Turning One-Time Sponsorships into Lasting Brand Advocacy

‍Challenge: 

Flux Footwear is redefining ‘natural movement’ in the athletic shoe category. They knew that ramping up their influencer community would be key to unlocking the next level of growth. However, without a clear strategy for paid partnerships, their influencer program incurred high costs, while lacking consistency and meaningful performance metrics.

The Solution:

Phase 1: Establishing Credibility Through Paid Partnerships

We began by launching one to two-month paid collaborations with creators, ensuring they had ample time to showcase the product’s key benefits in an engaging and authentic way. This initial investment allowed them to establish credibility with their audience while driving strong brand awareness and conversion.

Phase 2: Transitioning to Organic Integrations

Once creators had thoroughly explored the product’s benefits in a paid capacity, we strategically shifted them to a low-cost organic integration model. Their audience, having already been exposed to the product over multiple months, was now primed for more natural, less promotional content.

A simple tag or feature in ongoing content became a powerful indicator that the creator genuinely loved and continued to use the product—reinforcing brand trust without requiring ongoing paid placements.

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The Results:

Using this strategy, we generated over 4.8M impressions while only spending $7k, allowing us to land at a $2 overall CPM. 

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Key Takeaways:

• Increased Authenticity: Creators seamlessly incorporated the product into their daily content, reinforcing the brand’s value without a hard sell - Creators Audience is totally bought in - attached screenshots 
• Higher ROI: The organic phase required minimal financial investment while maintaining audience engagement and product visibility.
• Over-Delivery of Content: Many creators exceeded expectations, producing additional content beyond the original agreement simply because they genuinely loved the product.

By strategically blending paid and organic efforts, we transformed one-time sponsorships into long-term brand advocacy—driving sustained engagement at a fraction of the cost.

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See what the Flux team had to say here: