Customer Brand Trip
Turn loyal customers into celebrated participants in a brand experience
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 90%
Customer Brand Trip adapts the hospitality of an influencer trip for selected customers. Anchor the campaign to a meaningful occasion, publish a clear entry route, select participants as promised, and host a manageable pilot that makes customers the central guests. Combine private hospitality with a broader community event, product access, and content capture. The mechanism links recognition, participation, and storytelling: selected customers receive an exceptional experience, the wider community can join part of it, and the brand gains authentic material rooted in customer relationships. Saunders described Fate's Lucky Seven campaign, where orders using a birthday code entered a draw, seven Australian customers were selected at random, and the first trip stayed in Newcastle to reduce complexity. She said the campaign generated substantial content and enduring friendships among the seven guests.
Origin
Extracted from The Foundr Podcast
Core principles
- 01Customers can be treated as the stars of a brand experience
- 02A distinctive campaign should still fit the brand's identity
- 03A local pilot reduces complexity before a larger trip
- 04Shared experiences can produce relationships as well as content
How to run it
- 1
Anchor the occasion
Choose a campaign moment with a natural story, such as an anniversary, and connect the experience to that occasion.
Pro tip Let the occasion shape the name and number of participants.
Watch out A theme without brand relevance can feel manufactured.
- 2
Publish the entry route
Explain who may enter, what action counts, how winners will be selected, and any geographic limits.
Pro tip Use a trackable code if purchase-linked entry is lawful and appropriate in the relevant jurisdiction.
Watch out Obtain legal review of promotion and competition terms before launch.
- 3
Select as promised
Choose participants using the stated method and retain evidence that the selection matched the rules.
Pro tip Tell winners what participation and content capture will involve before they commit.
Watch out Do not quietly substitute high-spending or camera-friendly customers for a promised random selection.
- 4
Pilot close to home
Use a location the team understands so the first version has lower travel and operating complexity.
Pro tip Build the destination around the brand's real roots rather than copying an overseas influencer trip.
Watch out Do not scale geography before the team can deliver the experience reliably.
- 5
Design the experience
Plan accommodation, meals, personal touches, community activities, and any product reveal as one coherent guest journey.
Pro tip Include a wider ticketed or open community moment if capacity permits.
Watch out Hospitality must remain valuable even if little usable content is produced.
- 6
Capture and evaluate
Document the experience with consent, then review customer response, relationships, content, orders, and operational load.
Pro tip Look for participant relationships that continue after the event as a community signal.
Watch out Do not report attention or content volume as profit without measuring the campaign costs and sales.
In the wild
For Fate's seventh birthday, customers who ordered with the Lucky Seven code entered an Australia-only draw. The team randomly selected seven customers, hosted them in Newcastle with hotel rooms, meals, hair and makeup, and then brought them into a 250-customer party with gifts and an early Glazy lip-oil reveal.
→ Saunders said the campaign generated substantial content, delighted the community, and led to continuing friendships among the seven participants.
Common mistakes
Copying an influencer trip
The differentiator is making customers central, not reproducing the same guest list and format used by other brands.
Starting too far from home
A complex international first version adds risk before the team knows how to deliver the experience.
Treating guests as content props
The experience should create genuine customer value and relationships, with content as a consent-based result rather than the sole purpose.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for established consumer brands with an engaged community, a clear occasion, and the budget to host customers well.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for early brands without repeat customers, operational capacity, or clear competition terms.
From the transcript
“let's not do influencers, let's do customers instead”
“we'll start small”
“the amount of content that we got out of that was amazing”
From the episode
568: No Experience, No Investors, 5 x Million Dollar Businesses - How Brittney Saunders Did it
Brittney Saunders