This is a transcript from an episode of Gen-Z DTC, a live Commerce Club event on Clubhouse on February 19th at 1PM PST / 4PM EST. Gen-Z DTC is a weekly show that is about having low-key convos with operators, marketers and agencies at the ground level of innovative brands.
Event Title: Modern Brands with Morning Brew ☕️ & Three Ships 💄
Guests:
- Lillie Sun, Growth and DTC at Three Ships Beauty
- Rachel Cantor, Writer at Morning Brew
Hosts:
- Katie Krische, Strategic Partnerships and Marketing Manager at Octane AI
- Tina Donati, Content Marketing Specialist at Octane AI
Introduction:
There's no perfect way to describe the Gen-Z consumer.
They know how to call B.S. on bad marketing, they care about brand stories and they want to feel a part of the brands they're inspired by.
Because of this, brands that follow a "blanding" approach to their DTC marketing strategy aren't successfully reaching the Gen-Z audience — this is a common theme Katie and I have noticed while hosting our weekly Clubhouse show, called Gen-Z DTC.
Good content and community start from authenticity, which we recently learned from chatting with Rachel Cantor from Morning Brew and Lillie Sun from Three Ships Beauty during our episode on February 19.
Are you asking, "What are blands?" "How can I create content that matters?" or "How does Gen-Z want to engage with my brand?" Don't worry — check out the transcription below to learn more.
FYI: this is a transcription from a live Commerce Club event on Clubhouse from an episode of Gen-Z DTC, which aired on February 19, 2021. We used an AI software to transcribe this episode, but the AI isn't perfect and there may be a few typos. Sorry!
P.S. If you want to get regular updates about upcoming shows, show notes and more, make sure you subscribe to Commerce Club at joincommerclub.com.
Episode transcript:
Tina: Welcome to Gen-Z DTC, a regular show on CommerceClub hosted by myself, Tina Donati, and Katie Krische. If you are interested in commerce, direct to consumer, and retail, be sure to follow the club by tapping "CommerceClub" beside the little green house at the top of the room and hitting the follow button. If you want to stay in the loop on upcoming shows, show notes, and announcements, sign up for the newsletter and join the community at joincommerceclub.com. I've put the link to it in my Twitter bio to make it easy to get to, which you can find me at @tina_donati.
So this week we're here with Lillie from a beauty brand called Three Ships Beauty and Rachel from Morning Brew. So thank you both so much for taking the time to join us for our second episode ever. And I'll actually let them tell you more about themselves. So Lillie, why don't you go first?
Lillie: Awesome. So excited to be here.
When you asked me, I was like, Oh my gosh, it sounded like right up my alley. Hey guys, I'm Lillie. I worked at Three Ships Beauty. We’re a natural skincare startup based in Toronto. There’s a lot of really cool things going on company-wide — we just launched in 504 target stores all over the U.S, so it's really exciting to just get my feet wet in the DTC space.
So specifically at Three Ships, I really lead and own our DTC channel and really focusing on building our online growth. It's been a lot of fun. I always say, as a Canadian, we have literally no access to any of the cool DTC brands that I see all my friends have on Twitter.
So, for anyone listening in the audience, if you're ever starting a brand, please ship across the border so I can try some of your products.
Tina: Awesome. And yeah, totally second. The Canadian thing, I'm super excited to see more brands giving the ability to ship to Canada, but I've felt that struggle. But awesome. So glad to have you. Rachel, why don't you introduce yourself?
Rachel: For sure. I'm really excited to be here. Lillie and I talk about this stuff all the time, so I know that she's also super pumped. We actually have never met in person. We're internet friends, and we always say that I'm the curator and Lillie’s the builder.
So I work at Morning Brew. I write a newsletter called Sidekick, which curates the best recommendations from every corner of the internet — a lot of recommendations for smarter living, and that includes product recommendations. So I'm a big DTC consumer and fangirl. It's my favorite thing to talk about. I'm super pumped to talk about brands today, the space and what we've been seeing.
Katie: It is so awesome to have you both, and I will plug your newsletter for you. So if you go to morningbrew.com/sidekick, you can read Rachel's awesome newsletter.
Rachel: You guys are so nice. Thank you.
Katie: But thank you both so much for both being here. Just for everyone in the audience knows, so we will have an opportunity at the end for a Q&A so definitely raise your hand as we go and we’ll call on you at the end. But first I think we want to kind of kick it off with a no-context question:
If you could both share adjectives that describe an ideal brand in 2021. Maybe Lillie, you go first.
Lillie: Yeah. It's so hard to pick three. I would say an ideal brand in 2021, number one, innovative for sure. Number two, I think friendly is what comes to mind for me because I think we could just all use a little more empathy and, kindness. And I'd say the third one to describe an ideal brand... I'm thinking of the word strong, but I just feel like a brand who's willing to say things, stand behind it, and, you know, be really authentic.
So I would pick strong, friendly and innovative.
Rachel: One of mine ties into yours, but one of mine is different. So hopefully this will add another perspective. I think first of all, a brand that's community-oriented, I know community is a word that's kind of thrown around a lot, but I think brands that truly value connectedness and care about their users, spend time to understand their audience and iterate based on customer feedback is super, super important.
And just about communication as a whole, as a second one. I think transparency about where your product comes from, where your ingredients are sourced, but also transparency about your mission, your values and why you started the brand that you're running right now. And then kind of what Lillie touched on — just being like a values-driven company and putting those first.
Katie: Totally. I would love to hear, especially on the community piece, what brands do you think are killing it right now, especially with community.
Rachel: I think when you think about community, the most important thing is that it's not just about being passionate about a brand, it's about being passionate about each other in terms of the actual user base.
I think my favorite example probably at the moment is what Amanda Goetz is building with House of Wise, which if you don't know what that is, it’s basically a CBD oil-based product that enables women should take control of sleep, sex and stress. It's a really interesting brand, but I think what's amazing is Amanda is so open about her journey and why she started the company, and how CBD has been super helpful to her while navigating being a mom, going through a divorce, and her marketing career.
She's connected with tons of women, also moms too, who have become these ambassadors for her products and who also really communicate with each other, and has built this strong community of women who have struggled but also see how beneficial this product can be and how it really helps them.
I'm not a mom, but I love seeing this community come to life online and just seeing her posts, the posts from the brand and what other women are posting. It's not just about the product itself; it's about the people who are using it.
Lillie: You're definitely a wise woman, Rachel. Not a mom, but you're a wise woman.
I think for me with community, I think about it more tactically. I think it's such a vague term and there are so many different ways of building a strong community that I think you just have to pick the right one that's for you and your brand. Not do things that are, you know, trying to appeal to everyone.
Some examples I think about is Gym Shark's ambassador program. It's so exclusive, and Gym Shark has an example of a very exclusive community where when you become a Gym Shark ambassador, that really says something about you, whether you're a fitness influencer or someone in that space.
On the other hand, Versed Skincare has a good skin Facebook group where their idea of community is really low to the ground — nothing that has to do with brand ambassadorship or talking about the brand, but connecting women who have questions about skincare into a Facebook group. I think there are over 16,000 members in there. It's almost like a little Reddit community, but not on Reddit where it's kind of overwhelming. They did a good job of moving it to Facebook.
And then the third example of a community that I literally want to be a part of is Smart Sweets Kicks’ Sugar Crew. So they do a really good job of using micro-influencers to drive people to their online store. Whereas Smart Sweets has typically been a pretty retail heavy-brand. So I think they did such a good job at building out their kick sugar crew into such a recognizable group. I personally would love to be part of the Smart Sweets Kicks’ Sugar Crew, but I think each of them, the examples that I gave, are so different, but they're all examples of community and they all work differently depending on what your brand is and what you're trying to build with your customers.
Katie: I didn't know that the kick sugar crew existed, but I'll probably think of it tonight when I'm eating them. I also had to give a special community shoutout to Eli, who's listening, of Oli Pop. I think they do a really fantastic job, especially over SMS.
Rachel: Oh Lillie and I love Oli Pop.
Lillie: We love Oli Pop. We talked about Oli Pop all the time.
Katie: I wanted to get both of your takes on the term “Blands” and what you kind of think about DTC branding at the moment.
Rachel: Sure. I guess maybe just to explain blands, I think that'd be helpful for some people. Basically it's just a bunch of brands that have been adopting like the same pastel colors, this San Serif font, clean lines. You can think of those brands as the Caspers, like Away. I mean, I definitely think there is a trend of blanding, but I think when we talk about this generation, Gen-Z is a generation that rejects perfectionism. And I think those brands are very aspirational and Gen-Z is aspirational in a lot of different ways, but we also want brands to be really authentic and real.
And what I've been seeing is a rise in these brands that are not afraid to be loud and unapologetic. I think the key is to really make the product your own and really own your voice. And I do think those blends are great brands in their own way, but I think if you're looking at this from a Gen-Z perspective, I think it's time for other brands that are different to stand out.
And I think that those are the brands that will really attract this type of consumer.
Lillie: Totally agree with what you said. I think blanding definitely exists. I just feel like everything nowadays is affordable luxury and so weird to me because I'm like, “I don't get it. Is it affordable or is it luxury?” It's $40, which is not affordable and also not luxury, but that just seems to be the marketing that a lot of brands want people to have.
I personally think it's time for a change. Just me personally, even though I'm a Gen-Z, I do think of myself as aspirational, but I'm just not interested in blands personally.
I don't own anything from Away, Mejuri, Casper, all of these DTC brands that can be categorized under blanding. And I feel like almost all of them seem to just target the same demographic, even though they're all different companies in different spaces, whether it's home goods, food, fashion, beauty — whatever it is — it's all different, but they're all targeting the same demographic.
I feel like it's hard because it's like you're missing out on so much and I think once brands start to move away from this blanding phase and really start to try new things, like move away from affordable luxury, do something different and target a different demographic. I'm really excited for that, and I just like want to see more of that, whether it's on my newsfeed or my Instagram. Recently I just feel like everything is so similar. I just I'm really craving something different.
Rachel: Lillie and I were talking about this the other day, and how a lot of these brands kind of spell out the ideal persona, like the the woman who has an Away suitcase and then she sleeps on a Casper mattress and then she also wears Warby Parker glasses. Brands just kind of creating this ideal personality, and I guess from what Lillie was saying we both agree we're ready to move away from that. And other people our age are too.
Lillie: Yeah. And the last thing I wanted to add on this is it's super interesting because I actually think the people who do own (and we're just using these brands as examples), Away Luggage also own Mejuri, are also in Hubble, also in Casper, and if you don't have one of these items, you likely don't own any of these items.
I just think that's so interesting because there's such a lack of diversity in a space where they're all selling different products and they just don't understand why they seem to be all targeting the same demographic. Just as a Gen-Z myself, we are really different. I totally agree with what Rachel said about it.
Katie: I think that there's some persona it's called Henry: like high earners, not rich yet. And it's almost like that's the ideal bland target. In your eyes, what is the ideal new Gen-Z consumer who's coming out? Is there a term for it yet? Or have you seen any sort of persona coming about after the millennial?
Lillie: Rachel, I feel like you have to take this one. Didn't you write about cottage core?
Rachel: I did. I have written about those aesthetics. I knew you were gonna say that Lillie.
I don't have a term for it. I think that a lot of people have coined different terms. There was an article that came out after the blanding thing about adorkable for Gen-Z. And I do think that there are these categories that these brands are fitting into and having personas, but I think what's so unique and kind of the challenge for brands now is that I don't really know if there's an actual persona for Gen-Z.
I think there are so many different considerations we have. And I mean, I could probably create five different types of personas, to be honest. Like I could create one based on just the Gen-Z who cares about price sensitivity and who's really in tune with that. And that's one of their top priorities where you could talk about sustainability.
I mean, Lillie and I are both on the same page about this being a generation where sustainable brands are not nice to have. It's a need to have a brand to have clean packaging or to have some kind of component that touches on that because otherwise it's like a no-no for our generation, basically, because we grew up with this climate anxiety and it's a priority for us.
I think that you can't really put this generation in a box because there are so many different factors going on, like price sustainability, who's the founder and what are the missions? And not every consumer is thinking about those things at the same exact moment. I guess what I'm just trying to say is that every Gen-Z is different and there are certain patterns. We can definitely categorize them in one place, but I don't think that creating a persona for one is the best way to do that.
Lillie: Yeah. I don't really have much to add. There are so many different personas, like the Visco girl. I didn't know what cottage core was, and I had to do a little digging on what it was and I'm like, “I totally have seen these people before,” but I wouldn't be able to classify us (Gen-Z) under any one category.
So me and Rachel are 22 right now, but one day when we have our own home, I envision inviting friends over and being able to talk about every single item in my home and explaining where my table is from, where I bought it, and why I bought it from there.
Like, “Hey, did you know this table is made from this material and they donate X, Y and Z.” And then opening my cupboards and being like, “Oh yeah, these ceramic plates I bought from this artesian, you know, the clay person who I met here, and these spices are from this person who started it from the kitchen.”
Being able to talk about every single item in my home is what I envision a future me to do, versus right now in my family home I don't think my parents even remember where this chair is from or where the couch is from. So that's the only trend I see with my generation — just really being able to talk and remember where you bought your stuff from, why you bought it from there and being able to share it when people come over is what I envision Gen-Z is like five to 10 years from now.
Rachel: I also think that ties into the fact that for this generation everything has a story, whether it's like the olive oil you use or where you bought your clothes and if you thrifted it or where you go out to eat lunch, and what’s behind the brand really matters.
Lillie: I knew you were going to say olive oil, Rachel.
Rachel: Well, I do love Brightland.
Katie: That's a really good point. I think I saw a TikTok last night, and it was like JLO Beauty is clean beauty, so why all the packaging. And I think our generation is definitely more attuned to those inconsistencies, especially when brands try to roll out and pull a fast one on us. Like, “Oh, this is sustainable and clean beauty.” and It's like, well you’re not really coming through with that on the other side.
Tina: Lillie, I wanted to actually ask you because I know you pretty much run everything on the DTC side of Three Ships between email marketing, content, influencers, the website. And as you know, there's a lot that goes into building a successful online brand and DTC strategy. So when you're working as a solo marketer or on a small team, it's impossible to get involved with every channel or implement every single strategy. So do you have any advice for smaller brands out there on what channels and strategies, in your opinion, are absolutely essential to have and which ones are considered the more “nice to have.”
Lillie: Yeah, definitely. So you're right, I do manage most of our direct-to-consumer channel, but luckily we have Gabby on our team who does community and influencers. So glad she's there because that would be a whole other thing to be in charge of. But I think in terms of being a solo marketer or a small team, check out all the channels and just see what's working for you, and then double-down on the channels that make the most sense for you.
For example, if you're just thinking on the social side, I would definitely make an Instagram, make a Twitter and make a TikTok, make a Pinterest. Do a little experiment one week, two weeks, and see what kind of data you can get on what's working for you. Then maybe narrow it down to two, and if you see one really taking off, I totally think it's fine to just focus on that channel.
One brand I think of in particular is, I believe they’re called Topicals, and they make acne fun — I believe that’s their tagline. They didn't start with a big Instagram following, but they really focused on Twitter and were able to use educational skincare tweets to build their Twitter following around 17,000 followers when they launched and then really quickly pivoted that over to Instagram.
In terms of email and SMS, I think those are definitely channels that you need to have. SMS is so underrated. A lot of people are thinking about text message marketing as a “nice-to-have,” but it's so powerful, especially since we (Three Ships) work in skincare, we have so much influence for the customer right before they purchase a product. And right after they purchase the product, text message marketing is the best way to be there for them.
Right before they purchase it, they have a question and they text us; we reply with such a simple answer within one hour and it immediately converts to a purchase. And then right after they buy when they get their products, being able to send text messages that acknowledge that they got the products, giving them instructions and making sure that experience is really well done has worked so well for us. So I think I rambled, but my advice is to test out and then find what works for you and double down on that.
Tina: Yeah, I really agree with the SMS part of it. It's actually something Katie and I had recently worked on with a couple partners of ours, where we were diving into some trends for 2021 that brands should be paying attention to and one of the number one things that came up is just how much of the game changer SMS is, and actually Omnisend discovered last year that online stores sent 400% more SMS messages than in 2019. So I think it is something that brands are starting to pick up on, but it's still like a very untapped channel. And actually, if anyone in the audience is interested in reading that, if you go to octaneai.com/blog/ecommerce-trends you can read that blog post that has all of that data and everything there.
But yeah, I 100% agree. SMS is just such a great channel to reach your consumers in a way that is immediate with really great open rates as well. And thinking about content too, Rachel I know you're heavily involved on the content side at Morning Brew, specifically with the newsletter, so there are many brands that rely heavily on content to engage with customers and that’s what they send a lot of the time in their emails to drive purchases and to even build community. In your opinion, where are there opportunities for DTC brands to get involved with more content creation aside from sending that standard newsletter? Are there any out-of-the-box ideas?
Rachel: For sure. I think newsletters are great, but there are definitely ways for brands to live outside of newsletters. Obviously social media is huge. So is TikTok. I don't think every brand needs to be on TikTok. I think it should be really intentional, and I think brands need to think about where they live in a really purposeful, intentional sense. I think there are a lot of really cool brands using social media in different ways.
Lillie talked about Topicals — a brand I love — and I think they're using Twitter in a really interesting way, using it as an educational opportunity. So they debunk a lot of TikTok beauty and they ask consumers about skincare tips that they’ve been told so they can explain them or debunk them. And I love how they're talking about that in an educational sense. They also only have two products, so they're super intentional about what they're selling to consumers and what problems they're solving for. That's just an example of where a brand can live in terms of, out-of-the-box ideas.
I think it's really hard to think about that, especially with COVID going on. When you think about the future of retail and online, I think that there are virtual experiences that brands can create. Have I seen a really great example of that yet? Not yet. But I'm also really curious about the future of that in terms of retail experiences, but also online. I mean, you've seen it with fashion too with zoom runway shows or how you can book individual appointments with certain brands, especially in apparel. And I wonder if that will continue to last post-pandemic. I kind of hope so.
Lillie: Yeah. Definitely agree with what you said. In terms of out-of-the-box ideas, anytime someone asks me for an out-of-the-box idea I feel like I need to blow them away. And I'm always so stressed because I'm like, “I have an idea. I don't know if it's out-of-the-box. It's an idea.”
So one thing I think of that would be really cool is like stakeholder updates. You know how every company sends board updates to their investors or people who are on their board talking about company accomplishments. I think something like that for your customers could be really awesome.
I know Versed does something similar to this where on Instagram they do quarterly board meetings and updates, but I think something like that would be really cool to just see the nitty gritty. Like obviously some things can be private if it needs to be, but like, are you staying true to your mission statement?
If you said you're pledging X amount of dollars to this organization, how much money have you donated? Where's it going to, what's your plan if you haven't been doing well on things you said you are, how are you going to improve that? I feel like that type of content would be really appreciated by a customer.
And the other thing I was going to say is long-form content. It's so underrated. I feel like nowadays everyone is like, “Gen-Z can’t focus past the first 10 seconds, make sure they can read three bullet points.” Everything is short and sweet and sometimes that's awesome, but I really appreciate long-form content. Like send me a massive email, send me a word document. I will actually read through that if you have things to share that are important. Obviously not all the time, but having long-form content I just feel like I learn so much more. And the information that I'm learning is so much deeper than if I just read a quick three bullet point captured on Instagram.
Then I think the last piece in connection with that long-form content is I would love to see more brands on YouTube, just doing influencer-style videos. I think that'd be really cool. Maybe like a 20-minute video explaining a certain product or something that you've thought through with a new launch or something that you're working on improving. I think overall the theme that I'm getting at is we as Gen-Z have so many questions, so give us the information and we'll dive into it, and that at the end of the day is going to help me make a better buying decision for you as a brand.
Rachel: When you said YouTube that got me thinking of video about the creative ways brands have announced product launches that I've been loving. And I don't think brands need to do anything that's really extravagant online. I think some of my favorite examples of content creation from brands are just the ones that are super low budget and easy.
My favorite example is when Haus, the aperitif brand, launched their new cherry flavor; it was just the founders, Helena and Woody, sitting in their California home. The fireplace was going, they were sitting on the floor and they were just talking about how much they love hotel bars and how that inspired them to create this flavor. I think that was like one of my favorite product launches of this past year. It was just so authentic and just so true to them and true to the brand.
And I feel like I would love to see more of that type of content.
Tina: Yeah. I absolutely love that. And I think there's just some sort of like authenticity that's related to that, which is why people just love seeing that and feel drawn to it.
And I just have to say like, thank you so much for shouting out long-form content. As a long-form content creator, thank you for just validating my life. But I think that it is so essential and I really liked your idea too of having those like open meetings with internal people at the brand and letting some of your audience join that too.
I think there's something really interesting about that because as we were talking about community earlier, I think that would be a really good way to give your consumers almost that inside look into your business that could foster that community feeling. I could definitely see that being like a successful thing. So maybe you should take that up with Three Ships Beauty.
Lillie: Oh, my gosh, the to-do list of things that we want to do, but don't have time or capacity to do because we're literally four people right now is long, but I will put this on there for sure.
Rachel: If anyone can do it, it's you Lillie.
Tina: Katie and I have something called a laundry list that just keeps getting longer and longer somehow. Awesome. Okay. So we're at the 30-minute mark now. We're going to start our next quick question round, which is called the hot seat. These are quick and snappy, one-word, answer questions. So Lillie, why don't we start with you and then Rachel you can go next.
So, Lillie, I've got a couple of questions here for you to answer with one or two words. There are no wrong answers. I might ask you to explain one of your answers though. Are you ready?
Lillie: Okay. I'm ready.
Tina: Okay, cool. Um, what's your favorite TikTok trend?
Lillie: The blow up trend where you film yourself when you're not feeling yourself. And then you film yourself and you're really feeling it.
Tina: What's your favorite underrated app?
Lillie: The notes app on my phone is the place where I write literally everything.
Tina: Yes. I feel that. Overrated or underrated, the song driver's license?
Lillie: It is overrated, but I love the song.
Tina: Overrated or underrated, Twitter Fleets?
Lillie: I personally think it's overrated. I've never looked at it and it annoys me when I click on a profile picture and it's like, do you want to see their fleet or their profile picture? And I just want to see what they look like.
Tina: Favorite product you've ever purchased from a DTC brand?
Lillie: I mean, obviously not including Three Ships products, I would have to say Homesick Candles.
Tina: Why? I love them too.
Lillie: They have such a great customer service team. They make a great presence and they have a Canadian handle, which is nice. I just feel seen, I think as a Canadian I sometimes just don't feel seen.
Tina: I love that. Katie bought me the Dunkin’ Donuts one for Christmas and I loved it. Okay. Last one. If you could purchase from one DTC brand for the rest of your life, who would it be?
Lillie: I mean, again, obviously I would buy my own products, but I think if I were to purchase from one brand, it would definitely be Italic.
Tina: Love that. All right, Rachel, are you ready for the hot seat?
Rachel: I'm ready.
Tina: Awesome. Okay. Number one, your favorite tech talk trend?
Rachel: I'm currently loving the oatmeal trend with the baked outs.
Tina: Okay. You explain that because I don't think I've seen that.
Rachel: Yeah, it's basically just people's favorite oatmeal recipes and how people think oatmeal is super boring, but a lot of people are creating these like extravagant oatmeals.
Tina: I love that. Okay. Your favorite underrated app.
Rachel: Definitely Depop.
Tina: Overrated or underrated, the song driver's license?
Rachel: I’m with Lillie; overrated.
Tina: Overrated or underrated, Twitter Fleets?
Rachel: Also with Lillie on this. Overrated.
Tina: Favorite product you've ever purchased from a DTC brand?
Rachel: I really love my Wild Puzzle.
Tina: Okay, last question. If you could purchase from one DTC brand for the rest of your life, who would it be?
Rachel: It would have to be from Brightland.
Tina: Oh, cool. Can you explain why?
Rachel: Yeah. I love their olive oil. I honestly did not think that olive oil would be a game changer, but honestly the flavors that you get when you use their product are amazing. I love the branding and the founder is incredible.
Tina: Awesome. All right. I think one thing I've learned from this is Rachel really likes olive oil
Rachel: one hundred percent.
Katie: That's awesome. Me too. Well, we're kind of at time. Thank you so much Rachel and Lillie for joining us today, this was so fun. So we do this every Friday at 4:00 PM. If you want to join us next week, follow Commerce Club on Clubhouse. You can also get a newsletter with the recap of show notes and all that stuff joincommerceclub.com.
Before we close out the show, Lillie or Rachel, do you have any parting thoughts? You can say absolutely anything.
Lillie: I do actually. Clubhouse has been such a fun experience for me. I only started in DTC like a couple of months ago, me and Rachel are also new grads. So we feel very new to this space, but Clubhouse and Twitter has been two of the best platforms for us to meet people. And so, for anyone who wants to meet more people or get involved with these things, this is definitely a place to be.
And the other thing I wanted to say was for Three Ships, we are actually hiring a director of marketing. So that is something that's in our pipeline. That's a really, really special role for us. It's really part of the leadership team. So if anyone's listening in the audience, if this is something you're interested in, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Rachel: I just wanted to say thank you to both of you for having us, and to echo what Lillie said, I think there's so many amazing people online and I really did not realize how many cool people there are out there. And I think Lillie and I met through Twitter and just one of us DM-ing I can't remember if it was me-
Lillie: it was me. I totally slid into your DMS. I was like, Oh my gosh, like I have to be friends with Rachel and then you replied, and this was before I knew how nice people were on Twitter.
So I was like, Oh my gosh, a stranger is replying to me on Twitter. I definitely made the first move. I slid into your DMS. I love it.
Rachel: But like I said, it's so easy to meet people and I'm sure Lillie feels the same way, but my Twitter DMS are always open to talk to you, to see your newsletters and product recommendations, anything. But thank you Katie and Tina for hosting us.
Tina: Thank you so much for both joining. I echo Twitter's amazing. I think I slid into both of your DMS when I was like, Hey, will you come join us for this show? Which actually reminds me, I just want to quickly say Katie and I are always looking for more people to join us for this show. We do this weekly on Fridays. So if you are interested, you can email myself or Katie. So I'm tina@octaneai.com. And Katie is katie@octaneai.com.
So just shoot us an email and we will get you set up with joining us for a panel one week. But thank you so much. You guys have such great, awesome insights, and definitely go apply for that marketing position with Three Ships Beauty. Working with Lillie would be frickan insane. So I stan that.
About the episode
Tina Donati and Katie Krische are marketers at Octane AI, a company that gives Shopify brands the ability to offer conversational commerce to customers on their sites; an experience replicating an in-store consultation and leading to curated product recommendations. They host a weekly show on Clubhouse called Gen-Z DTC, which you can listen to on Fridays at 1pm PST / 4pm EST.
Gen-Z DTC is about having low-key convos with operators, marketers and agencies at the ground level of innovative brands. If you're interested in be a part of a future episode, you can reach Tina or Katie at tina@octaneai.com and katie@octaneai.com.
