📦 - I’m Cheering For Taylor Swift’s Team!

DTC 482 - CeraVe Brand Collab, Game Day Tips, V Day Ads Tuesday, January 30, 2024 Good morning, Instagram is making finstas official and testing a new feature called Flipside. It lets you make a private account just for your close pals (or even start fresh with no connections). 💡 If brands find a way to get into user’s inner circle, it’ll be way easier to create more personalized content and ads. Catch you on the flip side! 😉 Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC: - Michael Cera’s new role is…CeraVe skincare brand ambassador?! - Learn what color performs best for Meta Ads. - Wanna get in on the Super Bowl action? Here are a few ideas you can use for social content! You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Molly’s Master Clean, Energy PowerSports, Kaleida Health. 👋 This newsletter is brought to you… IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PILOTHOUSE 🚀 The Ad That Reached 15x ROAS (Yes, It’s Possible…) VYPER Industrial’s Q4 goal was to “blow this thing up.” 📈 What does that actually mean? In simple terms, get more revenue without burning through a s#@* load of ad spend. Testing and acquiring purchase-optimized cold traffic through October allowed the Pilothouse team to [go into the big sales season with confidence](. The next step was to execute — the plan looked a little like: 1️⃣ Set thresholds for daily margin that protects the business bottom line. ⚔️ 2️⃣ Positioning 'uncap spend' targets where met meant spend could be increased to the moon. 🌙 3️⃣ Rake in the revenue. 💸 The result? Campaigns cranking, an [ad that reached 15x ROAS](, and 239% growth from October to November. If your brand is looking for results like VYPER… [Book Your Exploratory Call To Get Started]( 📰 NEWS - Advertisers are spending more on Google ad spend [but this can lead to increased competition](. - Temu’s U.S. shopping survey [reveals consumer’s top priorities](. - Meta [adds new tools to help brands]( with intellectual property infringement. - Arc Search app changes the search engine landscape with ‘[Search for Me’ feature](. - Google Bard is quickly [climbing the AI chatbot ranks]( and is now the #2 LLM. CELEBRITY BRAND COLLAB 😂 The Skincare King: Michael CeraVe Here’s a brand collab we never saw coming. Canadian actor Michael Cera has been spotted on the streets handing out bottles of CeraVe lotion, sending the internet on a wild goose chase to figure out what the heck is going on. What’s happening?! [CeraVe’s]( marketing team did a brilliant job of teasing the partnership by tapping gossip site Deuxmoi to ‘spot’ the breaking news. It’s not obvious this is a paid partnership with Deuxmoi at first since it fits in so well with the rest of their organic content. This user submission just looks like a normal email at first… 🕵️ [Deuxmoi’s email submission about Michael Cera and CeraVe] The hilarious email perpetuated a false rumor that Michael Cera might be the owner of CeraVe (Cera, CeraVe? Get it?) and that’s the reason for his baby soft skin. The impact? Users quickly searched online to see if this was fact or fiction, causing an uptick in searches for the skincare brand. 📈 [Google Trends reveals how this campaign caused CeraVe mentions to explode this past week] Why this brand collab works: OG fans of the skincare brand know that it was founded by dermatologists, but this campaign is a smart way to get more Gen Z customers to learn more about the history of CeraVe sprinkled with some chaos and confusion. Online users are already loving the punny collaboration and are praising the brand for their creative approach. We’ve seen successful punny celebrity collabs in the past with [Bubly and Michael Bublé’]( and we’re sure this won’t be the last! IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SARAL 👀 Are You Using The “Scientific Method” When Running Influencer Marketing Campaigns? 2024 and the old one-off approach to influencer marketing don’t mix. If you’re paying for posts from UGC marketplaces and hoping for the best, you should know your customers are seeing right through it. [SARAL helps brands take the scientific approach]( so your influencer campaigns virtually build themselves and you gain a community of ambassadors that promote your brand on the regular. With SARAL, you can: - Find untapped creators - Automate outreach and product shipment - Turn your creators into commission-only affiliates - Cut the hours you’re spending scrolling and DMing influencers on Instagram [Try SARAL for free]( Skeptical? [Book a call]( with their team. HEARTWARMING MSGS 🎧 Valentine’s Day Edition: Pink Is The New Red In this episode of the pod, we sit down with Jocelyn and Abby from the [Pilothouse Meta team]( and discuss Valentine’s Day marketing and innovative strategies used by popular ecommerce brands. In this podcast, we cover: - How color psychology can impact your ad campaigns - Boosting sales with express shipping options - Optimizing your ad spend - How you can work the self-love angle in your ads (steal these tips for your own campaigns!) 👉 You can listen to the full episode with Jocelyn and Abby [here](. PRE-GAME TIPS 🏈 8 Ways to Leverage The Big Game for SMBs It’s almost time for the Big Game which means you are bound to see tons of Super Bowl ads soon featuring big brands and celebrities. But even if you’re a smaller business, there are still ways to get in on the action and gain visibility during the most-viewed U.S. broadcast of the year. 👀 Easy Super Bowl Marketing Plays: - Comment in real-time on social: Whether you use X or TikTok (you can now live stream even if your [account has less than 1,000 followers!](), this is a great way to engage with your customers and prospects. Comment along in real-time and during the halftime show to strengthen your online community presence. - Create product variants in NFL team colors: If you have products in your existing lineup that match with team colors, this is the perfect time to point that out! - Give your Super Fans some love: Encourage your customers to snap selfies wearing your brand merch and upload to social media (similar to how football fans dress up to the max for the big game) and offer prizes for the best UGC content. - Host giveaways: The [Pilothouse ad team]( created these Sleeper Bowl Sweepstakes ads for [CPAP]( to highlight their star product with sports focused imagery and football emojis. [CPAP’s Sleeper Bowl Meta Ads] - Mention Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce in your copy: Swifties love football now and just mentioning these two lovebirds in your content can help with clicks and engagement. Try these video hooks: - “I bet Taylor wouldn’t do this for Travis Kelce…” - “I’m cheering for Taylor Swift’s team!” - Do a cheeky post-game recap: Do a fun post-game highlights video on social media and position your product or brand as the real MVP. ⭐ - Offer discounts and incentives for certain plays: If you’re supporting a team tell your followers that if x team scores y points, you will run a flash sale, discount or promo. - Host a viewing party: Partner with a local business in your area and host a local viewing party complete with swag bags that include your products. These are some fun easy ways to get in on the action leading up to the big day. ❗ Just remember, the NFL has trademarked the phrase Super Bowl so make sure to use an alternative wording for your campaigns instead. How is your business celebrating? Let us know by replying to the newsletter! 🧰 THE TOOLKIT 📈 Increase your sales while helping the planet. Wren’s free webinar on January 31 will explore how sustainability efforts can build customer loyalty while doing right by our environment. [Register here](. * ✍️ Need to turn your audio file into a transcript to use for captions, socials, or something else? We use Descript here at DTC, [give it a try](! SPONSOR DTC 📥 Promote your product to 160,000 digital marketing professionals DTC Newsletter + Podcast reaches a highly qualified audience of Shopify merchants, eCommerce founders, and digital marketers. [Talk to our team to learn more](. 👀 BANTER When #CleanTok has you mesmerized. Have you heard our latest podcasts? - 💗 [AKNF 373:]( The Art of Valentine’s Day Advertising - ⭕ The Rumpl and Houdini [Partnership Story of Innovation and Sustainability]( - ❌ [AKNF 371:]( Biggest Amazon Return Mistakes - 🥘 Danielle Walsh and Steph Chen from cookware brand [Anyday on the Power of Storytelling]( - 🍺 [AKNF 369:]( Avoid the Q1 Hangover and 3 Pillars of Success for 2024 - 😎 Nick Shackelford’s CBD brand [BREZes Hits $1 Million in 8 Months]( Don’t forget to [rate the DTC Podcast]( on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) DTC Newsletter is written by [Rebecca Knight]( and [Frances Du](. Edited by [Eric Dyck](. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. NEED MORE DTC? 🚀 [Advertise]( in DTC Newsletter. Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content. [Direct To Consumer]( Pilothouse, 1011 Government St., Victoria, BC V8W 1X6, Canada [Advertise with DTC]( | [Work With Pilothouse]( [Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe](