Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup


🎧 Today on the DTC pod, we’re revealing the secret to running faster, jumping higher, and performing at your very best…

…Okay, maybe there’s no ~secret~ per se, but we’re sitting down with Drew Arciuolo, Director of Marketing for VKTRY Gear, to discuss how the company has paved a path towards DTC victory (pun intended 😏) with their performance insoles.  

VKTRY Gear is a DTC company specializing in aerospace-grade carbon fiber performance insoles that help both serious and casual athletes achieve faster times, more explosive movement, and fewer injuries.

‍The takeaways 👇

🤯 Making the unbelievable believable

More often than not, DTC brands that want to create a lasting first impression on a consumer have to claim bold and exciting statements that can, on the flip side, feel “unbelievable” or “too good to be true”. To combat this, Drew is putting a huge focus on authentic UGC efforts.

“We're not selling something that's been around for decades and is a consumer staple, we're selling something that is unbelievable, so… a lot of our content has to be not from us; it has to be from real people, and the best performing content we have is people’s reaction immediately after they try the product for the first time… Getting that reaction [and] that raw emotion is, I think, the key to having someone understand that this product is what it claims to be.”

💭 Triggered

Word-of-mouth is always a plus in DTC marketing, but generating that conversation between potential consumers has to come from somewhere. This is where Drew’s application of creating thought triggers comes in.

70% of dialogue still happens off the Internet, so how do you take advantage of that? What I’ve learned… is [with] triggers. One way that we’re creating triggers is we’re starting to review shoes… based on how high they flip with our insoles in them. So next time someone sees a pair of Crocs, [for example], I want them to say, ‘Did you see that company that flipped the pair of Crocs 70 inches in the air?’”

💰 What Drew would do with an extra $50K:

Above all else, Drew would hone in on content creation that would truly resonate with consumers on social.

“I would give it to the best creative agency I could find. I would hand them maybe 50 hours of raw footage from our video shoots these last four years, and I would tell them to go find the gold, go find the interactions and the juicy parts that are gonna go viral on organic TikTok [and] that people want to see on organic Reels. I would give it to someone who knows how to find those interactions that are special on social media [because] that right there is the magic.”

👉 Listen to the full episode with Drew Arciuolo here!


Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup
Advertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertise
Work with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouse
Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletter
Watch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Podcast Episodes