E110: Why Cadence Sends Hats Instead of Discount Codes

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.

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Motion Creative Benchmarks 2026
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Richpanel
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Aftersell
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Prescient AI
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Chapters
00:00:00 500% Growth, Lean Team
00:06:51 Built the Site Himself
00:14:56 Cadence’s Meta Ad Rules
00:18:59 Niche First, Scale Later
00:22:11 Three Cans in One Year
00:28:40 Reading the Retail Shelf
00:32:07 From Represent to Cadence
00:38:15 The Free Gift That Hooked
00:43:40 GWP Unit Economics
00:46:08 Retail & Measurement
00:51:44 CM2, LTV & Payback
00:55:15 DTC vs Retail Budgets
00:58:49 Why Launch With a Can
01:01:25 Gels as Acquisition
01:05:22 Subscribers Are Gold
01:06:35 What Athletes Deliver
01:09:05 Micro Creator Flywheel