Community-Centered Launches
Plus: Maev's new campaign, next-gen yogurt, and more đ
Hello and welcome back to Brandscape!
I hope your week (+ month) is off to a great start.
In todayâs issue:
NYCâs favorite yogurt brand is landing in Happier Grocery đ
An exciting dog food launch campaign (ft. Maddy Tank, senior director of brand at Maev) đž
A new home for gift guides đ
Sourmilk, a brand Iâve been following since the start of this newsletter, is launching in Happier Grocery tomorrow. After months of coordinating local yogurt pickups in NYC, the founders announced their expansion into retail over the weekend. According to their newsletter, âAs a next-gen yogurt brand native to NY, we felt like Happier Grocery was one of the best launch partners we could choose from.â
Read more about Sourmilkâs building-in-public strategy:
Substack + AI are shifting the way brands think about gift guides. Instead of pitching traditional media outlets, brands are increasingly working with Substack creators to land placements in posts. I think Substack partnerships make sense given that audiences can form more personal connections with writers. At the same time, GEO (generative engine optimization) is becoming increasingly important for product discovery. By diversifying where their products are talked about online, brands have a better shot at popping up in AI searches.
Dog food brand Maev recently introduced their new 100% New Zealand Grass-Fed Lamb recipe, and with it, a tiered giveaway campaign. Prizes include free Maev subscriptions, a Rowing Blazers gift card, and two round-trip tickets to New Zealand (the grand prize!). Through the campaign, Maev turns ingredient origin into a customer experience, allowing people to connect with the story behind the food. I recently chatted with Maddy Tank, senior director of brand, about the campaign:
What inspired the giveaway component of this campaign?
The best giveaways do more than just drive engagementâthey tell a story. Our goal was simple: surprise our community, thank them for their loyalty, encourage them to introduce the brand to someone new, and make this product launch feel as exciting and thoughtful as the product itself. Our Grass-Fed New Zealand Lamb formula came directly from customer DMs and emails, so it felt important to celebrate that connection in a way that brought people closer to the source. Sending someone to New Zealandâwhere our lamb is raisedâwas the perfect way to do that. Itâs one thing to talk about quality and transparency; itâs another to invite people to experience the origin of our ingredients and see the âwhyâ behind every decision we make. In addition to the grand prize, the tiered prizes gave us a chance to have fun and connect across categories that our community naturally gravitates toward. The Rowing Blazers gift card to shop the âWarm & Wonderfulâ collection for a fashion tie-in, helped us extend the story beyond food and into culture.
â Maddy Tank
How does this campaign fit into Maevâs larger story of ingredient origin?
At Maev, everything begins with quality. All of our products are made with human-grade ingredients you can recognize instantly. This campaign was a way to bring that philosophy to life by highlighting the origin of our New Zealand Grass-Fed Lamb, an ingredient known for its digestibility, nutrient density, and responsible farming practices. By connecting the product directly to its origin, we wanted to show that ingredient integrity is not a marketing claim but the foundation of everything we do. Every bowl of Maev food is fresh-frozen, ready to serve, and rooted in that same commitment to quality and transparency. For dog owners who want to truly see what they are feeding, not just imagine it, Maev keeps every ingredient visible and honest, because transparency should live in the bowl, not in the fine print.
â Maddy Tank
A new brand on my radar: Olauto. This Austin-based car fragrance brand was founded by the founders of Inkbox. Their design-forward fragrance tags, with names like OMW and Dadâs Truck, reimagine the classic air freshener with elevated scents.
Thank you for reading!
â Henry
Brandscape is a weekly newsletter covering the latest in marketing, brand, + consumer insights â all through the lens of a college student.