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How Guerrilla Marketing Turned a Wild Coat into a DTC Success

Built for the slopes, grown through word-of-mouth—Wildcoat’s playbook.

What do you get when you cross an old bear costume with a snowy ski slope?

For Carlo DiMeo, it sparked a brand. A Christmas gift turned into Wildcoat, a winter apparel company built not in boardrooms but on ski lifts, lodge patios, and the backs of friends.

In this week’s episode of DTC Daily Podcast, Carlo shares how guerrilla marketing and face-to-face buzz transformed a quirky idea into a beloved winter brand.

📈 The Growth Driver: Guerrilla Marketing in the Wild

Wildcoat didn’t start with billboards or ad spend. It started with 10–15 friends wearing the product, talking to people, and selling coats—literally off their backs.

Here’s how it worked:
No booths. Just casual conversations at winter events
QR-code stickers handed out to spark curiosity
Friends wearing coats, creating moments, and drawing questions
If someone wanted one, they’d buy it right there and then

Instead of shouting their story online, they walked it into the crowd. That human connection made Wildcoat memorable and magnetic.

🎥 UGC and Real Customer Love

Once the buzz started, Wildcoat kept the flywheel turning:

  • They made it easy to share: fast support, easy exchanges, and a reason to talk

  • UGC flowed in organically, driven by how the coats made people feel fun, cozy and different

  • The team embraced feedback to improve the product and experience

Wildcoat’s approach wasn’t flashy. It was personal, nimble, and authentic and it paid off.

🧠 Carlo’s Advice for Founders

“The best feedback is a stranger’s smile. If it gets attention in the real world, you’ve got something.”

So what can you learn from Wildcoat’s journey?
Lead with the product—in public.
Make real-world buzz your first marketing channel.
Let fun drive function.

🎧 Listen to the full episode to learn how Wildcoat made a fun and unique idea into a business reality. Watch on YouTube

👉Amazon

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