Arctic Monkeys were one of the first bands to truly blow up on the internet. In 2004, they were just another indie band playing tiny gigs in Sheffield, handing out CD’s and free demos.

But fans took it from there - burning copies, uploading tracks to Myspace and spreading the word like wildfire. Within months, they had a huge fan base, sold-out shows and major press attention - all before getting a single spin on radio.

The internet-before-radio playbook gave Arctic Monkeys an edge, showing DJ’s, producers and record labels that people were paying attention to this band, so they should to. And then they took off.

Well - the same thing can happen for brands. Here’s the story of Moodi. I’m calling it…

This edition of supergoods is brought to you by Mind Control

The cat is out of the bag. See ya cat.

Today, I’m officially launch my next thing, a creative agency called Mind Control.

For the past 6+ months, we’ve been working with clients (in stealth mode), slowly building out a portfolio of brand and packaging work.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to start sharing case studies of our work but today, you can see the first few on our new website.

It’s only taken me this long because branding your own brand agency is DAMN HARD.

I hope you love it.

Brent.

A lesson in demand generation

I don’t care where you are in your journey, you’ll learn a lot from this story.

Women’s wellness brand Moodi has just launched a new better-for-you soda in NZ with a word-class playbook.

I had a chat with co-founder Kate Gatfield-Jeffries to uncover the details. Buckle up and notebooks out people, this is worth stealing.

How it started

Moodi started in co-founder Kate’s final year of uni out of frustration. Mental wellness products were either ineffective or felt like something from a hospital room. She wanted supplements that supported stress, sleep, energy, and focus - but also tasted amazing.

With no funding or FMCG experience, Kate and her co-founder Nick Ward built Moodi through community and direct 1-to-1 conversations. Customers shaped everything - flavours, packaging, formats - turning feedback into real-time progress.

By 2023, the brand had a solid foothold in the functional supplement space. Then they launched their gut health powder - and everything changed.

The breakthrough - another level

January 2023. Moodi launched a gut health powder built around a simple truth: gut health and mental health are connected. Probiotics were already a thing, but most products felt medicinal, not enjoyable. Moodi made something that worked clinically and tasted great.

It took off. Millions of servings sold in under a year. The format resonated - an easy-to-mix powder that made gut health feel more like a daily ritual than a chore. With flavours like Pink Lemonade and Blackcurrant Apple, the pre & probiotic powder was an instant hit.

But the continuous improvement mindset fostered. Customers kept asking for more flavour, more convenience and better availability.

Believe the hype - where it gets interesting

The evolution into RTD is obvious as a growth play. But they way they orchestrated the launch is like nothing I’ve seen before.

Instead of taking the standard retail-first approach, Moodi played to their strengths - direct-to-consumer community-building. They turned their audience into a distribution machine and executed one of the most effective product launches in recent memory.

Here’s what they did

1. 50,000 cans sampled in the past few weeks

The product was co-developed with their customers, collecting feedback throughout the process. It wasn’t built in silence and launched unexpectedly. People knew it was coming, but the only way to get it was a “free gift with purchase” via their website.

They’d had success with this style of giveaway and ‘surprise and delight’ mindset to gifting before, so they tied it into the launch and made the new product that everyone wanted available exclusively with a purchase of the powders. Genius.

I love this play because sampling can become expensive quickly. But if the customer is already buying something, already paying for shipping and already engaged, giving away a few free cans is super cost efficient AND effective.

Lesson 1: Sample to existing, engaged users, not randoms on the street.

2. Happy customers hype up retail buyers

It doesn’t stop there. Moodi is a new brand. Getting retail buyers engaged is a tough slog. But what they did instead was genius.

They rallied their fans to comment, tag, DM and email their local grocery stores. It hit hard and fast. THOUSANDS of messages flooded retailers requesting the product. I

Retailers biggest concern with new brands is whether it’ll move off shelf. This approach gave retailers confidence and they responded to demand with ranging and orders.

Lesson 2: Don’t be afraid to go for the ask. People will back you.

3. Purchase limits and scarcity

Kate called the response from customers “unhinged” (love it). They weren’t expecting people would show up so quickly. But they did. In droves. Stores were selling out.

Instead of just letting shoppers stock up and hoard product, they worked with retailers to implement a purchase limit. Not only was the limit agreed with retailers, but they engaged their fans and let them have their say too.

Although the limits slow down velocity, they help drive urgency, interest and hype. Short-term pain for long-term gain.

Lesson 3: Be creative with problems and control the narrative.

It’s not one genius move, but a mindset

I think the most interesting thing to takeaway from this story isn’t that Moodi is following a ‘tactic’ from a textbook, but that they are genuinely dialled in to their community.

They’ve built this brick by brick, without funding or external marketing agencies. Up until recently, Kate was the only person in the ‘marketing team’ and responded to every DM or message herself (they’ve recently had to hire a new resource to keep up with the sheer volume of community engagement).

I think this brand is one to watch.

If you’re a retailer/buyer, hit them up.

And if you enjoyed this story, share it with a friend or send it to your mum.