Welcome back to The CPG 3 Newsletter!
In each edition, we share three ways to fast-track your CPG brand.
These insights come from CPG Fast Track, the private network for ambitious CPG founders — run by experienced founders.
Today in the newsletter:
- Steal this influencer strategy from Stiller's Soda
- Five ways to build hype
- This CPG category is ready to pop
Here we go ...
📈 Hey, founders: Join us for dinner in NYC!
We're hosting a group of ambitious founders for dinner in New York.
Here are the details:
- Thursday, May 14
- Hosted by Entrepreneur magazine editor in chief Jason Feifer and Little Spoon cofounder Lisa Barnett
- We have 15 seats for founders of fast-growing CPG brands with proven traction.
- An evening of conversation, top-notch food, and great new connections.
Want to join us? Apply here!
1. Steal this influencer strategy from Stiller's Soda!
The smartest brands don't just hire influencers. They actively court micro-influencers, turning them into fans and advocates.
How? Use this strategy from Stiller's Soda, Ben Stiller's brand.
They sent a recruitment email to one of our co-founders, and we're sharing it here with you (below).
Notice how it offers a full journey:
- First, free soda
- Then "paid creator challenges"
- Then special access to cool things
Here's the email:
Hi Jason,
This is Alice from Stiller's Soda.
Yes, that Stiller's.
We're an all-natural soda brand built on classic flavors, cultural nostalgia, and not taking ourselves too seriously. Created by soda lover and Shirley Temple aficionado: Ben Stiller.
We've been quietly watching your content and came to a professional conclusion: you get it. We're building a small-but-mighty creator community of people who understand good taste, perfect timing, and the art of documenting life's unnecessary but delightful moments.
We'd love to send you a free Stiller's Sample Pack. No contracts. No brand essay required. Just soda. If you’re selected, you’ll get:
- First dibs on campaigns
- Access to paid creator challenges (hundreds of dollars a month)
- Access to exclusive drops and flavor launches
- Possibly a shout from Ben at some point - who knows!
If you’re in, apply here
–Alice from Stiller's Soda
2. Five steps to to building heathy hype
Readying a launch? Want to build hype, and get people on your waitlist?
Here are five things you can do — from Little Spoon (and CPG Fast Track) co-founder Lisa Barnett:
1. Pinpoint targeting
Identify your early customers, show up where they are, make them feel like “this is for you.” Focus on a specific market — even a specific neighborhood — that you can penetrate vs. going wide so you can make an impact.
2. Make early adopters into insiders
Seed samples of your product to small influencers and make them part of a “founding community” — align with them on the shared problem they experience that you solve. Your messaging should resonate with them and help get them to post. (See the Stiller's Soda item above!)
3. Give value, even before launching
For the broader audience: Why should someone join your waitlist today? Create content, a guide, a quiz, an event invite, or something useful tied to your brand and drive emails to that.
4. Focus on day-one conversion
Offer an early access window (48–72 hrs) to those early adopters and everyone else has access to the product or the list. Most important: Make it feel like a moment, not an open-ended launch. You need a discount, a gift, limited edition drop — anything that gives you that “now or never” sparkle.
5. Nurture your leads list
Email consistently leading up to launch (e.g. share you founder story, behind the scenes media, background on product decisions, etc.) to build trust and anticipation ahead of the big day.
3. "Natural" personal care is ready to pop
Food and beverage may be full of "natural" products, but personal care is just getting started.
In this whitepaper, Green Circle Capital Advisers argues that natural beauty is about to blow up. Here's why:
- Natural personal care represents only 7.5% of the global market.
- It's growing at 9.2% annually, which is 2X faster than the broader industry.
- Major exits prove the opportunity: L’Oreal paid $2.5B for Aesop, Unilever dropped $500M on Tatcha, and Shiseido acquired Drunk Elephant for $845M.
- Consumers are increasingly demanding evidence of efficacy backed up by clinical trials — which will be a differentiator for brands backed by actual science.
Green Circle puts it this way: Over the past 20 years, nearly every legacy food category was disrupted by a smaller, natural competitor. That reshaped the market. Now that transformation is coming to other categories.
It's a great reminder: Even when categories seem crowded, there's still plenty of white space out there. Follow the consumer!
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📈 Get help from CPG Fast Track today!
We help stressed-out founders grow with clarity.
- We'll put you in a small group of your peers
- Regular support from experienced CPG founders
- Conversations with industry leaders, like major CEOs and CMOs
👉Join CPG Fast Track Now
Talk soon,
Jason + the CPG FT team