Hi and welcome back to the show! It’s Doone here your host and hype girl. If you’re new here - we love to understand the insights and playbook behind the brands we love and buy - and if you’re an OG listener.
Well, LOVE you. You know what this is all about. Today’s episode is a follow up to our original episode with Rachael from 2021. Which I’m going to link in the show notes incase you wanna circle back for all the early stage story stuff and her blueprint for getting this brand off the ground. I love doing episodes like this because so much has happened in between then and now.
Rachael’s since merged with another skincare company, she’s launched TBH skincare into hundreds of Priceline stores around Australia and she’s just got so many good insights when it comes to her approach to marketing. She’s a big believer in grassroots, guerrilla style marketing - which I just absolutely love - it’s so my vibe - and there’s so much gold packed in here. It’s a great episode! There’s a few crazy stories sprinkled in here.
If you love it! Shout about it! Tell a friend. Honour the girl code. Oh! And I’m thinking about our next meetup for November and I’m trying to decide if we do Sydney or Melbourne. Sooo let us know in the DMs where we should host our Aussie catch up next month. I would love to meet you IRL
Let’s get into it.
Please note, this transcript has been copy-pasted without the lovely touch of a human editor. Please expect some typos!
This is Rachel Wilde for Female Startup Club.
Hello and welcome back to the show. It's Dune here, your host and hype girl. If you're new around here, we love to understand the insights and the playbook behind the brands that we love and buy. And if you're an OG listener, well, love you. You know what this is all about. Today's episode is actually a follow up to our original episode with Rachel back from 2021, I think it was, which I'm actually going to link in the show notes in case you want to circle back for all of that early.
juicy story stuff and her specific blueprint for getting this brand off the ground. And I love today. I love doing episodes like this because so much has happened between then and now, like so much has happened. Rachel's since merged with another skincare company. She's launched TBH skincare into hundreds of price line stores around Australia And she's just got so many good insights when it comes to her approach to marketing.
She's a big believer in grassroots, guerrilla style marketing, which I personally just absolutely love. It is so my vibe. And there is so much gold packed in here. It's totally packed. It's a great episode. And there's a few crazy stories sprinkled in here and there. Maybe like towards the end, especially.
If you love this episode, shout about it. Tell a friend, honor the girl code, and total side note, which I want to hear from you. I'm thinking about having our next meetup in November, and I'm trying to decide if we should do it in Sydney, which is where I'm based, or Melbourne, so I can have a little weekend away.
So, Let us know in the DMs, Female Startup Club on Instagram, where should we host our last Aussie catch up for the year? If it should be Sydney or if it should be Melbourne. I would love to meet you, R. A. L. Let's get into it. This is Rachel Wild for Female Startup Club. Hey girl! Welcome back. Hi! Thanks for having me.
I'm so excited. Part two on the books. Well on the podcast books How's your day going? What have you been up to? What's happening in your world this week? Today? This month? Oh, what's going on? Um, Well It is September, almost October now. So I'm really starting to feel the heat in terms of it being our busiest time of year.
Yeah. Black Friday, gifting Christmas. I know all of that. And this week I actually had two new starters on the same day coming on a Monday. So that always, yeah, is a busy time when you've got new people coming into the team, which is obviously really exciting, but, uh, it's been a little bit of a chaotic week.
I am feeling it. So yeah, this morning, what did it, what was I doing? Basically replying to emails cause I had, I do Wednesdays in the office. So the minute I'm in the office, I'm often in meetings, which means come Thursday when I work from home, I've often got like quite a backlog of work to get through.
Yes. All the executing gets done on Thursday. Who were the two new starters? Like what, what are the roles? We hired in a head of growth, um, which is actually a really exciting role for us. So that person is looking after all of the performance marketing channels in the business and really responsible for driving like the actual revenue, um, when it comes to marketing.
So very much like growth hacking, even like, you know, that's across CRM. So like email, SMS, but also the paid marketing channels. And basically just looking at all of our channels from like quite a data led point of view, which is nice because it's actually, the team at the moment was like very content brand sort of led, which is always how we've done things.
But I feel like we're really missing that strategic person in the team to drive the growth. Yeah, the duo now of mixing your really Strong, organic content story, storytelling side of things with like strategic data driven paid marketing mixed together is going to be amazing when you bring on someone like that, you know, that's obviously a big role.
Are they working across both brands or like, and we'll get into this like a little bit later. So I'm getting ahead of myself, but are they going to be working across both? Yes, the whole team at the moment is actually across both. So there's no one in the business who just works only on one brand. Got it.
Got it. Got it. And for someone like that, sorry, even before we're jumping into the episode, for someone like that, when you bring on a new starter, I imagine at this point, you know, you're three, four years into the business, you've probably hired, you know, a key number of people. What do you do to bring on a new role and make it a success?
I think having the. Like roles and responsibilities of that role very clearly defined from the beginning is really important. And I've actually sort of just gotten to a stage with the business where it's critical to set up people with like clear and almost like independent responsibilities rather than like working collaboratively across everything all the time.
There's just too much going on. So when I'm bringing in a role like that, it's. setting them up with really clear goals and KPIs, but also just hiring in the right person with the right experience. I think because we are at that more like scale up, not even startup stage anymore, we have the ability to bring in these people.
And when you do that, I think you just have to set the parameters, but then let them go because the people that you're able to bring in a really high caliber, which is very lucky. So it's like, you know, it's just up to them to make it what, what they want to. And how did you find, like, how did you hire for this role at this stage of the business?
Are you working with recruiters? Are you going, you know, with referrals? Like, what's the kind of hiring process? Yeah, this was the first role that I went and hired with a recruiter because it was just so important and anyone who has gone through trying to hire themselves, um, knows just how like time consuming and painful that is we, the other role that started was a graphic designer role.
And we did do that hiring process ourselves. Um, and it was a lot of work. We actually got over 500 applicants, so it's just a lot to then go through. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Holy shit. 500 is a lot. Oh my gosh. Well congrats. I'm excited for you. I'm. Excited to see how this kind of starts to, you know, position itself across the digital landscape, especially in the lead up to something like Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend where everyone's going hard.
Yeah. So last time we spoke, I think it was like, I don't remember what month, but it was 2021. At that point, you'd had incredible success already. You'd done over a million dollars in sales in the first 18 months. You'd done a friends and family raise for 250k. You'd done a crowdfunding campaign for 460k.
You were working with your mom. You were crushing it with influencers. Two years or maybe even three has now passed and I've obviously been hype girling you from the sidelines and watching everything that you've been doing. And I want to kind of Pick things up from where we left off. I want to understand the journey in these past couple of years, especially leading to the fact that you went through a merger earlier this year, I think it was.
Yeah. Oh my gosh. I look back at like our last conversation in 2021 and I just feel like I was a total baby back then. I just was so green and so early on in the journey and I didn't even really realize it at the time. Um, but yeah, so since then, I think after I spoke to you, it would have been pretty quick after we'd done that equity crowdfunding, um, raise.
An amazing process to go through and obviously a successful one for us. So much work. I remember being in Covid and I think I was just doing seven day work weeks on repeat long hours because getting something like that over the line and trying to run a business with no team is crazy. Was it just you at that point?
You and your mom, I forget. Yeah. Yeah, it was, um, and we had like, I think we had a part-time marketing person as well, so we went through, Sort of the equity crowdfund. And then once COVID ended, one of the key things that changed for us was that we actually moved into an office and we went into a coworking space in Alexandria where we could store all of our products, pick and pack daily.
So there was like all the facilities like forklifts and pallet jacks and all these things there that we could use to like take deliveries. And then essentially there were courier pickups. By the day in within that working space that we were able, it was just a really good fit for where we were. So we did, went and did all the pickpack from there and also set up our little showroom, which is what it was called with desks to work from as well.
So it was really like the first time that I then had a workplace to go to and it actually changed everything for me as a creative. Person to get out the house to like be amongst other people in a coworking space who were also going through what I was going through at the same time, which was a really painful part of the business.
You know, I think I remember about five months after joining that coworking space. By then I'd met like all these incredible women actually in the building. And we set up like a little hackathon and did one night together where we just like told. It basically brought like our biggest problem at the moment to the meeting for us all to sort of like think about together.
And it was during a time where I think everyone was going through the same problems where direct response marketing. So essentially like all of your paid performance marketing channels were like, CPAs were blowing out and it was becoming like really hard to get that like acquisition. And so we were all there with like the same problem and it was just nice.
I think we all had a wine and like, I think like there were maybe some tears shared and it was just like, I think that was really a critical time for me and I was a really great time to sort of like get through a harder time in the business. What was the problem that you came with? Um, not having enough cash really.
Like I think we invested heavily in new product development and we sort of had a focus on bottom line, um, at that stage of the business just to try and improve our profitability, which is so hard. And then you become strapped for cash and it's like, you can't invest in growth. And when you're small like that, like you just stuck between a rock and a hard place.
And yeah, we definitely got to a point where it was like, okay. turn everything off. We're going to keep the lights on. And there were other people in the room that were feeling the same thing. And what was the kind of outcome? Like, what was the solution that was kind of formed for you? The solution for me was to like, go back to finding ways to get that acquisition without spending money, which is, um, an in.
Like, it's such a hard thing to do, but, um, it requires a lot of grit, persistence and creativity. Yeah. So what'd you do? How'd you fix it? Like, what were those, you know, like initiatives? Yeah. I mean, look. I turn to organic content massively. And it's funny because everyone I talk to associates TBH skincare with like an aggressive organic content strategy.
And I think it was just born out of like these humble beginnings where we just didn't have any cash. And so that was like the pillar that we had to lean on. It's funny because now even when I do have the cash, I'm like, we can't even, like my opinion is it's not even worth. Spending the money unless you've got that down, um, because it just makes everything more efficient.
So it's actually been a beautiful learning curve for me to essentially be putting that hard place and learn some good lessons. But I did have, I always say like I sort of have some sort of a marketing or content God looking down on me at all times because they delivered me a little gem. In the form of a radio shout out by Abby Chatfield, who had worked with the brand before and loves the brand, but we weren't working with her at the time in like a contract.
And she just gave the product, a random shout out on her radio show. And it got sent to me like five days after the segment ed, I decided, you know, at the time organic content was everything. And I never let anything pass me by without like turning it into some sort of content. So I. I went and sat in my car and I was like, okay, I'm going to listen to this for the first time through my car radio on Spotify.
I was like a saved Spotify episode and record like a blind react on tick tock. And then I actually chucked it up on my own personal page. I literally recorded it, sat in the car, edited it like so quickly, chucked it up, close tick tock. Cause I'm actually. I am probably more now, but at the time I wasn't that addicted to tick tock.
Like I'd open the app every like once every five days, I was more like an Instagram, you know, immersed in Instagram. And I literally like woke up the next morning. So it was like maybe 4 30 PM. And I didn't even check it. And I woke up the next morning and I had like a hundred orders in from new customers.
And I was like, what? And then I opened TikTok and the video was at like 70, 000 views. But because it was like, The social proofing element of like Abby giving it a shout out. But then it was made like, it was an organic moment of me sharing it in the car for my personal page. It was like all these little layers stacked up and then we sat on like a viral TikTok moment.
And there's viral TikTok moments that are amazing and grow your awareness. And then there's viral TikTok moments that grow your sales, which are so rare. How did you leverage that? Yeah. So then from there, it was like, how can we get like media coverage out of this growth, which we, you know, went and secured.
And then we put those media placements into meta ads, which then drove sales. Our CPA across a four month period was 9. Wow. Wow. What, what year are we talking about here? Like is this 2022? 2022. And for anyone listening who's not in Australia, Abbey Chatfield, she's a personality here. She's very well known and she's amazing.
And holy shit, that's like a dream really. Like getting something organically shouted out on her show, you know, you can't do better than that. Okay. So that's 2022. That's an organic moment where you're like, yep, there's still, you know, this stuff works. What happens then? What are you kind of focusing on? So simultaneously whilst that happened, we were already raising capital.
So we were talking to private equity firms and, um, you know, we had, Like whilst I say we went through a period where we were strapped for cash, the business model was really great in that we were being propped up by repeat revenue from customers. So we had a really high retention rate, which for investors was very attractive because what they could see was the minute we could acquire a customer and had enough money to acquire a customer, we could bring them back and then they could see the.
Essentially the path to profitability with the business, which at that time it was a really hard capital market to raise in still is, um, you know, you had tech companies valuations being like literally corded and it was ugly, but then what actually became the focus was sustainable growth and for a product based business like ours, we could actually demonstrate it.
So it kind of worked in our favor, although. We went through so many conversations with different private equity. And then we came across this private equity firm who said, Hey, we're like, they looked at the business model and we were hugely like, we were all E com basically. And so what happened was they looked at the business model and then realized that another business they had invested serums.
Who they had previously invested in were very retail focused and had really good strengths across like international markets and expansion and sort of the CEO had been involved in other beauty businesses before they sort of had another layer of experience and different skill sets that we didn't have.
Um, but then we had a really good understanding of e com brand building. And then my, um, co founders got amazing financial skills. So she's an accountant and financial analyst, and they were missing that part of their business too. So they actually recommended that we meet the founder and have a chat with him.
Which we did and from that moment on, it was like literally took one meeting and we were like, okay, we think this guy is lovely. Like obviously culturally when you're doing a merge, it's really important that you like the people that you're going into business with. So we really liked Craig and, um, he saw the business model and was like, what we could do together would be amazing.
And so what we realized was instead of trying to build these things independently, we could actually come together and build something together. Much more efficiently and scale the businesses much quicker than what we could on our own. Um, and essentially that was in August. So it was actually before this whole Abbey Chatfield thing kicked off and then the Abbey Chatfield thing kicked off and then we were already like in talks of a merge and then, yeah, basically the merge happened and it took a while obviously for legals and everything to get through.
So we signed it in March of 2023. And came together as one team. Oh my gosh. I have so many questions. I love that for you. First of all, congrats. When you're saying like a merge, a merger, like specifically, what does it mean? Does it mean that like both entities are now one entity? Do you still have equity?
Like, where's the equity? Like what happens? Like, and like, how do you negotiate where you both were both brands, like kind of an equal stature at that point? Like. What does it look like on paper? Yeah. Um, there was a negotiation process definitely where we got to a point where we felt like it was a win win.
And so it was funny because it was different on either side. Like our, Our thinking was like, you know, we get this established team and we get access to funds. And then we also can, but ultimately, you know, and then for them, it was like, they get the skill sets that we bring in there. But ultimately what it came down to was we can be so much better together than we can be independently at a much faster rate, um, and much more efficiently.
So once we had like sort of agreed on that, it was negotiations, but what happens in a merge is essentially. There was a new parent company established and both of our equity then became equity in the parent company. Um, and so it was just negotiating what that split was across either entities because they had shareholders and we had shareholders.
So it was complex, but lots of legal. Yeah. Does it mean that like the actual company TBH and the actual company Boost Labs effectively ceases and it's all under New York or do those companies still exist and it's just a company up the top? So those companies still exist, but as a corporate structure, they still exist, whether we're or not we'd wind them up because essentially all the trade then goes through York street.
But that's obviously a transition that we're even still going through now in terms of corporate structure. But yeah, it is very much that parent company, but then the brands sit independently underneath and still have their own. Sort of company structure, but all of the trade is going through York street.
Got it. And from like the org chart point of view, is it basically being like, okay, well, you know, there's, you know, you and Bridget on this side and you have X amount of team members and there's Craig and everyone else on this side. Is it about finding a place for everyone and merging them together? Or is it about like, okay, let's find the best talent within the two companies and kind of like.
merge those people and kind of like let some people go. We were so lucky in that they were so lean and we were as well. So a lot of the stuff that we had, we had outsourced to agencies and you know, like it wasn't like we had, I had one part time marketing coordinator and that was it and they had.
They're like head of sales and head of innovation and no one else. So actually by the time we'd merged, they'd hired an ops coordinator, but she came in. So essentially there was no overlap. And that's the other reason why we loved the merge is there's, there was no overlap whatsoever. So at a management level you had like, I went in to CMO, which was obviously the natural position.
Bridget went into CFO. Again, there was no one else there to take that CFO role. Craig stepped up into a CEO role, which he basically like was for Busab anyway. And that was also a natural. Like that wasn't something that either Bridget or I wanted anyway. So it was like, that was very natural and it was nice.
Cause that, that CEO is responsible essentially for raising capital. That was sort of like the main thing that we saw and that was definitely Craig. Um, and then. We, uh, Raj is our COO and he was sales, so he's now sort of like sales and ops, um, and the head of innovation, Curtis stayed as head of innovation.
So the management team did not change and then we didn't really have anyone else in the business. Then we were able to build the team underneath from there. A little smooth operation you've got going on there. Yeah, it was great. And so, you know, that happened as, as of March this year, you, you know, merged together, you're under the same roof.
How do you then start kind of cross transferring, you know, they were strong in retail, you were strong in e com. How do you kind of like start cross and like making the wins on either side? And what were the wins? Yeah, it started actually in December, actually started in November because I think I was like, you know, naturally when you then know, basically like this was happening, they were like, okay, let's talk about retail.
I was like, give me the e comm, you know, like. Everyone just got involved straight away, which was amazing. So we were already in conversation with Priceline had already had an initial like, um, pitching meeting with Priceline and it was very recent. So there was like actually sitting with Priceline for review when they came in and then.
Raj was like, right, we're going to fly, like we're flying to Melbourne. Um, and we're going to go see Priceline. And then I was like, okay. And so he like came in and joined those conversations with Priceline, which was critical in getting us sort of the, the distribution that we had and, um, well, we're able to secure in the end.
And then I took on the e com, but. Also, they're branding at the same time. So then I did a whole bunch of focus groups straight away with different, um, sort of demos. And I actually brought in a consultant to help me, um, who I knew from the coworking space that I was in, who was, um, sort of doing consulting work.
So then she came in and the two of us sat down and reassessed the positioning of Boost Lab. Uh, we actually shifted it and then kicked off an e com strategy based on those learnings and repositioned the brand tone of voice and target demographics slightly. So then once we'd done that, and even like they, I don't think they were doing black Friday and I was like, we need a black Friday deal.
Like literally like. Two weeks before, and I'm just jumping in to be like, this is what we're going to do. And I put them basically all of the agencies that we were then working with just started working on boost lab and plugging them into that ecosystem gave them an immediate lift. So that was such a quick win.
And then. Yeah, basically from there it's, um, extrapolated out. So we then had funds for the launch into Priceline and we had them, you know, supporting us with that and Craig, the CEO is such a believer in like brand and we're very aligned on that. So he's like very supportive of investment behind brands.
So, you know, I finally had a budget to work with, which I'd never had before. So I was able to create a big moment out of the Priceline launch and then You know, we started focusing on their brand from like a PR events ambassadors, influence a point of view with the new alignment that we'd given them and then doing that and pairing it with e comm and focusing on their social strategy.
We started seeing some huge wins. So come sort of where we finished FY23 as a combined business in the last quarter. We've done that financial year revenue pretty much because it's like a five times growth for both businesses because we just come together and yeah, we've been able to build, which is great.
Oh my God. I love that. What was the price line brand moment? Like what were you able to kind of, what was the idea and like what was the impact? So because it was such a big deal that we, you know, landed the. Ultimate retailer that we wanted to get in because it was always priceline for TBH. Um, I was like, okay I want to make something special out of it.
So we actually hired a creative agency to create like this beautiful branded campaign video with Olivia Molly Rogers who I secured as the ambassador for TBH because she had actually already used the products but was a priceline ambassador so can only. Promote Priceline products. And so when I found out we were going in, I was like, we need her like for the launch.
And so, yeah, she, um, came up to Sydney. We filmed this beautiful campaign video to actually announce that we were going in. So we layered it with like this ambassadorship, but then also sort of like a small business. at the same time. And then we ran like an event with Olivia in Melbourne and having Olivia's face to TBH skincare and price line for the event mean that meant that we got all the influences there that we wanted.
And it was just all executed to the level that like, you know, I had dreamed of because we stacked all these. Things on top of each other. I'm just such a fan of like leveraging everything where you can. So then, um, yeah, it just turned into this big, like bang. So when we announced it, it was like, we got really good media coverage.
Um, we got, you know, we had Olivia announcing it on her page. We had beautiful campaign imagery. We had billboards in centers, you know, in the big Westfield centers with that campaign imagery. We had the launch event. Yeah. And then. Ultimately we just amplified everything on organic socials and then any creative that worked organically, we then put straight into ads and it was like wildfire.
Yeah. Are you able to share like, you know, ballpark figures, what you spent overall on that campaign, like for working, you know, with an ambassador, for working with billboards, for working with, you know, whatever it was ads kind of ballpark and then what the actual kind of ROI. Yeah. Yeah. Look, I would say, and the event, obviously.
Yeah. So if we count, cause we also ran some BVOD placements during that time. So there was an out of home, uh, broadcast video on demand. So like your streaming platforms. So we did some video placements. So I think all up, like if you count, and this was maybe over the first quarter of launch. So BVOD placements.
The out of home Olivia as the ambassador, the event and the content shoot, like taking into account like the entire content piece as well. And what that costs to create probably 250 K to 300 K, but not, I wouldn't even say it was that much. And then sort of ROI, um, I think we did about a million dollars through Priceline in maybe 12 weeks.
Oh, wow. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, it worked really well for us retail. And I think because we'd invested so much organically in the brand. Yeah. Up until that point, I think then making it physically available with retail because we were already not mature in that way, but we, we were established already as a foundation there.
Yeah. And then we invested so much into the launch. I think it just all came together really nicely. And the partnership with price line was one that made a lot of sense for us. It was the right retailer for us to be in. When you look at that, like now you've kind of, I guess, got this case study of, you know, a proven playbook on how to a launch into a retailer.
B, how to create an epic brand moment, um, and leverage that moment. How often would you do something like that? Like, is that like a once a year thing? Or are you kind of like, let's roll this out once a quarter, or you're like, let's do this monthly. I think, I think my team's like knows that I'm like addicted to these things now.
So like, I just like to create moments out of everything that we possibly can and leveraging things like across all channels. So I would say, We're probably rolling these sort of, I don't know, we're doing like activations with other brands. We're doing podcasts, like little mini series. So we've always like, we're doing these things maybe like once a month.
Got it. Got it. So it's kind of like trying to do them as much as possible at different kind of scales. Yes. Let's talk about like some in particular, cause I definitely want to talk about the Margo stunt that you did. I definitely want to talk about what you did on the weekend at Coogee. Let's kind of like talk through a few of your favorites.
That you've either just done or have coming up. Yes, so Margot Robbie was obviously. It costs nothing, so that campaign had a budget of zero dollars. Talk us through it for anyone who didn't see it. So Margot Robbie was coming to Australia for her Barbie press tour and we have weekly sort of content brainstorming sessions where we look at for organics.
Like what's going on, what's trending, what's happening, how can we leverage it on socials? And we had highlighted that obviously Margot coming to Sydney for the press release was, or the press tour, was one of those opportunities that maybe we could piggyback off for content. And the, the print, or the... I think she was doing a meeting great, which was at pit straight mall, which is literally like maybe 200 meters away from our office.
So we started like brainstorming ways. Okay. There's going to be so many people down there. Like, how can we go and leverage that? So it started with like, do we Vox pop people in the crowd or like, you know, do we go down? And like, so it was just like, we were throwing all these ideas out there. And one of the girls was like, why don't I do a video, like trying to get Margo to pose with the products.
And so it was like, um, we'd even concepted it like a tick tock video. It was like, Um, my boss said that if I could get a photo of Margot with the products, then I could get like a wake off work. And then I love that. Yeah. So we'd concepted things like that. And then we were in the meeting and I was like thinking like, okay, so it's going to be all these people standing around waiting for her.
And I'm like, what if we throw them a decoy? Like what if we make them think that she's arrived? But she hasn't. Um, so this whole concept of impersonating Margo before she was supposed to arrive came up. Now, obviously we didn't want to piss off Westfield too much because obviously throwing a decoy in the middle of their campaign wouldn't be great for them.
So we actually did keep it away from Pitt Street Mall. We kept it like in the surrounding sort of like area. And what happened was I dressed up in like a pink dress. And pink heels and got two of the girls to be like my bodyguards. They were like meant to be my PR team actually behind me. And then I got Raj in the office to be my body, like to be a bodyguard at the front.
He like was wearing this little cap and taking it very seriously. Um, and then I got the girls to run down and be. Like, um, sort of like fans or whatever in the crowd. Yeah. So then they were like standing there with their phones up being like Margo and like shouting. So then people would think that it was her, like it didn't just wait for random people to think what the hell's going on.
So, um, we went out of the building essentially from work and then just Started doing this and it, and then I didn't know what was going on. Cause my head was down the whole time. Cause I was just like looking down and hiding my face. And then, um, like the girls behind me were like, yep, yep. It's working.
It's working. Like people have their phones out. People have their phones out and like full, like, like cameras were there, like taking photos. So yeah, it was, um, but basically it was just about securing a content for tick tock that would go viral. And so then the girls, like it was, we were only walking around for like maybe.
Half an hour, not even, and we went back to the office and then we actually went back down and I walked across the um, there was like a Westfield bridge that like was right above the activation like happening below it and I found when we went down because I was like Oh, I actually want to go see Margo So we just went down to like see if we could find her And like, say her coming out.
And then I saw this Westfield bridge and I was like, Oh my God, I'm, I'm going to go up there. And this was like, not even part of what we'd planned, but then I like ran up to the footbridge and then like ran across and there was security there. And I was like, and they were like watching what was happening on the bridge.
But I went across and then I just started like waving at the crowd below and they went like bananas. They started screaming. And then, um, I just like kept walking. It was very funny. So then we captured all of this stuff for social. Were the security guards laughing? Yeah. They actually thought it was funny.
They were like, Oh, ha ha. Good one. But they were like, now go like get off, leave. But yeah, so that was basically the prank. Then the girls went back to the office, edited it, like put it up by like three 30. So we, I was like, it needs to go up quickly for it to be relevant. And then we sat and watched and basically we could see like it was taking off.
Yeah, like tell us more about how it took off. I feel like I saw it in press. I saw it all over social media. I, you know, it was going crazy. And I think we heard that Margot saw it, right? Yes. Oh my God. Yeah. I only just found that out. Like A few weeks ago. And I was like, what? Um, so apparently, yeah, so we all sat in a meeting room and like posted this footage and then we could just like, see it like ticking up in views.
And the video now has like over two and a half million. What were people saying in the comments? Oh, so I always say like, people were like, ha ha, this is hilarious. We won the internet on like. Instagram, but then I always say, you know, a video is going viral on Tik TOK when you're getting trolled. Like the minute people start saying nasty things, I'm like, good.
You kind of want to get trolled because otherwise it's not going to go viral. I'm like, great. So many people saying this, it's going viral. It needs to be divisive. Yes. Yeah. And like different people, different opinions, different perspectives. Yes. Exactly. So when, when that was happening, like people were like, um, yeah, she went from Versace to like an off the rack age dress.
Like, sure. Margot would never like, it was so good. And I was actually like loving it. Fashion police in there. Yeah. Literally people being so brutal. Um, and even the girls were like, Oh my God, are you okay? And I was like, I'm fine. I'm like really happy that the video is getting views. Yeah. Yeah. And then we were at a dinner like three weeks ago and, um, you and me doing, and I found out that someone at the table knows Margot through friends of friends.
And apparently she saw the video and was like, yeah, I loved it. Hilarious. So there you go. Margot Robbie saw the viral Margot Robbie stunt. It's just amazing. I really loved, like, that stunt in particular. And I, I'm someone that's watched your marketing, you know, over the years. And I love your grassroots approach to marketing because I think a lot of the time, You know, especially new brands and new founders can get straight into this headspace of like, Oh, I need to like hire an agency and like run ads and that's going to be my key to success.
But that's just not the case. You need to really find your personality online and, and win with organic content and do it in a space where it costs zero dollars. And then it's also more fun. So much fun. I love guerrilla marketing and organic marketing. Do you have any other fun ones that you want to share?
Oh, um. Well, the recent one at Coogee I did love, um, and that was an activation with the Beauty Chef. So TBH Skincare and the Beauty Chef partnered together. We went to Coogee and had like a little pop up cart and we gave out free smoothies that were like Hailey Bieber inspired smoothies. It was actually to promote the new product launch.
For beauty chef, which is their clear skin supplement, which was in the smoothies on the day. And then we were giving out sort of free spot treatments and talking to people about TBH skincare. So it was like this clear skin sort of, um, partnership. But when we came together, it was like, Oh, you know, like do we want to do a giveaway on social media or do we want to do a gift with purchase?
And I was like, no, I really want to like do something more and not even from the point of like, Seeing people in Coogee, which obviously I did want to do, and that's great. But we're only going to say like, you know, 500 people or whatever it is. I was like, I want this for social content because the minute we're in Coogee with free smoothies and like, there's immediate like content, you know, that we can get.
And that for me is more valuable than necessarily like a giveaway where people are following just because they want to win something for free. Like I find sometimes those leads are lower quality. And so, yeah, we went to Coogee and we'd advertised it sort of on TikTok beforehand where the girls actually did a phenomenal job of this and I had nothing to do with it.
They went out and they, um, asked cafes around Sydney. They were like, hi, do you have the Hayley Bieber smoothie? And they were like, what? Um, and so she went around like filming all of these, um, like cafes basically being like, no, what are you talking about? And then she was like, if you want to find the Hayley Bieber smoothie.
Smoothie in Sydney, come and see us in Coogee tomorrow. And that was like really clever and got like, you know, did well. So then we, you know, by the time we got there, we were filming content and then we had a huge response on the day, which was epic. So we actually completely ran out of. Stock in 20 minutes.
Oh, what? Yeah, it was chaos. Um, what'd you do? Yeah, well we just literally, like there was just a queue down Coogee beach and then we had to cut it off and we were like, we're going to run out. Sorry. We didn't realize it would be this crazy. And obviously there's people there who have just discovered that this thing is happening in front of them and they'd like a free smoothie.
And it's great because they get the intro cold to the brand and they get to learn more about it. But then there's also, you know, The fans, genuine, like people who travel to come down and like see us and meet us. And yeah, people will be like, Oh my gosh, I like follow you on Tik Tok and I love your content.
And they say all these like, yeah, it's just actually so cool to see people who have been following it for so long. And even the marketing coordinator that I have, she goes out to like. She went out this weekend in Newtown or something and she was getting stopped by people in like in a bar being like, oh my god, hi, you're from TBH skincare.
No way, I love that. Oh my gosh, that is just so fun. I really love that. What advice do you have for, you know, other founders listening who would be hearing this and feeling inspired? What advice do you have for them when it comes to organic content storytelling and coming up with these ideas, especially if you're, you know, a solo entrepreneur trying to figure things out, you know, by yourself, how can you kind of like think outside the box?
Yeah. I mean, I think like the way that I would usually do it is I just put pen to paper, like no idea is a bad idea. You know, if I was doing it on my own, I'd be like, okay, what's going on that's trending. I think that it is important, like knowing what is going on so that what you put up isn't just about what's going on for you.
Like it can't just always be about brand and product. Sometimes you can nail a video like that, but it's much easier if you're piggybacking off something else. So I would just, you know, like write down everything that's happening at the moment. You know, I'd be like, I've said to the team, Taylor Swift and Sophie Turner, like what's in that, you know, like just.
Always knowing like what's happening when and then just like writing them all down and then also like knowing how to then join the dots for yourself and I think that's the hardest. Thing to do because it's, but essentially you just got to sit there until, until something sparks and just like write down the stupidest of ideas.
And then if you can join the two together, then that's, I think when something really cool happens. So, you know, like for us, yes, we have this radio shout out, but then, then what, like, don't stop there. So essentially always find a way to leverage like content. If something happens in a day that. You know, is interesting, then do something with that, you know, share a story.
Yeah, that should trigger the, the response of, okay, now what, what do we do? How can we make this bigger? And I also think like earlier you said, you know, you have weekly editorial meetings where you discuss what's going on in the news, even as a solo entrepreneur, you know, on a Monday being like, great, what happened last week that we could jump on today and making sure that you schedule that time for yourself to brainstorm and, and kind of.
Put things to put pen to paper as you say, and I, I think the other thing is, and this is something that a lot of people struggle with, myself included, is of course there's a level of confidence to actually put this stuff out there because you want things to be perfect. You don't want to be judged online, but in reality you just need to like not worry about perfection.
Don't be crippled by that. Put it out. Just like move fast. Don't overthink it and just see what happens. You've got to build that muscle. Yeah. Progress over perfection always. And like, I've had the business three and a half years and from the very day that I've, you know, decided to do it, I was online talking on stories and sharing things and I hated it.
Like I remember how hard it was, like even in the car, like I'd sit in the car and like film a story and I'd film it over and over and then I'd stop anytime someone like walked past and looked at me, you know, like, and it was just so like. And even then, like if I had to film something in the office and like when we were even in work in the shared spaces and then I hadn't marketing coordinator at the time and then she would like want me to film something and I'd be like, Oh, like no one watch or, you know what I mean?
And it was just like, you go through that stage, but the more you do it, just the easier it gets. And now I, yeah, go into public and pretend to be Margot Robbie. Go into Priceline and do like the tube girl trend. And I do these things and I genuinely like, well, I remember doing the Priceline, um, tube girl trend and there's like random people in Priceline.
Right. And I'm filming this video. And I said to the girls, I can't even believe that I had not even a hint of like being self conscious or like questioning myself in that. And I think it's just, it's three and a half years of trying it and putting things out there that didn't go. And that's fine because eventually something did like, you just have to keep going.
Totally. And I think as well, like it's often easy to look at people like you or like me who, you know, have a voice online and are influential online and be like, Oh yeah, but see, they're really good at it. But like I also was actually terrified of public speaking. Like I was. I was never comfortable on camera or talking like this on a podcast.
Like that was my worst nightmare. And it took about 70 episodes to get into a bit of a groove, but like, I just really wanted that skillset. So I was like, I'm going to just keep going, even though I probably suck. You've got to try. Yeah. And I hear people say. Stumble forward. And I think like, that is literally what I do every day.
Like whether it is with social media or with other things, I'm just constantly, and in a very messy, chaotic way, sometimes stumbling forward to the next thing in the next day, but I just never stopped. So you, then you, you look back and you're like, Oh my God. I learned all this stuff and I came all this way, but it just seemed so, yeah, so clumsy when I was doing it.
Yeah. It's growth. I think that's what they call growth. Yeah. Growth. Yeah.
Welcome back. Here are the six quick questions.
We wrap up every episode with a series of six quick questions. I think they might've changed since I interviewed you the first time, but you know, we'll see. Maybe they aren't the same. My answers may have changed anyway. Exactly. Exactly. Question number one. What's your why? Why are you waking up every day and working on these two powerhouse brands?
Um, I think obviously with TBH like back in the day and it still is the case is I had such a personal link to the problem that I'm solving with the business that I will always remember that. And there's always customers that message us week by week and they tell us how much their lives have changed because of the product and how differently they feel about themselves.
And because I witnessed that firsthand with my own experience with acne, that's obviously what. Grounds me in terms of like, why we even bother doing what we're doing, but I think at the moment with York straight and you know, why I go to work every day and, you know, stumble forward is because that opportunity for personal growth is ugly, but amazing at the same time.
And I just feel like I'm getting such an education every day that I just, I don't know another opportunity that would afford me. that type of learning ever. So I just am embracing it every day and I know that even though I don't get things right every day and I have a lot to learn, I'm still there and I'm showing up and I'm giving everything a go.
And even just doing that, I think it's an achievement sometimes. Oh, hell yeah, definitely is. Question number two, what's been your favorite marketing moment to date? Oh, um, I would say the Priceline launch. I would say it's something that I'm very proud of because I think that we approached it differently to how a lot of other people have approached retail launches in the past.
And I think that I'm almost seeing it like replicated in a way, which I love, like, I'd love seeing that when it's like, oh, this was something that we did and I'm seeing other people do it. And that's really, really cool. And so I would say, yeah, the price line launch is probably something that I'm the most proud of and seeing the results from it as well and seeing actually work.
I'm excited to see, you know, the next big moment of that scale. Question number three is what's your go to business resource? Where are you learning outside of? Going to the office and building this business, podcast, newsletter, a book. I'm not getting enough time for learning at the moment. It's all on the job.
It's practical learning. Yeah. No, is what I'm genuinely going to say is like, I'm not, but I would say one of the, like if I had to share any resource that I'm loving at the moment is that I'm Um, my focus in growth at the moment is more actually on team building and leadership and how to like shape a culture.
It's a really critical time in the business when we're bringing all these new people in and I have a lot to learn, so it's something that I have heaps of experience in. So I would say I'm actually leaning into like, um, resources in those areas. So I, um. Listening actually to audio books, which I've never done before.
And I'm loving. Um, so I've got one that I'm loving at the moment, which is radical candor, which I'm sure heaps of people know of. Um, but that's an incredible book. And then I listened to one called surrounded by idiots, which is like a bestseller at the moment. And it sounds awful, but it's not at all.
It's not actually what the title sounds like. And it's just, yeah, about like learning how to like connect and communicate with different. Yeah. People in a company, like when you've got all these different people around the table who think totally differently, how do you actually like get the best out of everyone?
So yeah, I would say those are the resources that I'm sort of leaning on at the moment. I'm massively into audio books. Um, which is great. Love that. Going to link them in the show notes. Going to check it out. I haven't heard them before being recommended on the show. So appreciate it. Question number four is how do you win the day?
What are your AM or PM rituals and habits that keep you feeling happy and successful and motivated? Yep, exercise, which obviously is a common one, but for me, it's like exercise is just that start to the day where I feel like I've had time for myself before I'm get like really hectically into the workday because it is very, very demanding.
So yeah, I actually go to a 515 gym class and I'm never used to being early morning person, but I think just having that time in the morning. allows me to have like a calm entry into the day. So I go to the gym and then come home and actually have a tea on the couch with the news and my puppy and like just have some downtime actually in the morning, which was never, I was always someone that like got up and ran out the door.
And I just never felt in control of my day when I was like that. So making this time for myself in the morning is really important. And then I have Also, just like I know when to leave the office and come home. Like I was in a bit of a bad habit of just like staying there until silly, like hours. And then, you know, some days you're going to do it, but I think having more structure around coming home, cooking dinner, and then I'm not a nighttime, I'm very rarely a nighttime work person.
So I try and like clock off I'm in bed by like nine. Nice. Gotta get that sleep in. Yeah. Yeah, sleep is so important to me. Me too. It's like something that I really prioritize and I try to make the best of. Question number five is what's been your worst money mistake and how much did it cost Um, I would say it's actually still, I reckon this one would be the same one that I gave you last time.
If you did ask me this last time, which was assuming that scaling into different marketing performance channels. So like we were doing, you know, a certain spend on meta and getting a certain return. And I was like, great, I'll do the same thing with Google ads, or I'll do the same thing with this. And thinking that.
I could just pour money into a channel and then it would give me that return. Um, hurt us in the early stages of the business. So I think we poured about 12k down the drain, um, with the wrong people managing the wrong platform. Um, and at that stage of the business, 12k was like a huge, huge deal. So I would say that was probably one of the biggest mistakes I made is just like thinking that I could apply the same learnings.
Between channels. They're completely different things. Yeah. Tough lesson to learn, but a good one to learn. Yeah. Last question. Question number six. What is a crazy story, good or bad, from your journey in building these businesses? Oh gosh, I would have quite a lot. Um, I'm going to use actually a Priceline example because we were fulfilling every order, like, so all the DTC orders, we fulfilled ourselves with our own casual packing team.
And then we got our, we're getting ready for Priceline. This was before the merge and everything. And, um, we got our first PO from Priceline and we were like, yep, we're going to pack it like ourselves, you know, but our products didn't even have barcodes on them because we were sending them ourselves. They didn't need barcodes.
So then we were having to manually Sticker barcodes onto the products and then repack them with like tamper seals on them. We were doing it all by hand with casual labor, like casual workers. And so how many units it would have been over 20, 000. Yeah. Crazy. And so we were doing this with casual workers and there's just so much room for error when you're doing that.
Like, so then what ended up happening was, um, so when price line order, they order to like different. States, which have distribution centers. And then they send out to stores from there. So we had pallets of like products that we had like put together. We were like looking at the different pallets, stacking like instructions and doing it ourselves.
And then like cling wrapping the whole thing together and then organizing like the freight pickups of pallets. And like, Oh my gosh, I'm like, why do we not hire someone to do this? And like, why are we doing it ourselves? And so. We sent off these pallets and then we found out that, or we realized I think that 12 of the boxes of the SPF had gone without barcodes.
Oh no. Because the person packing them hadn't realized that they were meant to put the barcodes on the products. Oh no. And so we had to, but we didn't know what distribution centers they had gone to. And then they were going to like, they were going out to stores with no barcodes and we were trying to like track them down and it was an absolute nightmare.
So like, I've done things like that. I've done print runs of like over 10, 000 like bottles with spelling errors on them. I've like... Yeah, there has been so many things that I've gotten wrong. I remember even like in the very first delivery we ever got of a pallet, I didn't know what a pallet was. And so I arrived at the storage center and they were like, do you need a forklift?
And I was like, I don't know. And they were like, Oh, is it coming on a pallet? You're like, do I? I'm like, do I? And they're like, Oh, is it coming on a pallet? And I was like, what's a pallet? I said that. And they were like, Okay. And they're like, a pallet is like the thing that the, all the boxes sit on. You need like a forklift to get it out the truck.
And I was like, yeah, I don't know. And then this truck arrived with all these pallets on it and they were like, you need a forklift. And so anyway, they like, luckily they came and helped me, but then I like couldn't even get those pallets into the storage that I had organized because the storage was on the second story and the weight was too heavy to be on not a ground level.
Like it couldn't even go in the lift. So then I had to like take out a new storage thing like there and then on the spot into like ground floor and oh my gosh, like the amount that I learned that I had no idea about is just extensive. Yeah. Whoa. Whoa. Oh my gosh. That sounds crazy. That, that's a, that's some good ones there.
Loved it. Yeah. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for coming on the episode. I'm excited to see what comes out from you around Black Friday, Cyber Monday kind of time. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled. I Thank you for having me. So good to chat as always.