How to Sell Without a Single Review?
Netflix wins advertisers without breaking a sweat. Google loses another monopoly case. And how to sell when no one knows who you are yet.
📖 TODAY’S ISSUE:
🧵 Here’s your weekly dose of marketing trends, tools, and tactics to crush your goals:
🚀 Trending Now: Marketing News & Innovations
🛠️ Tool of the week
💡 AI Prompts & Productivity Hacks
🚀 Skill Boost: Marketing Mastery
📢 Sponsor This Marketing newsletter
Reach 4k+ engaged marketers who love actionable insights. We make sponsorships approachable, effective, and fun. If this sounds like a good fit, let’s connect!
🚀 TRENDING NOW : MARKETING NEWS AND INNOVATIONSNetflix says: Ads? Bring ’em on.
Despite fears of an ad slowdown, Netflix isn’t sweating it. Co-CEO Greg Peters told investors the streamer is seeing strong advertiser interest heading into its May upfronts. Netflix posted a 13% revenue jump in Q1, and while it skipped sharing subscriber numbers this time, it’s betting big on ads to drive future growth. With its $7.99 ad-supported tier and homegrown ad tech rolling out globally, Netflix plans to double ad revenue in 2025. It’s also expanding live events and eyeing new content formats like video podcasts.
What we think: Netflix is playing the ad game its own way—and it might just work. By staying small (for now) in the digital ad world, it’s insulated from economic bumps and poised to grab a bigger slice of the pie. Plus, with a growing content lineup and better monetization tools for creators, Netflix is trying to be the “premium YouTube” for brands and storytellers alike.
Judge rules Google’s ad-tech empire is illegal
A federal judge has ruled that Google’s dominance over parts of the online advertising ecosystem is illegal, marking a major antitrust blow to the tech giant. The court found that Google engaged in anticompetitive conduct to control publisher ad servers and ad exchange markets—violating the Sherman Act and harming publishers, competition, and consumers. It’s the third antitrust loss for Google in under two years, following rulings against its app store and search businesses. While Google plans to appeal, the decision could ultimately force it to sell off parts of its ad-tech operations.
Clash of Clans goes full heel with WWE star Cody Rhodes
Clash of Clans just suplexed its way into WrestleMania season with a villainous twist. The hit mobile game teamed up with WWE and current Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes for a cheeky ad campaign that merges the game's raiding chaos with wrestling theatrics. The spots reveal “Overlord Rhodes,” a dark alter ego inspired by the game—ironic for the famously heroic wrestler.
Created by David New York, the campaign speaks authentically to both WWE and Clash fans, tapping into Rhodes’ legit top-tier status as a player. With WrestleMania buzz and a surprise real-life heel turn from John Cena, the ads have hit 2.5M+ views—showing fans are loving this playful blend of kayfabe and gaming.
📢 Sponsor This Marketing newsletter
Reach 4k+ engaged marketers who love actionable insights. We make sponsorships approachable, effective, and fun. If this sounds like a good fit, let’s connect!
🏆 TOOL OF THE WEEKTaplio
Your LinkedIn growth assistant powered by AI.
Taplio helps you grow your personal brand on LinkedIn with AI-driven content creation, post scheduling, and analytics. It’s designed for marketers, founders, and creators looking to build influence without burning out. With tools to repurpose your tweets, generate post ideas, and manage outreach, Taplio makes LinkedIn marketing feel like less of a chore and more like a cheat code.
Perfect for: Personal brand builders, B2B marketers, and creators ready to level up on LinkedIn.
🧃 Case studyUNIQLO — Turning Heads with Hidden Codes
Background
UNIQLO isn’t your average fashion brand. Known for its LifeWear ethos high-quality, affordable essentials the Japanese retailer has become a global staple with over 1,000 stores. But in a market flooded with influencer hauls and flash sales, how do you make people stop, look up, and actually engage?
In 2024, UNIQLO answered with a campaign that didn’t just dress consumers—it made them chase the brand.
The Challenge: Stand Out Without Shouting
In a cluttered digital landscape where attention spans are shorter than a TikTok trend, UNIQLO needed more than another sleek ad to sell HEATTECH basics. It needed to disrupt consumer habits get them to pause in real life, interact, and walk away thinking, “Whoa, that was UNIQLO?”
The goal: Promote the HEATTECH line while capturing real-world and digital engagement in a fresh, sharable way.
The Strategy: Hide the Message in Plain Sight
The answer came through a campaign called "Uncover." It took the form of high-speed digital billboards in 100 high-traffic Australian locations displays so fast that viewers couldn’t perceive the hidden product codes unless they snapped a photo. It was a gamified experience in the wild.
The campaign’s flow was genius:
Snap the screen to catch a hidden 5-digit code.
Enter the code on a microsite that explained the product and offered a sample or discount.
Share the fun with friends via Facebook, YouTube, and beyond.
UNIQLO turned urban billboards into scavenger hunts and mobile devices into decode tools.
The Execution: Gamify Real Life
The creative agency tapped into a simple insight: We’re all glued to our phones anyway why not make them the key to the ad?
Rather than selling warmth through HEATTECH product specs, the campaign made people feel something. Curiosity. Playfulness. A rush of accomplishment when the code worked.
The messaging was subtle, but the engagement was bold. And because it was born to be shared, users spread it organically. No influencers needed just the thrill of participation.
The Results: Scroll-Stopping Impact
1.3 million video views across social platforms
25,000 new email subscribers
35,000 new customers acquired
4 million+ people reached
More than a campaign it became a social moment. A billboard became a memory. And a staple clothing line became an experience.
The Lesson: Don't Just Market—Play
UNIQLO reminded marketers of a powerful truth: The best campaigns aren’t just seen they’re felt. When you blend mystery with modern tech and make the audience the hero, you don’t just win attention you earn loyalty.
In a world full of noise, UNIQLO stood out by being unseen until you looked a little closer.
💡AI Prompts & productivity hacks Email Sequence Builder
Objective: Create a high-converting, multi-step email campaign that nurtures leads and drives conversions.
Prompt:
Act as an expert email marketer with experience in lifecycle marketing. Based on the product details, customer journey stage, and audience profile provided, craft a 3-part email sequence. Each email should include:
A compelling subject line
A clear objective (e.g., educate, convert, upsell)
Engaging body content with persuasive storytelling or value
A strong, action-oriented CTA
Personalization elements to enhance reader connection
Email 1: Awareness
Introduce the product/service and its benefits. Build curiosity.
Email 2: Consideration
Address pain points, share testimonials or use cases, and introduce offers.
Email 3: Decision
Create urgency (limited-time deal, scarcity), recap value, and push for conversion.
Product Details:
Product/Service Name: [Insert Name]
Description: [Brief description of what it does]
Main Benefits: [Key features or differentiators]
Target Audience:
Demographics: [Age, gender, profession, etc.]
Goals or Needs: [What they’re looking to solve or achieve]
Objections: [Why they might hesitate to buy]
Why it’s helpful:
This prompt ensures you build thoughtful email funnels that meet users at every step of the buyer journey, increase engagement, and convert cold leads into loyal customers.
🚀 Skill boost: marketing masteryThe No-Proof Playbook: How One Marketer Sold Without Reviews, Testimonials, or Hype
When Camille launched her first digital product—a time-saving Notion template for solo founders—she didn’t have a single review. No case studies. No star ratings. No “over 10,000 downloads” badges.
And that, she feared, was a deal-breaker.
In a world where buyers crave reassurance and 5-star proof, Camille faced the ultimate early-stage marketing paradox: You need social proof to sell, but you need sales to get social proof.
So instead of waiting for her first customers to magically appear, she got strategic.
The Gut Check: Why We Crave Proof in the First Place
Camille had studied Cialdini’s principles of persuasion. She knew we humans are tribal creatures—we want to know others like us have already tried (and liked) a product before we commit. Especially when we’re hit with 1,200+ marketing messages a day.
But she also knew something else: People don’t need proof. They need signals.
So she built two of the strongest.
Tactic #1: Signal Popularity with Social Selling Cues
No reviews? No problem. Camille turned to what behavioral marketers call Social Selling Cues—indirect indicators that other people are paying attention.
She took a page out of Red Bull’s playbook (yes, the trash-can trick) and applied it digitally:
Showed how many people had “favorited” the product
Highlighted “42 views in the last hour” next to the buy button
Added a message bubble: “5 people asked a question about this product today”
It felt alive. In-demand. Like something was happening on the page—even before a single verified review.
A 2023 study in the International Journal of Research in Marketing backs her up: showing view counts boosted purchase intent by 58%.
Tactic #2: Create FOMO with Dynamic Norms
Camille also leaned into Dynamic Norms—the subtle suggestion that more and more people are hopping on a new trend.
She didn’t say “Only 4 people bought this.” Instead, she said:
“Every week, more solopreneurs are switching to Notion to streamline their workflow.”
It wasn’t about what had happened. It was about what was starting to happen—and nobody wants to be left behind.
Psychological Science published a study that proved this worked: “More and more people are becoming vegetarians” doubled the choice of meatless meals vs. “4% are vegetarians.”
The Results: From Crickets to Conversions
Within 3 weeks of launching:
📈 1,200 site visits
📈 6.4% conversion rate (without any reviews)
📈 180+ email subscribers
📈 And, finally… her first 7 reviews.
The Takeaway: You Don’t Need Proof—You Need Perception
Camille didn’t lie. She didn’t fabricate sales. She just learned to shift perception. To tell a story of momentum—subtly, honestly, and smartly.
Because in early-stage marketing, the question isn’t “How do I prove I’m legit?” It’s “How do I feel like the next big thing—before I am?”
And if you get that right? The proof will come.