DTC837: Stanley Cup x Post Malone, Dealing With Trolls, and Google’s Scheduled Actions

Good morning,

Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC:

⭐ Stanley Expands Its Playbook
How the brand's new campaign pushes product diversity.

🧌 Troll-Proof Your Brand
Smart strategies for handling online hate.

📦 Daily Tariff Update
Highlights from last week. 

📅 Automate With Google’s Latest ToolUse Scheduled Actions to save serious time.

You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Lust and Midnight, Hilltop Kennels, and Pop Maison. 👋

🔔 What Does It Take To Engage Customers In The Long Run? 

🏎️ Marketers often focus on fast wins: the click, the purchase, the conversion...

But real customer relationships aren’t transactional—they’re built through thoughtful, consistent engagement over time. 🤝

Acoustic’s Relationships Aren’t Based On One Send is a must-have guide that walks through each stage of the journey, complete with real brand scenarios and practical ideas to spark your own. ✨

Every interaction is a chance to demonstrate value, relevance, and understanding. That means showing up when it matters most: when someone’s just discovering your brand, weighing their options, deciding whether to buy—or deciding whether to buy again. 🛍️

👉 It’s not just about campaigns, it’s about context, timing, and connection. 

If your team is still relying on batch-and-blast or disconnected touchpoints, you’re leaving relationship-building to chance. 

🌟 So, what does a connected, lifecycle-focused strategy actually look like in action? 

⭐ Stanley Focuses On Product Diversity And Expanding Into New Markets 

Stanley’s new chief brand officer, Kate Ridley, wants to transform the tumbler brand into a "premium lifestyle brand."

The brand has gone viral on social media over the past few years, increasing its annual sales from $73 million in 2019 to a whopping $750 million by 2023.

However, despite their success, Stanley isn’t done evolving as a brand.

Ridley explains, “We so outperformed on what the original vision was, and what got us to that moment today is not what we need for the next 10 years.”

She shares that the brand is considering its long-term growth strategy and plans to develop new products and expand into new markets.

To further dominate the hydration category, Stanley will focus on developing new offerings, such as protein shakers and alcohol flasks.

To spread the word, the brand is planning out a string of high profile and culturally relevant collaborations.

Starting with Post Malone. 

The 15-second ad campaign features Malone as a cheerful school bus driver drinking out of a camouflage Quencher.

He picks up kids and parents who are also carrying other items in the collection like a metal lunchbox, mug, and cooler that draw on Malone’s personal style.

This collaboration with Post Malone marks Stanley’s biggest celebrity product line to date and items are available starting today. 

‍

The takeaway?

Even successful brands need to innovate and diversify products to reach a wider audience. 

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By partnering with Posty, the brand hopes to reach more customers in the hydration category that were previously left behind.

😍 There’s 200M+ Creators Worldwide—But Who Already Loves Your Products?

Only 2% have 100K+ followers—but micro-creators drove Hailey Bieber’s Rhode to $200M in sales, thanks to hyper-engaged audiences. 🚀

So, how do you pinpoint the micro-creators who already resonate with your brand? 🎯

With Click Analytic, you can instantly uncover:

• Creators working with your competitors
• Lookalikes matching your audience demographics
• Fans who mention your product in real time

👉 That’s why top-growing DTC brands like Boden, Bulk, and Duolingo trust Click Analytic. It brings discovery, outreach, gifting, shipment tracking, and ROI reporting into one platform.

Easy. The best DTC brands are already building their influencer armies. Want to know how they do it? 💥

Plus, get one month free when you book now.

📦 Last Week’s Tariff Highlights 

Whether it’s a minor tweak or a major shift, we’ll keep you posted on the latest tariff changes—so you’re always in the know. 

June 13, 2025 update:

U.S. and China Reach a New Trade Framework Deal

• The U.S. and China met in London last week to iron out a new trade deal.
  
• The discussions between the two economic superpowers lasted for two days in London before Trump revealed a new trade framework.
  
• The proposed U.S. tariff on China will now be 55% while China will impose a 10% tariff on U.S. products.
  
• Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick says U.S. tariffs on China will not budge once the deal is signed.

💡 Strategically Responding To Online Trolls 

It's easy to get caught up in negative comments.

At Pilothouse, we see brands often take down ads immediately if they see a negative comment.

But this isn't always the best path forward.

Here's an illuminating stat 👇

People are 5x more likely to comment on things that they are unhappy about than what they are happy about.

When you have a Meta ad that is scaling significantly, it's bound to attract a few haters.

How a brand handles and reacts to the comments is what sets successful brands apart from brands trying to get off the ground.

Here are some smart ways to respond to negative comments.

1️⃣ Listen to the data

If the ad is doing well and hitting profitable KPIs for the brand, then leave it on. 

Clearly that negative comment is not slowing down other's impression of the brand nor preventing them from purchasing.

2️⃣ Respond, don't hide 

More often than not, other supporters will respond to the troller defending the brand. But if you are first to see it, kill them with kindness.

If they leave a rude comment, turn it into a sales opportunity. 

Create a custom discount code for them. If they say "this is a ridiculous product" respond with "You're right, here is an offer RIDICULOUS25."

3️⃣ Hire a comment moderator

Investing in comment mods and customer service is always a good idea.

Not to just respond to the haters and backlash, but to respond to love from customers and support. 

This is true for ad comments as well. It humanizes the brands and makes the customers who support you, feel supported back. 💗

Google just made a valuable update to its Gemini app. 

The new feature, 'Scheduled Actions,' can now help users manage their tasks more efficiently.

Ask Gemini to perform a task at a specific time (e.g. send this email at 3pm on a Monday) or turn a prompt into a recurring event. 

This feature is now available to Gemini app users with a Google AI Pro or Ultra subscription. 

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😨 Tariffs hurting your margins? Aftersell’s Tariff Survival Kit is packed with real support for DTC brands—get care packages, incentives, AND 3 months free on upsell tools. Book a call and activate your survival kit here. *

📥 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.

Have you heard our latest podcasts?

• 🧠 Ad-venturous 6: Why Gen X Is The Forgotten Generation 
• 🤔 TWBERP 37: Reviewing Welcome Emails Flows From Top Brands
• 🧊 How Shiti Coolers Turned a Joke into A Party Cooler Brand 
• 🥘 AKNF 514: How Hestan Built a 40% Repeat Purchase Rate
• 😃 Ad-venturous 5: Are Millennials Cooler Than Everyone Else? 
• 🧑‍💻 TWBERP 36: Retention Programs for Different Cohort Profiles

Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

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.