategy exclusively for that channel. The second one is, and I've talked about this quite a bit,
the idea of TikTok Shop being at its core just a way to activate affiliates at scale or creators at scale.
I shouldn't even say affiliates. It's the ability to mobilize dozens, hundreds, or thousands of people to begin creating content about your product.”
**9. **He argues creator activation and merchandising both happen without TikTok Shop, which takes credit for them.
“The ability to mobilize dozens, hundreds, or thousands of like-minded people to begin creating content about your product, those two things feel extremely underrated to me. Both of them can happen independently of TikTok Shop. I think TikTok Shop ends up getting credit for both, where it's like, oh, all of a sudden TikTok Shop is synonymous with great merchandising strategy.
I would just, if I could decouple those, say the underlying components, the merchandising and the creator activation, are highly underrated right now. TikTok Shop itself is maybe perfectly rated. I'd almost go slightly overrated because I don't think people are understanding the tactics that TikTok Shop is forcing someone into, and that the shop itself is not necessarily the value.”
**10. **For HexClad the value of TikTok Shop is the volume of content creators produce and the impressions it earns.
“That is a great point. Decoupling those things is
I actually think that's what we're doing really well with TikTok Shop: the sheer amount of content that's getting produced,
and the creators that are producing it, and the impressions we are getting from that.
I think there we still have the opportunity to do better merchandising for TikTok Shop. Can we create products that are sub $100 and still get good efficiency and volume on those products at some point, potentially?
But for now, we're like, hey, this is a great extension of our product seating program that is already pretty big,
and I fully agree with that.”
**11. **TikTok Shop is treated as an extension of an already large product seeding programme. 59:05
“That is like decoupling those things, because I actually think that's what we're doing really well with Tik Tok shop: the sheer amount of content that's getting produced, the creators that are producing it, and the impressions we're getting from that. I think we still have the opportunity to do better merchandising for Tik Tok shop.
Can we create products that are sub $100 and still get good efficiency and volume on those products at some point, potentially? But for now, we're like, hey, this is a great extension of our product seating program that is already pretty big, and I fully agree with that. That is, at least for Hexcloud, the value. It's not driving - we're not going to drive 50 million in revenue.”
**12. **HexClad may not do ten million in TikTok Shop revenue but expects tens or hundreds of millions of creator impressions. 59:25
“But for now, we're like, hey, this is a great extension of our product seating program that is already pretty big.
I fully agree with that. That is, at least for Hexcloud, the value. It's not driving - we're not going to drive 50 million in revenue.
We might not even drive 10 million in revenue on TikTok Shop this year, but I do think we'll drive tens of millions,
maybe even hundreds of millions of impressions through thosecreatorsthat are only flowing because we have the setup in the system. Creators can come and apply for it. We send it to them. They're creating content around it.”
**13. **The mechanic is self-serve: creators apply, HexClad ships product, they make content and it is pulled into the ad account. 59:39
“It's not driving. We're not going to drive 50 million in revenue. We might not even drive 10 million in revenue on TikTok Shop this year, but I do think we'll drive tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions of impressions through those creators that are only flowing because we have the setup in the, you know,
creators can come and apply for it. We send it to them. They're creating content around it. We're starting to pull that into the ad account now. So, we're getting that flywheel going.
**14. **He says that flywheel is worth more to the business than TikTok Shop revenue itself. 59:39
“It's not driving. We're not going to drive 50 million in revenue. We might not even drive 10 million in revenue on TikTok Shop this year, but I do think we'll drive tens of millions, maybe hundreds of millions of impressions through those creators that are only flowing because we have the setup. Creators can come and apply for it. We send it to them. They're creating content around it. We're starting to pull that into the ad account now, so we're getting that flywheel going.
I'd say that is way more of a value add to our business than actually driving revenue through TikTok Shop.”
**15. **A scheme where $100 spent gives 100 points worth $10 off does not produce incremental orders in the HexClad host's view.
“I agree. I think we were exploring this two years ago, and Kith is at the top of our list. They've just gamified it, and it's a fun brand experience. I think that's where the value is in a loyalty program.
It's not, "Hey, for every $100 you spend, you get 100 points," and 100 points equals $10 off. I just don't think that actually drives a lot of incremental orders.
The TikTok Growth Expert: The Strategy That’s Printing Millions Right Now
Open Residency · 05 Jun 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccGFIAfyNyg
Not put in a category yet
**16. **Every creator sits through a three hour orientation recorded as video and tracked in Notion. 4:08
“And you are literally just saying, "Hey, let's test the first one, the second one, the third one." Then you're just looking at micro metrics, whether it be views or clickthroughs, and then you're iterating from there.
So, we make every single creator sit through a three-hour orientation every time they join. It's a video that we record, and we send them this notion. We know if they went through it or not.
**17. **Hooks are only the starting point, the value is what the creator adds on top of them. 4:19
“So, we make every single creator sit through a three-hour orientation every time they join. It's a video that we record, and we send them this notion. We know if they went through it or not. Once the creator has a really deep understanding of our product,
yes, the hook is a part of it, but how are they iterating on the hook to move it forward?
**18. **A creator can only improve on a hook if they genuinely understand and care about the brand. 4:28
“And so, once the creator has a really deep understanding of our product, yes, the hook is a part of it, but how are they iterating on the hook to move it forward? When we're talking about micrometrics, yes, we know these hooks work at whatever x percentage people are resonating, people are staying on board for x amount of time. But from there, moving it forward into what the creator is adding on top of that?
**19. **Creators talk to each other, so a winning hook spreads through the group without the brand pushing it. 5:06
“And for us, we went so deep into it. We treat our creators well. We give great commissions, and we give them great product. That's what works. And then if someone else is working also,
these creators all talk to each other. So if a creator sees a hook that's working and then all these talking points, it's almost like the system works on its own after a certain point.
Because these creators are calculating what's working and then pushing it forward more than us feeding them metrics or anything else. I really want to go step by step. So just starting from ground level zero. Yeah, you have your Excel sheet, you have your content, you have your hooks, you have your value props, you test things, and then you think the next best thing is to create some sort of SOP or Notion or Loom video that outlines everything.”
**20. **The system eventually runs itself because creators are the ones calculating what works. 5:12
“We treat our creators well. We give great commissions and great products. That's what works. Then, if someone else is working also, these creators all talk to each other. So if a creator sees a hook that's working and all these talking points, it's almost like the system works on its own after a certain point.
This is because these creators are calculating what's working and then pushing it forward more than us feeding them metrics or anything else.
I really want to go step by step. Starting from ground level zero: you have your Excel sheet, your content, your hooks, your value props. You test things, and then you think the next best thing is to cre...
**21. **A brand manager tests each creator with specific questions to check they absorbed the orientation.
“And then you're saying you're reaching out to pre-qualified influencers and basically making them go through this tutorial. What are you giving them, a quiz, to understand and know if they read it? How do you know if they really understand and know?
Our brand manager basically dives in and asks them very specific questions.
But even beyond that, I think I'm going to be super high level right now. Culture is everything, right? I was in there as co-founder CEO literally talking to these creators. I had a whole Zoom meeting with them, and I try to do this once every quarter to basically translate our culture of the company to them and make them feel like they're a part of us.”
**22. **As chief executive he runs a quarterly Zoom with the creators to transfer company culture into them.
“Our brand manager basically dives in and asks them very specific questions. But even beyond that, I think I'm going to be super high level right now. Culture is everything, right? I was in there as co-founder and CEO, literally talking to these creators.
I had a whole Zoom meeting with them, and I try to do this once every quarter to basically translate our culture of the company to them and make them feel like they're a part of us.
I feel like a lot of other companies that are not succeeding on TikTok, or are only maxing out at 100K in sales a month on TikTok, are lacking that connection. A creator is only going to be so driven by money.”
**23. **He blames the missing culture piece for brands that cap out around $100,000 a month on TikTok. 6:13
“And I was in there as co-founder CEO, literally talking to these creators. I had a whole Zoom meeting with them, and I try to do this once every quarter to basically translate our culture of the company to them and make them feel like they're a part of us. I feel like a lot of other companies that are not succeeding on TikTok or are only doing, you know,
even maxing out at 100K in sales a month on TikTok are lacking that connection.
A creator is only going to be so driven by money. But if you create this gaming system, this culture, this creator group where all of them are friends now and they're all talking and they're iterating and they're brainstorming on what's working and what's not, that builds on itself over and over and over again.
**24. **Money alone only motivates a creator so far. 6:19
“I had a whole Zoom meeting with them, and I try to do this once every quarter to basically translate our culture of the company to them and make them feel like they're a part of us. I feel like a lot of other companies that are not succeeding on TikTok or are only maxing out at 100K in sales a month on TikTok are lacking that connection.
A creator is only going to be so driven by money.
But if you create this gaming system, this culture, this creator group where all of them are friends now and they're all talking and iterating and brainstorming on what's working and what's not, that builds on itself over and over and over again.”
**25. **A creator community that is friends with each other compounds on itself. 6:29
“And I feel a lot of other companies that are not succeeding on TikTok or are only maxing out at 100K in sales a month on TikTok are lacking that connection. A creator is only going to be so driven by money.
But if you create this gaming system, this culture, this creator group where all of them are friends now and they're all talking and they're iterating and they're brainstorming on what's working and what's not, that builds on itself over and over again.
So yes, there is a calculated process, and if it's step by step, here's the hooks and everything that's working.”
**26. **Their creators live in a Discord with the head of growth and the brand manager in it. 7:02
“We throw that into our orientation sheet on Notion and pass that on to the creators so that they know what to talk about. But then after that, it's how do we keep building on this culture of Neuro that we try to show out into the world and have the creators adopt it? These creators all live, you mentioned, in a Discord channel where your brand manager interacts with them, and potentially you can come in there and talk to them about stuff.
Our head of growth is in there, our brand manager is in there, and then there are other, I guess, semi-disconnected Discords where they talk to each other as well.
And to give us context, how many people are in there for you guys?”
**27. **The Discord started at 500 creators with a gross merchandise value target to stay in.
“Our head of growth is in there, our brand manager is in there, and then there are other, I guess, semi-disconnected discords where they talk to each other as well. To give us context, how many people are in there for you guys? It's a two-tiered answer because originally we had 500 people in there, and we would keep, if you don't perform, you kind of get kicked out. There's a GMV goal you have to reach.
But we have basically two pockets now where there's a tier one, a tier two, and a tier three. Basically, you can work your way up into certain hierarchies of the creators.
What would you say is the most overrated advice you're hearing out there specifically about TikTok?”
**28. **The programme now has two pockets and three tiers, tier one through three, with a visible path to move up.
“And to give us context, how many people are in there for you guys? It's a two-tiered answer because originally we had 500 people in there, and if you don't perform, you kind of get kicked out. There's a GMV goal you have to reach.
But we have basically two pockets now where there's a tier one, a tier two, and a tier three. Basically, you can work your way up into certain hierarchies of the creators.
What would you say is the most overrated advice you're hearing out there specifically about TikTok? Man, I keep going back to the TikTok agency partners that are vetted and everything. All these guys are doing exactly the same thing.”
**29. **His most overrated advice is hiring a vetted TikTok agency partner for a retainer plus a percentage. 7:55
“Basically, you could work your way up into certain hierarchies of the creators. What would you say is the most overrated advice you're hearing out there specifically about TikTok?
I keep going back to the TikTok agency partners that are vetted and everything. All these guys are doing exactly the same thing. They'll charge you whatever percentage plus a retainer every single month.
They're like, "We're going to have all these creators just pumping out video for you," and that only works so far. It's the same with Facebook ads. Everything hits a saturation point and it stops working.”
**30. **Agency creator volume works only to a point and then saturates like Facebook ads. 8:12
“Man, I keep going back to the TikTok agency partners that are vetted and everything. All these guys are doing exactly the same thing. They'll charge you whatever percentage plus a retainer every single month.
They're like, "We're going to have all these creators just pumping out video for you," and that only works so far. It's the same with Facebook ads. Everything hits a saturation point, and it stops working.
How are you as a company, as a leader, whether it's me or our head of growth or whoever is managing these Discord groups, how are you as a leader motivating everyone beyond just the capital to say they're part of a cool brand?”
**31. **The turning point was creators wanting to be tied to the coolest, fastest growing brand on TikTok, and the snowball started rolling faster.
“It's the same with Facebook ads. Everything hits a saturation point, and it stops working. How are you, as a company, as a leader, whether it's me or our head of growth or whoever is managing these Discord groups, motivating everyone beyond just the capital to say they're part of a cool brand?
The biggest turning point for us was when everyone realized that we were the coolest, fastest growing brand on TikTok. That snowball started rolling down the mountain faster.
Do you think it's about hopping on, let's just call that, macro trends on TikTok, or is it more about being native to your specific brand?”
**32. **He is dismissive of founders who send 5,000 samples, get five responses and five videos, then make only $20,000 on TikTok and cannot scale it.
“And do you think it's about hopping on, let's just call that, macro trends on TikTok, or is it more about being native to your specific brand? It's a combination of both. I mean, the macro trends are what consumers are looking for, and then obviously the algorithm pushes your content in a certain way. So you could follow the macro trends.
People come to me and say, "Dude, I sent 5,000 samples out to all these creators and I got five responses and five videos. It didn't work. I made $20,000 on TikTok and I don't know how to scale this."
It's like, dude, how are you cultivating them beyond that? It's not just sending them product and hoping for an influencer post.”
**33. **Sending product and hoping is not a creator programme, cultivation is.
“I mean, the macro trends are what consumers are looking for, and then obviously the algorithm pushes your content in a certain way. You could follow the macro trends. People come to me and say, "Dude, I sent 5,000 samples out to all these creators, and I got five responses and five videos. It didn't work. I made $20,000 on TikTok, and I don't know how to scale this." It's like, dude, how are you cultivating them beyond that?
It's not just sending them product and hoping for an influencer post. It's the same thing as the old school method. How do you build a community? I'm going to jump to another story, but my buddy Dan Morris started Sugar Bear Hair.”
**34. **He cites Sugar Bear Hair for making its influencers jealous of each other with the boxes it sent.
“Great guy. He's great, right? He's the Facebook OG, actually. He's the Facebook OG, but the way he built Facebook is very impressive. He would crush it on TikTok now because he got all his influencers, and he made the influencers almost jealous of each other because he would send the nicest box to them. If you were part of the Sugar Bear Hair group, you felt really special, but you had to earn your way in there, right?
And the same way, you have to kind of earn your way to be a Neurogum TikTok creator now. If you're part of that group, he was sending them to Coachella to hang out with the Kardashians.”
**35. **That programme flew creators to Coachella to mingle with the Kardashians and to Florida, which is what made them loyal. 9:57
“And if you were part of the Sugar Bear Hair group, you felt really special, but you had to earn your way in there, right? It's the same way you have to earn your way to be a Neurogum TikTok creator now. And then if you're part of that group,
He was sending them to Coachella to hang out with the Kardashians. He's sending them to whatever trip in Florida. It's such a beautiful way to build the culture and have them all hang out with each other. They're always going to be loyal to you.
**36. **The prizes are deliberately scarce, ten creators on a Florida trip or three on billboards.
“Yeah, exactly. Also, people want to feel special. That's why you build the tiers. People want to feel special.
That's why you only take 10 of them on a trip to Florida or give them a Rolex. We also have those kinds of systems, like these prize systems. That's why only three of them were able to be on billboards all across Miami or up in Times Square.
**37. **Affiliate was only five to ten percent of the business across the previous decade. 11:55
“Does this work in other channels, other affiliate channels, or do you think this is just native to TikTok because of the ease of TikTok Shop? TikTok is definitely the easiest. I mean, affiliate has been maybe 5 to 10% of our business to a certain degree throughout the years, this last decade.
**38. **With Impact and Commission Junction affiliates they never met a single person pushing the product.
“These other Commission Junction or Impact affiliates, or the email affiliates, or any of these other guys, when they're building landing pages trying to drive Facebook traffic and getting the delta on the CAC, have zero personal relationship with that. We've done relationships, and we were on random different blogs.
We never interfaced with actual people who were pushing our product.
**39. **Cold outreach fails because a creator on TikTok Shop with 5,000 followers already gets a hundred brand requests a day. 13:38
“I mean, we used to call outreach, and then if there were really good creators, we would just put them on a retainer. Other creators were attracted to that because there are creator superstars in this TikTok ecosystem. For us, honestly, we pull from other taps, like a TikTok affiliate partner. So we pull from other taps, like other groups. We do our own recruiting now because that makes way more sense for us than cold outreaching a bunch of people. I don't know how many it is, but there are millions of people on TikTok Shop with 5,000 followers, getting 100 ping requests every single day.
I'm one of them. I can show you my TikTok creator requests, and I have 10 companies reaching out to me every single hour. You could be the best company in the world, and no one's going to respond to you.”
**40. **He gets ten brand requests an hour himself as an example of the noise.
“So we pull from other taps, like we pull from other groups. We do our own recruiting now because that makes way more sense for us than cold outreaching a bunch of people. I don't know how many it is, but there are millions of people on TikTok Shop with 5,000 followers, getting 100 ping requests every single day. I'm one of them. I can show you my TikTok creator requests.
I have 10 companies reaching out to me every single hour. You could be the best company in the world, and no one's going to respond to you.
Makes sense. To give everybody context, how much is one of your top TikTok affiliates doing per month?”
**41. **Their top affiliates each move close to a million dollars of gross merchandise value a month.
“I'm one of them. I can show you my TikTok creator requests, and I have 10 companies reaching out to me every single hour. You could be the best company in the world, and no one's going to respond to you. Makes sense. To give everybody context, how much is one of your top TikTok affiliates doing per month? How much are we paying them, or how much are they generating in GMV for us? Either or.
I mean, we have affiliates generating millions for us on a monthly basis. Not millions, like close to a million, I would say, on a monthly basis.
**42. **Three hooks always work, and the first is the Shark Tank rejection reframed as a shark's biggest mistake.
“Looking back, what one TikTok campaign or one TikTok post did the best? Can we break that down? What's one that you remember that crushed it? So, there are three that always work and always pop up. One is Shark Tank, you know, and it's not just a Shark Tank clip.
They frame it in a way where Kevin Oly calling our deal stinky poo poo is the biggest mistake he's ever made in his life.
Listen to this. This is why this gum is now doing this much in revenue this year. They spin it into this incredible story and they use Ryan's background as a paraplegic, my background as an athlete. So stuff like that works really well, right?”
**43. **The founders' own biographies are part of the hook, Ryan's background as a paraplegic and his own as an athlete.
“So, there are three that always work and always pop up. One is Shark Tank, and it's not just a Shark Tank clip. They frame it in a way where Kevin Oly calling our deal stinky poo poo is the biggest mistake he's ever made in his life. Listen to this: this is why this gum is now doing this much in revenue this year. They spin it into this incredible story.
They use Ryan's background as a paraplegic, my background as an athlete. Stuff like that works really well, right?
Yeah. It's a combination of you guys getting screwed on and then kind of an underdog story. Exactly. Wow.”
**44. **The second hook is a clip of Joe Rogan telling Bobby Lee how much he loves Neurogum, used as bottom of funnel proof. 16:03
“Wow. And then we have our Joe Rogan clips, right?
So people will clip Joe Rogan when he was pitching to Bobby Lee about how much he loves Neurogum. People will clip that and be like, this is the gum that Joe Rogan is talking about.
And that's more bottom of funnel, but it's like taking the biggest podcaster in the world talking about your product and then pushing that out. To put a bow on that, for somebody who wanted to get on TikTok Shop, you would say the first piece of advice would be, personally, as the leader and driver of the company or the CMO, to just go in and focus on inputs.”
**45. **A partnership with the biggest YouTuber in the world involves a custom tin and a charity donation. 31:21
“We'll be considered an official partner if they have games or something going on. A lot of the time, there's a really big YouTube partnership that we're about to do with, I can't say it yet depending on when this airs, but the biggest YouTuber in the world. Basically, we'll make a custom tin for him and packaging, and we'll do donations to a charity of his choice, things like that.
It's pretty robust. Whatever it is, it has to fit our brand mantras, our core values, and our brand messaging and positioning. Content is a big one, like interaction with the players, sampling at the events, all those things.”
**46. **He describes Rogan as male Oprah because the audience simply buys what he takes. 70:48
“And to give people context real quick, from year 1 through year six, your two inflection points would probably be Shark Tank, which is that piece of leverage, and then Rogan. Rogan did way more than Shark Tank. It was crazy. Way more than Shark Tank. The first time he mentioned us,
he's like the male Oprah. People listen to him, and they're like, "Oh my god, I'm going to buy that product that this guy's taking."
And it's crazy because, again, I mentioned earlier, Rogan mentioned this yesterday on episode 2290 now, and this is like his 20th time mentioning us, if not more, but we don't even see the blips anymore. Sounds like first world problems here.”
Cold outreach on TikTok Shop keeps failing because a creator with five thousand followers already gets a hundred brand requests a day, so if that is the wall a brand is hitting, we can put together a shortlist of the affiliates already worth reaching.
Channel Diversification in Ecommerce: Biggest Mistakes & Wins
Marketing Operators · 31 Mar 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3-Aopa--gE
Not put in a category yet
**47. **On the organic post alone they would never work with that influencer at all.
“And we'll allocate that portion to influencer, and then we'll allocate the majority of it to our ad content bucket. But we try to shoot for 10 times the content to media spend. So, if they drove zero revenue, we have to spend 300 grand on it. If they drove 10 grand, now we have to spend 200 grand on it.
So, that's how we look at it. But we would never work with that influencer if we had to be profitable just on the organic.
Lately, every marketer I talk to says the same thing: budgets are tight, goals are higher than ever, and I have to prove what's working, not just report it. That is the new reality of marketing.”
**48. **They repeated that mistake in 2023 and have now completely reversed it. 38:48
“They should probably, should we be investing more there? But it's hard to know exactly what that mix should be. So that's kind of challenging.
What I will say is one of our biggest mistakes that we've totally shifted on how we're thinking is influencer. Early on in 2023, we were leaning way too heavily into organic influencer and trying to make that work when in reality we should have been leaning paid, paid, paid first, organic second.
So we did this deal with Benny Blanco. It was a low six-figure deal, made this gorgeous landing page, custom products.”
**49. **A low six figure deal with Benny Blanco, four posts and a custom landing page, returned 20 to 25 thousand dollars in revenue. 39:07
“Early on in 2023, we were leaning way too heavily into organic influencer and trying to make that work, when in reality we should have been leaning paid first, organic second. So, we did this deal with Benny Blanco.
It was a low six-figure deal. We made this gorgeous landing page with custom products. He had four posts driving to this landing page, and I think we drove 20 to 25,000 dollars in revenue on the products that were on that page.
**50. **He would restructure that Benny Blanco deal as paid ads featuring him plus a paid media landing page.
“I
It was a six-figure, low six-figure deal. I made this gorgeous landing page, custom products. He had four posts or something driving to this landing page, and I think we drove like, I don't know, 20, 25,000 dollars in revenue on the products that were on that page.
And I was like, in retrospect, sitting here today,
I would have flipped that on its head. I would have been like, "Yo, we got to make paid ads with Benny and have a paid media landing page."
So, I think that's one of our bigger mistakes: not making these paid deals, these bigger paid deals, be like 75% paid, 25% organic.”
**51. **A second celebrity partnership, with Hailey Bieber, went the same way, too organic and little revenue. 39:33
“And I was like, in retrospect sitting here today, I would have flipped that on its head. I would have been like, "Yo, we got to make paid ads with Benny and have a paid media landing page." Same with Hailey Bieber. It was way too organic, and we didn't see that much revenue from it because of that. So, I think that's one of our bigger mistakes: not making these bigger paid deals be like 75% paid, 25% organic.
Early on, they were kind of like 85% organic, 15% paid, and we just took some swings that didn't connect.
**52. **They stopped signing 6 month and 1 year deals and now buy a short deliverables list with 3 to 4 months of usage. 40:13
“And now that is how we structure deals. The other thing I would say is doing fewer long-term deals up front.
Early on, we were signing 6-month deals, 1-year deals, big deals. Now we are saying we're going to do a very specific list of deliverables for paid with 3 to 4 months of usage, then get a bunch of juice out of it, test it, and then we'll extend it.
**53. **Larger influencer deals need to be strategic and deeply integrated; micro creators are a different game entirely.
“I think a lot of these people are still recognizable, but they're just not getting the distribution. You're not going to see that ROI off the organic post specifically. So, being able to run partnership ads and get content that you think will perform enough from an ad perspective, you can focus on the landing pages. We've been all about that, too.
More strategic, larger, deeper, integrated deals, I think, are the way for influencer marketing to really work today for larger influencers. The micro influencers are completely different. You can still kind of spray and pray.”
**54. **On a paid posting basis alone, big influencer deals are almost impossible to make work.
“Just don't pencil. Yeah, we look at them together, but if you just look on the paid posting side, it's almost impossible to make it work.
Yeah, I mean, some of our deals now, whenever we're getting a rate back, we want to negotiate.
The first thing we ask is any organic deliverables. All right, get rid of all the organic stuff and let's knock it down 10K for that. But honestly, a lot of these deals, they're all paid.
I don't even want to do an organic. We have an organic influencer budget, which we have also knocked down year-over-year for the reasons that we're talking about, but oftentimes these are pure paid deals.”
**55. **On a 30 thousand dollar deal for a story or two plus 30 days whitelisting, the returned revenue is netted off to give a content cost.
“So, that's been, and I think the ROI we're getting on our influencer program last year and this year is way bigger than it was in 2022 and 2023 because we've made that shift. Yeah, we look at it as... I was going to say, let's say somebody's 30 grand and they post a story. So, we'll get a story or two stories, plus 30 days of whitelisting.
Let's say they're 30 grand and they make 10 grand. So, we're going to call their cost to content 20, and then we have a certain spend number that we want to hit.
**56. **Their rule is $10 of media spend behind every $1 of content cost: zero revenue means $300k in spend, $10k in revenue means $200k in spend. 43:00
“So, it's almost just like a net number that pulls out, but we're not expecting to be profitable on that number. We'll allocate that portion to influencer, and then we'll allocate the majority of it to our ad content bucket.
But we try to shoot for 10 times the content to media spend. So, if they drove zero revenue, we have to spend 300 grand on it. If they drove 10 grand, now we have to spend 200 grand on it.
So, that's how we look at it, but we would never work with that influencer if we had to be profitable just on the organic.”
**57. **Their affiliate retainers run about 300 dollars for six videos. 45:00
“With House, go to house.io/operators. That's h a u s.io/operators, and start allocating your budget with confidence. One thing, Cody, I'm curious if you've thought about this.
We're trying to scale up the affiliate program, and a lot of that comes with retainer deals or some sort of guaranteed cost. So, we've got a number of deals that are like, we'll give someone $300 for six videos or something.
And let's say we're doing that at a really high scale, we're not right now. How would you count that as ad spend at any point, or how would you think about that cost? Is it just a creative cost?”
**58. **In the Superbloom programme, when a creator makes content and never posts it, 100 percent of the cost is booked as ad creative. 45:33
“There's distribution attached to it because these people are posting, they're driving revenue. What do you think we should do? I know it gets so complicated. I was going to talk about TikTok Shop because that's obviously one thing I would do differently. I feel like it depends.
So, the way that we do it, this is for our Superbloom influencer program. If they are creating stuff that's not posting at all, 100% of it goes to our ad creative bucket.
All.
If they are creating stuff that then gets 30 days whitelisting, we go 80/20. So, 80% of that goes to the influencer spend, 20% goes to ad creative.
Okay.”
**59. **With 30 days of whitelisting, the cost is split 80 to influencer and 20 to ad creative.
“I know it gets so complicated, and I was going to talk about TikTok Shop because that's obviously one thing I would do differently. I feel like it depends. The way that we do it, this is for our Superbloom influencer program: if they are creating stuff that's not posting at all, 100% of it goes to our ad creative bucket.
If they are creating stuff that then gets 30 days whitelisting, we go 80/20. So, 80% of that goes to the influencer spend, 20% goes to ad creative.
Okay. Most people, a smaller 3K, 5K influencer, we can actually break even or be profitable on that as a whole in the program.”
**60. **$3K to $5K influencers can break even or be profitable across the programme; $30K to $40K ones cannot. 45:51
“If they are creating stuff that's not posting at all, 100% of it goes to our ad creative bucket. If they are creating stuff that then gets 30 days whitelisting, we go 80/20. So, 80% of that goes to the influencer spend, 20% goes to ad creative. Okay.
Most people like a smaller 3K, 5K influencer, we can actually break even or be profitable on that. As a whole in the program, it's just like the 30, 40K that we can't.
**61. **Ridge has spent about 14 million dollars on YouTube partnerships and thinks it could have gone harder.
“So those are two I really wish we had started earlier. Those are good ones. I would agree. I'm just going to hit a couple of the points that I've said before.
We were really early to YouTube partnerships and influencers generally. We probably could have gone harder there. I was just looking historically.
I think we spent 14 million dollars on YouTube partnerships.
Which is a lot. It's a lot for sure, and we had a pretty big team at the time. It was a pretty decent percentage of the budget early on. In hindsight, we probably could have gone even harder. You look at brands that were defined by podcasts.”
**62. **Four Sigmatic put 80 percent of its early budget into podcast sponsorship, a route he says Ridge could have taken too.
“You don't have to Four Sigmatic. I didn't know they were big on podcasting. I was thinking about the brands that were defined by podcasting. Four Sigmatic spent 80% of their budget early on just on podcasting. Ridge probably could have gone that route in hindsight if we really had conviction around it.
**63. **He wishes he had started podcast earlier and scaled influencer harder.
“Usually, I try to have some upper funnel that's high. So whether it's YouTube or TV, depending on how the reads are, I try to get 20% to those. I wish.
I wish we started podcasting earlier, and I wish we scaled influencer harder. I think I've been decent at stuff that you can run like a geo on.
I talked about it before, about the channels where it's a little hairier and harder to measure but still has clear value. That's probably my biggest mistake because influencer, right? If you're starting and you're a new brand and you have an influencer pop off, you can see that in the business immediately.”
**64. **A new brand can see an influencer pop off immediately in its numbers; at his scale it disappears into noise.
“I wish we had started the podcast earlier, and I wish we had scaled influencer marketing harder. I think I've been decent at stuff that you can run like a geo on. I talked about it before, about the channels where it's a little hairier and harder to measure but still has clear value.
That's probably my biggest mistake because influencer marketing, right? If you're starting and you're a new brand and you have an influencer pop off, you can see that in the business immediately.
If we do it unless we're paying the biggest influencer in the world, it's like, "All right, we made an extra 10 grand." That could just be a daily fluctuation.”
**65. **Most TikTok Shop revenue for brands he speaks to comes from GMV Max, on top of affiliate commission and retainer fees. 46:51
“Well, it's also interesting because we've talked about this, and Connor's point reminded me of the paid focus partnership deals.
The majority of TikTok Shop revenue of the brands I speak to comes from GMV Max. So, you're paying an affiliate commission, you're often paying some sort of retainer fees, so there's a fixed cost to it, and then you're turning around and spending dollars on it.
It's like, yeah, how do you build the, how do you want to attribute cost, and how do you want to build the P&L not only for that channel, but how do you want to think about it blended for your whole business?”
**66. **If launching today his single biggest focus would be creator organic community distribution. 48:44
“And that's, so that would be one last question I was going to say. So, all right, these are the mistakes that we've made. We feel like if we were going back to Ridge 2020 or Jones Road 2022, we would do things differently. But what about if you were launching today?
The biggest one for me, if I'm going to kick it off, is creator organic creator community distribution, right?
When Sean was on Open Residency, he talked about it. Facebook ads were the arbitrage. He would get really good at organic. I would, again, maybe that's TikTok Shop, maybe that's organic social. That would be my biggest focus today.”
**67. **The flywheel he wants is not scripting and paying creators to post but an organic creator programme feeding paid.
“I'm not saying I wouldn't run Meta ads, but even that would be my flywheel. I wouldn't try to scale Meta ads with just statics or something.
I would get really good and have some type of creator creative flywheel that is not just, "Hey, I'm going to script you and pay you to post," but is actually like there's some type of organic creator program that then flywheels into an ad account.
Maybe it's like a Comfrt lighter or something like that. That's the biggest thing I would do today. Obviously, we just launched, but we're way behind. That would be my biggest focus if I was launching the business: just building that community and allowing that to snowball and halo into bigger things.”
**68. **He thinks a great content programme could be built on briefs and editing alone, without an affiliate flywheel. 50:39
“That's the 80/20 of getting good at meta: producing really fantastic content. I think what you're laying out is probably one path. It's potentially the best path to getting really good at content today. So I totally agree with that. I don't know.
I don't think the affiliate organic flywheel is necessary today. I think you could totally build a great content program with great briefs, sending that out to people, getting that content back, and building great editing.
Similar to what the Ridge system looks like today. It's not the perfect system, but you could totally build a business that way.”
An extra ten grand in a week can just be a daily fluctuation and not the influencer channel at all, so before a brand leans harder into one or walks away from one, we like being the second read on whether that swing is real.
Clean Cause protein drinks brand positioning
Open Residency · Manny Lubin · 19 Feb 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzX-PxocoPw
Where the buyers are
**69. **Geo-targeted or retail targeted marketing is used for the middle of the funnel, focusing on key markets and potentially smaller or micro-influencers. 49:24
“Let's go to the middle. So, top of the funnel, we're settled.
Middle of the funnel, you said that's based on a geographic basis. So, we call it geo-targeted or retail targeted. Okay. So, thinking about anything that's in our key markets, which again could be certain influencers in certain key markets that are maybe not for general awareness, maybe smaller influencers, micro-influencers, seeding product, things like that.
Events are there. I think when starting. And just so I know as well, you're using the same tactics at the top of the funnel that we discussed, but just making sure that it's super targeted to some of them.”
**70. **Middle funnel activities include events and promotions outside of individual stores, tied to geographic retail presence.
“And they're within a 5-mi radius. Oh, [ __ ] K. Kind of looks good. I already saw that Dana White private jet video that.
Who they pick
**71. **The Cavinder twins were signed because they believe their female following should consume more protein. 64:10
“They helped us build the brand, absolutely, because people that followed them knew that if they wanted a ready-to-drink protein drink, they were going to Slate. Let's talk about the Cavinder twins.
How did you close that deal? We sent them the product, and they loved it. They believe their female following should be consuming more protein. They genuinely believe that. You can feel it with their content. They post about their workouts. They talk about their diets. It was just such an authentic fit where they didn't have a protein drink partner. We understood that was their vision, and it aligned with our vision.
They are also small investors in the company, too.”
Seeding and gifting
**72. **A past strategy involved sending out 6,700 free pieces of product as a first-time touchpoint. 45:58
“I like the Cavender Twins drink the French vanilla all the time. That's their favorite flavor, and they always post about it. They still drink the other flavors; they'll post about the caramel latte here and there and other flavors, but it all starts with love for the product. I want to talk about the first step for the people listening to further execute this.
We used to do it a lot, actually. Just look at the number. We sent out 6,700 free pieces of art as a first-time touchpoint.
Are you guys just flooding the market with free product and then seeing if it sticks and they like it and then engage? What's the first part of that?”
Paid amplification
**73. **Meta ads (Facebook, Instagram) are used for evergreen campaigns, including geo-targeted ads around retail locations. 49:46
“Events are there. I think when starting And just so I know as well, too, you're using the same tactics at the top of the funnel that we discussed, but just making sure that it's super targeted to some of them. So,
if you think of Evergreen Meta ads, so Facebook IG, just rolling ads. Um something we don't invest a ton into. And then putting a pin on every Walmart we're in, taking out an ad within a five 5-mi radius saying, "Now at Walmart." Or, you know, you have a two for five going at Safeway. Putting a pin on every Safeway, 5-mi radius on deal two for five. And and you're advertising through on Meta.
Correct. This is all on Meta.”
**74. **Ads are served to individuals who have previously interacted with the brand but did not purchase online, especially when new flavors or promotions are available at nearby retailers. 50:17
“And you're advertising through Meta, correct? This is all on Meta. So, any dollar that we spend has the direct goal of driving someone to a retail store. Top funnel, everywhere. Then, people have maybe heard about it, maybe they interacted with it, but they didn't buy online. Now they're getting served another ad because we just launched a new flavor at Wegmans or something, and they're within a 5-mile radius. Oh, that kind of looks good. I already saw that Dana White private jet video that's all over Instagram.
pr
Private jet video, that's all over Instagram. So that would be middle funnel. Middle funnel would also be events.”
Celebrities and athletes
**75. **Max Crosby facilitated getting the product to his nutritionist and ensured it was included. 35:49
“He's also a brand partner on the marketing side. Typically, people are busy. If Max's full-time job isn't being an influencer or marketing partner for Slate and other companies, Max goes above and beyond to post about Slate on social media and to tell his friends about it. We'll just text every once in a while, like, "Hey, send this person a case." He FaceTimed us like 4 days before the season to let us know, and then he gave the phone to his nutritionist, saying, "We got to get Slate in here."
All those little things and tasks add up. How do you find a Max Crosby? We met Max through Dana White.”
**76. **The company met Max Crosby through Dana White, who was going keto and ended up getting some Slate. 35:53
“You know, if if Max's full-time job isn't being an influencer or marketing partner for Slate and other companies, but Max goes above and beyond to post about Slate on social media, to tell his friends about it. We'll just like text every once in a while be like, "Hey, send this person a case." Like FaceTime you like 4 days before the season to let us know, and then just like gave the phone to his nutritionist. Like we got to get Slate in here. All those little things and tasks add up. How do you find a Max Crosby?
We met Max through Dana White. Dana was just going keto, and uh ended up getting some Slate, and um that's kind of how the UFC thing blossomed as well.
Let's jump right into it. I'm a huge UFC guy.
**77. **Dana White started drinking Slate, liked it, and reached out, leading to discussions about UFC sponsorship. 36:29
“Let's jump right into it. I'm a huge UFC guy. Okay. How did that happen? Dana White started drinking Slate, liked it, and they reached out to us. We started talking UFC, and 8 months later, a year later, we're we're a sponsor.
**78. **Max Crosby is a brand partner on the marketing side. 35:27
“Why don't you pick one of the athletes that invested and just tell us a big learning lesson from them? Max Crosby. He unfortunately just announced he's out for the rest of the season. The Raiders are obviously having a tough season, but Max has set a precedent of what a great partner is.
Max invested in the company. He's also a brand partner on the marketing side.
**79. **Max Crosby goes above and beyond to post about Slate on social media and tell his friends about it.
“The Raiders are obviously having a tough season, but Max has set a precedent for what a great partner is. Max invested in the company and is also a brand partner on the marketing side.
**80. **UFC and Cavender Twins are mentioned as examples of entities used for brand awareness building mechanisms. 40:00
“So, we think about it simply. It's a three-tiered funnel. We have one for e-commerce and one for retail. We'll start with retail. You have brand awareness, you have what we would call geo-targeted or retail-targeted, which is middle funnel, and then bottom funnel we'll have what we'll call in-store or direct digital.
**81. **The brand worked with fitness-first influencers like Brian Mazza and Hinman.
“Whole Foods, yeah, right by me. So, I want to go back into marketing. Okay.
You were very early with these kinds of fitness-first influencers. Brian Mazza is a mutual friend of both of ours. Hinman was another one that I saw. What was the strategy on that?
Like you said, our brand kind of screams fitness. We wanted our people to feel a certain way when seeing our package. We felt like there was a large, growing population of individuals that were kind of these, I don't know, biohacker, extreme fitness, but not bodybuilder-esque, that didn't have an offering. So, right away we wanted to hop right on that.”
Earned coverage and PR
**82. **UGC and partner content are used to build brand awareness. 59:59
“So, still, it's kind of ugly to visualize. We don't say it like this, but the top funnel for both is awareness. It's kind of like one big top funnel into sub little funnels. So, still awareness, right?
We still think top funnel. Everything that we do with the UFC and our partners and whatnot is helping to build awareness for the brand.
Hopefully, then when someone sees middle funnel, which on D2C would be your social media ads and whatnot. Again, for there it's a little bit more your evergreen with the goal of actually driving a purchase. Then bottom funnel would be actually on our website.”
The founder was the creator
**83. **John Rondy, who runs Johnny Drinks, is mentioned as an investor and partner, and his advice about consistency influenced the brand's approach. 47:26
“Where are you guys seeing the big wins? If you're talking about backing into CPMs, where are you seeing the big wins? It's so interesting because it all depends on the actual talent partner.
Fits none of the categories
**84. **Focus on long-term authentic touch points rather than quick, one-off promotions. 48:19
“So typically, if someone is having success on social media doing something and we want to integrate Slate because Slate is actually part of their life, we'll try to take as much as we can from their authentic brand and posting style and integrate that into Slate. We don't want to be the musical episode of a TV show. That's typically just your drama or whatever it is.
Yeah, you just want long-term, as many authentic touchpoints as possible, as opposed to the quick hit and out.
So big partnerships like UFC, influencers, what do you think was the biggest mistake you've made in influencer marketing to date?”
Culture Pop's founder on modern soda and the Noah Kahan can
CEOs You Should Know · 05 Mar 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGvyY8ugj6c
Who they pick
**85. **Tom answers a partnership question by starting with the formula, real stuff, organic herbs and spices, a live probiotic and a short ingredient list, because he picks partners on the same test he picks ingredients on.
“Those really mark that first celebrity project and collaboration that you've done. How do those partnerships align with what Culture Prop's broader mission and values really stand for? I think if you've heard what I've said about making the product, we use real stuff.
**86. **Tom's vetting standard is that the person is the same offstage: the Culture Pop office already loved Noah Kahan, and on meeting him he turned out to be everything he appears to be, hardworking, caring and a good human. 16:29
“A lot of people in our office obviously love him, but when you get to know him, he's everything he appears to be. He's a very hardworking, caring, good human.
The Busyhead Project is not a marketing thing. This is so dear to his heart. We're involved in it.
Our Black Cherry flavor, which is out there in Noah Kahan's name also supporting the Busyhead Project, is a good example of tying a real product to a real person.
We haven't chased down movie actors or fashion people or big-time influencers.
**87. **Tom says most of the celebrity relationships Culture Pop has had arrived the same way, through fit and a real connection rather than through a search.
“The Busyhead Project is not a marketing thing. This is so dear to his heart. We're involved in it. Our Black Cherry flavor, which is out there in Noah's name, also supports the Busyhead Project. It is a good example of tying a real product to a real person. I think most of our relationships with celebrities have come that way. We haven't chased down movie actors, fashion people, or big-time influencers. Not that we don't work with influencers.
There are a lot of influencers who love our product and come to us, and those are fantastic relationships for us.
**88. **The one thing Tom refuses is a transactional creator relationship, because the partnership has to fit the way the brand already speaks to people. 17:13
“But we don't want it to be really transactional. We want it to fit the way our brand speaks to people in the first place.”
Celebrities and athletes
**89. **Noah Kahan is Tom's quintessential example of a relatable partner, and the connection was a New England one rather than a booking. 16:08
“Sort of everyday, regular, real people that people can relate to. And Noah Khan is the quintessential example of that. He's just - and we kind of met him. He's a New England guy.”
Vita Coco founder on the supply chain moat against Coke
Executive House · 26 Feb 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkJV4uePllA
Not put in a category yet
**90. **Coming out of the Coke shock he decided the fix was two things, and influencers was one of them. 15:34
“I tell myself something enough, I guess I end up believing it. So it was pretty quick that I really believed we would be successful. I didn't know how long it would take.
I thought there would be some pain in between, but I knew we had to do things differently. We needed to bring in influencers to start helping to really amplify our message.
That's when we sold part of the business to Madonna. We then later brought in Rihanna.
We needed distribution, and that's when we started the partnership with Keurig Dr Pepper. So it wasn't Coca-Cola, but we now had our...”
**91. **The celebrity deals were structured as equity, not endorsement fees. They sold part of the business to Madonna and later brought in Rihanna. 15:34
“I tell myself something enough, and I guess I end up believing it. So it was pretty quick that I really believed we would be successful. I didn't know how long it would take. I thought there would be some pain in between, but I knew we had to do things differently. We needed to bring in influencers to start helping to really amplify our message.
That's when we sold part of the business to Madonna. We then later brought in Rihanna.
We needed distribution, and that's when we started the partnership with Keurig Dr Pepper. So it wasn't Coca-Cola, but we now had our...”
**92. **The Madonna deal started with a coffee meeting with her manager Guy Oseary, arranged through a friend of a friend of a friend.
“They're both, again, funny stories.
I met Madonna's manager,
Guy Oseary, through a friend of a friend of a friend. We went for coffee,
and he was like, "Madonna's a huge fan. She drinks the product all the time. She drinks it on stage. We should do something together."
He's like, "An endorsement deal." I'm like, "I don't have any money to give Madonna, let alone put her on billboards and commercials and all this other stuff. But I am doing an investment round if she wants to invest." I was kind of joking.
**93. **Madonna was already drinking the product on stage, which is why her manager opened the conversation. 16:28
“They're both funny stories. I met Madonna's manager, Guy Oseary, through a friend of a friend of a friend. We went for coffee, and he said, "Madonna's a huge fan. She drinks the product all the time. She drinks it on stage. We should do something together." I said, "Like what? We were a small business." He said, "An endorsement deal." I said, "I don't have any money to give Madonna, let alone put her on billboards and commercials and all this other stuff.
But I am doing an investment round if she wants to invest." I was kind of joking, and he said, "We'll take the whole round.”
**94. **He could not afford to pay Madonna for an endorsement deal, so he half jokingly offered her a spot in the investment round instead. 16:28
“I met Madonna's manager, Guy Oseary, through a friend of a friend of a friend. We went for coffee, and he said, "Madonna's a huge fan. She drinks the product all the time. She drinks it on stage. We should do something together." I said, "Like what? We were a small business."
He said, "An endorsement deal." I said, "I don't have any money to give Madonna, let alone put her on billboards and commercials and all this other stuff. But I am doing an investment round if she wants to invest." I was kind of joking.
And he said, "We'll take the whole round. How much? What's the valuation? What's the deal?"
**95. **The manager took the entire round on the spot. 16:28
“I met Madonna's manager, Guy Oseary, through a friend of a friend of a friend. We went for coffee, and he said, "Madonna's a huge fan. She drinks the product all the time. She drinks it on stage. We should do something together." I said, "Like what? We were a small business." He said, "An endorsement deal." I said, "I don't have any money to give Madonna, let alone put her on billboards and commercials and all this other stuff. But I am doing an investment round if she wants to invest." I was kind of joking.
He said, "We'll take the whole round. How much? What's the valuation? What's the deal?"”
**96. **That one relationship brought in Matthew McConaughey and Anthony Kiedis too, and they filled the whole round.
“Yeah.
She brought in Matthew McConaughey, Anthony Kiedis, all these other people, and they took the entire round.
Then they went to work for us marketing and promoting the brand.
It was like we were dealing, we were trying to do a deal with Jay-Z.
I wanted Jay-Z to be our guy. It was just getting super expensive and super difficult, and I wasn't able to get a deal done.
Somebody showed me a magazine article, a picture in People magazine.”
**97. **The Rihanna deal only happened because a Jay-Z deal was getting too expensive and too difficult to close.
“Yeah. She brought in Matthew McConaughey, Anthony Kiedis, and all these other people, and they took the entire round. Then they went to work for us marketing and promoting the brand. Rihanna was another good one.
It was like we were trying to do a deal with Jay-Z. I wanted Jay-Z to be our guy. It was just getting super expensive and super difficult, and I wasn't able to get a deal done.
Somebody showed me a magazine article, a picture in People magazine.”
**98. **The trigger was a paparazzi photo in People magazine of an early-career Rihanna holding Vita Coco at a checkout. 17:36
“Early, early, early, right? But there was a picture of her in a grocery store holding Vita Coco, trying to get through the checkout counter.”
**99. **He called Jay-Z's own team and switched the deal to Rihanna, their other client, closing it in days. 17:45
“And I called Jay-Z's team, and I was like, "Don't you guys represent this girl Rihanna?" And they're like, "Yeah." I'm like, "Forget Jay, let's do this deal with Rihanna."
The Influencer Marketing Playbook - with Lily Comba, Founder & CEO of Superbloom
Marketing Operators · Lily Comba · 30 Dec 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul1CRIujMw4
Not put in a category yet
**100. **Because they get 30 day ad rights free, they charge 20% of the influencer cost, 20k of the hundred, to the ad creative budget. 40:10
“So we're trying to figure out, all right, what is our click row ask the same way, right, Connor? We'll talk about doing it for a YouTube channel or doing it for Meta ads. Then, we kind of just decide this arbitrarily, but because we're getting ad rights for 30 days to all this stuff, we take 20% of that cost. So it's really 20k of the hundred.
**101. **The rule of thumb he uses, on 5 million a month in digital ad spend, is 100k to 200k plus on influencer, about one percent. 40:53
“1% of our media mix, as we've talked about with Conor McDonald before. If we're spending 5 million a month on digital ads, we should probably be spending 100k to 200k plus on influencer.
**102. **They contractually place a HexClad or Jones Road integration inside the average watch time, for example within the first 15 minutes of a 20 minute video. 58:01
“If someone has less than a 25% average watch time, we're not going to work with them because 75% of their video is not being watched. No one cares what you're talking about.
We always position an integration within the average watch time. That's a contractual obligation. So, if your average watch time for a 20-minute video is 15 minutes, you have to put your Hexlide, your Jones Road sponsorship within the 15 minutes that your audience is watching.
**103. **Asking a UGC creator for two extra hooks and two extra CTAs turns one deliverable into six. 67:43
“Those programs are going to look very different. Their briefs are going to be different. The way that you script them, the actual deliverables that you book with them are going to be very different. For HexClad, the organic is like how do you use HexClad in your day-to-day life? There are influencers that can sell HexClad in that way.
There are other influencers who are going to create an amazing UGC ad for you, and you can ask them to also record two additional hooks and two additional CTAs. So, one deliverable is actually six.
**104. **Superbloom's minimum budget to run a real programme is 50k, flexing down to 20k for a disruptor.
“And where we can actually start gaining some numbers, gauging success.
The sweet spot for us has been 50k minimum.
We will be flexible and go lower than that for certain brands that we feel confident in, that they're disrupting something, or yeah, we can have some fun at 20k. But as the industry gets more competitive, as more and more brands are working with influencers, there has to be a minimum investment level in order for you to break through.”
Bucked Up CEO on affiliate roots, 300 million and micro influencers
Bevlab · 23 Mar 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOYV0r60rCI
Who they pick
**105. **He believes there is always a next influencer coming up, so missing the big name is not fatal. 25:56
“Good question.
Here's the interesting thing: there's always going to be the next influencer. So, if you don't get a really big influencer for what you're doing, there's always going to be some up-and-comers, right?
I mean, all these people that are graduating high school, hitting their peaks and their prime, there's going to be more. But I do believe in micro influencers, and that's really where we started before we got involved with these big massive influencers. We started with these micro influencers. We felt like, look, we actually paid a girl who had, at the time, 10 years ago, 670,000 followers on Instagram, which was huge, right?”
**106. **His split is explicit, the big names build awareness and the micro influencers are what actually make people buy. 27:34
“Of course, you have Bryson, you have Conor McGregor. They can really build brand awareness, but it's these micro-influencers who get people to purchase.”
**107. **He says it takes a full army of people to move the needle, not one signing. 26:55
“So, we would pay these influencers at the time just, "Hey, just do a shout out for us and we'll pay you $1,000."
And she was like, "Well, I'll do that. I won't even charge. Just pay me for how many I sell." She posted, and she had less than 10,000 followers, and she did just as many sales as the big influencers.
We have over a
100,000 ambassadors, and we get over 200 a day that apply to become an ambassador.
But at the end of the day, it requires a full army of people to really move the needle.”
**108. **His argument for creator choice is representation, that consumers see themselves in Danny Duncan and not in a Red Bull F1 team.
“When they go to the Arnold, they feel represented because Danny Duncan is just like them, and they can access that. Well, people were wondering, wait, you brought Danny Duncan to a fitness event? But we were like, yeah, I mean, look, their crowd. It was wild when he showed up, and I'm like, it's nuts.”
**109. **The sponsorship rule for teams that ask is that it has to be a win-win and teach them a skill, so they earn it in the warehouse rather than being given it. 56:38
“Yeah, we get hit up a lot saying, "Hey, can you sponsor us? Will you sponsor us?" All of these things. We're like, "We would be more than happy to, but let's make sure that it's a win-win for both of us. Let's teach you a skill at the same time. You can earn as much as you want."”
What they pay and the terms
**110. **Ten years ago they paid an Instagram creator with 670,000 followers $1,000 for a post and it returned about 50 sales, barely covering the fee. 26:00
“Here's the interesting thing: there's always going to be the next influencer. So, if you don't get a really big influencer for what you're doing, there are always going to be some up-and-comers. I mean, all these people that are graduating high school, hitting their peaks and their prime, there are going to be more. But I do believe in micro influencers, and that's really where we started before we got involved with these big massive influencers. We started with these micro influencers.
We felt like, look, we actually paid a girl who had, at the time 10 years ago, 670,000 followers on Instagram, which was huge, right?”
**111. **The $1,000 shout out produced roughly 50 sales and barely paid for itself.
“We paid her $1,000 to do a post for us, and she got us 50 sales. I can't remember exactly, but it was 50 sales. We were like, "Ah man, she just barely paid for herself." Right.
**112. **A micro influencer with under 10,000 followers walked in, refused a fee and asked to be paid on sales only, and did just as many sales as the big names. 26:55
“Yeah, it was just a shout out. So, we would pay these influencers at the time, "Hey, just do a shout out for us, and we'll pay you $1,000."
Well, a micro influencer came into our office and was like, "I'll do that. I won't even charge. Just pay me for how many I sell." She posted, and she had less than 10,000 followers, and she did just as many sales as the big influencers.
We're like, "This is where it's at, the micro influencers." And so, that's what we've done. Right now, we have over 100,000 ambassadors, and we get over 200 a day that apply to become ambassadors. But at the end of the day, it requires a full army of people to really move the needle,”
**113. **One girls soccer team earned $35,000 that way and used it to fly to Europe and play teams they never expected to face. 55:56
“You got to see how many teams, whether they're cheerleading teams, football teams, or soccer teams, come into our warehouse and help put together packages and things for our funnels because they all want sponsorships. They all want it, and they love it because they get to learn a skill. You know what I mean? And we get it. I mean,
We had a soccer team earn $35,000. The girls' soccer team got to fly over to Europe and play soccer teams that they never thought in the world they would be able to play.
Seeding and gifting
**114. **Their hosting play is bringing influencers to Utah and flying them over the mountains in a helicopter, because they never see country like it.
“Yeah, the mountains are just right there. And we love that. One thing about bringing influencers out is they love it because they don't get to see this often. Then we'll take them on the heli.”
Celebrities and athletes
**115. **The named roster is Bryson DeChambeau, Conor McGregor, Bryce Hall, Danny Duncan and Alex Eubank. 18:57
“Well, I mean, we've worked with Bryson DeChambeau, Conor McGregor, Bryce Hall, Danny Duncan. There are a lot of big influencers that we've worked with, Alex Eubank,”
**116. **Conor McGregor was the biggest sponsored athlete deal and sold over $700,000 of his own product in three days, but the deal did not last as long as they wanted. 19:20
“Sponsorship. Too bad that didn't last longer than it did, but I'm telling you, within three days he had sold over $700,000 worth of his product.
**117. **McGregor's real value was closing retail buyers in person, walking up to a 7-Eleven buyer and getting a commitment on the spot.
“And he would get him. It's like, "Hey, when are you going to bring in my drinks?" And he'd get him to commit right there to bring in drinks. Next thing you know, he sold 50 pallets of his drinks to 7-Eleven.
**118. **DeChambeau announced on camera that if he broke 50 with Steph Curry, Bucked Up would go 50% off for 24 hours, and the site did over $4 million in that day.
“That's exactly the type of partnership you want. He's bought in and he's like, "Hey, what can I do to help your business grow?" He ended up breaking 50 with Steph Curry.
He's like, "Hey, if we break 50, it's 50% off Buckup's website for 24 hours." They broke 50. For the next 24 hours, we did over $4 million in revenue.
**119. **That single activation paid for DeChambeau's sponsorship for the whole year, and Gardner calls doing something specific with an athlete the key. 20:50
“That he's bought in and he's like, "Hey, what can I do to help your business grow?" He ended up breaking 50 with Steph Curry. You can go watch the video. He announced it before. He's like, "Hey, if we break 50, it's 50% off Buckup's website for 24 hours." They broke 50. For the next 24 hours, we did over $4 million in revenue.
And
That paid for Bryson all day long. We're like, shoot, just that alone paid for your sponsorship for the whole year. So, working with an athlete or a sponsor and really doing something with them that makes it really effective, that's the key.
You know what I mean?
**120. **For Danny Duncan they built a refresher drink with BCAAs, hydration, electrolytes and about 100 milligrams of caffeine, and he runs TikTok lives for it.
“Yeah. With Danny Duncan coming up, we actually did a refresher drink. It has some BCAAs in it, hydration, electrolytes, things like that too. It has about 100 milligrams of caffeine. He will do a TikTok live for us and help us really get the momentum there.
**121. **They wanted a Gronk Juice with Rob Gronkowski and could not do it because he was already sponsored by Monster. 28:50
“He's a big boy. [laughter] We wanted to come out with Grank Juice with him. He was already sponsored by Monster, so he couldn't do it.
**122. **DeChambeau was involved in the hydration product itself and pushed for something he could chug, which is not how hydration is meant to work. 64:10
“Yeah. You can chug it easier. People are thirsty most of the time when they're trying this. Bryson Dshambo, who we did these drinks with, said, "I just want to be able to chug it." I said, "Well, hydration really isn't meant to be chugged, but I get it."
Finding someone who will do something specific with a brand, instead of just posting about it, is most of the work in a celebrity deal, and it is the partnership work we run for brands, start to finish.