You know that “Sure, Grandma, let’s get you to bed” meme? Imagine that, but with direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies talking about inexpensive Facebook ads, which dominated marketing in the 2010s.

Then: Brands like Outdoor Voices and Glossier in large part grew by funneling ad dollars into Facebook and Instagram. “I think the general principle is that there was a time when Facebook ad costs were low and capital was abundant, and investor optimism was high, and lots of brands raised a lot of capital,” Dulma Altan, TikToker and former founder of a DTC fragrance company called Potion, told Marketing Brew.

Now: As DTC brands grapple with privacy changes on these platforms, not to mention layoffs and other issues, today’s DTC advertisers are taking a different approach: diversifying their marketing and investing in more organic, community-centric approaches with consumers.

Free-range, all natural

Gefen Skolnick, founder of Couplet Coffee, whose DTC site went live this February, said she’s yet to put a dollar toward paid marketing.

• “When I was first starting Couplet, I got a lot of advice from people who started brands during the Instagram ad era of DTC brands…kind of like a golden era for anyone who wanted to start a DTC brand,” she told us, but eventually realized that “people actually need to build a true brand and not just try to sell SKUs with ads anymore.”
• Instead Skolnick, who identifies as gay, decided to create Couplet’s own niche in LA’s LGBTQ+ community through queer art show and poetry nights. “I had never seen anyone in DTC really narrow in and understand their audience and do something like that,” she said.
• Online, Skolnick has stayed true to Twitter, where she raised funding for the brand before it started and continues to engage with Couplet fans. She said TikTok has also been a big driver of organic brand awareness and engagement. “I haven’t had any strategy at all with TikTok or Twitter,” she said. “I’m a very blunt and impulsive person, so I’ve just kept it authentic. And people have noticed that, and I just tweet what’s on my mind.”

P.F. Candle Co. has also taken a more grassroots approach, typically only putting 8%–10% of its budget toward Facebook and Instagram ads, its marketing manager Meghan Alfano told us. It’s been investing in TikTok to broaden brand awareness, with about 90% organic and only 10% paid.

“I think we’re still kind of learning what works and what doesn’t in that channel, but it’s been really fun to see,” Alfano said.

Keep reading here.—KH

In early May, mega-media company WPP announced a partnership with Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, to “accelerate innovation” in the metaverse.

Though details were a bit vague in the press release, the partnership will see WPP employees get access to “training and tools” that can help build new experiences in Fortnite and learn how to use Epic’s creation tool Unreal Engine. Cool!

Zoom out: These kinds of partnerships—deals between agencies and platforms—are nothing new. In fact, just last year WPP announced a “new global agency partnership” with TikTok. So did everyone else in some capacity, including Publicis, IPG Mediabrands, Dentsu, and Havas Media Group, to name a few.

Our question: What do agencies actually get from these kinds of partnerships, besides a nifty press announcement?

• WPP spokesperson Martina Suess told Marketing Brew that the agency isn’t paying for the training, but that there are other “commercial elements within the scope of the partnership” that she couldn’t comment on, specifically declining to answer whether the partnership would give WPP get reduced rates from Epic Games or access to new inventory.

Big picture: Ana Milicevic, principal and cofounder of digital advisory firm Sparrow Advisers, said in a tweet that these types of partnerships are “super typical,” comparing them to a “hunting license of sorts” that gives companies “exposure and pitching opportunities” to an agency’s clients.

Later, over email, she clarified that a lot of these partnerships are “mainly meant as PR.” But if taken seriously, agency folks get the benefit of talking points, marketing materials, and “in some cases training” to pitch to clients.

It’s a way for agencies to show clients they have ties to the platform or idea “du jour,” Jordan Bitterman, CMO of the ad-tech firm TripleLift, told Marketing Brew over Twitter direct messages. They’re “a lock for perceptual benefits, but only sometimes does it pay off with tangible/business results,” he said. “The trick is having someone (or a team) at the agency that truly knows their way around that topic/partner and can turn it into something effective.”

Read more here.—RB

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Web3: Here’s Andreessen Horowitz (aka a16z)’s annual report on the state of crypto.

Audio: Highlights from the 2022 Podcast Upfront.

The ’gram: What you need to know about sponsored posts in 2022.

Screen time: MNTN Performance TV takes the guesswork out of TV advertising with self-service software that offers smarter targeting, instant optimization, and stunning simplicity. To learn how easy it is from Mr. MNTN himself, check out mountain.com.*

Dive deep: Read about the rapidly evolving streaming space in Marketing Brew’s new hub, sponsored by Hulu Ad Manager. The latest article just dropped—find it here.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Your next amazing role is waiting for you at the Marketing Brew Job Board, featuring 250+ new roles!

Today’s featured openings:

• Director of PR and Partnerships at Campspot
• VP, Content Marketing at The Brand Guild
• Content Marketing Manager at Antea Group

See more jobs or post your job opportunities here.

Stat: A person in the US “has their online activity and location exposed 747 times every day” thanks to real-time bidding, the mechanism that makes programmatic advertising work, according to a report from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties. In Europe, it exposes people’s data 376 times a day.

Quote: “Unfortunately I don’t think we’d have anything to add as we have no idea how cryptocurrency works (even after having it explained to us repeatedly), don’t own it, and don’t follow its market. We just set out to make a funny commercial!”—director Jeff Schaffer telling the New York Times that he and Larry David, who collaborated on FTX’s Super Bowl ad, have no comment on the current crypto crash

Read: “Why oligarchs love European data-protection laws” (the Economist)

Data decoder, creative thinker, and tech explorer—does this sound like you? We hope so… since these are all traits that theoretically should make up the modern marketer. As we continue to become interconnected, even more responsibilities will begin to fall under your department. But, but, how, what, where, when, why—you ask?

On June 8 in NYC, we’re exploring just this and working to better understand the evolving role of the marketer with OkCupid and Kraken Digital Asset Exchange’s CMOs. Come for the insightful conversation and connections with peers, stay for the passed apps and open bar.  Doors open at 5:45pm ET and spots are on a first-come, first-served basis. Register here.*

*Note this event has limited capacity.

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• More ad spend is going toward Black-owned media, but will it last?
• Product placement is going to take over your favorite show
• Streaming services are still fighting to have ultra-light ad loads