Cal AI · B2C · photo calorie tracking app
Have a UGC creator post on the brand's own page, and restart as influencers get pricier
Paused while influencer CPMs were cheap; now restarting for cheaper views
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What they did
Early on, a creator (Dawson) with his own personal brand made UGC and posted on the Cal AI page. Stopped once influencer deals gave better CPMs. Now restarting UGC because agents have pushed influencer prices up. Guest would run UGC and influencers side by side for a new app: UGC gives cheaper views but likely lower conversion.
“We had a guy called Dawson do a lot of UGC at the start for us. He already had a good personal brand, and he would just post on our page as well.”
“because we got such good CPM deals with our influencers, it wasn't really worth doing UGC at the time.”
Related topics
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- Show a spin wheel that lands on 80% off instead of just showing the discountDouble-digit conversion lift vs a plain discount screen in an A/B test
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More from this episode
- Cal AI: 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
- Cal AI: Have 25 hired assistants each email 100 creators a day~220K creators contacted, 2-3K signed; roughly 1 signed per 1,000 emailed
- Cal AI: Let AI answer creators' email replies and hand warm ones to a managerAssistants' job ends at the first email; no results reported
- Cal AI: 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
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- Cal AI: Pay big lifestyle creators to scan their breakfast in day-in-the-life vlogs, 4 times a monthMost profitable content; one video drove hundreds to thousands of promo code uses
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- Cal AI: Buy only very cheap views at first, then pay more per deal once people know youDeals got more profitable over time, not less
- Cal AI: Test creators beyond fitness: moms, comedy, and fitness sub-nichesMixed: some moms profitable at $10 CPM; comedy got views but low intent
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- Cal AI: Pay a Love Island contestant for day-in-the-life videosStarted well but underperformed; viewers mostly came for his partner
- Cal AI: Pay creators $100-200 when a friend they refer signs a dealReally helped; got direct numbers and deals around talent agents
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- Cal AI: Befriend creators' managers, then ask to add the creator to the group chatLanded deals with a TV star; guest calls relationships the key
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