Creative Got me

In this episode of Creative Got Me, Priyaa Kalyanaraman sits down with Ben Sharf, co-founder of Platter, to unpack the strategy behind founder-led content and how showing up online transformed his business.We cover:✅ When Ben realized he had to become the face of his brand

✅ The systems and people that support his content engine

✅ How vulnerability builds trust (and why most founders avoid it)

✅ Balancing authenticity with consistency and why cringey content doesn’t matter

✅ Why his biggest customers, hires, and investors came from LinkedIn

✅ How founder content plays into trust-building for high-ticket B2B SaaS

✅ The underrated power of in-person events and relationship building

✅ Why your product isn’t the moat, distribution and brand areWhether you’re a SaaS founder, DTC operator, or content-curious builder, this episode is a playbook on how to build an audience and a business at the same time.🎧 Subscribe for more conversations like these.#FounderBranding#B2BMarketing#ContentStrategy#CreativeGotMe

What does it take to build a long-lasting consumer brand in a noisy, trend-driven world, especially one selling $2,000+ customizable sleep systems?In this episode, Priyaa sits down with Lisa Tan, CMO of Reverie, to unpack her decade-long playbook for building a DTC and retail hybrid brand that prioritizes long-term value over short-term hype.If you’re building or scaling a DTC or consumer brand and wrestling with how to balance storytelling, performance, and brand integrity, this one’s for you.—⏱️ Timestamps00:00 – Intro: Sleep is having a moment

01:14 – What it’s like to be CMO of Reverie

02:22 – The evolution of DTC marketing since 2010

03:59 – How Reverie’s buyer journey differs across channels

06:34 – What really hooks customers in a $2,000+ category

07:47 – Why storytelling must be personalized

08:48 – The limitations of influencer marketing for Reverie

10:27 – Competing in an era of social commerce

12:10 – How to keep teams learning while staying on brand

13:16 – Bridging aspirational mission and practical content

16:01 – Can Reverie expand beyond the 55+ market?

17:28 – Why quizzes are the content hook that works

18:49 – Content priorities: retail partners vs storytelling

20:32 – Challenges with retailer brand control

21:28 – What excites and scares Lisa about the competition

22:46 – How to keep teams motivated in a fast-changing world

24:27 – The metric Lisa Tan ignores

25:11 – Why organic content still matters

26:04 – Will avatars replace humans in content?

27:29 – CMO job surprises: it’s not all glamor

30:10 – Performance vs beauty: the marketing tradeoff

31:29 – How Lisa’s team tracks full-funnel success

33:06 – Personalized agentic commerce and AI journeys

34:39 – Visual vs conversational content: why Reverie needs both

36:01 – Is streaming a viable ad channel?

37:06 – How Lisa spies on competitors

38:33 – Meta, TikTok, YouTube: what works and what’s next

39:56 – In-house vs agency: how Lisa’s approach evolved

42:11 – Biggest early career lesson

44:07 – Lisa’s vision for consumer marketing in 2030

45:19 – What tween cosmetics can teach DTC marketers

46:56 – What Lisa’s reading (and longevity routines)

49:54 – Final thoughts🎧 Subscribe for more conversations like these#DTCmarketing #retailstrategy #ecommerce #consumerbrands #sleeptech #marketingleadership #brandbuilding #aiinmarketing #reverie

Lucas DiPietrantonio, co-founder and CEO of Darkroom, has spent nearly a decade building the growth engine behind some of today’s most talked-about consumer brands. In the first episode of Creative Got Me, he unpacks how agencies must evolve, or die, in an AI-driven, short-form-first marketing world.We dig into:– How to know if your brand is ready to hire an agency– Why “on-brand” sometimes needs to take a backseat– The underrated importance of media mix modeling– Why RoAS might be the most overrated metric in the game- And much more…Whether you’re building a consumer brand, running a studio, or just trying to keep up with the chaos of modern marketing, this is a masterclass on where things are going and how to stay ahead.—⏱️ Timestamps00:00 – Intro00:38 – The evolution of Darkroom and Lucas’s AI obsession01:51 – Why now is the best time to build a service business02:33 – The AI marketing funnel + social commerce trends03:34 – What kind of brands should actually hire an agency05:10 – The rise of short-form video and the fall of brand guidelines06:49 – Do we still need humans to sell products?08:52 – The three key pillars of social commerce success11:08 – Why TikTok drives brand awareness, but Amazon closes13:06 – Instagram vs TikTok in the commerce stack14:08 – What your content portfolio should look like in 202516:13 – Why organic impressions matter more than RoAS18:22 – How generative AI is transforming advertising channels19:38 – What happens when consumers go straight to ChatGPT to shop?21:24 – The missing metadata gap in LLMs22:26 – How Lucas is building an AI-first creative agency23:53 – What makes a defensible agency in the AI era26:24 – Educating the next generation of AI-native marketers28:03 – Why vibes ≠ product-market fit30:19 – Should brands chase every meme trend?31:12 – How to set SLAs and scale creative output34:13 – Why traditional designers struggle with ad performance36:08 – Rethinking marketing KPIs: is RoAS outdated?38:29 – Contribution profit and how to track real incrementality40:28 – David vs. Goliath: The rise of Hot Girl Pickles41:57 – Why live shopping is just getting started in the U.S.43:04 – Which legacy brands are catching up (and which aren’t)44:25 – The pitfalls of celebrity brands45:06 – What marketing might look like in 203546:03 – Why agencies need to evolve beyond Meta ad margins🎧 Subscribe for more conversations like these