THE CONCEPT
REVEL is a social media-based platform that partners celebrity musicians, professional athletes, and influential wellness experts with brands that promote a healthy lifestyle. Both a content hub and a digital community of like-minded people seeking to learn, grow, and thrive; REVEL produces and publishes zero-cost to consumer content around three core pillars - Mindset, Nutrition, & Fitness.
REVEL bridges the gap between mainstream audiences and the “wellness converted” by combining traditional celebrities like musicians and Olympic athletes with more niche, health-centric influencers like leading nutritionists, biohackers, and fitness professionals.
THE CHALLENGE
The pandemic rapidly accelerated the importance of digital marketing channels. In the wake of city lockdowns and forced business closures, ecommerce became a necessity to survive. Companies that were unable to digitally pivot failed. Consumers, restricted to their households, were turning to social platforms for connection, entertainment, inspiration, and information. To solve for this uniquely challenging marketing landscape, we created REVEL.
MY CORE OBJECTIVES
THE RESULTS
REVEL successfully launched in September 2020 as a virtual music and wellness festival with 10 live broadcasts over the course of two weeks. It featured dynamic interviews, musical performances, live home workouts, and streaming e-commerce offers from iconic individuals like Colbie Caillat, Ziggy Marley, Foster the People, Asafa Powell, Dean Karnazes, Kimberly Snyder, Jesse Itzler and more.
The festival reached over 5 million people and built brand loyalty and revenue for a collection of partners including Gibson Guitars, Veggie Grill, and Thrive Market. Sponsors saw up to 11.4x return on ad spend.
Due to the success of the initial launch, REVEL has since evolved from its virtual festival roots into a permanent platform, with activations and content being produced year round, a growing community (21,000+ followers on social), and a talent network of over 100+ highly recognizable names with a combined reach of over 300 million. Stars who have since partnered with REVEL include names like NFL wide receiver Tyler Lockett, award-winning journalist Steven Kotler, vocalist Wesley Schutlz of The Lumineers, professional surfer Bethany Hamilton, ZICO founder & plant-based venture capitalist Mark Rampolla, and others.
The result was five million viewers, 200 organic social posts, 10 livestreams and overwhelmingly positive feedback.
MY ROLE
Built out the platform with founding team from concept to execution - purpose, positioning, messaging, identity, and expression
Personally secured Thrive Market, Veggie Grill, and Gibson Guitar as initial sponsors
Led 2020-2021 business development & sponsorship sales team - prospecting, research, CRM management, cold outreach, and pitch process
Secured top-tier brands such as Veggie Grill, Thrive Market, and Gibson Guitar as sponsors
Designed and led initial talent acquisition program that secured celebrity talent including multiple Grammy-winning artists, Olympic gold medalists, New York Times best-selling authors, and other high achieving individuals
Cultivated interest and acquired rates from over 150 celebrities, navigating various layers of representatives (talent agencies, management companies, publicists, etc.)
Recruited top-tier designers and website developers to build and refine platform brand DNA and design
Launched initial REVEL social media strategy (content calendar, content pillars,
Defined our ideal customer profile for sponsors and designed + scaled a high volume business development program, sales cycle, and CRM strategy
Led team of six direct reports across sponsorship sales, talent acquisition, and social media
I see the platform as not only a novel way for brands to market products that have a positive impact, but also as a growing aggregator of highly engaging, fun content that helps people empower themselves both physically and mentally.
It’s a compelling example of how social media and influencer marketing can be leveraged to achieve marketing goals. To see another example of how I’ve aligned brands with talent to solve for a need, please see my Wine & Jazz case study.