ProfitWell was a SaaS company, but in 2020 we started a limited edition drop shop that included sneakers, hot sauce and t-shirts. Sounds like an insane idea as none of those have anything to do with SaaS, but the ethos and moment in time were right. At the time swag drops entering an all time high. Supreme was selling branded bricks for thousands of dollars. We know we could capitalize on this momentum.
ProfitWell filled our pipeline through a media arm called Recur. We created cool and useful content and hosted events, and this drove subscribers. So we hatched up an idea to launch something so unexpected and creative that people would take notice. After much brainstorming we settled on 3 initial ideas that we could execute over a series of months. Custom sneakers, hot sauce and shirts. All required collaborating with external vendors and designers to bring our vision to life. Along with our internal team of creatives and myself who ran the project alongside Dan Callahan, ProfitWell's Creative Director.
All of this hinged on the drops being cool enough (no sad corporate swag) and our promotion being striking enough (no sad b2b) that folks would actually want these items in their real life.
We created tension leading up the launch with a hype site where we used a countdown timer to reveal drops.
Hot Sauce: We custom designed a 3 hot sauce drop to align with our 3 product lines (subtly). Grant Sheply designed the labels. Brett Gifford is a true talent and made the most outstanding video from a literal whole foods order I had dropped at his door and bunch of slacks about "vibes".
Sneakers: We worked with a designer in London to create custom air force ones that were a nod to ProfitWell, but were anything but company swag.
T-Shirts: In a nod to the brand Off-White we designed custom long sleeve ts. The shirts and shoes were launched in a tandem drop video. This again was run by Brett Gifford and managed by Dan Callahan.
Overall, the drop shop was a complex bet to take. We had to create 3 limited edition lines, all customized with external partners and launched with enough hype to create media attention. I'm writing this in 2026, so I don't have exact stats on impact to our subscriber base and ultimately revenue. We drove significant attention to ProfitWell, created an incredibly memorable campaign, and created swag people actually kept and wanted to wear/use.
ProfitWell
