50 Cent

Treat Amazon as an awareness channel, not a profit center

Poppi raised roughly $70M and spent it all on brand building: Super Bowl ads, TV, creators, pop-ups with 50 Cent. As a board decision it sold on Amazon from day one, accepting thin beverage margins because Amazon reaches so many American households.

“We aren't a traditional D2C company. We're actually not a D2C company. We were 100% on Amazon from day one, which was a decision we made as a board. To do that. And it was such a good decision, but you, you don't make a lot of money on Amazon as a beverage. And so we saw it as a great marketing tactic for awareness because it's in so many households across America.”

Steal thisIf a channel can't make you money, ask whether it can make you famous; price it as a marketing line item.