Building buzz and brand in direct-to-consumer businesses

Executive overview

Getting attention for a new consumer brand is harder than ever, but the fundamentals haven't changed: great product and clear positioning do more than any ad spend. Three early-stage founders—pickleball apparel, adaptive kids' clothing, and a reusable container brand—each face the same core tension: how to build buzz before they have the resources to buy it.

Michael Preysman's recurring advice across all three callers is to nail the product and creative first. Influencers wear what's genuinely cool; surveys reveal what customers actually value (which is rarely what founders assume).

Differentiated product makes marketing's job ten times easier—and nothing else does.

The attention economy and brand building today

• We've moved from a "period of authenticity" (local, organic, transparent) into the attention economy—roughly two decades of obsession around followers, celebrity, and virality.
• Brands spike fast and fade fast; standing out requires either aspiration or a genuinely differentiated product.
• Early-mover advantage still exists: Everlane launched before Instagram ads, before Shopify was ubiquitous—noise levels matter.
• Everlane went from $50M to $200M in three years once product caught up with marketing.

Kitchen — pickleball lifestyle apparel

• Lifestyle pickleball (off-court) is less crowded than activewear; that's the right niche to own early.
• The sport lacks the aspirational history of golf or tennis, making brand-building harder—creative execution has to create that aspiration rather than inherit it.
• Influencers won't wear the product unless the product is genuinely cool; you can't pay your way to authentic endorsement.
• Two critical early hires in apparel: sourcing/production and creative—getting supply chain wrong creates a 6–12 month lag to fix any mistake.
• Survey customers now: find out whether they care about the name, the aesthetic, the sport connection, or something else entirely.

Earthlings United — adaptive kids' clothing

• Two adjustable sizes cover kids aged 2–10; the brand's sustainability angle runs through organic cotton and natural mineral dyes.
• Customers are demanding adult sizes—a signal worth taking seriously, not dismissing.
• Test adult sizing as a limited drop first: small run, two men's and two women's sizes, lean into the exclusivity.
• The natural dye colorways (dusty rose, lavender, muted greens) are what's generating the most demand—may be a stronger hook than the fit-for-longer concept.
• Run a customer survey: determine the actual hierarchy of what buyers care about (color? sustainability? two-size simplicity?) before anchoring all messaging to one attribute.
• Comparable path: Primary (basics brand) started kids-only and expanded to adults after customer demand proved the case.
• Brand name "Earthlings United" is broad enough to support adult lines without repositioning.

Mr. Lid — reusable container with attached lid

• Acquired in 2023 from original founders; USA-made, sold via MrLid.com and Amazon.
• Opportunity framed around Tupperware's failure to connect with younger audiences—a gap Mr. Lid can fill.
• Changing takeout-container behavior is a decades-long shift (comparable to the transition from single-use to reusable water bottles); don't count on solo consumer behavior change to drive growth.
• Faster path: get restaurants or school districts to distribute Mr. Lid as branded reusable packaging—turn the product into a marketing vehicle (IML graphics baked into plastic = permanent brand in people's homes).
• School district pilot (3,000 units) is the right kind of proof point—use it for press and to encourage replication.
• Build a brand character (e.g., "Mr. Lid" as a mascot) to drive low-cost content and emotional connection, especially with kids.
• Bento box / school lunch angle offers a clear, recurring use case with emotional resonance for parents.

Lessons from Everlane

• Everlane launched with ties and bow ties as its second product—not because it made sense, but because a supplier could move fast. They never made them again.
• Storytelling and positioning drove early growth; product quality caught up five to six years in.
• The founder's advice to his earlier self: make the product genuinely delightful first—everything else follows from that.