I Called 15 Liquor Stores to Ask About Josh Wine Sales

"I just got a new case of the cabernet because it's been selling so much!"

The accidental theme of this newsletter is awareness. When I first started working in this industry, I would get frustrated that I couldn’t clearly attribute success on social to direct purchases of a product. Sure, both lines were going up but it wasn’t always easy to say this specific post led to this many sales. But the longer I worked in social, the more I understood that attribution would never tell the full story of social media’s purpose—even with the most advanced tracking methods.

The biggest thing that helped me recognize the power of awareness as a metric was putting myself in the shoes of a consumer. Almost all of my purchases start with awareness marketing—hearing a Ghia ad on a podcast I’m listening to, coming across an organic TikTok from Scrub Daddy, watching an influencer I love cook with Smallhold mushrooms. Those awareness seeds are powerful! And I’m excited to talk about them in today’s newsletter, where I’ll be covering the effects of the Josh wine memes, the solo stove drama, and Hinge’s recent collab.

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Here’s the full rundown of what’s in today’s newsletter:

• I called 15 liquor stores to get a Josh wine scene report

• A good art direction example!

• Why Coveteur called out Meta publicly

• I have a caption crush on this restaurant’s Instagram

• Bird chirping is the new trending sound

• In defense of awareness

• I love this post from Aura Bora

• Hinge’s sweet sponsored post is going viral—how real is it?

• The IG Story show everyone was watching this weekend

• NFL tests a Reel with a poll

• CeraVe is manufacturing virality