Case Studies
Caulipower
The first ever cauliflower crust pizza was coming to market with an ambitious vision and shoestring budget. A self-funded brand with a team of just one (founder Gail Becker), Caulipower needed to get the most out of every asset and activation.
There were three things going for us: a healthier pizza that tastes as good as conventional, a heartfelt founder story, and an openness to getting silly. We got to work showing media, influencers, foodies and the toughest audience of all, kids, how good a gluten-free pizza can be. We leveraged every win as new content and every partnership as a chance to grow email, web traffic and search rankings. As we grew, we launched new products, created a pop-up pizza shop in NYC, and expanded our role - myself leading all creative concepts, social media, content and email marketing.
Caulipower debuted as the #548th best selling frozen pizza in the US, but after 3 years it was #8 overall, and #1 pizza in the better-for-you category. We went from $0 to $200 Million in revenue and expanded from 1 retailer (Amazon) to over 25,000 across North America. We also built Gail a speaker’s profile that has since inspired countless would-be entrepreneurs to make “the jump” and realize their ambitions.
Above: to celebrate ‘the pizza that loves you back,’ we took out a billboard in Times Square for National Pizza Day - driving New Yorkers to our pop up shop in Greenwich.
Above: launch video leveraging our littlest assets, which tracked 1mm organic views (6mm today).
Life is Good
For Life is Good, t-shirts are the vehicle for something bigger: choosing to see and grow the good in the world. To date, Life is Good has donated over $12Million to helping vulnerable kids overcome serious challenges and become healthy, happy adults. The brand had amassed a cult following over 25+ years. The problem? This audience was aging with the brand, and a younger customer base wasn’t emerging.
Our solution was to make optimism cool. We partnered influencers who were famous for more than just influencing, from Olympic athletes to podcasters to community activists, to show what optimism looks like. We issued a challenge to choose gratitude, compassion, courage, and creativity - and join a community of like-minded people actively working to bring more good into their friendships, neighborhoods and the world at large. We elevated their stories across owned channels, beating trends in user-generated content and developing a steady stream of enthusiastic creators.
The result was over 10k uses of the hashtag in the first 6 months, and 100k new followers on Instagram - all organic. More importantly, a new generation was discovering Life is Good and making the tees their own. Today, Life is Good’s new and legacy customers have equal purchasing power.
The campaign was a Shorty Awards finalist, giving a more millennial-forward presentation of Life is Good tees & graphics, elevating the good works of community members and public figures such as US Gymnast Aly Raisman (below).
Comvita
Revered for its health benefits, New Zealand’s rare and precious Manuka Honey is a staple all over the world - except in the United States. With retailers hesitant to give shelf space to an unproven category, Comvita had to create a sustainable direct channel from the ground up.
Product education is critical to generate demand over the long term, so we partnered Comvita with credentialed wellness experts like Dr. Mark Hyman, and tastemakers like Gwyneth Paltrow - and elevated every validation from influencers, media and customers across channels. On top of that, we created urgency as an early adopter of World Bee Day, with activations that promoted bee rescue and preserved wildlands. As a premium brand, each presentation had to be exquisite, from the content to the packaging to the panel discussions.
By building trust in the product, leaning into luxury, and creating tangible ways for the brand to benefit local and global ecosystems, we established an audience of direct customers who didn’t just believe in the benefits of Manuka Honey, but wanted to fuel Comvita’s positive impact on the world.
In addition to photography to communicate premium wellness, we also invested in storytelling around Comvita’s sustainability practices (see the mini documentary, Hive Mindfully) - pairing with offers and exclusives to drive urgency and demand.
Sampler Platter
So many brands, so little time. After all the photoshoots, manifestos, content strategies, retention programs, influencers (the brilliant and the questionable), email drips, testimonials, and analytics, I’ve learned how to thread good connections between audiences and brands.
Some categories I’ve worked in: menopause, fast casual, consumer tech, B2B tech, fundraising, regenerative agriculture, CPG, supplements, health & wellness, franchise medicine, travel & hospitality, subscription streaming, fitness, festivals, apparel, baby, household, and pet.
Still reading? Ask me about one of these interesting projects:
His Holiness the Dalai Lama: for his 80th birthday, the Dalai Lama wished only for people to practice compassion, and #withcompassion became the #1 global trending hashtag on Twitter.
Manduka: to take yoga from the core to the mainstream, without sacrificing authenticity. make it all about the teachers and products that are more than “stuff.”
Scotts MiracleGrow: from subscription boxes aligned with the cycle of the moon to minimalist indoor gardening units, SMG is always testing new products and markets.
KeVita: when Pepsi bought this kombucha brand, it went from 3,000 stores to 50,000 nearly overnight. America needed to get real friendly with gut health.
