How Midday Squares is Disrupting Big Chocolate using a Reality Show Model

Watch our documentary on the Future of the CMO from this link 📺:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXBKelmQomM

On this week’s episode of Scratch, Jake Karls, the energetic co-founder and Chief Rainmaker of Midday Squares, joins Eric to unpack the reality-show marketing strategy that’s rocketing their functional chocolate bars onto shelves across North America. From filming therapy sessions to smashing Costco road-show records, Jake explains why attention is today’s most valuable currency and how being unapologetically authentic turns casual shoppers into lifelong fans.

If you want a front-row seat to a modern challenger playbook - complete with community gamification, LinkedIn power moves, and a sneak peek at the next growth phase - this episode is for you!

Watch the video version of this podcast on Youtube ▶️: https://youtu.be/3I86AGZQRvY

          📚 Chapters:

• (00:00:00) - Intro 🎙️
• (00:04:18) - Jake’s favorite challenger brand: Liquid Death 💧
• (00:08:50) - What is Midday Squares? 🍫
• (00:10:45) - The reality-show marketing playbook 🎥
• (00:19:00) - Breaking Costco’s sales record & community gamification 🏬
• (00:24:30) - Scaling a media-first model 📈
• (00:30:30) - LinkedIn: the underrated channel 🔗
• (00:33:45) - Data vs. creativity in marketing 📊
• (00:41:00) - Lightning Round ⚡

🖊️Mentioned in the show:

• Liquid Death
• Patagonia – “Don’t Buy This Jacket” campaign
• Nike storytelling model
• Whoop wearable

Scratch is a production of Rival, a marketing innovation consultancy that develops strategies and capabilities that help businesses grow faster. Scratch is hosted by Eric Fulwiler, and he’s joined by Jake Karls of Midday Squares in this episode.

Find Rival online at www.wearerival.com, LinkedIn, Twitter. 

Find Eric on LinkedIn.

Find Jake on LinkedIn.

Say hi at [email protected], we’d love to hear from you.

Rival is a marketing consultancy for brands that want to challenge convention in their category. We’re on a mission to understand what challenger brands do differently to grow in categories that are being disrupted, and use a challenger playbook to deliver outsized impact through an integrated, tech-enabled approach. Past guests include CMOs from Mastercard, GE, Shell, Hyperloop, Adobe, PepsiCo, and Papa Johns.

If you’re interested in learning more about marketing from successful CMOs, we compiled a list of the top 5 CMO podcasts to listen to in 2024; check it out here 🔗  https://www.wearerival.com/content-hub-articles/cmo-podcasts-you-cannot-afford-to-miss-in-2024