DTC873: Pinesol’s TikTok Strategy and Bigger Fonts = Bigger Conversions

Good morning, 

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

🧽 Pine-Sol’s Chaotic TikTok Strategy
Why ‘unhinged’ content is driving real results.

🐾 Plufl’s Growing Pains
Navigating tariffs and a PR crisis.

🚨 Daily Tariff Tracker
Update on new tariff rates.

‍🤔 Do Bigger Fonts Convert Better?The surprising impact of one simple tweak.

You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Clean Sunnie, The English Soap Company, and Coach. 👋

👀 The Best Q4s Are Quietly Being Built Right Now

While most brands are still planning, the smartest ones are already executing.

They’re stacking wins, dialing in creative, refining offers, and building high-intent audiences—so when Q4 hits, they’re not scrambling… they’re scaling.

Pilothouse is helping brands prep with compounding performance and real-time wins:

✅ +48% revenue in 6 months (Home & Lifestyle)
✅ +33% Google conversions, -22% CPA (Service brand)
✅ +200% Meta revenue, +48% ROAS, -25% CPA (since Feb 2025)

The brands seeing those numbers? They’re already ahead.

Q4 isn’t won in Q4.
It’s won right now.
And the brands moving today will be the ones dominating come November.

If you’re serious about scale, Pilothouse can help.

[Screenshot via @Pinesol / TikTok]

🧽 How Pine-Sol Doubled Its TikTok Following in One Month

A brand that’s gained a surprising amount of traction in the past month? 

Pine-Sol.

Yes, the legacy cleaning brand.

In just a few short weeks, Pine-Sol nearly doubled its TikTok followers (from 87K to over 156K) by throwing out traditional brand playbooks and embracing unfiltered, chaotic creativity. 

But what looks unhinged on the surface is actually a highly intentional content strategy built around episodic formats, catchy brand sounds, and cultural fluency.

What Pine-Sol Is Doing to Grab Attention:

1. Scrappy, Bingeworthy Formats

Pine-Sol’s videos look like they were made with Microsoft Paint and that’s the point. 

The intentionally lo-fi aesthetic gives the brand a quirky, DIY feel that blends in on the feed and invites curious users. 

They’ve nailed episodic content with fun recurring bits like:

• “Pine-Solve This”: a fast-cut showcase of how to use different Pine-Sol products.
• Character-driven skits that feature wizard frogs or bottles with tattoos.
• Low-effort memes that feel native to Gen Z humor.

👉 Create 2–3 repeatable content formats that audiences can binge. Recurring segments = brand memory.

2. They Built Their Own Brand Sounds

In a space where trending TikTok audio drives discoverability, Pine-Sol went one step further and created their own.

Their most recognizable tune?

🎵 “I cleaned so deep I…” – a punchy auto-tuned jingle that users can stitch and finish the sentence in hilarious or bizarre ways. 

It’s memeable, and instantly recognizable. More importantly, it boosts brand recall across multiple videos.

👉 Consider producing your own sound hooks or remixing trending audio in ways that can be reused across posts.

3. Intentional Chaos

While their content might look random, Pine-Sol’s chaos is calculated. 

Their TikTok strategy is deeply aligned with what works on the platform:

• Quick cuts
• Clip art & meme visuals
• Self-aware, absurdist humor
• A consistent fictional “universe” with strange but memorable characters like wizard frogs and tattooed bottles. 

👉 This is a reminder that you don’t need high production value to go viral. What you need is entertainment value. 

Prioritize weird, funny, or emotionally resonant ideas over polish.

4. Real-Time Culture Hacking

Pine-Sol’s team moves fast. From parodying pop culture moments to riffing on viral memes, their content feels alive and current. 

That relevance earns them shares, duets, and saves. All signals that boost reach in the TikTok algo.

👉 React to cultural moments. Don’t wait for the perfect concept. Speed wins on TikTok!

Pine-Sol’s TikTok might look unhinged, but it’s anything but random. 

With binge-worthy formats, original sound strategy, and a deeply self-aware tone, the brand has managed to turn cleaning products into entertainment.‍And if Pine-Sol can make floor cleaner go viral, what’s stopping you?

📦 Your Daily Tariff Check-In

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. 

August 5, 2025 update:

Global Markets React to New Tariff Rates

• U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer confirmed that the announced tariff rates are “unlikely to budge,” with only minor adjustments expected for select countries.
  
• Last week, Trump imposed rates on several trading partners, including a 35% duty on many goods from Canada, 50% for Brazil, 25% for India, 20% for Taiwan, and 39% for Switzerland.
  
• Global markets reacted sharply and the U.S. dollar weakened, as investors priced in new trade uncertainty.

🎧 The TikTok Strategy, Tariff Setback, and Product Pivot Behind Plufl’s Growth

In this episode of The DTC Podcast, Yuki Kinoshita, co-founder of Plufl, returns and shares how the viral brand went from a novelty item to a scalable business—navigating tariff disruptions, launching new SKUs like the Hugl cooling pillow, and mastering the art of strategic product tiering.

In this episode, we dive into:

Tariff Troubles: Yuki shares how Costco and Target deals vanished overnight when tariffs rose to 150% on Chinese imports.

“We lost $7 to $8 million in potential revenue basically overnight.”

Margin Recovery Through Smart Ops: Staying in China, Plufl reduced packaging size by 60% and slashed $10 per unit from fulfillment.

“You can’t control policy, but you can control your unit economics.”

Why They Launched the Huggle Cooling Pillow: To avoid saturation, Plufl introduced a new hero SKU built around comfort, coolness, and year-round demand.

“Our biggest risk was becoming a one-product wonder. So we diversified, but stayed on brand.”

Turning a PR Crisis Into a Growth Moment: A Reuters story misrepresented their stance on U.S. manufacturing yet the controversy drove traffic and even landed them a wholesale order.

“Bad press can be good, if you take control of the narrative fast.”

What’s Next: Subscription Sheets for Pet Owners: The next launch? Pet-hair-wicking bed sheets—a natural extension for customers already sleeping beside their dogs.

👉 Listen to the full episode with Yuki here.

🛒 Walmart has over 255 million customers and members shopping at Walmart online and in-store around the world each week. Get New-Seller Savings when you sign up until January 31, 2026. *Conditions apply. Sign up. *

[Screenshot via @SarahLevinger / X]

Did you know bigger fonts can mean bigger conversions?

Prices in larger text feel cheaper and more trustworthy, lifting willingness to buy by up to 26%.

Same goes for key product claims like battery life or durability. When the number looks big, it feels more believable.

Test it out! Increase font size on price and key specs, then watch what happens.

Can't view the image? Click here

📹 August 10: Lazy Day, Vlogging Day, Shapewear Day, S’mores Day

🦷 August 11: Son and Daughter Day, Align Your Teeth Day, Face Mask Day

🎵 August 12: Baseball Fans Day, Middle Child Day, Vinyl Record Day  

🍾 August 13: Left-Handers Day, Prosecco Day, National Filet Mignon Day

➕ August 14: World Calligraphy Day, Creamsicle Day, Love Your BookShop Day, Financial Awareness Day

🍋 August 15: Relaxation Day, Back to School Prep Day, Lemon Meringue Pie Day

🌴 August 16: World Bratwurst Day, Tell A Joke Day, Hawaiian Shirt Day, Men’s Grooming Day

📥 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 12: Predict Relevance To Create Resonance 
• 🎨 TWBERP 43: Campaign Emails That Inspire, Not Blend In 
• 🍷 Maker Wine’s Strategy: How The Canned Wine Brand Grew
• 😀 AKNF 526: Ad-venturous Preview 
• 📸 Ad-venturous 11: UGC v.s. CGC, v.s. EGC 
• ⚡ TWBERP 42: Optimizing for Profit, Not Just Conversion Rate

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.