Pros and cons of a big social push

When a brand starts saturating my feed, I take note.

Grüns - the superfood gummy startup - is everywhere right now with paid ads. When I open Instagram, I get flooded with ads froml highly recognizable talent like Bethenny Frankel, Chelsea Handler, Hannah Brown, Remi Bader, and Val Chmerkovskiy endorsing it. The creative is super consistent: same packaging, same pain points (bloat, convenience, nutrition), same testimonial-style delivery talking to camera while showing the product in use.

As someone who has built and scaled influencer programs for years, here are some pros and cons on what stands out:

1. This is a deliberate blitz, fueled by significant VC dollars. High spend requires solid fundamentals: strong margins, low churn, robust supply chain and retail presence. Grüns appears to have those in place. However, this strong of a push can negatively impact consumer trust by prompting a surge of skeptics.

2. They’re betting on big name creators over traditional media. By putting recognizable faces at the center, they collapse awareness, education, and trust into a single content unit. I think the missing link is earned endorsements (it’s all paid celeb-tier voices, don’t know that I believe them) and selecting more believable talent who would actually take this product. 

3. This is style of execution is something many brands consider. No event, no mailer, just approachable, talking in the kitchen like a friend style ads. Keep it simple, right?

The weight loss and GLP-1 health messaging adds a relevant hook, and this format makes the ads a rinse and repeat for execution. It’s one campaign brief. Is it memorable? Yes. The brand went from zero to hundred fast. I didn’t know them before this ad. It does provide some social proof (“I saw this from my favorite creator / celeb / friend”). However, there is risk in pushing this hard with paid media where could make consumers want to buy it, or it could push them away entirely.

What I’m asking myself, and where I’d love the perspective from other marketers:

👉 When brand taps creators this way, does it actually drive return, or does it just add noise? Will it have a counter effect and push people away? Is this the future of brand building, or simply the latest well-funded test?

Original post on LinkedIn here.