Thursday, October 16th

📊 Did you know?

Snapchat users took over 1 trillion selfies in 2024. That’s roughly 30,000 selfies every second 🤳

(Snapchat, 2025)

🍹 How 818 Tequila Won College Campuses

We’ve talked about 818 Tequila before — and their smart mix of influencer marketing and lifestyle branding.

But last week, they made a HUGE splash online through their college campus program.

Here’s what happened 👇

Their latest college tour turned the Texas vs. Oklahoma rivalry game into a full-blown 818 Tailgate Takeover ; and it paid off:
💥 3,200+ students attended
🎥 3.7M+ total views across social
📸 Thousands of UGC posts and reshares flooded feeds within 48 hours

Here’s why it worked (and what marketers can learn) 👇

🏈 Join trends to boost virality

818 didn’t manufacture hype → they joined one. By embedding themselves in the Red River Rivalry, they captured energy and visibility already peaking.

drink818

1M followers

View more on Instagram

💡 Lesson: Ride existing moments your audience already cares about. It’s cheaper, faster, and 10× more authentic than trying to create your own.

🍸 Bet on the product, not just the hype

Free tequila cocktails weren’t just a stunt → they were strategy.
818 knows that when your product is genuinely good, the smartest marketing move is simply to get it into people’s hands.

If students already like how it tastes, 818 becomes their go-to choice the next time they buy for a party.

And where better to create that connection than at an event filled with fun, friends, and good memories?

💡 Lesson: Focus on the product experience first. When people feel the brand in a great moment, loyalty follows naturally.

💛 Leverage founder fame for virality

818 didn’t have to fly in dozens of creators ; they brought Kendall Jenner, and that was enough.

When your ambassador has 37% of her audience aged 18–24, and she shows up in person at a college tailgate handing out tequila and playing beer pong, UGC creates itself.

Students weren’t there because of influencers → they became the influencers.

And sure, not every brand can book Kendall Jenner ❌ 

💡 But the lesson holds: if your event delivers a genuine experience people want to remember, they’ll post it for you.

🤝 Smart brand collabs to reach new audiences

818 partnered with Uber Eats, Set Active, Kylie Cosmetics, Tower 28 Beauty, and Khloud, blending communities while sharing budgets.

And it worked! Why? Good targeting: 33%+ of Set Active’s followers already follow Kendall Jenner, showing clear brand affinity.

Set Active’s audience is 93% female and Gen Z-dominant (18–34), perfectly aligned with 818’s young, social-first consumers — and the brand itself is growing fast (+7.6% follower growth since April).

💡 Lesson: Co-branding isn’t just cost-sharing. It’s precision audience targeting.

💬 As Kathleen Braine, CMO of 818 Spirits, put it:

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