Good morning,
Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC:
You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Laser Creations, Plunket, and Tush Present. 👋
👀 If You Run an Agency, You Need to Read This
Scaling an agency gets lonely fast.
The higher you go, the fewer people you can be honest with about hiring, margins, clients, leadership, growth, and everything in between.
Agency is a private, vetted community for 7–9 figure agency leaders who want to connect with people who actually get what you’re working through.
Inside, members:
If you’re running a 7-figure+ agency and want a room full of people who truly understand your challenges, this is it.
👀 Joining Forces To Create Viral Cultural Moments
The strongest partnerships this year didn’t just generate hype.
They unlocked new audiences, created cultural moments, and translated trend signals into real revenue.
Below are the five collaborations we spotted in 2025 and what brands can learn from them.
1. Chamberlain Coffee × Pinterest: Trend-Informed Product Development
Chamberlain Coffee teamed up with Pinterest for a limited-edition drop inspired by the rising Fisherman Aesthetic trend.
The Salted Toffee Blended Latte and matching merch tapped directly into what Pinterest users were actively saving and searching.
👉 This partnership is a blueprint for trend-led product innovation. By using Pinterest Predicts data, Chamberlain reduced guesswork and built a product with built-in demand.
Brands should explore search-based platforms (Pinterest, TikTok, Reddit) to identify micro-aesthetics they can own with limited releases.
2. Stanley 1913 × Post Malone: Personality-Driven Limited Drops
Stanley partnered with Post Malone for a camo-inspired capsule of tumblers, flasks, and pints, instantly creating a 125,000+ person waitlist. 🤯
👉 A celebrity collab only works when the product reflects the celebrity’s true aesthetic and lifestyle. This drop nailed authenticity, giving fans a reason beyond hype to buy.
3. SKIMS × Nike: Two Category Leaders, One Cultural Moment
The long-anticipated NikeSKIMS collaboration fused Nike’s performance credibility with SKIMS’ design-forward reputation.
The promo video featuring 50 elite female athletes, including Serena Williams and Chloe Kim, generated massive cultural momentum.
👉 Legacy brands can modernize instantly by partnering with fast-growing DTC disruptors.
4. Lululemon × Lewis Hamilton: Performance Meets Style
Lululemon tapped F1 icon Lewis Hamilton as a global ambassador, teasing the partnership with an Instagram video that quickly crossed 10M views.
👉 Hamilton isn’t just an athlete. He’s a tastemaker who turned F1 into a style movement.
Partnering with a figure known for cultural influence gives Lululemon a fresh credibility loop in fashion, travel, and luxury performance.
Choose ambassadors who bridge multiple influence spheres (sport + fashion + lifestyle) to amplify reach beyond core fitness audiences.
5. GAP × Katseye: Gen Z Culture Done Right
To reignite relevance with younger shoppers, GAP partnered with global girl group Katseye on an inclusive denim campaign.
With a nostalgic Kelis track and show-stopping choreography, the campaign became GAP’s most-liked TikTok and Instagram post ever.
👉 GAP successfully tapped into Gen Z’s values: diversity, authenticity, and cultural fluency.
Rather than “chasing trends,” the brand aligned itself with creators who naturally embody the values Gen Z rewards with engagement.
For legacy brands, pairing nostalgia with culturally relevant talent is a powerful way to bridge generations and dominate the social feed.
What brand partnerships caught your attention this year? Reply to this email and let us know!
🎧 Inside the Dragon's Den with Santevia, and How they 2Xed Amazon Revenue by Taking Back Control
Matthew Gohl returns to the pod and shares how he took over his family business Santevia, and turned it into a serious DTC powerhouse.
In this episode, he breaks down how the water filter brand scaled Amazon 2X due to working with Pilothouse, rebuilt their Meta ads strategy from the ground up, and landed a killer deal on Dragon’s Den.
What you’ll learn:
🎧 Click here to listen on Spotify.
Social Savannah shares a creative style you may be forgetting about in your creative mix!
Overlay videos with polls, multiple choice questions, etc to get your audience to tap and stay engaged.
📥 Got a B2B Biz?
Join dozens of B2B companies finding demand-gen success through our niche community of 150k brand leaders and founders this year. Talk to our team to learn more.
DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight and Frances Du. Edited by Eric Dyck.
Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content.
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