I've been building a list of case stories on how startups have used brand to accelerate growth. I think they’ve got lessons that would be useful for people building side projects, so I’d love to know what you think of the case studies. I’d appreciate your feedback so I can make them even more useful!
EXAMPLE NEWSLETTER: This week, I wrote about how Fishwife’s founders used positioning, a TikTok trend, and design to drive 200% growth in 3 years.
This is the story of Fishwife.
In 3 years Fishwife:
Positioning: Positioning is about finding a distinctive and desirable space in your customer’s minds. Tinned fish isn’t new - but what Fishwife got tons of people who have never eaten tinned fish interested in trying it. Fishwife’s positioning: Tinned fish = ultimate hot girl food. Writing a positioning statement is easy - what’s hard is sticking to it, but Fishwife does. Fishwife don’t sell tuna, they sell sustainable tinned fish. They don’t work with fishermen, they work with small boat fisherfolk. What do hot girls^TM like? Female founded businesses. Ethically sourced, premium, delicious food. Sexy identities.
Story-culture fit. Fishwife’s growth was fueled in part by the TikTok ‘hot girl food’ trend: women in their 20s & 30s re-discovering tinned fish. What they did well: acted fast, positioned themselves to take advantage of the trend and in doing so fueled the media’s breathless coverage of the brand. Also worth mentioning: co-founder Carolyn Goldfarb, comedian and curator of @officialseanpean, sports nearly 400K followers which “helped things move really, really fast,” according to Millstein.
Investment in bold identity. The higher your margins, the more design matters. Fishwife tapped illustrator Danbo to give life to the brand’s tins, and Natalie Berger to shoot editorial quality food photos. Neither had worked in CPG or food photography before. The bet paid off: the colorful packaging and high end photography was shared widely by press, influencers, and customers.
Clever collabs. Brand growth is fueled by your audience’s ability to remember you (mental availability) and purchase your product (physical availability). Collaborations are a strategic exercise in increasing both. Now, Fishwife are leveraging this strategy by partnering with female founded companies: Fishwife x Talea, Fishwife x MYH Soy Candle Co, Fishwife x Fly by Jing (Sichuan chili sauce) to expand their reach.
TLDR: Fishwife leaned into a cultural trend, beautiful packaging and ‘hot girl food’ positioning to grow 200% in 3 years.
If you liked this and want stories on how other companies have used brand to drive growth, I collect them here. This should give you ideas on how to use brand to fuel growth and give you an unfair advantage over your competitors.
EXAMPLE NEWSLETTER: This week, I wrote about how Fishwife’s founders used positioning, a TikTok trend, and design to drive 200% growth in 3 years.
This is the story of Fishwife.
In 3 years Fishwife:
- Fueled growth of a category, contributing to an increase in canned seafood sales of 9.7% to $2.7 billion in 2022
- Got covered by New York Times, Vogue, Nylon and Vanity Fair
- Collaborated with poets, illustrators, brewers, and candlestick makers (not an exaggeration, and no, it’s not tinned fish scented).
- Built an army of tinned-fish evangelists, with 23K TikTok followers and 77K Instagram followers (compare to Chicken of the Sea’s 5651 Instagram followers) who buy Fishwife merch, dress up as Fishwife tins for Halloween, and used Fishwife as a filter for potential suitors on Hinge
Positioning: Positioning is about finding a distinctive and desirable space in your customer’s minds. Tinned fish isn’t new - but what Fishwife got tons of people who have never eaten tinned fish interested in trying it. Fishwife’s positioning: Tinned fish = ultimate hot girl food. Writing a positioning statement is easy - what’s hard is sticking to it, but Fishwife does. Fishwife don’t sell tuna, they sell sustainable tinned fish. They don’t work with fishermen, they work with small boat fisherfolk. What do hot girls^TM like? Female founded businesses. Ethically sourced, premium, delicious food. Sexy identities.
Story-culture fit. Fishwife’s growth was fueled in part by the TikTok ‘hot girl food’ trend: women in their 20s & 30s re-discovering tinned fish. What they did well: acted fast, positioned themselves to take advantage of the trend and in doing so fueled the media’s breathless coverage of the brand. Also worth mentioning: co-founder Carolyn Goldfarb, comedian and curator of @officialseanpean, sports nearly 400K followers which “helped things move really, really fast,” according to Millstein.
Investment in bold identity. The higher your margins, the more design matters. Fishwife tapped illustrator Danbo to give life to the brand’s tins, and Natalie Berger to shoot editorial quality food photos. Neither had worked in CPG or food photography before. The bet paid off: the colorful packaging and high end photography was shared widely by press, influencers, and customers.
Clever collabs. Brand growth is fueled by your audience’s ability to remember you (mental availability) and purchase your product (physical availability). Collaborations are a strategic exercise in increasing both. Now, Fishwife are leveraging this strategy by partnering with female founded companies: Fishwife x Talea, Fishwife x MYH Soy Candle Co, Fishwife x Fly by Jing (Sichuan chili sauce) to expand their reach.
TLDR: Fishwife leaned into a cultural trend, beautiful packaging and ‘hot girl food’ positioning to grow 200% in 3 years.
If you liked this and want stories on how other companies have used brand to drive growth, I collect them here. This should give you ideas on how to use brand to fuel growth and give you an unfair advantage over your competitors.
