Marvel, Meta & Mugsy

Author

Cael Schwartz
January 08, 2024

We’re back. We’re sooooo back baby. Sorry to everyone for the slight disappearance / hiatus for the last two weeks. A lot of travel, the holidays & some general life stuff forced me to put close the laptop in dive headfirst into some much needed hibernation. Also, NEVER did I promise that this was an every single week thing…

Ok. Maybe I did? Sue me. (Don’t sue me).

I’ve been so excited to start 2024. Like so excited. Been looking forward to it every since I lost my job in September & then had to move out of my apartment in October. For a while there, as many of you know, I was both homeless and unemployed.

Well if you want to get “technical,” sureeee… I did have my girlfriend’s apartment that I was staying in for extended periods of time… & sureeee… I also had my childhood bedroom 100% available to me… and okay sureeee… I was technically “collecting severance” at “full pay” for like 3 months… BUT, the narrative of being homeless & unemployed just hits so much harder. Right?

I cannot wait to tell my kids my origin story. I’m like a goddamn marvel character.

Also, it feels damn good to be writing again. I missed it. I do feel a bit rusty though, so bare with me as I attempt to be simultaneously informative and witty. I’m also a much different man than I was during the first week of Trust Fun. Back then, I was a wee little lad, a young 27 year-old boy, completely jobless & hopeless…

1) I was living in squaller.*

*A ground-level, doorman-less apartment in Soho with very little natural sunlight 🤮

2) With no idea where the next paycheck was coming from.*

*Aside from my full paycheck I was still receiving from Barstool Sports💸

3) Siphoning free wifi from local coffee shops to write this newsletter & apply for jobs.*

*Well, technically it was a Soho House… I’m a member. They’ve got great wifi & delicious oat milk lattes☕️

You get the gist. God knows how I managed to get through that tough time. Pure grit.

All jokes aside, I am pleased & proud to announce that as of today, January 8, 2024, for the first time since Dave Portnoy laid me off from Barstool Sports, & my lease ended in October, where I was then forced into the digital nomad life, impatiently waiting for my girlfriend’s roommate to move out….

I am now officially both EMPLOYED & NOT HOMELESS. I also thrifted a new chair.

Who’s having a better start to the year than me?

I’d like to personally welcome you all back to Trust Fun Week 12. Let’s get into it.

Growth

The theme of this year is growth. In all facets of the word. We’re growing professionally. We’re growing the bottom-line. We’re also growing personally. Growing emotionally. And most importantly, we’re growing our net-worth.

Speaking of growing the bottom-line… where is this growth gonna come from?

As a quick crash course to those who don’t work in ecommerce, it’s important that you know that we, the ecommerce operators, spend 90% of our time thinking about the marketing channels that are going to drive revenue growth. And historically, looking at the last 10 years, growth comes from only a few channels (mainly Facebook).

However, as we’ve all noticed, this space has become CROWDED. Lots of new brands. LOTS of people selling no-show socks & male hair growth remedies.

The content is becoming boring & repetitive. It’s all lame UGC (user-generated content). TikTokky-esque ads where some dude or dudette is talking about how this non-stick pan changed their life.

So here’s where I’m focusing my time….

Branded Content.

2024 is there year of sourcing & creating true branded content. Let me explain…

As much as we would all love to diversify off of spending 80% of our ad dollars on Meta… we won’t. I’m sorry. This isn’t the year. It’s still going to be the best channel. Drive the most growth. The Zuck Truck will continue to have a strangle hold on all of your marketing spend.

With all that being said, it’s time to control what you can control. The content you’re putting on Meta needs to change this year. Currently, most ad creative is stale. It’s lame. It’s predictable. And lastly, it’s just bad. How’s that analysis? We’re all optimizing for conversions (buys) and sorta just not giving a shit regarding what messaging or branding is being portrayed in our content. We’re content agnostic. We’re not being emotional. We’re not being vulnerable. We’re not taking any risks. If an ad is working… We’re just dumping a truck load of cash onto it until it gets fatigued. It’s really just a cyclical feedback loop. We’re robots. YAWN. 🥱

“But Cael… what really is branded content?”

Great questions, attentive reader. You look great today by the way.

Branded content is meant to do two things:

1) Make you, the customer, FEEL AN EMOTION.

& 2) Be an accurate portrayal of your brand’s mission & identity.

Here’s a great example from a branded piece of content from a completely random brand.

All kidding aside, this is probably the best piece of branded content I’ve seen in the last 4 years. Shout out Kyle LaBonte on this epic creation. He’s a weapon. There’s a reason it was featured in AdWeek.

I should mention that branded content doesn’t need to be a movie shoot. It doesn’t need to be highly produced. It doesn’t need to cost a bajillion dollars. It can be filmed with an iPhone. It can be created for zero dollars. Stop selling and start making people feel.

Remember… Word of mouth marketing is the most powerful marketing to ever exist. And the only way to catalyze it is via ads that make people feel something.

If you want to talk branded content, if you run or brand or SAAS I’m always down. Shameless plus but been working with MentorPass for a while:

Thanks for reading. See you next week. For real.