In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Brett Stapper interviews Alex Schulze, CEO and Co-Founder of 4ocean. Born from a surf trip to Bali where Alex witnessed devastating plastic pollution, 4ocean has evolved from a simple bracelet company into a vertically integrated ocean cleanup operation that has removed over 41 million pounds of trash from the ocean. What started as a direct-to-consumer lifestyle brand leveraging viral marketing has transformed into a multi-faceted business including B2B partnerships, government contracts, and a global network of cleanup crews. Alex shares the brutal realities of scaling a mission-driven company through algorithm changes, health crises, and the challenges of the modern e-commerce landscape.