Common Knowledge | Wondering something?
Squad Goals
Keep it Human
It’s important to understand that even though the majority of our lives are technology based, there’s a need and want for human connection. Some technology we have in place can continue to marginalize people all over the world. For instance, voice recognition is getting right on par with real human interaction, but only with certain English-speaking accents. We have to keep in mind what kinds of biases we’re bringing in in terms of what’s “standard.”
Jon: Throughout the Adobe Max conference, the biggest thing I learned is that in a growing sea of content, your customer is a human being who has needs, wants, and desires. How do you keep the human at the center of what you’re doing even as technology enables more and more content?
Power of Community
Maintaining a sense of community is really important to us. We opened up ADmission and made it free for 2 weeks. We know that people are looking for alternatives and are generally in need of lots of guidance. We have over 500 new members and it’s not slowing down.
Our hope is that we’ll continue to capitalize on this moment. The response we’re getting from people is incredibly positive. The work that everyone including Taylor are doing every day is making such a big difference. It’s a great moment to break through all this noise with great guidance.
If you are a coach, or even if you’re not, we’re asking everyone at the company to add 2 comments per day to the community on Facebook. Those little moments add so much to the community.
We have zero sense of how many people will convert, but we do know it will be tied to their quality of experience for the next two weeks. This was a big leap of faith regarding the quality of the community.
Lead in Times of Turmoil
It’s a personal initiative for us to take a leadership role in times of turmoil. For many of us the transition into the new world was an intense week, and we went all out in our attempts to put information forward. Below are some of the messages Taylor received as a result of that work:
1. Our clients and how they have responded-In a hangout group for Polymathic with about 50 entrepreneurs, Jonathan Poma (owner of Loop) came on and spent several minutes praising CTC and our messaging efforts. He’s trying to emulate those efforts, and thanks us for our communal leadership. His message to his company cited as the number one source of information about the impacts of social distancing and economic turmoil on DTC business. Matthew Murray posted on LinkedIn to say if you’re not following Taylor and CTC you need to start now.
2. Potential future hires-The director of digital at a large retail restaurant chain wrote to say that they had laid off their marketing team, and he is wondering if there is any opportunity to work for our “incredible organization.” One of our ADmission members wrote to say how thankful he is that we’ve given so many people the opportunity to grow.
3. Potential future clients- One of the clients we’re pitching right now wrote to Taylor to tell him our content is amazing and brings him peace. Another client wrote to say we’re freaking awesome and first class, and that we’re something he looks up to in DTC. He wants to know how big his business needs to be to work with us.
Taylor suggests that we should continue to lean into radical generosity of spirit while we’re in a position of strength. We have something unique to offer people and we’re obligated to do so. This same premise goes for each other. The only way we’re going to continue to lead the industry and get these kinds of responses is to be radically generous.
We just inked a new Igloo deal for $250k, we’re getting a record number of leads. For us, right now, the opportunity is to continue to say we’ll take care of our emotional state, health, and sleep, and then show up and be there for our clients and the broader community, including our ADmission members.
Calendar your Values
We encourage our employees to calendar what their values are and to use it in their everyday approach.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an approach to psychotherapy that identifies and addresses multiple sub-personalities or families within each person’s mental system. The sub-personalities are often in conflict with each other and with one’s core self, a concept that describes the confident, compassionate, whole person that is at the core of every individual. IFS focuses on healing the wounded parts and restoring mental balance and harmony by changing the dynamics that create discord among the sub-personalities and the self.
Taylor starts from a clean slate, and then builds in priorities in order of importance. First: self-care goes into blocks on the calendar. Second: family time in partnership with his wife gets blocked in. Third: company tasks in sequence, starting with all-company moments, then time with leaders, then major sales moments, et cetera. What gets left out at the end are the things that are least important according to your values.
Try it!
Believe in a Vision
Our dedication to understanding and envisioning our clients dreams truly set us apart from our competitors.
After presenting our capabilities from Tony and Alex, Chris spent about 3 hours on the phone with the potential client. It took two hours to get to the crux of the matter: the client is looking for a team that truly believes in his vision and will come alongside him. He didn’t find that anywhere but in a CTC Growth Team, and now they’re just negotiating price.
We’ve gotten strong positive feedback from our contact at Native Deodorant for similar reasons, up against some of the best agencies in the business.
When people truly understand us, they’ll commit to us.
Make A Real Difference
We are not focused on only making money for our business but rather making a real difference in this world.
Taylor went on a search for organizations that might need help from us and settled on Moniker General. They’re fighting to survive by doing grocery pickup over eCommerce. CTC is going to spend $1,000 per week on ads for a local business to keep the doors open. If you have suggestions for a local business, we can run ads for in the coming weeks, let Taylor know. We’ll be cycling through teams of 5-10 people week-to-week to deliver this service.
We’re also making a difference through the community building work that we do in ADmission.
From James Pointer in ADmission:
Hey Admission crew,
I was seriously looking at potentially making layoffs at the end of last week based on the sales drop we were seeing after one of our main revenue streams stopped dead due to Covoid-19. We were struggling to make ends meet and when I pulled out what April would look like on those sales; the prospect was pretty grim, and I was banging my head against the wall trying to work out what to do about it.
We knew we had to pivot and make some changes. Those changes have allowed us to go from an account wide ROAS of 1.87 earlier this month to a 3.28 (and rising) over the last week. I know a lot of people in this group may be going through a similar thing right now, so I wanted to share what’s working for us, in hope you can have some takeaways to apply to your accounts.
The video goes into more detail on this but the short of it is:
1. Try the new consolidated account structure (see Trent‘s recent video on this)
2. It’s a pain to think about and make, but new creative really is the key to unlocking ad account spend
3. Messaging the moment (if done correctly) can crush it for you
It sounds pretty simple really, but right now it’s the difference between our business just about surviving this period vs actually growing in what is a super tough time. Let’s just hope we can actually scale this up!
I’m super grateful to have this community to learn from and I hope this is useful for some of you! (p.s. go easy, it’s my first public presentation video)
Impact the World
We use our knowledge to make a real impact on the world.
We created admission not to compete with hacky sites and gurus, but to help people grow their businesses through a learning community. Seeing ADmission blow up, and watching it impact people all over the world validates that mission.
People who are in every course out there, and have worked in agencies, and have tried all the tools out there feel like ADmission gives them a completely new fire to support their clients and be in a community of buyers and operators who are here to give to one another.
Those kinds of conversations are feeding Adrianne, and she hopes they’re feeding all of us. Thanks to all the partners and everyone else who had this dream and helped make it possible. Our passion and positivity are helping people in really tough places. Having built that community of people who genuinely care about one another, we were ready for anything, including this.
Seek Opportunity in Every Angle
Almost always will there be an opportunity within any type of situation. We aim to identify that opportunity and go for it head on.
There’s been a major turnaround from crisis mode to major success at Born Primitive. The biggest thing they learned was that there’s an opportunity in every angle. Everything seemed to suck about COVID-19, but they took the opportunity to rally local gym owners and find customers by giving back to the community. So far, they’ve donated almost 200k to CrossFit gyms, and have additional donations planned to a CrossFit charity, the red cross, and meals on wheels. And in this unique moment they’re probably gaining customers for life as a bonus.
Their add account is currently delivering results like 10:1. No buying tactics would get us there, only authentic branding and commitment to the community.
Learn from Success
Igloo Coolers
Who | Igloo Coolers is the world’s largest cooler brand
POC | Brian Garofalow [email protected]
Location | Costa Mesa, CA (Marketing), Katy, TX (HQ)
Link to Asset | Ad #1: https://www.facebook.com/126361290029/posts/10158168568165030, Ad #2: https://www.facebook.com/126361290029/posts/10158189510180030, Landing Page: https://www.igloocoolers.com/collections/playmate-hard-coolers
What | Since 1947 Igloo Coolers has established itself as the most recognizable cooler brand among America’s workforce. Their most innovative product: The Playmate has been an American staple on every jobsite, lunchroom, and office building for decades. When COVID-19 hit the United States, Igloo decided to step up and donate 100% of the profits made from the Playmate Cooler to the CDC COVID-19 Response Fund to stand with America’s Healthcare workers. The brand has utilized Facebook advertising to grow awareness around the initiative, sell thousands of Playmates, and facilitate information surrounding the virus. Igloo has already raised thousands for the cause and plans to continue to push awareness surrounding the current climate of our country for the next thirty days by partnering with Disney, Pixar, and many others to donate as much as possible.
Supply
Who | Supply is an e-Commerce business that sells premium single edge razors and supplementary shaving supplies in the US and around the world.
POC | Patrick Coddou [email protected]
Location | Fort Worth, Texas (HQ)
Link to Asset | #1 – https://www.facebook.com/927700690595396/posts/3214698781895564
#2 – https://www.facebook.com/927700690595396/posts/3214698801895562
What | They understand the current state of the world: people want security. People want to buy things that will last and have enough supply to get them through uncertain times. So, Supply created an offer to give people that security by providing a one-year supply of free blades with every purchase of a single edge razor. Their primary driver of sales is Facebook Advertising, where they are spending nearly 4x what they were since the offer started at over a 3x return.
Born Primitive
Who | Born Primitive is a CrossFit apparel brand that sells workout gear in the US and around the world.
POC | Bear Handlon, [email protected]
Location | Virginia Beach, Virginia
Link to Asset | https://fb.me/1SFYlTSONUpThaQ , https://fb.me/9uKnyQBMYc9RTm
What | Given everything that’s been happening with the COVID-19 crisis, they’ve decided to donate 10% of all sales to the Meals on Wheels COVID-19 Response Fund to help senior citizens get meals in their homes. They’ve also added the option on their site to add donations to cart while shopping, so customers are able to donate directly. We created specific Facebook ads for this initiative and since launching 4 days ago, they’ve already donated over $6,000 to the Meals on Wheels fund. This week, we’re launching an “affiliate program” for gyms to sell Born Primitive gear to their members through an affiliate link. They’ll be able to keep 50% of the profits to help them stay afloat during a time that their businesses will be closed down. We’ll be launching Facebook ads for this initiative as well.
It’s great to see a brand spread the message of coming together and supporting people in your community during times of adversity. Their focus amidst the outbreak has been how they can help those in need, and they’ve been able to use Facebook to rally their existing and new customers to these causes.
milk + honey
Who | milk + honey is a spa & salon based out of Texas that sells beauty & wellness products online.
POC | Marisa Tom, [email protected]
Location | Austin, Texas
Link to Asset |
What | milk + honey primarily sells beauty products, but given the current COVID-19 crisis, over the last two weeks we have pivoted to selling their hand purifier & hand soap. We’ve already sold out of their hand purifier inventory and a lot of their hand soap inventory, seeing a 216% increase in ROAS (MTD) from the account average over the last 365 days. The brand’s been able to use Facebook Ads to message the importance of hygiene and cleanliness, providing people with products that will keep them healthy & safe right now.
Homesick Candles
Who | Homesick Candles is a D2C candle company that offers candles reminiscent of cities, states, and memories.
POC | Taylor Sicard [email protected]
Location | New York, NY
Link to Asset |
What | Homesick Candles offers a unique product to its consumers that helps them feel closer to their hometowns, loved ones, and most cherished memories. During a time when people across the world have been forced to spend time away from their loved ones and cannot travel, a Homesick Candle both as a gift and for yourself is a great option to feel more connected to your loved ones and a tool to reminisce on distant memories or cherished places. Considering everything happening with COVID-19, Homesick has also decided to donate 10% of its proceeds to charities that support vulnerable communities, as well as offer free shipping and 10% off of every order. They are allowing people to give back by purchasing a candle(s) and also making it easier to use a Homesick Candle to “spread happiness” and “stay connected wherever you are” by offering free shipping and a discount.
Lume Cube
Who | Lume Cube is a DTC lighting and accessory brand focused on providing portable and powerful lighting to improve the lives of content creators and streamers.
POC | Riley Stricklin [email protected]
Location | San Diego
Link to Asset | https://commonthreadco.slack.com/files/U0EDLHLTC/F0104PJKU2X/my_promo_video_7__4_.mp4
What | Lume Cube has found a sweet spot in the market selling lighting gear to content creators who are on-the-go and streamers who need better lighting for their content. The current best-sellers are high-quality, but also high AOV products. As an agency, after seeing the dramatic dip in performance on higher AOV products, Lume Cube adapted and shifted their marketing efforts towards a new product mix. In doing so, Lume Cube focused all attention on the AIR VC; Portable Lighting for Remote Workers. The timing could not have been more perfect. With over half of America’s workforce working remotely, many for the first time, Lume Cube was able to utilize Social Advertising and Organic Social to help thousands of remote working rookies and increase revenue over 200% compared to the same week in 2018.
Alya Skin
Who | Alya Skin is an Australian based skincare company that first came to fame with its initial release of a pink clay mask.
POC | Manny Barbas, [email protected]
Location | Melbourne, Australia
Link to Asset |
What | Alya Skin is dedicated to creating vegan and cruelty-free skincare products for women of all skin types. The founders of Alya know how important great skincare is for women and want to make it accessible for everyone. In addition to offering free worldwide shipping, they’ve partnered up with After Pay to offer ease of access and alternative payment solutions. Their most recent campaign with After Pay also offered 30% off site-wide, making skincare even more accessible in this time of much needed self-care. As a result of this campaign, they were able to increase their average daily ad spend by 220%, eventually selling out their skincare bundles within 3 days.
Top ad from campaign:
Buff City Soap
Who | Buff City is a retail business that sells handmade bath & body products with locations around the US.
POC | Sanjay Jenkins [email protected]
Location | Barlett, TN
Link to Assets | |https://www.facebook.com/ads/experience/confirmation/?experience_id=2492214464352231&hmac=AVKB5PsdJ5IrU40XhgblV_hroxFPpGqfRqXb5FuDh2bt4A
What | They launched their Shopify store in mid-February and grew their e-com sales to far beyond what their short-term revenue goals in a matter of weeks. Their e-com growth was fueled by a Facebook Advertising strategy that was based on an understanding of COVID-19’s impact on current consumer behavior:
- People are in need of sanitation products.
- People are looking for ways to enjoy themselves while at home.
- People are also looking for native social content that they can engage with and enjoy while they are stuck at home and potentially on their phones more.
We also have one client who achieved their dream: Lauren Moshi had a dream of hitting 75k spend above a 3 for 3 consecutive months. Put it on the board! It will be 4 in a row in a couple days.