🚀 Derek Lauermann reveals how Huel grew to $250M + exited for $1.2B

🤑 Cody Plofker shares results from a holdout test sending 2x more texts

📊 Connor MacDonald gives you “weather reports” on every ad channel

Plus, this week’s top-five headlines.

Cody Plofker CEO, Jones Road Beauty

We Sent 2x More Text Messages + Drove Incremental Revenue

If you haven’t tested your SMS frequency, you should. Jones Road did this with a three-cell holdout.

• Control: 50% got 1 SMS/week
• Experiment: 25% got 2 SMS/week
• Holdout: 25% got 0 SMS/week

The results surprised me! 98% confidence that the 2x cohort drove significant incremental revenue lift.

That’s partly a result of our increased SMS cadence.

It’s also a result of Postscript’s Shopper bot always being on, having conversations with customers, and driving sales.

Here’s a recent conversation from a customer who was asking for a recommendation after we discontinued her go-to shade.

The bot answered her questions, gave her a few suggested alternatives, and closed the sale.

Without Postscript, we would have lost that customer.

Instead, she bought.

If you want to find out where your brand is missing out on incremental revenue from SMS, then you need to chat with Postscript like we did.

Right now they’re offering a free audit to:

• Review your SMS
• Find cost savings
• Uncover quick wins

You’ll walk away with a clear idea of where your SMS program is bleeding revenue … and most importantly, how to capture it.

Derek Lauermann Director of Paid Media, Grüns

Ad Snack 🍬 How Huel Hit $250M, Then Exited for $1.2B

Huel grew from $3M revenue in 2016 to $250M in 2025.

And they just sold to Danone for $1.2B. How’d they do it?

 1. Reframing the Category 

Huel did not directly compete with SlimFast or other low-calorie meal replacement options.

They reframed the category:

• Real food
• “Complete nutrition”
• Not a temporary diet aid

Here’s Julian Hearn defending this position back in 2019:

“Beans on toast is not a meal replacement for chicken casserole; it’s food, and no one would argue with that. So why should Huel be called anything but food or a meal?”

Huel’s brand search even rivals “meal replacement.”

Ten years ago nobody searched for Huel. Today, searching the brand is nearly as common as searching the category.

Snack 🍬

When a category feels crowded with the same tired messaging, there’s often an opportunity to redefine the solution and own the new sub-category you just invented.

 2. One Hero SKU 

74% of US ads land on one page: Huel Black Edition.

Instead of spreading their energy across dozens of products, Huel doubled down on a single flagship: their high-protein, lower-carb Black Edition powder.

It became the default entry point, the bestseller, and the product that carried the brand.

Snack 🍬

You don’t necessarily need 50 products. Pick one hero, make it exceptional, and then funnel the bulk of your traffic back to the same proven winner.

However, that single PDP demands …

 3. Static Ad Variety 

65% of their 684+ ads are static. One format. Dozens of angles.

• Skip meal prep
• Eat cheaper
• Lose weight
• Build muscle

Same product, retested through dozens of customer objections.

Snack 🍬

You might not need better creative … just more angles. Test messaging, scale winners, kill the losers.

 4. DTC → Retail 

Huel was primarily DTC for its first five years. In the US, it was even longer, with the bigger retail push only hitting last year.

When it finally made the transition, Huel was able to use its DTC success to unlock ~1,750 GNC locations.

Once Black Edition had the sales velocity, repeat purchases, reviews, and customer data to prove it was a winner, retailers opened the doors.

That’s a powerful flywheel.

DTC created proof, loyalty, and margins while retail delivered massive scale and accessibility.

Snack 🍬

Build undeniable traction in DTC first. Customer review and sales proof are the best way to win over retail partners. Distribution then becomes your growth accelerator.

 5. Influence as Ownership 

Huel’s revenue has grown 147% since 2021. But marketing spend grew only 72%.

Their marketing dollars were working overtime.

What do I mean?

Celebrity Investors

Steven Bartlett joined the board in 2021. Idris Elba and Jonathan Ross invested.

Creator Affiliates

Measured on CPA, not impressions.

Community

UGC and referrals at scale.

Snack 🍬

Align incentives with outcomes.

Low-cost, far-reaching marketing emerges when creators (or even celebrities) have skin in the game.

 TL;DR 🍬 

Follow Huel’s playbook …

• Redefine the category
• Obsess over one SKU
• Test static messaging
• DTC-first, then retail
• Own your influence

Connor MacDonald CMO, Ridge

Get Weekly “Weather Reports” For All The Main Ad Platforms

Have you ever wondered how your ad performance holds up against the rest of the market?

It’s a free newsletter by Northbeam, which sits on aggregate data covering billions of dollars in ad spend.

They publish weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual “weather reports” for all the major advertising platforms.

It includes benchmarks on:

• Budget %
• CAC
• ROAS
• CVR

You can use this to gut check your performance against the market’s shifts. They also share cutting edge strategies from the world’s fastest growing brands (like Comfrt + Grüns).

It’s been publishing weekly for three years and surpassed 80,000 subscribers. Highly recommend checking it out.

THE FEED

​Why Cadence Sends Hats Instead of Discount Codes​

​Ecommerce Founder’s Guide to Owning Your Manufacturing & Factory​

​Most Underrated Growth Tactic in Ecommerce Right Now, Andrew Faris​

​The AI Lesson From a 150-Year-Old Manufacturer​

The Trends

Curated by the editor of CPG Wire, the five top stories in commerce and DTC.

1. Greycroft Backs Jesse & Ben’s: PR Newswire​

Jesse & Ben’s, a purveyor of restaurant-quality frozen french fries, closed a $10M Series A round led by Greycroft. Several other venture firms, including Morrison Seger and Great Circle Ventures, also invested in the round.

Jesse & Ben’s grew 1,100% in 2025 and the company expects to quadruple in 2026. Eric Ryan of Greycroft, the co-founder of Method and Olly, will join Jesse & Ben’s Board of Directors.

2. Suja Life Goes Public: LinkedIn​

Suja Life, the vertically integrated better-for-you beverage platform, officially debuted on the Nasdaq under the ticker SUJA. The beverage maker raised nearly $187M in its IPO. Founded in 2012 and led by CEO Maria Stipp, Suja Life generated $327M in revenue in 2025.

The company’s beverage portfolio includes Suja Organic, Vive Organic, and Slice Soda. With Suja Life and Once Upon a Farm both listing this year, consumer IPOs could be back.

3. Waterdrop Secures €100+ Million: Trending Topics​

Vienna-based Waterdrop secured over €100M in fresh equity funding. Aspeya, a subsidiary of Philip Morris International, and Atlantic Grupa, a Croatian FMCG distributor, participated in the round. Founded in 2016, Waterdrop has grown into a global hydration brand with €150M in revenue and a presence across Europe, Australia, Japan, and the United States. Waterdrop’s previous backers include Temasek and Novak Djokovic.

4. Celsius Holdings Delivers in Q1: Twitter​

Celsius Holdings reported Q1 results and revenue surged 138% to $783M, up from $329M in Q1 2025. Additionally, Celsius now commands nearly 21% dollar share of the U.S. drink category, not far behind Monster Beverage and Red Bull. Net income in the period also jumped 148% to $110M.

5. Bel Group Acquires Brainiac Foods: Food Dive​

Bel Group expanded its functional food portfolio by acquiring Brainiac Foods, a San Francisco-based purveyor of food products that support brain health for the whole family.

The company was founded in 2019 with backing from Lerer Hippeau, Bloom8, Good Friends, and several others. Brainiac delivered triple-digit sales growth in the past year and compliments Bel Group’s on-the-go snack portfolio.

 Say Hi, This Week! 

Along with the Marketing Operators + 9 Operators, I’m heading to Meta’s Performance Marketing Summit.

Thanks to one of my “employees,” I’m coming correct.

We’ll be doing a live podcast.

If you’re in San Jose, say hi … I might have more dope hats and shirts with me. I tricked Sean into sending me that one.

With thanks and anticipation,
Aaron Orendorff
🤓 Chief Executive Officer

P.S. (Disclaimer): Special thanks to Postscript and Northbeam for sponsoring today’s newsletter.

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