Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by satvikpendem 57 days ago
Gymshark, Warby Parker, Casper, Liquid Death, Olipop.

Many 21st century consumer brands have been built by internet advertising. Seems like you do, based on your comment about your book, but in general I feel like many people who say stuff like the comment above don't actually work in marketing or startups, particularly non-tech physical goods based ones, or have even run their own ads on these platforms.

2 comments

Dollar Shave Club.

I didn’t need their product/service, but I only remember them a million years later because their original ad swept across the internet like wildfire.

I've never seen an internet ad for any of these. I saw a physical ad for Casper once.

I think it's safe to ask for a citation for this claim.

I second your request.

I don't live in the US. I am familiar with Warby Parker and, to a lesser extent, with Gymshark and Liquid Death, but it needs to be proven that they became well known thanks to online advertising.

I have no idea who/what Casper and Olipop are, to be honest.

How can one "prove" it? I don't have access to their ad account, only what the founders and executives say publicly. Gymshark for example grew with influencer marketing on Instagram and TikTok and then having their own ads and media on said platforms. These companies are all well known case studies and have many sources online with a simple search.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Thomas-Arsenis-2/public...

It is trivial to find them online, just search the company name and then "ads". I assume you don't go on TikTok or Instagram or if you do you aren't part of the target market to be served these ads.

https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=all&ad_t...

https://adlibrary.com/brands/gymshark

The fact that they have online ads does not mean that they became big because of them. That's that the original claim was.
Sure, but in this case they did, they are well known case studies in the world of direct to consumer marketing.

(PDF warning) https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Thomas-Arsenis-2/public...

The paper says that influencer marketing was new in Gymshark's case. It doesn't claim that this works repeatedly. Was it lightning in a bottle, i.e. Gymshark got lucky because it was early, or is it a consistently smart strategy?
It is repeatable to some extent, again, if you know what you're doing. There are guides online.

https://youtu.be/7JtttjbTRAQ

https://www.demandcurve.com/growth/run-ads

Also, influencer advertising is a different beast, it's not standard advertising. More like PR or testimonials.