Episode
500% Growth: Inside Cadence’s DTC and Retail Playbook
- Podcast
- Marketing Operators
- Published
- May 5, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 4405
- Processing state
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Summary
Can you build a sports brand by saying no to most customers? Matty Martin (Head of Marketing, Cadence) joins Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge), and Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad), to break down what it takes to scale one of the fastest-growing sports hydration brands from scratch. Matty shares how he went from setting up the Shopify site himself to leading a full marketing team; all while sending every single email the company puts out. They dig into why Cadence stays focused on the athlete and resists chasing the hangover angle, how three redesigns in one year tripled sales at GNC, and the free-gift mechanic that pushed their subscription rate from 30% to 75%. Matty also walks through the brand’s expansion into Target and Walmart, its approach to omnichannel measurement, and why Candence’s athlete partnerships drive retail credibility as much as awareness. Powered By Motion Creative Benchmarks 2026 https://motionapp.com/thumbstop-pulse/creative-benchmarks-2026?utm_campaign=marketing-operators&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=creative-benchmarks-2026&utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5 Rivo https://www.rivo.io/operators Prescient AI https://www.prescientai.com/operators Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/