Welcome to the latest issue of Cuppa, a quick-fire newsletter for internet-first brand builders. Filled with analysis on the art, science and culture of building breakout brands in a digital age, it's quick enough to read over a cuppa. (Or something stronger if you need it...no judgement!). To get it direct to your inbox every other Tuesday, subscribe here.

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ART

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Liquid Death water startup valued at $700 Million

The Santa Monica, California-based beverage business launched in 2019 and is already on track for $130 million in revenue this year. Seems bonkers that a canned water brand has achieved this right? I'm with you, but there are a few important lessons to be learnt here:

1. The global bottled water market is HUGE ($300B+ annually and growing).

2. Liquid Death clocked that this huge market dominated by decade-old conglomerates, was ripe for disruption, not only with sustainable packaging (can vs. plastic), but also with brand.

3. Alongside a potent, desirable brand, they also tapped into the larger cultural behaviour of non-alcoholic drinks appearing in typically alcoholic use cases. They behaved like a beer brand and distributed their product in places such as concerts, and created merchandise like hoodies and skateboards which accounted for $3M in sales last year.

Julian Cole, released a fantastic visual, step-by-step breakdown of their brand strategy which you can watch here.

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Creative Sparks to spark new thinking

Back with one of my favourites. Adam Ross (Creative Strategy Director for Coca-Cola ASEAN and South Pacific) curates an excellent journal called Creative Sparks, filled with interesting insights from the advertising world that have caught his attention, and that can inspire creativity for others. His latest edition includes great stimulus on all things attention, what a brand actually is, the metaverse and more.

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Hand-painted billboards are making a comeback

This article captures some lovely commentary about the comeback of hand-painted billboards from Detroit-based agency owner Candice Simons. It reminded me that before the pandemic there was a lot more branded art hidden within city streets. Now that the world is opening up again, I hope to see this format make a comeback in London too.

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SCIENCE

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Some inspiring stimulus to prep for Black Friday  

If you're looking to activate campaigns this BFCM, this is the folder for you. Planning can be hard, but Daniel Okon has made it a little easier by pulling the ad creative, landing pages, and home pages from 120+ DTC brands that CRUSHED it in 2021 BFCM.

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New features added to Google Shopping

Google is a key growth lever in e-comm success, and now they've made it easier by adding new features such as 3D imagery, shoppable looks and buying guides. Let us know if you trial any of these new features! We'll be sure to provide some insight when we start testing them at CO HQ.

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Focus your efforts on Instagram reels

Thanks to TikTok, the preference for short-form video content is here to stay - especially on Instagram. New studies have found that Reels have become the most engaging post type on Instagram, with the median interaction count for Reels being 40% higher than traditional videos.

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Will 👋 Performance Marketing Lead at Charlie Oscar‍

Here are 2 performance trends and insights I've been tracking this over the past couple of weeks that everyone should be aware of:

1. Macro-environment features on the market

• The cost of living crisis has the potential to influence purchase behaviour in obvious ways, however the World Cup also happens to be played out over what is a key buying period - England actually play on Black Friday itself. There is potentially going to be a huge impact on CPMs throughout November, and our advice is not to place as much emphasis on BF itself this year.

2. Landing pages

• Landing page testing is becoming as important as creative as a performance driver, being one of the main drivers to improve CPA across multiple platforms. Activating bespoke landing pages for campaigns, and a general Black Friday landing page that can rank organically are good ideas to start testing.

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Combining the strength of our FAANG-level tech stack, with the expertise of our paid performance experts, we help brands scale their paid media accounts, whilst delivering a sustainable CAC. If you would like to learn more about our paid media services, please get in touch, we'd love to chat!