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Day 2 brought the heat — and a reality check. We saw how Loop scaled to $200M with barely any funding, why TikTok Shop is the wild west of commerce (in a good way), and what top marketers are doing when performance stalls and CAC climbs.

Catch the real takeaways, the sharpest moments, and a few surprise plays you probably missed.

🧠 Day 2 Download

🚀 From Foamies to $200M: The DTC Growth Playbook, According to Loop

Maarten Bodewes, co-founder of Loop Earplugs, took the stage at The Lead’s DTC Symposium with CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge to share how Loop went from 3D-printed prototypes in a garage to a profitable $206M business — with just $800k in funding.

🎧 From Nightlife to Noise Sensitivity

Originally built for festivals, bars and clubs, Loop’s core use case disappeared overnight in March 2020. With Amazon shipping paused and retail stores shut, the brand went 100% DTC — and unlocked its next act: sleep, parenting, concentration, and neurodiversity.

They tested dozens of use cases and iterated messaging until one TikTok post — from a parent explaining how Loop helped her stay calm — went viral.

Sometimes you optimize everything. Other times, the market tells you what’s working.

🧪 Scale = Iteration + Distribution

DTC wasn’t just a stopgap — it gave Loop full control: test copy, tweak landing pages, switch pricing, and scale what converts fast.

Now that the brand is back in retail conversations, they’re bringing those learnings with them: test first, then scale — not the other way around.

🛠️ CAC is high. Distribution isn’t enough.

Loop’s rise wasn’t just performance marketing. Cultural validation played a big role — from Tomorrowland and Coachella to an “unofficial” appearance on the Eras Tour, where Swifties declared Loop the must-have.

These moments weren’t paid. But they were strategic. Authority and aesthetic collided — and new audiences followed.

💡 What Founders Can Learn

• Start weird: If your product doesn’t stop the scroll, it won’t start a movement.

• Use TikTok like a lab: Real feedback > focus groups.

• Partnerships beget partnerships: One credible collab can unlock the next five.

• Brand identity is built in DMs, not decks: When fans decide you’re part of the moment — you’ve won.

📍One last point?

Loop’s success story shows what happens when testing becomes culture. That mindset’s now making its way into how brands approach measurement too.

Tools like Fospha are powering a similar shift — turning media spend into a live feedback loop. With full-funnel visibility across different platforms, Fospha helps teams understand what really drives revenue, so they can scale growth with confidence, not guesswork.

🧩 Master the Marketing Equation: Paid vs. Organic, New vs. Proven, In-House vs. Agency

At The Lead Summit, leaders from Every Man Jack, My/Mochi, and TileBar joined eMarketer’s Yory Wurmser to share how they're navigating a marketing landscape where growth is soft, attribution is murky, and performance alone won’t cut it.

🔁 Incrementality > Last-Click ROAS

As Andrea Woodson (TileBar) put it: it’s not about what’s cheapest to track, but what’s actually driving growth. Her team now prioritizes incrementality — shifting spend away from channels that cannibalize organic conversions.

📍 That’s where platforms like Fospha help — connecting upper-funnel media to real outcomes across DTC and marketplaces like Amazon.

📉 Performance is flat. Expectation isn’t.

Consumers are still spending — but carefully. My/Mochi’s Bridget sees shoppers seeking “small moments of joy,” while Every Man Jack is seeing unit volumes drop even as value expectations rise.

Marketers must now prove both emotional relevance and commercial value — not either/or.

📡 Full-Funnel is the Only Funnel

“Performance is ripe fruit. Brand is planting seeds.” Nick summed it up well: brand and performance aren’t separate — they’re stages of the same journey. Without investment at the top, lower-funnel tactics eventually stall.

📍 Fospha’s Halo helps brands quantify upper-funnel impact — showing how platforms like TikTok and Meta influence Amazon sales, with a unified ROAS.

🧠 Agencies vs In-House: Capabilities Over Headcount

Rather than defaulting to hiring or outsourcing, the panel agreed: start with an honest audit of capabilities. Agencies are most valuable when they challenge assumptions and bring cultural context — not just execution.

Alignment on metrics is crucial. In a finance-driven environment, everyone needs to speak the same performance language.

🔮 What’s Next?

With AI tools now widely accessible, the panel flagged a risk: creative flattening. Standing out will rely not just on access, but execution — with better targeting, sharper creative, and clearer measurement.

*Read the full editorial recap of the session

🛍️ TikTok Shop Is a Growth Engine

At The Lead Summit, Stormi Steele (Canvas Beauty), Jonathan Cohen (Pure Daily Care), and Leslie Ann Hall (Iced Media) laid down the real playbook for building and scaling on TikTok Shop.

Here’s what actually works:

👉 Let the algorithm pick your winners.
Pure Daily Care’s top-selling product? A glowing skincare wand not built for TikTok, but perfect for it. The content carried the product — not the brand name, not the follower count.

👉 Your ‘gladiator product’ is everything.
Canvas Beauty’s Body Glaze didn’t succeed because of discounts — it succeeded because of storytelling, scent obsession, and showing up. Over a million units sold, driven by community, not coupons.

👉 Live selling? Skip the script.
Canvas Beauty turned chaotic, off-the-cuff lives into record-breaking sales — including a $1M livestream. The secret? No template. Just personality, presence, and edutainment over polish.

👉 And if you’re ready to prove the real revenue impact of channels like TikTok, Fospha helps brands connect upper-funnel content to lower-funnel conversions across DTC and marketplaces.

👀 What the Team’s Sharing

Live takeaways the team shared on LinkedIn during the event.

💬 Here are some exclusive insights from brand leaders

🔥 Here's more fresh takes straight from the floor

@clickz_official

Will Frank (Director of Growth) and Cassidy Boylan (Junior Paid Social Strategist) from @AS Beauty Group joined us at The Lead Summit to s... See more

@clickz_official

Stephenie Hedges, Director of Retail at Shady Rays Polarized Sunglasses, joined us at The Lead Summit to share what brought her team to th... See more

@clickz_official

Aria Hall, Store Lead at @Little Words Project , stopped by for a quick chat at The Lead Summit with us. She shared what the brand hopes t... See more

That’s a wrap on TLS 2025 — but we’re not done yet.

Over the weekend, we’ll be dropping more insights, deeper interviews, and bold takes from the C-suite and beyond. Keep an eye on your inbox.

The Unofficially Lead Summit Team

ClickZ is a ClickZ Media publication in the Events division