Cal AI · B2C · photo calorie tracking app
Pay big lifestyle creators to scan their breakfast in day-in-the-life vlogs, 4 times a month
Most profitable content; one video drove hundreds to thousands of promo code uses
What they did
What happened
- Stage
- later, once the app was widely known
In their words
Alfie Dickens - Meet The Marketing Genius Behind Cal AI
JosephWhat was the most profitable content angle?
Alfie DickensTo this day, probably like big creators that do kind of like day-in-the-life um vlog-style content, where we could just seamlessly get the app into that video. Like, for example, they show their day, and they have their breakfast, and they just quickly scan using the app. They don't necessarily mention, you know, Cal AI. They just show themselves using it. And I Honestly, that worked out very well, especially later on, where everyone kind of knew what Cal AI was, and then the big creators started using it.
Alfie DickensUm, for example, we had a one of the Mormon wives, Jessi. She She posted for us, and she She converts really, really well.
JosephWow. Okay, so just like the big influencers that show the app in their daily routine, that seems like it's not immediately obvious like why that would be the highest converting. Do you Do you have an idea of why that was like that works so well?
Alfie DickensI I think just like them being big influencers, people copy them anyway. Um, so if they kind of naturally show the app in their videos, and we tried to get them to do four videos per month, so if people see it four times in a month that they're using this fit this app, then you know, ideally it performs pretty well for us. Yeah, this is just Jessi using it. And we sometimes would have, you know, just from like a video like this, we would sometimes get a couple of hundred promo code uses just from from this video, sometimes thousands. It's yeah, she she was really good. And that was kind of all she did. She didn't show the app again.
JosephYeah, it was just like in the first 2 seconds, just
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New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from this episode
- Agree with a creator's view boast, then guarantee 700-800K views when they claim 1MGuaranteed a profitable CPM on every deal; creators couldn't back down
- Have 25 hired assistants each email 100 creators a day~220K creators contacted, 2-3K signed; roughly 1 signed per 1,000 emailed
- Let AI answer creators' email replies and hand warm ones to a managerAssistants' job ends at the first email; no results reported
- Pitch 'keep making your normal videos, just sneak us in', then ask for a callCalls ~10x the chance of signing; the pitch often lowered creators' prices
- Have creators show the photo-scan naturally in the first 15 seconds, with no scriptCalled one of the biggest rules; no numbers
- Schedule a reality-TV star's posts just before and after her new season airsVery low CPM for a famous creator; no exact figure
- Buy only very cheap views at first, then pay more per deal once people know youDeals got more profitable over time, not less
- Test creators beyond fitness: moms, comedy, and fitness sub-nichesMixed: some moms profitable at $10 CPM; comedy got views but low intent
- Pay recipe, cooking and mukbang creators to promote a calorie trackerDidn't convert; cut early. Healthy-meal videos only okay
- Pay a Love Island contestant for day-in-the-life videosStarted well but underperformed; viewers mostly came for his partner
- Pay creators $100-200 when a friend they refer signs a dealReally helped; got direct numbers and deals around talent agents
- Give outreach assistants monthly prizes for most creators contacted or signedKept assistants motivated; no numbers
- Befriend creators' managers, then ask to add the creator to the group chatLanded deals with a TV star; guest calls relationships the key
- Sign a second creator in the same niche as your best oneDidn't work at all; the first creator made $100K profit in a month
- Have a UGC creator post on the brand's own page, and restart as influencers get pricierPaused while influencer CPMs were cheap; now restarting for cheaper views
Tags: tiktok, instagram, day-in-the-life, big-creators, promo-code, creative