A thank you message for our VALA family
When we were in the pre-launch phase of VALA I had a lot of questions about how we were going to promote our gels. The options ranged from paid advertorials to influencer marketing and sponsored posts.
The truth is... none of these approaches appealed to me. Maybe I’m jaded after a decade of working in advertising, but the thought of paying someone to post about our product when they don’t have any interest in our brand was lost on me. As an independent start-up, it seemed insincere and I’d rather allow people to experience the benefits of natural nutrition first hand than chase vanity metrics. We’re a brand that’s based on ‘keeping it real’ and having full transparency, so this strategy definitely didn’t “align” (a bit of agency lingo for you all there!) with our values.
I decided early on in this process that I wanted to take the budget that I’d set aside for promotion and use it to send gel samples to our followers instead. After all, they’re the ones that have sent the supportive messages that I re-read when I’m having a tough day. They've taken the time to share us with their friends and they’ve become our biggest cheerleaders.
Since launching this account last October, we've made so many friends that have patiently waited for us to launch and have been incredibly supportive. So to you guys, I want to say thank you and I still can’t believe how kind you have all been. I want you to be the first people to try the gels because you’ve become part of our family. You’re the ones out there training day and night and you’re people with the opinions I ACTUALLY care about!
When I was packing the samples up last week, I had a moment of awe as I realised that a product I’d dreamed up nearly three years ago will soon be making its way around Wales, England, Scotland, France, Colorado, Australia, Dubai and Hawaii! If I’ve promised you a few samples, they’ll be on their way to you this week. I hope you enjoy them and I can’t wait to hear what you think of them.
The truth is... none of these approaches appealed to me. Maybe I’m jaded after a decade of working in advertising, but the thought of paying someone to post about our product when they don’t have any interest in our brand was lost on me. As an independent start-up, it seemed insincere and I’d rather allow people to experience the benefits of natural nutrition first hand than chase vanity metrics. We’re a brand that’s based on ‘keeping it real’ and having full transparency, so this strategy definitely didn’t “align” (a bit of agency lingo for you all there!) with our values.
I decided early on in this process that I wanted to take the budget that I’d set aside for promotion and use it to send gel samples to our followers instead. After all, they’re the ones that have sent the supportive messages that I re-read when I’m having a tough day. They've taken the time to share us with their friends and they’ve become our biggest cheerleaders.
Since launching this account last October, we've made so many friends that have patiently waited for us to launch and have been incredibly supportive. So to you guys, I want to say thank you and I still can’t believe how kind you have all been. I want you to be the first people to try the gels because you’ve become part of our family. You’re the ones out there training day and night and you’re people with the opinions I ACTUALLY care about!
When I was packing the samples up last week, I had a moment of awe as I realised that a product I’d dreamed up nearly three years ago will soon be making its way around Wales, England, Scotland, France, Colorado, Australia, Dubai and Hawaii! If I’ve promised you a few samples, they’ll be on their way to you this week. I hope you enjoy them and I can’t wait to hear what you think of them.