Brand Hackers

Sponsorships, fresh brands, and playful social campaigns - here’s what our marketing inspo Slack channel was buzzing about last week. 🍵 PerfectTed's new social campaign cleverly riffs on the iconic TFL/National Rail slogan with SIP IT. SAY IT. SORTED! 🫒 Another brand joined the sexy oil brand scene way back in Feb (sorry we’re late to the party). GOOD PHATS are serving up a range of oily products in funky bottles and some mouthwatering recipes. 🍺 Tom Holland has launched his own non-alc beer brand, BERO, just over a year after his sobriety chat on Jay Shetty’s podcast. What’s your marketing has your team been buzzing about recently? We love a bit of inspo!

This is gonna sound weird… BUT can we pay you to do our job? You see, we spend ALL day working on other people’s branding and marketing. And that’s great, we love it, but it just means we’re totally out of juice when it comes to our own. Kinda pathetic but true. We’ve known for a while we SHOULD be curating lovely newsletters that bring our work to life. We’ve known for a while we SHOULD be a bit more noisy on here. Now we’re actively looking for a part time marketing manager to do our job for us. Might it be you? Or someone you know? Job spec linked in the comments. P.S. See what we did with the juice line... 😂

We've been keeping an eye on a gem in Birmingham (and now in London!), who are giving a masterclass in building a community. Meet ROCUP Run Club, a community that's running circles around the competition, both IRL and online 🏃♀️ Founded just last November, they've now partnered with Gymshark proving that starting local can lead to big things. Their storytelling is spot on: Rudy the founder, turned his life around through fitness and now he’s using his platform to inspire others. What we love: 🔑 Hyper-local partnerships: teaming up with Birmingham-based Gymshark feels authentic and powerful 🔑 Purpose-driven storytelling: Rudy’s journey is woven into the brand, making the connection with the community that much stronger 🔑 Socials that make you feel something: A quick scroll of their Instagram shows you exactly what to expect at their events, welcoming, inclusive vibes that go beyond just running. 🔑 People-first mentality: RocUp has always been free, making fitness accessible to everyone, with no pressure to wear the latest gear or keep up with pacing. If you're looking for a masterclass in authentic, community-driven marketing, RocUp is one to watch 🔥 Check them out here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gxSdQfw7

Want to know the not-so-secret sauce to nail your BFCM campaign? 🤫 Here are the three keys: 📅  Stay focused! Have a plan and stick to it. (Remember, eyes on the prize - like the price drop you’re waiting for on that coffee machine) 💸 Make every pound count! Don’t let your budget go to waste. 📈 Measure your success! Find out what works, and do more of it! Our team at Brand Hackers has helped over 100 startup brands crush their BFCM goals, and now we’re sharing our best strategies with YOU in our FREE guide! Ready to take your campaign to the next level? 💪 Grab your free guide now - link in the comments!

🌟 FAB News! 🌟 We’ve been lucky enough to team up with The Gerry Anderson Store, home to iconic shows like Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, and Space: 1999! For the past few months, we’ve been working behind the scenes to help bring this amazing universe to even more fans. 🚀 Whether it’s marketing strategy, website updates, email campaigns, social media, or ads, we’ve had a blast keeping the spirit of these classics alive. It’s been a real privilege to work with a brand that so many of us grew up with, and here’s to keeping the adventure going with Jamie Anderson and the team!

We want to get to know you more. 🫵 We know the struggles of start-up life and let’s face it - marketing can often feel like a real headache. 🤕 So we’re curious… #startupmarketing #marketingstrategy #marketingpoll

Our paid team has audited A LOT of startup brands' Meta ad accounts so far this year. ↳ Here are the 5 biggest mistakes we keep seeing: 🔍 Poor or no tracking → This is the lifeblood of your ad account. Without proper tracking, Meta doesn’t know what you want to achieve or if it’s even happening. 🚫 Short-running campaigns → Particularly with low budgets, momentum is one of Meta’s superpowers. Startups should view Meta as a long-term tool to be fine-tuned, rather than a short-term lever to pull. 🎲 Random/unstructured approach to testing → Think back to science class—controlling variables and conducting fair tests. This is surprisingly rare in ad accounts. While low budgets often mean you need to hustle and can’t always run perfect tests, having a deliberate, structured approach (vs. random testing) is ESSENTIAL. 💰 Budget spread too thin → You need learnings, and they only come from results. The more you consolidate your budget (within reason) the faster you’ll gather meaningful insights. Lack of focus may be what's holding your account back. 🎯 Optimisation goals → If you optimize for clicks, Meta will find you people who click. In some cases this makes sense to do, but often we speak to founders who want sales, and see clicks as a proxy for them. Ultimately, if you can optimise for purchases, and you want them - this is what you should be doing. Want us to spend an hour in your Meta account seeing if you're guilty of any of these? Drop us a message! P.S. It's Jean-Luc Hepburn here! 👋 Thanks team, for letting me steal the spotlight for a quick post!

🚨 Job Alert (disguised as a strong career opinion of mine): If I'm starting my marketing journey from scratch, I'm going to specialise in growth marketing. - Such an exciting space. - So much room for growth. - So many branches it can take. And it's the fast growing part of what we're doing at Brand Hackers. Which is why we are now recruiting for a Senior Growth Marketing Manager to join the team. This role is for you if you: ➤ Want to help shape how we approach growth marketing for challenger brands ➤ Have solid experience from DTC brands that have SCALED! ➤ Are all over the detail but enjoy stepping out of the weeds to see the longer term picture ➤ Love an experiment and can move at pace ➤ Can explain complicated concepts in a simple way for founders who don't speak growth ➤ Are basically a startup DTC nerd like me! Full job spec in the comments - reach out to me, Pam Macaulay or Chessie Samler if you have specific questions. p.s. please share with anyone who might be a good fit!

Achieving successful, sustainable growth requires the right partnerships 🤝   Stubble & Co is a great example – a brand committed to creating products that empower people to do more. They collaborate with a range of creators and have recently partnered with Fergus Crawley, an athlete and coach who shares their ethos, and works with them as an ambassador. Together, they’re building something truly special.   Lewis Murray at Stubble & Co is leading the charge on influencer marketing: "We started working with influencers about 5-6 months ago. Our focus has always been on building meaningful, long-term collaborations with creators who genuinely believe in our brand. This strategy has led to authentic partnerships that drive real impact."   Choosing and scaling the right influencer strategy requires understanding the options, and working out what is right for your brand. We've teamed up with Growth Partner, partner of Stubble & Co, to speak to a range of influencer and advocacy experts. We've captured the key considerations in our Advocacy and Influencer Booklet, which aims to help brands move faster on their influencer strategies. Part 1 covers: 🚀 Where advocacy fits in with other marketing activity 🚀 The types of influencers that might be right for you (nano to mega) 🚀 The importance of organic advocacy and how to drive it 🚀 How you can work with different influencers with paid, gifted or ambassador strategies 🚀 Which platforms to consider using to get bang for your buck - including Reddit and Snapchat Download Part 1 here: https://lnkd.in/ePPj5i3u

We know Oatly aren’t ones to shy away from a bold campaign, but this new campaign might be our favourite yet. Have you seen Oatly’s new billboard at Wandsworth Town station? It’s super simple but packs a punch with the message: "It works in tea!". They then invite you to chat with their AI bot on WhatsApp to prove oat milk belongs in your tea. So, what can other brands take away from this (soon-to-be) viral campaign? 🥛 Clear messaging & knowing your audience Oatly speaks directly to tea lovers, a group that’s often left out when it comes to plant-based milk because let’s be honest, the taste isn’t loved. The lesson here? Make sure your message connects with your audience, especially if they feel overlooked! 🥛 Solving real problems They’ve tapped into a common issue: plant-based milks don’t always work well in tea. Oatly is direct in their message that their oat milk is the fix for tea drinkers. The takeaway? Show your customers how you can solve their everyday challenges. 🥛 Leveraging WhatsApp for fun & engaging conversations The WhatsApp chat adds a fresh layer of interaction, turning a billboard into a two-way conversation. Oatly are showing us that WhatsApp isn’t just for family group chats, it’s a powerful tool for building personal and interactive relationships with customers. It makes engagement feel easy and natural. What do you think? Would you try adding Whatsapp to your marketing mix? Inspired by a brilliant post from Phoebe Dunsmore