Welcome to The Week in Direct-to-Consumer, a weekly roundup for marketers from Quad Insights that sums up the latest news in the DTC space.
Meati Foods adds Target to its growing list of retail partners
DTC meat-alternative brand Meati Foods — known for its MushroomRoot formula — just announced a partnership with Target, adding the retail giant to a list of partners that already includes Whole Foods, Meijer and Fresh Thyme. With the move, the brand’s products are now available at select Super Target stores nationwide. The partnership brings Meati’s retail footprint to 3,000 stores, but the company has plans to expand further, targeting 8,000 locations by summer 2024, per the announcement.
Meati also made news in December by adding Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman and NBA All-Star Chris Paul as investors, as we noted in an earlier installment of The Week in Consumer Packaged Goods.
Ad Age explores the marketing journey and strategy of hot DTC olive oil brand Graza
In an article titled “Making olive oil cool—Behind Graza founder’s unorthodox strategy,” Ad Age’s Phoebe Bain chronicles the marketing journey of hot DTC olive oil brand Graza, highlighting how CEO & Co-founder Andrew Benin’s unfiltered voice has come to define the brand’s tone. During prior employment stops at DTC companies including Warby Parker, Casper and Magic Spoon, Benin found authentic and passionate communication to be key to success. Bain notes that Benin puts these values at the forefront of Graza, once even apologizing to 30,000 customers (for shipping and quality-control issues) in the form of a “stream-of-consciousness style note so informal and non-corporate” that it was covered by The Wall Street Journal. Founded in 2022, Graza is best known for its squeezable bottles and attention-grabbing voice on social media. Now, the growing DTC brand can be found online and at retailers including Target, Whole Foods and Walmart. Read the full story here.
Blueland expands partnership with Whole Foods
DTC household care brand Blueland just expanded its partnership with Whole Foods, making its products available in all Whole Foods locations, Retail Brew’s Andrew Adam Newman reports. Known for its refillable glass or plastic bottles and just-add-water concentrated formulations for its range of products including hand soap and window cleaner, Blueland abstained from retail partnerships until 2022. However, CEO & Co-founder Sarah Paiji Yoo shared with Retail Brew that wholesale retail partnership revenue has quickly risen to about 20% of total revenue in 2023, leading to the latest expansion. “Whole Foods is a great example of how retail for a brand like Blueland can be brand-elevating,” Yoo told Retail Brew.
DTC shower head brand Jolie focuses on user-generated content for its marketing
In an interview with Modern Retail’s Cale Guthrie Weissman, Jolie CEO and Co-founder Ryan Babenzein discussed the DTC filtered shower head brand’s decision to minimize paid digital marketing and invest in an organic omnichannel strategy that involves leveraging user-generated content (UGC). Babenzein told Weissman that over two years, the brand is already approaching 20,000 pieces of unique UGC. Positioning Jolie’s shower heads as “step zero” in a consumer’s beauty-care routine, Babenzein also noted that partnerships with health- and beauty-focused retailers, such as Erewhon and Revolve.com, have been essential to the brand’s growth. Find the full interview here.
Further reading
- “Kourtney Kardashian Barker’s Lemme makes its Target debut” (Glossy)
- “Quarter of DTC alcohol purchases fail to check ID” (The Spirits Business)
- “How Joliet Wine is making boxed wine sophisticated” (Ad Age)
- “Purple CEO: Stores are the ‘toughest part’ of the brand’s model” (Retail Dive)
- “Elf Cosmetics’ suspenseful new mockumentary investigates beauty bandits on the big screen” (The Drum)
- “How the ex-marketing whiz behind Crocs helped turn Stanley into the ‘it’ cup” (Salon)
- “Lilly Launches Direct-to-Consumer Website, Services to Support Weight-Loss Drugs” (BioSpace)
- “Pour Moi partners with Wunderkind to grow DTC offering” (Fashion United)
- “Why watch brand Maxum is finally relaunching DTC after more than 20 years” (Inside Retail)
Thanks for reading.
If you’d like to catch up on prior installments of this column, start by heading to our last recap: “The Week in Direct-to-Consumer: January 5, 2024 edition”
