📦 - Brand To Watch: Topicals 👀

DTC 490 - Topicals Brand Profile, Meta Ads Deep Dive, High Converting Copy Friday, February 9, 2024 Good morning, If you think the Super Bowl is the greatest advertising stage for brands, think again. Canned water brand Liquid Death is now auctioning off advertising space on eBay and promises its reach is wider than the Big Game. The winning brand will appear on 500,000 Liquid Death boxes and the unconventional campaign is already generating lots of buzz online. This seems like a great deal considering the average cost of a 30-second Super Bowl ad is $7 million. 💰 Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC: - Let’s discuss custom breakdowns in Meta Ads Reporting. - How this BIPOC brand became a cult favorite with Gen Z. - And… what you should keep in mind to write copy that converts! You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Howell To Sports, Let Me Show You London, and Remo Health. 👋 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PILOTHOUSE 👡 Sole Mates: How Pilothouse Tripled Email Revenue For This Designer Shoe Company Since inception in 2001, Journee had grown substantially. But, they hadn’t yet managed to find the optimal strategies for improving their deliverability, campaign and flow performance, customer retention, or list size. Until… 👇 [They found a scale partner in Pilothouse](. When auditing, the team found a big problem… Journee’s emails were NOT landing in the main inbox. 😰 After a full IP rewarming process, Pilothouse formulated a growth plan that included: - Segmentation strategy and testing - Email and SMS copy A/B testing - Time testing - Improving customer reactivation automation - Rebuilding loyalty Just six months after starting, Journee saw a 354% increase in clicks, 190% increase in conversion rate, 254% increase in revenue per email sent, 1217% increase in orders, and SO. MUCH. MORE. ✅ 🚨 Take your brand from overlooked to overbooked. [START SCALING]( 📰 NEWS - Shopify announced they’re [increasing their Plus plan price by 25%](. Existing merchants can lock in current pricing by committing to a 3-year contract by April 24th. - Google updates [Gmail ads with a new sponsored label](. - Shopify launches a new ad product called [Shop Campaigns](. - SKIMS [taps Super Bowl halftime performer Usher]( to be the new face of their new men’s underwear campaign. ANALYTICS How Custom Breakdowns Work in Meta Ads Reporting Got a custom report made in Meta? ✅ We love to hear it. Here’s a deeper dive from the [Pilothouse Meta team]( on how breakdowns work in Meta Ads reporting and why you might want to use custom breakdowns. Did you know…the breakdown section of Meta Ads reporting comes with presets that can help you view data based on various attributes and guide next steps in an ad account? Standard breakdowns are available for delivery, time and level, and can be applied to show metrics based on different segments. Here’s an example of a platform breakdown for one of Pilothouse’s partners. Looking at the data, Instagram has made up 9% of ad spend for the last 14 days and is running at a ROAS that’s 57% higher than Facebook. 👀 A strong next step in this account would be launching an ad set that targets Instagram only to see if the team can scale spend on Instagram while generating more efficient results. 📈 In ads reporting, you can also create custom breakdowns to look at different segments of data. This can be done at the campaign, ad set, and ad level. Learn how to create a custom breakdown [here](. BRAND EXCELLENCE ⚡ How Topicals Attracts a Cult-Following with Gen Z Have you heard of the brand [Topicals](? This BIPOC beauty brand launched back in 2020 and quickly gained a cult-like following with Gen Z for its eye-catching packaging and inclusive messaging. The highlights: - Founder Olamide Olowe became the youngest Black woman to raise $10 million in funding in 2022. - The investor lineup includes stars like Issa Rae and Yvonne Orji plus CEOs of Warby Parker, Bombas, and AllBirds. - Topicals is one of the fastest growing skincare brands in beauty retailer Sephora. Today we’ll take a look at how Topicals connects with Gen Z through inclusive imagery, community building, and its social impact. 1️⃣ Celebrates Diversity This BIPOC brand celebrates diversity by creating products focused for melanin skin and common pain points like hyperpigmentation. You can see this reflected in their website photography and social media channels. [Topicals’ Instagram feed leverages UGC content] Gen Z is the most racially and ethnically diverse generation, so having inclusive imagery from real-life customers is a major win. 🏆 The brand opts out of using professional photography and focuses more on user generated lifestyle content. 2️⃣ Community Building Topicals does an excellent job of building a strong community and branding it in a fun way. On their website’s main navigation, you can find a tab called [The Spottie Sphere]( which links to their loyalty program and community hub. Their tagline ‘Connect. Build. Earn.’ breaks down what users get out of joining their online community but also outlines other important selling points like breaking the unrealistic expectations around beauty and empowering its members to co-create a community with them. [Topicals messaging focuses on creating a sense of community] The brand also focuses on community by creating community powered playlists and holding community photoshoots that puts fans of the brand front and center. 3️⃣ Mission Driven Along with being vocal about unrealistic beauty standards, the brand also advocates strongly for mental health issues which is a big issue among all generations but especially Gen Z. Their [social impact page]( outlines their commitment to mental health initiatives and how they donate 1% of their profits to mental health organizations. If you’re looking to attract more Gen Z customers, Topicals is an excellent brand to follow closely. Know of any more BIPOC brands we should highlight? Reply back to the newsletter and let us know! 🧰 THE TOOLKIT 🌎 Becoming an eco-friendly brand is easier than you think. Partner with CleanHub and reduce plastic pollution with every customer purchase (or at least collect more than you produce!). [Get started here](. * 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](. 🌐 IN THE SOCIAL SPHERE Here’s a copywriting tip. Instead of focusing on how to sell your product, hone in on your customer’s needs to write a copy that converts. Can't view the image? [Click here]( 👀 BANTER If only time travel was real… Have you heard our latest podcasts? - ⭐ Niclas Bornling on [the Art of Brand Storytelling]( - 🚀 [AKNF 375](: ‘The Three W’s’ of Email CTR - 🥟 Eric Ji Sun Wu’s [Entrepreneurial Journey with Sobo Foods]( - 💗 [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 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]( [Unsubscribe](