EPISODE SUMMARY

Colin Flood is the VP of Marketing at Unreal Snacks, a better-for-you chocolate brand. He began his career in e-commerce with Fanatics and later honed his expertise in shopper marketing at Rockfish, focusing on integrating offline and online strategies for CPG brands before joining Unreal.

In this episode of DTC Pod, Colin talks about how Unreal successfully expanded its DTC and retail presence, including the strategies they deployed in marketing, budgeting, and product launches. He also touches on community engagement and the art of balancing the retail and digital aspects of the marketing mix.

EPISODE NOTES

Colin Flood is the Vice President of Marketing at Unreal Snacks, a better-for-you chocolate brand with widespread distribution across numerous retailers in the United States and an established direct-to-consumer platform.

At Unreal, Colin plays a pivotal role in scaling  e-commerce and D2C operations, as well as in expanding their presence into major retailers like Costco, Target, and Walmart.

In this episode of DTC Pod, Colin Flood discusses the ups and downs of their marketing initiatives at Unreal, how they are bridging the gap between retail and digital customer experiences, and what their strategies are for data-driven marketing and budgeting across multiple channels.

We also explore how Unreal is leveraging community involvement and consumer networks to drive brand awareness.

Interact with other DTC experts and access our monthly fireside chats with industry leaders on DTC Pod Slack.

On this episode of DTC Pod, we cover:
1. DTC and Retail Marketing Strategies
2. Omni-Channel Presence
3. Retail and Digital Marketing Mix
4. Market Dynamics and Education
5. Amazon Strategy
6. Community Engagement
7. Consumer Network Growth
8. Customer Reactivation Strategies
9. Contextual Targeting
10. Marketing Team Structure

Timestamps
00:00 Colin Flood’s background; experience in e-commerce, marketing, and branding
03:20 Unreal Snacks — mission & vision, retail & DTC strategy, then vs now
10:39 In-store and online marketing strategies
15:02 Creative ways to get in front of customers
18:39 Amazon strategy, shifting to FBA
22:49 Marketing team structure and responsibilities
24:27 Relationship between marketing, community, and social
28:16 Marketing goals, data, and budget allocation
31:04 Contextual targeting, new product launch, reactivation strategies
33:26 Challenges in low funnel marketing
35:03 Bridging customer experiences between retail and digital
36:47 New chocolate products, new retail partnership

Show notes powered by Castmagic

Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.  

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• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content

• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views

• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands

• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook

• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands

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Castmagic - AI Workspace for Content

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Colin Flood - VP of Marketing at Unreal Snacks
Blaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Castmagic
Ramon Berrios - Co-Founder of Castmagic