Launch an influencer campaign for meal kit brands
I scroll Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube under a fresh account if I’m marketing a meal kit brand. I try to put myself in this person’s shoes: the client's customer is US English, 28-42, already bounced off HelloFresh they cancelled after the fridge filled with plastic and a grocery delivery that still required cooking at 8pm, watches 'I cancelled HelloFresh' and 8pm-what-is-for-dinner videos after work. Linger, save, like, and comment as if I were them. Once the algorithm is trained I take whoever keeps showing up. Ideally over 50k average views. Below that they quote $700 a post for 1k views. That’s a money sink.
You already have the client. You keep the retainer. I scroll Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube as your client's customer on real phones. Scout is $1,500/month. We find creators. Outreach is $2,500 if I should send the emails. Dealmaker is $5,000 if I should negotiate and paper the deal. Creator pay is extra. No demo. No download guarantee. I wrote the long version at How I find influencers.
Where people actually look
How I actually launch
01
Not a demographic. I paid to fill the fridge with plastic I threw away on Thursday. They already tried HelloFresh they cancelled, a grocery delivery that still meant 8pm cooking, and frozen trays they felt sad eating. Skip the homesteading creator who will mock a kit on principle. Adjacent is 8pm panic, plastic-fridge shame, not homestead flex. Steal the brief if you want.
02
Fresh account. Real phones. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Linger, save, like, comment as if I were them. Once the algorithm is trained I take whoever keeps showing up. Ideally over 50k average. Example: someone opening a fridge of uncooked kit bags on trash night. Signal: the same 8pm-panic face two weeknights.
03
I prefer email. The contact is usually in a bio that is not a 6-kit Linktree. Just send a short note. Name a real video. Ask for the phone number. Don’t start the deal over email. Meal-kit affiliates quote the last brand's rate card. If they won’t give a number, move on.
04
Pay $X for N posts with a floor of Y views. An example that is easy to hold: $2000 / 4 posts / 1M views. Then send the contract while it’s still fresh. A real box on camera, not a studio kitchen with a competitor's bag blurred. Open Tuesday's bag at 8pm, cook it, drop the code. Show the empty fridge after.
Why most first meal kit brands campaigns stall
01
Meal-kit affiliates quote the last brand's rate card. You needed a lot of other names so you could move on. Cancel-rants already have the audience; a 3-meal box that actually gets eaten is the demo.
02
People tag #mealkit when they want brands to find them. A database tells you who exists. Your customer lives in a feed you never opened. A studio cook with no delivery bag.
03
Many times I have read something unprofitable like “$700 a post” from a creator that gets 50k views. On a call I can explain a Minimum View Guarantee. Over email you just get the first number. Do not ask them to cook a 90-minute recipe. Ask them to cook Tuesday's bag after work.
What you actually buy
Every plan includes the scrolling. Pay more and I do more of the emailing and the paperwork. Creator pay is extra. No demo. No download guarantee. The client's live subscription page, real delivery window.
Scout
$1,500/month
We find creators.
Most people start here
Outreach
$2,500/month
We find relevant creators, and do outreach.
Dealmaker
$5,000/month
Outreach, then negotiation and contracts.
Billed monthly, cancel anytime. Creator compensation is not included. You approve every creator and every rate. Measurement is codes on a live box checkout.
Questions
You can learn vocabulary that way. People tag what they want brands to find. I still scroll as your client's customer on a fresh account and take whoever keeps showing up. The method essay is How we find creators by scrolling a real TikTok avatar.
No. Anyone who does is lying or running paid. I do the scrolling and, on Outreach and Dealmaker, the contacting. You still approve every creator and every rate. Talent is extra. No demo. No download guarantee.
Meal-kit affiliates quote the last brand's rate card. I want roughly 50k average views or the economics usually break. Below that, $700 a post for 1k views is a money sink. On a call I can explain a Minimum View Guarantee. Example: $2000 / 4 posts / 1M views. Over email you just get the first number. If they will not give a number, move on. If you do this right, ie at scale, you will have many other creators to choose from.
No. It is a different job. The tag is every meal-kit affiliate who already posted HelloFresh last month. I read the session your client's customer actually gets served. Product page for the general job: campaigns.