How DTC shower brands' influencer and marketing strategies are making a splash
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Marketing News & Strategy
Phoebe Bain .
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DTC brands are spending more on connected TV ads, but that doesn't mean they'll make upfronts commitments
From the kitchen to the closet, direct-to-consumer brands have taken over just about every nook and cranny of the house. Case in point: Thereâs a portfolio of brands called Pattern that manages a collective of DTC homeware companies.
So it was only a matter of time before DTC brands came for our showers.
Kohler and Moen, these are not. Take Jolie, for instance. A company with only three full-time employees, Jolie sells shower heads with filtration systemsâbut markets them as beauty and wellness products (water is the first step in a beauty routine, after all). The brand, founded in January 2022, ended the year with $4 million in revenue. Its products were sold DTC in its first four months but have since moved into retailers including Goop and Anthropologie.
Outlines, a sustainable DTC bathroom product company that is perhaps best known for its shower curtains, is another example. After rolling out in January 2022, Outlines' revenue increased 20% to 30% each month, accelerating to nearly 40% monthly growth by the end of the year, said Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Megan Murphy. Outlines expects to quadruple revenue this year, she said.
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This sectorâs rise âwas probably triggered by COVID,â said Ryan Babenzien, co-founder and CEO of Jolie. Pre-pandemic, people used a lot of their discretionary income on in-person activities such as travel. But when pandemic lockdowns forced us inside people started focusing that discretionary income on their home environments, Babenzien said.
Outlinesâs Murphy said the desire to improve our showers came from the increased importance placed on âmoments of escapeâ during the lockdown. The bathroom, after all, is an easy place to hide out. âItâs a little bit of a sanctuary,â Murphy said.
But the pandemic wasnât the only factor driving these brandsâmarketing played a role in the sectorâs rise, too. DTC shower brands often put paid spend behind educational content from influencers, as well as find crafty ways to grow email lists that inform their target audiences about these products.
Also read:Â DTC brands on TikTok prepare for app's possible ban
Creator strategies
Many of these brands started seeding products to creators early on, eventually using the resulting content many of these people posted on social for a more robust paid strategy.
Sproos, a DTC shower fixture brand that rolled out in October 2022 and targets renters for renter-friendly shower âsprucing up,â has employed this tactic time and again. Sproos has since rolled out into retailers such as Urban Outfitters and True Value.
Benjamin Fix, co-founder and CEO of Sproos, explained that people like to see how easy it is to install and use Sproosâs products. âPeople want to see how it's done, and maybe also by someone that they trust,â he said. He pointed to a Sproos creatorâs TikTok that recently received 6 million views as an example.
@honeyidressedthepug Rental bathrooms can be fun too! đżđChange your shower head for a renter friendly upgrade. No drilling required with this one @sprooshome #bathroommakeover #bathroommakeoveronabudget #renterfriendlymakeover #bathroomdecor #aestheticbathroom ⏠If We Ever Broke Up - Mae Stephens
About 25% of Sproosâs marketing budget goes to creators, Fix said. But, like many DTC brands these days, many of these deals arenât paid.
Fix explained that Sproos sends creators its products for free (its colorful shower renovation kits can cost as much as $240). The brand also pays to license the contentâaccording to Fix, Sproos compensates creators for the rights to use their content for paid social media ads.
Those paid ads derived from creator content seem common in this sectorâafter all, itâs an easy way to educate consumers about how these products work with the buffer of a creator to avoid being âsalesy.â
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Jolie started seeding its shower heads to what its founders called âinfluential peopleâ before it even officially hit the market in order to drive FOMO (fear of missing out). Pre-launch, Jolie sent out about 100 shower heads and continues to seed slightly more than that amount per month to people in the art, culture, and fashion worlds, whether theyâre social media content creators or not.
âThe more we get organic contentâcontent from seeding, content from customersâthe more we can spend on Instagram, efficiently,â Arjan Singh, co-founder and head of brand marketing at Jolie, said, adding that Jolie is able to make money from Instagram, in part, because of all the content the community produces. Currently, about 90% of Jolieâs influencers arenât paid, but it plans to do more paid partnerships in the future.
Babenzien said about three-quarters of Jolieâs yearly marketing spend goes towards paid social, particularly on Instagram.
Shower thoughts hit the inbox
Before the brand even rolled out, Outlines had a list of 5,000 email subscribers. Those arrived from two main, separate sources: those obtained from its first product, and a creative referral program.
Outlines got its start by selling only shower curtains (rather than the array of bath and shower products it now sells). The curtains were a so-called minimum viable product to see if people would be interested in them. Those initial 3,000-ish customers made up the bulk of its email list once Outlines as the world knows it now officially hit the market.
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Click here
But the remaining roughly 2,000 subscribers came from a referral program with incentives. Murphy explained that the DTC razor company Harryâs garnered a community pre-launch with a similar approach.
If someone signed up for Outlinesâs email list and then referred a friend, they could win prizes. The more people they referred, the better the reward. Some of the prizes were products from DTC brands that could perhaps attract a similar customer, such as a Bearaby blanket (for instance, Bearaby also says its products are sustainably made).
Jolie generated an email list of 30,000 subscribers before its official launch by offering people a âwater report.â If someone gave Jolie their email and zip code, they would receive a free report that detailed what potentially harmful chemicals or compounds were in their local water source.
The offer accomplished two things: Lead generation, and educating customers about why they might need a water filter like the one in Jolieâs shower heads.
âWe knew that education was going to be really critical,â Babenzien said.
In this article:
Creators & Influencer marketing
DTC
Marketing News & Strategy
Small Business
Social Media
Sustainability
Phoebe Bain
Phoebe Bain is a senior reporter at Ad Age, covering influencer marketing and DTC brands. Bain joined Ad Age in 2022 after founding Morning Brew's Marketing Brew vertical, where she also covered influencer marketing. Previously, Bain worked at Social Media Today under Industry Dive, as well as Business Insider.
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Marketing News & Strategy. Phoebe Bain . READ THIS NEXT. DTC brands are spending more on connected TV ads, but that doesn't mean they'll make upfronts commitments. From the kitchen to the closet, direct-to-consumer brands have taken over just about every nook and cranny of the house. Case in point: Thereâs a portfolio of brands called Pattern that manages a collective of DTC homeware companies. So it was only a matter of time before DTC brands came for our showers. Kohler and Moen, these are not. Take Jolie, for instance. A company with only three full-time employees, Jolie sells shower heads with filtration systemsâbut markets them as beauty and wellness products (water is the first step in a beauty routine, after all). The brand, founded in January 2022, ended the year with $4 million in revenue. Its products were sold DTC in its first four months but have since moved into retailers including Goop and Anthropologie. Outlines, a sustainable DTC bathroom product company that is perhaps best known for its shower curtains, is another example. After rolling out in January 2022, Outlines' revenue increased 20% to 30% each month, accelerating to nearly 40% monthly growth by the end of the year, said Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Megan Murphy. Outlines expects to quadruple revenue this year, she said. Ad Age Breakout Brand Leaders. New award honors the people behind emerging brands. Enter here. This sectorâs rise âwas probably triggered by COVID,â said Ryan Babenzien, co-founder and CEO of Jolie. Pre-pandemic, people used a lot of their discretionary income on in-person activities such as travel. But when pandemic lockdowns forced us inside people started focusing that discretionary income on their home environments, Babenzien said. Outlinesâs Murphy said the desire to improve our showers came from the increased importance placed on âmoments of escapeâ during the lockdown. The bathroom, after all, is an easy place to hide out. âItâs a little bit of a sanctuary,â Murphy said. But the pandemic wasnât the only factor driving these brandsâmarketing played a role in the sectorâs rise, too. DTC shower brands often put paid spend behind educational content from influencers, as well as find crafty ways to grow email lists that inform their target audiences about these products. Also read: DTC brands on TikTok prepare for app's possible ban. Creator strategies. Many of these brands started seeding products to creators early on, eventually using the resulting content many of these people posted on social for a more robust paid strategy. Sproos, a DTC shower fixture brand that rolled out in October 2022 and targets renters for renter-friendly shower âsprucing up,â has employed this tactic time and again. Sproos has since rolled out into retailers such as Urban Outfitters and True Value. Benjamin Fix, co-founder and CEO of Sproos, explained that people like to see how easy it is to install and use Sproosâs products. âPeople want to see how it's done, and maybe also by someone that they trust,â he said. He pointed to a Sproos creatorâs TikTok that recently received 6 million views as an example. @honeyidressedthepug Rental bathrooms can be fun too! đżđChange your shower head for a renter friendly upgrade. No drilling required with this one @sprooshome #bathroommakeover #bathroommakeoveronabudget #renterfriendlymakeover #bathroomdecor #aestheticbathroom ⏠If We Ever Broke Up - Mae Stephens. About 25% of Sproosâs marketing budget goes to creators, Fix said. But, like many DTC brands these days, many of these deals arenât paid. Fix explained that Sproos sends creators its products for free (its colorful shower renovation kits can cost as much as $240). The brand also pays to license the contentâaccording to Fix, Sproos compensates creators for the rights to use their content for paid social media ads. Those paid ads derived from creator content seem common in this sectorâafter all, itâs an easy way to educate consumers about how these products work with the buffer of a creator to avoid being âsalesy.â 4 things DTC founders wish they knew before entering retail stores. Phoebe Bain. Why NYC restaurants are starting DTC brands. Phoebe Bain. Ad Age introduces new award for brand marketers. Jolie started seeding its shower heads to what its founders called âinfluential peopleâ before it even officially hit the market in order to drive FOMO (fear of missing out). Pre-launch, Jolie sent out about 100 shower heads and continues to seed slightly more than that amount per month to people in the art, culture, and fashion worlds, whether theyâre social media content creators or not. âThe more we get organic contentâcontent from seeding, content from customersâthe more we can spend on Instagram, efficiently,â Arjan Singh, co-founder and head of brand marketing at Jolie, said, adding that Jolie is able to make money from Instagram, in part, because of all the content the community produces. Currently, about 90% of Jolieâs influencers arenât paid, but it plans to do more paid partnerships in the future. Babenzien said about three-quarters of Jolieâs yearly marketing spend goes towards paid social, particularly on Instagram. Shower thoughts hit the inbox. Before the brand even rolled out, Outlines had a list of 5,000 email subscribers. Those arrived from two main, separate sources: those obtained from its first product, and a creative referral program. Outlines got its start by selling only shower curtains (rather than the array of bath and shower products it now sells). The curtains were a so-called minimum viable product to see if people would be interested in them. Those initial 3,000-ish customers made up the bulk of its email list once Outlines as the world knows it now officially hit the market. Sign up for Ad Age newsletters. From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox. Click here. But the remaining roughly 2,000 subscribers came from a referral program with incentives. Murphy explained that the DTC razor company Harryâs garnered a community pre-launch with a similar approach. If someone signed up for Outlinesâs email list and then referred a friend, they could win prizes. The more people they referred, the better the reward. Some of the prizes were products from DTC brands that could perhaps attract a similar customer, such as a Bearaby blanket (for instance, Bearaby also says its products are sustainably made). Jolie generated an email list of 30,000 subscribers before its official launch by offering people a âwater report.â If someone gave Jolie their email and zip code, they would receive a free report that detailed what potentially harmful chemicals or compounds were in their local water source. The offer accomplished two things: Lead generation, and educating customers about why they might need a water filter like the one in Jolieâs shower heads. âWe knew that education was going to be really critical,â Babenzien said. In this article: Creators & Influencer marketing. DTC. Marketing News & Strategy. Small Business. Social Media. Sustainability. Phoebe Bain. Phoebe Bain is a senior reporter at Ad Age, covering influencer marketing and DTC brands. Bain joined Ad Age in 2022 after founding Morning Brew's Marketing Brew vertical, where she also covered influencer marketing. Previously, Bain worked at Social Media Today under Industry Dive, as well as Business Insider. View all articles by this author. Most Popular. LVMH hires Publicis Groupe for media accounts including Louis Vuitton. Trans actor and ex-Bud Light endorser Ian Harvie: âI donât believe in the allyship of Anheuser-Buschâ What to do if you are laid off from your ad job. WHAT TO READ NEXT. DTC brands are spending more on connected TV ads, but that doesn't mean they'll make upfronts commitments. Marketing winners and losers of the week. Bud Light to triple summer ad spend, AB InBev CEO silent on LGBTQ+ stance. How Hyundai is leveraging a TikTok trend to connect with Black consumers. FTC pushes to ban Meta from monetizing children's data. In-house agencies grow in popularity, ANA report finds. Jenny Craig to shut down. Sephora names a former PepsiCo, Kimberly-Clark and Google vet as its CMO.