• by Nina Lentini , Staff Writer @Nina_Lentini, November 11, 2019

Attendees at our Brand Insider Summit D2C perked up when they heard from Mark Wynohradnyk, Brand Director of Gravity Products, which markets blankets. (Check them out, very interesting.)

The brand launched on Kickstarter in 2017 and garnered $5 million in 30 days. "We haven't taken additional funding," he said. "It's a fine balance of sustainability and scale." Besides using the obvious social channels like Facebook and Instagram and suffering from increasing costs there, Gravity has made some meaningful partnerships.

Last year, partnerships were 2% of its revenue. This year, they are 18%. "We're able to drive more value for our customer," he said. For the upcoming holiday season, Gravity has partnered with Purple, the mattress company. "It's an easy way to get our name out there without investing a ton of funds on the back end."

Wow! So obv but not.

Meanwhile, one of Wynohradnyk's panel partners, Sean Pate, spoke about partnerships as well. Pate, the brand communications officer at Zenni Optical, said the brand is exploring retail partnerships but does not foresee any Zenni storefronts. Speaking of which, it was noted, Warby Parker, another online vendor of eyewear, went from D2C to brick and mortar.

"Can you thrive, that is the ultimate question," he said. "Our company has so much educating to do. Branding is a big component for us."

To that end, Gravity is going to traditional channels. It started using radio last summer and saw incredible returns. It now has a partnership with IHeart Radio and traditional TV has become an amazing partner. Said Wynohradnyk, "We're looking at our media mix and also partnerships with retail" such as Bloomingdales.