We love to learn about Raisin Bread readers, and last week we learned… 

• You’re into West Elm Caleb. More so than A/B testing tips, according to our subject line test.

• You don’t know who West Elm Caleb is. More of you clicked “Who?” in the poll about him than any other option. 

Guesses about who he was included “a celebrity baby” and “someone in Sesame Street?” Honestly, we salute you.

EXPERT Q&A

3 perks of working with Pete Davidson, according to Rowing Blazers

Preppy streetwear brand Rowing Blazers wanted to do something splashy for their Fall/Winter 2021 collection: their first celebrity campaign. 

But “we didn’t want to feel like we were pulling teeth” for celebrity endorsements, art director Georgia Gray said. They wanted someone who already wore Rowing Blazers. 

One name they couldn’t ignore: Saturday Night Live star and honorary Kardashian Pete Davidson. 

Davidson’s agent responded enthusiastically to their outreach. The campaign, co-starring Ziwe Fumudoh of Ziwe, was a go.

It kept going. In 2022, the brand is still running ads featuring Davidson. 

Here’s a few factors that made it a win for Rowing Blazers, Gray said.

1. Organic Instagram lift

Before the collection went live, Rowing Blazers previewed it in an Instagram post featuring Pete Davidson smoking a cigarette in the brand’s “Five of Clubs Playing Card.” 

The sweater sold out in every size.

The post also generated some organic social media buzz. It got over 9K likes and 743 comments.

That’s nearly 10X Rowing Blazers’ average engagement: 1K likes and nine comments.

2. Vaguely illegal UGC

People started stealing posters featuring Davidson off the street and posting about it on TikTok. Rowing Blazers even shared poster “harvesting” UGC. 

 “It is just absolutely insane,” Gray said.

The social media buzz has influenced Rowing Blazers’ out-of-home investment. 

“We were planning on running [the poster campaign] for two or three months, but we’ve continued to keep them up,” Gray said. “The buzz around them has not gone down at all.” 

3. New traction with Gen Z 

Rowing Blazers’ usual audience is “a little more on the Millennial side versus Gen Z,” Gray said.

That’s why they originally reached out to Davidson: SNL’s audience skews Millennial, too. 

But the timing of Davidson’s highly-publicized relationship with Kim Kardashian means he now has broader generational appeal than, say, SNL’s Colin Jost. 

This campaign has mostly resonated with a younger audience, people in the 20-23 age range, Gray said. 

Our takeaway?

Collaborating with a relevant celebrity — who genuinely likes your brand! — can extend both a campaign’s lifespan and target audience.

TWEET TREAT

What the heck is Taylordle?!

Taylordle is a real game that’s just like Wordle, but all the answers have a Taylor Swift connection. (Answer #1: scarf.)

Taylor Swift podcast Holy Swift released the game on Friday, and co-host Krista Doyle tweeted the analytics for the launch tweet. 

Impressive! 

Can any brand ride the Wordle train to 100K+ impressions? 

Wordle is definitely having a moment.

Right now, it gets ~4X more search volume than Taylor Swift got during the Red (Taylor’s Version)’s release. Without push notifications!

Brands are trying to capitalize on this trend. They've been tweeting Wordle jokes, and the New York Times took things so far that it acquired Wordle yesterday.

Taylordle suggests another way for brands to engage: with branded Wordles. Should Capital One drop Capitordle? 

NO.

Sorry — this is a uniquely good idea

Taylordle is smarter than garden-variety bandwagon-hopping because… 

1. Swift has tons of lyrics, memorized by tons of people. 11 albums’ worth! Most brands don’t have such a defined, Wordle-ready word cloud. 

2. Swifties love word games. They’re always looking for clues in Swift’s lyrics — and when Swift released a baffling word game as album promo, they solved it. This fandom is Wordle-friendly!

Our takeaway? 

The average brand should probably just tweet about Wordle until the Times makes it uncool (or paywalls it).

But Taylordle was a great idea — and Holy Swift nailed it!

SMALL BITES

Microsoft ad revenue, potato milk and more

Is your brand’s social persona quirky or cringe?

McDonalds’ “menu hacks” — like the Hashbrown McMuffin — started as UGC.

Latest in brand collabs: Mini-Petcos are coming to Lowe’s.

Microsoft made $10B in ad revenue in 2021?!

Average daily phone usage has grown 25% every year since 2010. 

Why mash potatoes when you can milk them? 

Distractions from “scaling the beauty brand” led to layoffs at Glossier.

Amazon shut down its Twitter-based employee-influencer program.

The Meta rebrand has prompted internal hmms and heart emojis.

What if no one actually likes SEO audits? 

FROM OUR BLOG

3 team-building tips from ShipBob CMO Casey Armstrong

As CMO of third-party logistics company ShipBob, Casey Armstrong has led his team through rapid growth.

Most recently valued at $1B+, ShipBob 2Xed its valuation from 2020 to 2021.

How do you build a marketing team that can handle — and build on — that kind of momentum? Here's what Armstrong told MarketerHire. 

1. Look for a hungry first hire.

“You want someone who can come in and make an impact,” he said.

At ShipBob, that meant he wanted a first hire hungry enough to get their hands dirty and execute — who could also build a team over time.

2. Get newbies an immediate first win. 

Don’t start a new hire on a three-month project. “Chunk up the project so there are things they can celebrate and deliver on faster,” Armstrong advised.

It helps build their confidence, and earn teammates’ trust.

3. Don't skimp on freelancers. 

Armstrong leans on freelance marketers for two types of work:

• Low-priority projects that still need doing
• Tactics his full-time team has less experience with

Want more hiring insights from Armstrong? Head to our blog.

DATA SNACK

People want to shop sustainably. But do they really do it?

Sustainability matters to consumers. Sort of. 

Nearly a quarter of Americans say it’s a top three consideration when they shop product categories like cleaning supplies and baby food, according to a 2022 trends report from The New Consumer.

But do people really put their money where their mouth is? 

Buying green is still atypical…

The U.S. GreenPrint’s Business of Sustainability Index found that.… 

• 77% of Americans care about products’ environmental impact
• 74% don’t know how to identify sustainable products

A recent Klaviyo report found a similar execution issue in the UK… 

• 89% of people said sustainability was important to them
• 27% of people regularly buy sustainable products

What’s the deal? 

…due to costs and lack of regulation.

Two issues confound environmentally-minded shoppers: 

• Expense: Sustainable shopping costs time, research, and money – though 66% of Americans would pay extra for sustainable products, GreenPrint found. 
• Greenwashing concerns: There’s no regulation around words like “eco-friendly,” “green,” and “natural,” Reuters reports — so they’re sort of meaningless.

Our takeaway? 

Ironically, consumers talk the sustainability talk but don’t always walk the walk, because they know companies do the same. 

One way for brands to break the cycle? Third-party certifications, like the B-Corp Certification. 

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