Good morning,
Hereâs what youâll find in todayâs DTC:
1ď¸âŁ This type of collab can improve Meta performance across the board
2ď¸âŁ How founders building in public can build a repeatable content flywheel
Youâre reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Teppermanâs, Bebebow, and White Rock Granola. đ
â⨠The Key To Standing Out: Brand Collabs
Facebook feeds are saturated. Memes, inspiration videos, product ads, and viral content compete for the same shrinking window of attention. Breaking through gets harder every year.
One strategy a handful of Pilothouse brands have used to cut through: branded collaborations.
Whether that's partnering with another brand, an influencer, or a celebrity to drop a new collection, the model has proven results.
Here's why it works:
1ď¸âŁ Increased Reach: Collaborating with brands, influencers, or celebrities puts your product in front of their audiences, driving new customer acquisition at scale.
2ď¸âŁ Credibility and Social Proof: Partnering with trusted figures in your space transfers credibility to your brand, lowering the barrier for new customers to buy.
3ď¸âŁ Stronger Creative: Collabs generate fresh content that stands out in a crowded feed, giving your paid media team new material to work with and test.
Our sister company, Pilothouse, worked with an apparel brand doing $12M a year to build this into their paid strategy.
After launching previous collabs with smaller influencers and partners, the brand scaled up to a larger celebrity collaboration and saw significant results within 30 days.
The stats:
The team ran a combination of static, video, and whitelisting content to support the launch. The results were strong enough that it's now part of their long-term strategy.
If you're considering testing collaborations, start with influencers or artists to validate the model before committing to larger, higher-cost partnerships.
Wanna get your brand connected with the Pilothouse team? Reach out!
âFounder-Led, Content-Fed
What does The Nitro Bar have that most ecommerce brands donât?
A founder story that consistently shows up in the content itself.
In this episode, Aves breaks down why founder-led brands are becoming an effective way to build attention and trust and outperform traditional brand accounts when they combine strong positioning with authentic, repeatable content.
Using The Nitro Bar and founder Audrey Finocchiaro as the central example, she explains how founders can build content flywheels that create long-term brand momentum.
We cover:
âśď¸ Watch on YouTube | đ§ Listen on Spotify
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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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