As a D2C brand, there is no shortage of sales pitches and advertising products being presented to you on a daily basis. It is difficult to know where you should be spending your time, and to whom you should be giving your hard-earned dollars.
On the advertising side, words like “influencer marketing” and “brand awareness” have unknown dollar signs and murky ROAS forecasts attached, making you wonder how much you should sacrifice profits to be “cool.”
On the commerce side, words like “flash-sale” and “discount” make you wonder just how much you should sacrifice cool in exchange for profits and additional distribution.
Crossover Ventures, a boutique agency founded by Griffin Taylor, strives to allow D2C brands avenues to do both – achieve ‘cool’ while simultaneously generating profits.
With a focus on talent marketing, PR, and eCommerce distribution, Crossover Ventures provides a solution for D2C brands who want legitimacy from press, alignment with relevant talent, and direct sales.
In the talent marketing space, Crossover has engineered campaigns for major D2C brands with top-tier entertainers and NBA stars, that are accomplished in extremely cost-efficient ways, says Taylor.
“Without divulging specifics, I have gotten athletes and entertainers who have a rate card of $1 million for a social post, to execute campaigns in exchange for only product. It is all about having authentic relationships with talent, understanding what their needs and interests are, and being passionate about the brands you are representing.”
Within the PR space, Crossover and Taylor leverage direct connections to online publishers to generate profitable content for D2C brands.
“With our model, this isn’t your typical affiliate relationship, where you are pitching editors and hoping to get editorial coverage for your brands. We guarantee the placements, and the publications,” said Taylor.
Crossover has already begun to leverage its model to drive success for early stage adopters in the D2C space.
“Griffin put me in touch with NBA All-Stars & Grammy-nominated rappers. He literally helped kickstart our influencer program which features the biggest names in the world,” said Sean O’Brien, CMO of Modloft (2020 Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Companies in America).
Crossover’s abilities to keep costs down for its clients are grounded in two key components, says Taylor; staying lean, and having a sales background prior to founding the company.
“When you hire these larger agencies with tons of employees, each time they outsource your account to another employee at the firm, that’s another salary that is being layered into your monthly retainer and costs.
By being a one-person operation and creating a direct relationship between our D2C brands and the services we are providing them, we significantly lower our “middle man” costs, or fixed monthly retainers.”
Taylor says that working in sales his entire career also creates a sense or urgency when it comes to delivering value for brands.
“I come from a sales background. If I was not generating profits, I was out of a job. We keep that same mentality for the D2C brands we serve.”
To get in touch with Crossover Ventures, email [email protected].