🟠 BrandLand #01. Mads Petersen, co-founder & COO of MESSYWEEKEND
Most successful ski google Kickstarter campaign raising $400,000 🚀 - Competing against Luxottica monopoly 🙌
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🎙️ Let’s go with interview #01
The first BrandLand guest is… Mads Petersen! 🙌
He is co-founder and COO of MESSYWEEKEND (MW), a sunglasses brand from Copenhagen, Denmark. MW was founded in 2018 and has over 400 retail partners worldwide. They have partnered up with influencers such as Logan Paul (impressive, right?👏), and are now planning market expansion.
Topics at a glance:
💬 Conversation topics
✍️ Key learnings from the interview
🕑 Time stamps and topics
💬 Conversation topics
MESSYWEEKEND launched the most successful Kickstarter campaign on ski googles, where they raised $400,000. Mads shares that journey with us and explains a few tips that will help you launch a successful Kickstarter campaign. Moreover, Mads talks about…
…the company’s current set-up and early growth
…his role in the company and his background before MW
…how they landed a collaboration with Logan Paul
…how they avoided burning all their cash upfront with influencer campaigns
…the shift in the brand focus communication - from sustainability to lifestyle
…what their biggest fuckup was and how they solved it
…the current financial set-up and future funding plans
…their long-term vision
And much more!
✍️ Key learnings from the interview
Our personal key learnings from the interview are the following:
Performance-based influencer partnerships: MW launched a successful collaboration with the influencer Logan Paul. That collaboration led to sellouts and increased brand visibility. Mads explains the importance of having a performance-based contract, especially for smaller brands such as MW at that time.
"It was structured in a way where at least we didn't burn all of our cash upfront... performance-based." - Mads
Mad’s vision on brands & sustainability: Sustainability was the main USP during the beginnings of MW. Why not anymore? 👉 Mads says that sustainability is already assumed. Now the highlight is on the product experience and lifestyle.
“More or less everyone in the marketplace now has some sort of focus on sustainability. It's just become sort of the norm. And in that way we feel like it's not we don't feel like that should be the reason for buying MESSYWEEKEND. We feel the reason for buying MW is because it's a great product and a great brand and then we think it should just be going without saying that you do something good for the environment. That's how we look at this.” - Mads
Challenges turned learning opportunities 💡: The company faced challenges such as faulty inventory received, requiring contracting extra hand labour. Overall, mistakes and unexpected issues gave the company a learning experience.
"We spent all of our money on that inventory and ready to sell and then none of the products are sort of... it was still just a big hit." - Mads
🚀 Leading successful Kickstarter campaigns: The company launched successful Kickstarter campaigns in 2018 and 2019, raising significant funds. Their first Kickstarter campaign - focused on ski googles - raised around $400,000. Two key events that helped the campaign gain traction: get backers & get picked as a trending campaign by Kickstarter.
"Kickstarter is obviously all about getting traction early on... once you get early backers, then you start to have this sort of snowball effect where it just rolls."
Future plans and finance: MESSYWEEKEND’s goal is to become profitable in the current year and cash flow positive the next. Mads stated that the company plans to expand internationally and relies on its own cash flow for financing.
“The goal from here on is just now, it's all about expanding the brand internationally." - Mads
MW’s inspirational vision: The long-term vision for MW is to be recognised as a leading affordable luxury sunglasses brand. The team aims to achieve that by providing value, quality, and an appealing lifestyle.
“I see us as the leading affordable luxury sunglasses brand.” - Mads
We admire that small brands can find their way through big influencers such as Logan Paul 👏, and making their way through a monopolised market by Luxottica. You can watch the full interview below, just click play 👇:
Below you can find the exact times when discussing a specific topic. This allows you to move back and forth where you find the most interest. Enjoy it! 👇
🕑 Time stamps and topics
(00:00) Snippet
(00:38) Intro & current setting of agood company
(02:44) Kickstarter campaigns and early days
(05:22) Mads previous experiences to MW
(10:32) Yes or no questions
(15:18) Luxottica monopoly
(18:48) Collaboration with Logan Paul
(23:34) Financial set-up and funding and future goals
(26:10) Personal questions (salary, biggest fuckup and favourite brand besides MESSYWEEKEND)
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Jens Bergermann: Working in purchasing & sales of consumer brands for over 8 years.
Previously helped to scale DeinDeal.ch and Amorana.ch until exits. Passionate about branding and distribution strategy. Let’s talk!
Nicolas Huxley: Building brands on Shopify for over 9 years.
Previously founded Elephbo.com and Tauschtoni.com. Love to build and support brands with purpose. Happy to jump on a call!
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