Dr. Jeremy Weisz 14:50
I feel like every agency I talk to has these stories where they’re like, I charged $100 to a website and now I charge, you know, tens of thousands or whatever it is.
Lindsay O’Donnell 14:59
So yeah, and I remember, like our first client, we worked, we did so much, and I remember them not being super happy, but I think that that’s also like when you charge a little amount, people don’t see a ton of value in what you do. So yeah, and like when we started to we were like we our thing was like we’re for people who can’t afford a full-time marketing person. So there’s a mixture of like us getting better at what we’re doing, understanding what things cost. But also like if you’re in social media, social media doesn’t change. It grows.
You know what I mean? Like, social media doesn’t be like, hey, we’re not doing stories now. Now it’s real. So like, here’s another thing, you know. Oh, and now there’s TikTok, or now there’s Snapchat or whatever.
So, you know, I think it also got to a point of like, oh, the audience that we were targeting, like, that’s not really the audience. I think that they’re like, we did different things like memberships or webinars or like these mini packages because we wanted to continue to accommodate them. But like, yeah, it was just a mixture of like, oh, well, like, this costs what it costs. And if you’re not ready to spend this amount, then you’re like, you’re kind of not our audience. So it was a mixture of like just not understanding what we were offering, the cost of it being naive, social media changing, and then just like us getting better.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 16:10
So how did that change over time? So obviously it started at $500. Then what was the range as people, you know, as you matured and took on larger clients?
Lindsay O’Donnell 16:21
Yeah, I mean, I think it got to the point where we kind of didn’t do anything for less than $3,000 a month, and that could be like, I think $3,000 generally was like Instagram and TikTok, and that Didn’t even include content creation because it does. Right? Like and so what that would include is like say they would send like for TikTok. We’d be like, okay, film these three things. We would edit it, we would do the video, we would do the captions and the engagement.
So yeah, I think, like if you wanted us to do like all the content creation, it was like $3,000 to $4,000 a month, which, you know, I think that was also my I started to have a feeling about the model because social media, for me, it started to become like quality still there, but it was so much more about quantity. Like you kind of just have to be there to capture it and do all these things. And so I also just had like a really great team and to do things properly, like, you know, if you’re doing a video you want to cover and you know, you want to make sure that you like, you’ve done like the alt text, like it takes a long time, you know, and to do it right, it takes time.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 17:21
We’ll get into peak consulting. But I do want to talk about niche, right. Because I know with the consulting I mean, that’s one of the things you do help people with, which is kind of discovering and exploring their niche. So how did the niche change or evolve? And maybe it didn’t with marketing.
Lindsay O’Donnell 17:43
Yeah, that was challenging for us because I won’t say challenging, but, you know, especially when you’re starting, you don’t want to say no to anything because you’re like, I really need the money, you know? So for us, like we started in natural health CPG. So the best way I described it was like, if you were in Whole Foods, you competed with Whole Foods or you partnered with Whole Foods, that was like kind of who we were. However, me and the majority of my team were vegetarian or vegan, and a lot of my brands partnered with me because I’m vegan. The thing about veganism, it’s are.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 18:13
You still vegan or?
Lindsay O’Donnell 18:14
No, I’m still vegan. Yeah.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 18:16
Okay. Because some people I know kind of go in and out of these things.
Lindsay O’Donnell 18:19
So yeah, I don’t.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 18:21
Know if you’ve seen there’s a video, have you ever seen JP Sears videos?
Lindsay O’Donnell 18:28
I don’t think so.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 18:29
Okay. You. I think you think it’s funny. He’s got a video that if meat eaters acted like vegans or something, and it’s like a spoof video, it’s kind of funny.
Lindsay O’Donnell 18:41
I’m all for it.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 18:42
I’m like.
Lindsay O’Donnell 18:43
Let me tell you a side note. Like, vegans are the best. They’re the most mobilized. But, like, we can be annoying. Like, I see it both ways. You know.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 18:51
I will go ahead. Keep going. But. Yeah. Niche. I’ll pull it up and you’ll take a quick look at it. But I think you’ll find it’s amusing. Right.
Lindsay O’Donnell 19:02
I’m sure it will.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 19:03
Listen, I’m very health conscious. I can see both sides of here. It is. It’s if meat eaters acted like vegans.
Lindsay O’Donnell 19:09
I have seen this guy.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 19:10
This is. It’s got this one. This was eight years ago. In 18 million views. It’s comical.
Lindsay O’Donnell 19:17
I do like this guy.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 19:19
Yeah. So you start with the natural and then the vegan-specific community came to that.
Lindsay O’Donnell 19:27
That made it tricky for us because people like the thing about veganism is like it’s values-based, right? Like it’s not like gluten-free, where you’re doing it for like, health, like if you’re vegan, it’s because you believe, like what’s right or wrong or because, like you, you don’t want to support an industry. So, you know, people would come to me and felt like their brand was really seen. And I knew that community really well. However, then if you have a brand that comes to you that’s not vegan, like it’s not just about like, oh, am I going outside of my niche?
Like, am I going to be betraying some of the clients that I’ve signed because they feel like I represent them? So for me, it was really like marketing-wise, the niche was, you know, CPG, natural health, mostly vegan, vegetarian, which is like super niche. The way I described it was like, listen, like I had someone come to me and they wanted me to help with their snacks, which was like dried pig’s ears. And I was like, I’m just not your person. Like, I.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 20:22
Don’t.
Lindsay O’Donnell 20:24
Like, I don’t.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 20:25
Know.
Lindsay O’Donnell 20:26
This, you know. So that was tricky. And the way I found it was like, I can’t.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 20:31
See like a kombucha, like, oh, we work with kombucha, and it’s next to, like, a dried pig’s ear. Yeah. Yeah.
Lindsay O’Donnell 20:38
So I had two, and we had so many conversations about this, like, what is like if we put on our website, like who we are and who we work with, how do we describe this? So the best way I would say it is like, listen, if you were a brand that was like what we call the conscious brand, then we would work with you. So like if you were like, we had a restaurant that served a lot of meat, but they had vegan options, but they were doing so much for the community that we were like, listen, like if you’re a conscious brand, then we work with you. And then for like I had like a data security brand that wanted to work with me and I was like, no problem. Just so you know, like you’re paying for my learning curve, you know what I mean?
Like, I know strategy, I know ads, but like a food like, say, a Facebook campaign, paid campaign on food. I immediately know if it’s the photo, I know if it’s the caption, I know who to go to and like, you know what I mean? But if it’s data security, I’m you’re paying for my learning curve. So we kind of just ended up saying, like, if you were a conscious brand, it was kind of a case-by-case, but it was something we struggled with, honestly, because ours was like a value-based agency. Like the whole thing was started on trying to make the world a better place, a little bit more complicated than your average, like, defining niche, you know?
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 21:43
Yeah. So kind of went through that journey of like, okay everyone, because we need to like keep the doors open to natural health to kind of more vegans just kind of coming out of the woodwork from the natural health. And then more conscious brands, kind of refined as conscious brands was kind of broader, but it encapsulates kind of more of your philosophy is that, yeah, definitely.
Lindsay O’Donnell 22:06
Still food.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 22:07
But yeah, yeah, yeah. And then maybe we’ll, we’ll with the PQ, I don’t know. And you don’t have to mention names specifically, but talk about maybe an example where you help someone explore Their niche and where they’re at and where they maybe should or want to go.
Lindsay O’Donnell 22:28
Yeah, I you know, I would say this is one of the most common challenges is people not understanding their audience. And so I have a couple of examples, but one I’ll say like when like now that I’m doing consulting, it’s so much more broad. We’re looking at like different areas. But when I was at the agency, the most common mistake I saw was people trying to appeal to everybody, and everyone hears this and they’re like, yeah, no, I know, I know, that’s the worst. But let me give like an example in the vegan community, right.
Everyone wants to be the Beyond Meat. They’re like my dad Mr. Boomer, who has steak for breakfast has had Beyond Meat, you know what I mean? Like, and he doesn’t eat anything green for breakfast. And everyone’s just like I had so many brands that were launching and they were created to offer a meat alternative or a dairy alternative or whatever. And they’re like, well, we don’t want to turn away people who might just be like into it.
And I’m like, you’re trying to copy Beyond Meat. Let me tell you, Beyond Meat always started in the center of the ripple, like I knew when Beyond Meat was getting investment. Our community knew when it was coming to Canada, and everyone was so excited about it that it eventually rippled out to my dad. And so I will say, like the most common problem I saw at the agency was people trying to appeal to everybody, and you just end up with like, it’s like, what’s the best example of the Segways? Right?
They tried to appeal to everybody when they should have just been like, hey, we’re great for hospitals because eventually you get like, you go to the center of the ripple and you go really a really concentrated niche and it will ripple out. Like, they will, they’ll like, if you look at me as the vegan, you’ll convince my mom who’s vegetarian, and then eventually it’ll get to my dad. But that’s like the number one mistake I see with niches that I saw with the agency was people like, they’re. So it’s fear-based. It’s scarcity-based.
Like we have to appeal to everybody. And then you’re just like, well, nobody feels that passionate about it.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 24:09
Yeah, I totally have seen that. And people like you said have discovered brands when it’s like that kind of beyond the ripple. But a lot of them we don’t realize really start as a really specific niche. I mean, the example, I remember having one of the founders of RXbar on the podcast. Now everyone eats RXbar.
I mean, everyone, a lot of people. But back then it was literally they focused on CrossFit people and they really honed in on CrossFit people. And then from there it rippled, you know, across. But people don’t realize, you know, if they look at it now, they don’t, you know, some people don’t realize it started with at the CrossFit, you know, because people are passionate. Yeah.
So I totally can see that. So we’re talking about PQ Consulting for a second. Obviously niche is what’s another common thing that people come to you with.
Lindsay O’Donnell 25:08
So people are often so I went from the agency to consulting. And people are often two steps ahead of where they should be. They’ll ask me about like their niche. They’ll be like, I think I need to be on social, I need to fix my personal brand. And it’s like, that’s actually not the problem.
I would say the problem generally is a lack of knowing your why, your positioning and your brand voice and all of that should fall into place. So for instance, like, you know, if you know your why, then you know your audience. And I think people were transitioning from, okay, my niche is like women 35 to 45 who are into yoga. And it’s like, no, my niche isn’t like environmental activists or CrossFit or whatever, right? So when I’m doing the consulting, often people will say, like, I don’t really know my audience or they’re not responding.
And it’s like, let’s take it way back. Like, why did you start this company? Like, what’s the transformation you’re offering? And I think once you figure out your transformation and your why, you can get an idea of the state your target audience is in right now. Like I’m dealing with people with gut health issues or I’m dealing with, like, you know, stressed-out boomers or whatever.
And so I think people try and cultivate a niche based on nothing, just what they think. Right? Instead of actually going to the transformation and the actual reason that they started the company. And I think we do this a lot. We’re like, oh, I think I need to get on social and do these things that other people are doing.
And you’re like, you’re just kind of pulling this out of thin air because you think you should instead of actually like the why. And your transformation should dictate everything that you do.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 26:35
What was the point for you, Lindsay, that you’re like, you know, I need to pivot when I’m doing I have a agency. And my true passion really lies in consulting.
Lindsay O’Donnell 26:49
Yeah. So I’m going to say something kind of controversial. So I had, like an amazing year a few years ago. Like, like raining money. It was so fun.
And I loved what I was doing. And then things like kind of flatlined. I mean, I had some personal stuff, but I, I started this feeling, I was like, I don’t think it’s me. And I started to have this feeling about the model and the industry, the food industry. And I hired like I was doing all the right things like I did.
I know people can relate. Like I did the rebrand. I did the free events. I was doing the freebies, the marketing like, and I was like, just do things for fun. You know, like goal setting, all that stuff. I even hired like a very expensive marketing coach. And I knew the information he was giving me was extremely valuable, but it wasn’t moving the needle. And he said, why don’t you write a white paper? He’s like, there’s all these businesses that you want to work with, and they’re kind of not really listening to you. Like, they don’t want to be pitched reach out and asked to write a research paper.
And I was like, oh, like the food industry in Canada is facing a lot of challenges, small to mid-sized. And I mean, I could get into that, but I was like, okay, like hunch number one confirmed. Like it’s not me. I think that there’s like generally food businesses are facing a ton of challenges. And the second was like, I think it’s the model, like the way social is evolving. And I just, you know what? I love my team. They’re so talented. I still work with them in different ways. I was like, I feel like by the time the marketing is done, it’s not what I’m preaching like.
I’m like when it comes to marketing, I think you need to really go for it. I think you need to really know your brand voice. And it wasn’t for my team or the clients. It was just a mixture of like budget and like I couldn’t control things. And once I was done writing that white paper, I just didn’t feel the need to, like, rebrand the agency.
I didn’t feel the need to pivot that way and be like, hey, like we’re now focusing on like, plastic surgeons or whatever. Like it was time for me to strip back. I really loved the one on one. I loved the like, fractional CMO work, and I really loved the coaching. And at the time I had like on a whim, also taken an intuitive coaching course, which is all about like pulling the thread, which is what you do in marketing, right?
Like you’re like, why? Why did you start it? Okay, why did it transform your life, blah blah blah. And I started to see like the middle of the Venn diagram of the intuitive coaching and the marketing, where it’s like really great marketing and really successful entrepreneurs go back far further than what’s my niche? What’s my tactics?
They go back to like, okay, like as a kid I really loved this and this was my transformation. So that’s sort of like how we ended up pivoting. Was I the two hunches and then sort of like discovering the intuitive part of the coaching.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 29:24
What was the hardest part? Because, you know, I know identity sometimes is in what we do, you know. What was the hardest part about unwinding or going to the team and being like, here’s actually my true calling.
Lindsay O’Donnell 29:43
Yeah. I mean, I think they knew I have a really great integrator, and I feel like most entrepreneurs know what that is, right? She had like for a while had been like telling the team like, oh, like Lindsay needs a sabbatical or like they could just kind of tell, right? And I was frustrated because we just weren’t growing and we like it’d been a couple of years of like good years, but like, I couldn’t break through these goals. So I don’t think anything anyone was really surprised.
But in terms of the identity, it is like I had wanted to sell the agency and it didn’t really work out. I’d say now the biggest challenge is explaining to people what I do, because it’s not like you’re like, like, I’m like, I’m an intuitive marketing coach. But you know, if you say I own a digital marketing agency, that’s pretty self-explanatory. I would say, like when I give people 20-minute sessions or sometimes I do three-hour sessions, like the breakthroughs are profound and amazing, and people leave entirely energized and with a clear roadmap. But I haven’t been able to find like a tagline of like, this is what I do.
And so there’s been a lot of like been doing like a lot of free sessions, a lot of explaining. But the big challenge is sort of like not only explaining to people, but me settling in to like, okay, this is what this is, you know? And I will say the other thing I’ll say that’s been very, very challenging is marketing and agency is all about marketing. That’s like a fire hose, right? Like you’re doing ads, you’re doing social.
And with what I’m doing now, it’s so much more about one-on-one connections and experiences and networking. And so it’s hard for me not to like, lean back into like, okay, get on TikTok and like, do a freebie. And it’s like, no, this is more like there’s fewer people that are going to be my target audience or the business owners. And like the entrepreneurs that want to go from six figures to seven figures. And so it’s a much more like intentional sales strategy instead of like a fire hose marketing, if that makes sense.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 31:26
Are you still focused on conscious brands or who are ideal right now clients for you? From the consulting standpoint?
Lindsay O’Donnell 31:37
So I feel like I’m still someone who’s like not going to work with like a pig ear chips. You know, that’s not me. So I will say that I’m working with all sorts of brands, like I have a surf school client. However, like I still love, I still know everything about the food industry. I still love the health industry.
So I’m basically, if you’re an entrepreneur, that’s like really looking to level up and you’re like spiritual and conscious and you’re constantly look at your participation, your mindset, then you’re my target audience. But if you do own a food brand or a wellness brand, like I really know that industry particularly well as well. So I would say like the fractional CMO work. So we’re doing like I’m doing coaching consulting for fractional CMO like that. I can still bring my team in. That still fits really well.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 32:21
I always like to hear with companies and how their offerings work from the beginning to the end. And you mentioned before about a free session walk. Walk me through how it typically it would work to work with you and how people kind of go through the offerings.
Lindsay O’Donnell 32:43
Yeah. So there’s two ways in which people meet me. They either book a free 20-minute session, which you can do at any time, or I’ve been going on LinkedIn and saying, like, I have five free one-hour sessions. And so people I say just come with any problem, like come to me with, like, I hate my husband, come to me with, I can’t find my niche, come to me with, like I can’t find my brand voice or I hate my job. And by the end of it, like there’s usually we pull the thread.
There’s a couple ways in which it goes, like some people it’s like really easy, like you haven’t done email marketing, you haven’t done this. And some people I can tell the question isn’t really the question. So I had a guy come to me who he had a brand and he was like, I can’t find my niche. And I could tell I was like, this isn’t the question. And by the end of it, he was like, I think I need to be in stand-up comedy.
I was like, yeah, I know, you know. So it’s like, it’s like there’s no boundaries to it, which makes it really profound. And then after that session, there’s three options. People like if you’re a brand and you’re like, I don’t have these templates and tools. I come in as a fractional CMO.
That’s a custom quote. So that’s what I’m doing for a few companies. Then for some people, they’re like, I want to meet with you every two weeks. Like if you’re a high level entrepreneur brand owner, you are constantly faced with mindset challenges, obstacles, personal challenges, but also business challenges. And you need a safe space to space to, like, be like, okay, this person isn’t working out.
Should I fire this person? Also, my friend is driving me crazy and we can, like, tie together. Like, what’s triggering you and how to move forward in your business, right? To remove that blocks. So some people want to meet with me every two weeks.
And then the other is like, you can just book an hour with me. You know, if you’re like, I’ll touch base with you after I get investment, that’s fine. So I’m basically like a high-level senior marketing director and coach, and you can decide if it’s like you want me to, like, come in as a temporary team member or somebody that you touch base with regularly.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 34:32
I know we were talking before we hit record about the doctor example. Was that the stand-up comedy one, or is that something different?
Lindsay O’Donnell 34:39
No no no.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 34:40
Oh, talk about Doctor Devi.
Lindsay O’Donnell 34:43
Yeah. Doctor Devi is actually she’s so. She’s the person who trained me as an intuitive coach. And she’s someone who, like, really performs miracles and basically, like she was going to get to seven figures. No problem.
But I knew I could see it was going to be whiplash-like, because a lot of people do that. They grow, they grow, they grow. But she had one team member, and so I knew she was going to get to seven figures or whatever your personal goal is going to be like. I knew, but then burnout and whiplash right back. And so what we did was I came in and was like, okay, by the time I’m done, you will be doing the same, if not less work, but it’ll be systemized, there’ll be processes and it’ll be effective.
So, you know, I come in and I write a marketing plan, I do a social media outline, I help her hire the right social person. I bring in an integrator for her. I, I did flowcharts, I was like, when you do a launch, it should look like ABC. When you have meetings, this is how it should look. When your social person comes to you, they should have this report and they should need this from you, but you should do ABC.
Like it basically comes in from like a bootstrap business to me coming in and being like, okay, this will allow you to stay at seven figures and keep growing. And so that’s been really rewarding because our brand is really fun.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 35:53
What are some of the groups and coaches that have been valuable for you?
Lindsay O’Donnell 35:58
Oh, that’s a really good question. I just discovered school. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it. Skool. Yeah. Yeah. So there’s one that I actually have that I just started. It’s called Quantum Coaches. Doctor Devi has one as well. Something I discovered with my coach was I like I came to him and I was really frustrated and I was like, I’m doing all the things.
I’m like networking. I’m getting out of the house. I work from home. And he was like, no, you’re not actually having intentional co-working spaces. So I had to create some local groups where it was my peers were, we’re not going to slip into something personal, you know, I would meet with my team or friends and it would slip pretty quickly into like just personal updates.
So I had to create some like local cohorts where it was like, I knew that I would just be hearing about, like the new AI programs that they’re using, the new like tools or the onboarding that they were using. So I have a few like women’s groups that I have locally. So I would really recommend like some smaller groups where you’re just going to absorb, like the things that they’re doing, where it doesn’t just, like spiral into personal updates, which is fine. You know.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 37:06
I know that you would done a lot of events and gone to events. I’m curious what some of your favorites are maybe in the food industry. I saw, you know, the planted expo on there. Maybe talk about that and then any other food related or industry events that you have found to be valuable.
Lindsay O’Donnell 37:27
Yeah. So if you’re in food, I always tell people to follow Ali Ball. She was like a very nice. Hers is biz whiz or it’s Ali Ball. She was a really nice compliment in the sense of like, she used to be a food buyer and she offers programs and I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about, like she coaches you on like this is when you approach a buyer.
This is like how many times you follow up. This is the season to do it. She’s got a podcast. She’s fantastic. In terms of shows, there’s like CHFA, which is like the health food Canadian Health Food Association.
And that is like an industry event. That is where you go and meet like the buyers, like the retailers, all those things. I know in the States, the natural health food show is really big, as well as the Fancy Food Association and all of those I believe do have.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 38:16
I want to go. That’s on my list. I want to go to Expo West at some point.
Lindsay O’Donnell 38:20
Yes, yes. And then planted is one of my favorites. So we were brought on as an agency. And then while after a year of like having great success with them, I was asked to be a small partner. And what I love about that is like, it’s such a fun challenge where you know, you have to target vendors and sponsors as well as attendees, and you have to market it all year round when you only have like three days a year to like, capture content, or three days a year in which you’re building something up.
And so when we came in, they came to us like just after Covid, they had new owners and they were like, hey, like, people are kind of nervous about coming? People don’t have a ton of budget. How do we do this? And what I the way I looked at it was like, we need to, like, move the needle a little bit. So people are at a tipping point where they’re like, hey, we could come or not.
Like, how do we make it so wildly valuable that people are like, we have to be there? So we started doing things year-round to like, cultivate and nurture vendors like webinars on how to show up at trade shows like tricks for marketing, how to retarget attendees through ads. So we would like create this funnel. And through that we could bring in sponsors for the for the webinars, things like that. And then we also cultivated long-term relationships with the influencers who were going to be at the event.
Right. So we started doing things like giving them tips on how to make the most, how to get a bigger audience by covering planted. And so we wanted it to create like a community where we were like, hey, like we want to raise all like, it’s like the digital potluck. How do we have all boats rise with the tide? And so the first year we did that, we had a lot of success.
I think attendance was up 30%. The first year we did it. And through that too, they went from one show to three shows a year. So we also had to create systems and tools to really scale. Like they’ll have like 100, 150 influencers per event, you know, sponsors and vendors.
All of them need shoutouts. All of them like need newsletter mentions in addition to like whatever. So that was really fun and challenging of like, how do we create like something that’s like systemized, but it’s also creating that like sense of like community and personalization.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 40:21
I’d love to hear Lindsay, some of your favorite brands. I don’t know if we break it down by category like kombucha and coffee and whatever. What are some of your favorites that you like? I always like discovering new products.
Lindsay O’Donnell 40:39
Yeah, I mean, I always talk about midday squares. I love what they’re doing. They’re really fun. And what I like is one of my favorite things in marketing is to be like, we’re the this of this, you know what I mean? Like, we’re the Michael Jordan of yogurt.
I don’t know. And so their whole thing is their chocolate.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 40:56
I’ve never tried midday squares before. It’s really.
Lindsay O’Donnell 40:59
Yummy. I’ve met one of the owners a few times, Jake, and he’s lovely, but their whole thing is like they’re a reality show and their funnel is very clearly defined, right? Like they don’t actually sell you on the bars until you get on their newsletter. Like if you go to their social, it’s about storytelling and it’s like we’re building this together. Their why is so clearly defined.
So their website is much more sales-based. But if you go to their social. Yeah. Like they you can tell like they’re going to be like a reality show. And when I met Jake, he was like, we’re the Spice Girls of the food industry.
And I love that. I love that so much. So that’s one that’s really fun. Not a new brand that you can discover, but one that seems to consistently innovate and be surprising is Heinz. And I talk about them a lot on my social, like they’re partnering with Kate Spade.
They partnered with Fenty and Rihanna. Like it’s unexpected. It’s really fun. And a lot of the things that they’re doing aren’t going to drive like initial sales, you know, like they did a limited partnership with Rihanna and Fenty and that like that activation didn’t drive a ton of sales, but I like they had international press. So I think that that’s really interesting.
There was a brand recently called Pure Sport where they sent influencers empty boxes at Christmas, and they were like, fill it up with all the product that you haven’t used. And we will then send it to charity. And again, like that probably didn’t cost that much. That clearly wasn’t going to drive sales. Like on the surface it’s not going to drive sales.
And yet it got international press. So I really like that as well. And then like Liquid Death is always doing fun things. And then smashed which is a drink, a non-alcoholic drink from Zayn from One Direction is also doing really fun things. Smash.
Their whole thing was around the intern, so the intern has built this like huge social following by being like help me not get fired. And like now it’s like a big trend on social to be like, okay, if we do this, my boss is going to buy me a ski-doo or whatever it is, but they’re all doing really, really fun things. And that’s like, marketing should be fun. Even if you’re like, doing funeral homes. It should be smart.
It should be fun. Like we’re inundated with messaging and like calls to action. At least don’t insult my intelligence. Like have something interesting or fun. And so I really like all those brands.
And then finally, one that I talk about a lot that I think balances that conscious brand really, really, really well. Is Ben and Jerry’s like they say we’re a social activism brand and the way they balance, like social justice on their socials and with what they do and their collaborations with the fact that they’re just fun ice cream, that’s a really like they’ve balanced that so, so well.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 43:27
Lindsay, this has been fantastic. I appreciate you walking us through the journey, the lessons. There’s so many gold gems here. I want to encourage people to check out your website and what you’re doing. Where should we point people towards to learn more?
Lindsay O’Donnell 43:41
I would say my LinkedIn or Instagram is best. We’re the Piquant Marketing website is still up. You can check it out, but it will be moving to PQ Consulting. So if you go to PQ Consulting on Instagram or Lindsay O’Donnell on LinkedIn, like those are the places I’m really active right now. The website will be coming soon.
I just switched in the last month from the agency to consulting, but I’m very active. I’m doing a lot of like sessions and like onboarding.
Dr. Jeremy Weisz 44:06
So now I’m sure if they go to Piquant Marketing, it will redirect to PQ Consulting at some point. So like they can check that out. But pqconsulting would be the website. Yeah. Got it. Yeah. Cool. Lindsay thank you so much. And we’ll see everyone next time. Thanks everyone.
