How Katseye Created the Marketing campaign of the 12 months (HBBIP #103)

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Look of us, I’m simply gonna lower proper to the chase: in case it wasn’t clear from the title, it is a weblog publish about Katseye. 

As someone who spends most of his waking life monitoring efficiency numbers for varied model actions and explaining what these numbers imply (usually large quantity = good, however not all the time!), lots of people have requested me about Hole’s latest Katseye marketing campaign. These asks have been each inside and exterior, each in my skilled capability and from buddies who’re vaguely conscious of what it’s I do.

Persons are even coming as much as me on the street and saying, “Alex, this Katseye factor—what are the numbers? The numbers, man! What do they imply?”

That isn’t truly taking place, fortunately. Nevertheless it virtually seems like it’s, and that is my e-newsletter, so certain, let’s simply say that my adoring public is clamoring for solutions.

Anyway, to present context for these of you receiving emails beneath these rocks you’re residing below, in August 2025 Hole unveiled a flotilla of fashion-forward fall types, centered totally on the model’s denim assortment, fronted by ‘international woman group’ Katseye. That includes members of the band, who hail from all around the world, dancing to Kelis’ 2003 track about milkshakes and boys in yards and whatnot, the advert rapidly grew to become a brilliant mega viral sensation, partially as a result of lots of people felt that it stood in distinction to a sure different denim-themed advert that launched across the identical time.

However we’re not right here to dwell on the negatives, or get sued! We’re right here to intensify the positives. And boy, are there lots of positives for Hole to intensify.

The Biggest Model Collaboration of All Time (of the Week (but it surely May Truly Be of All Time)): Hole

There’s all the time a sure threat to writing these kinds of newsletters. I all the time really feel a little bit trepidation. In any case, I’m positing a particular marketing campaign as one thing be-all and end-all, however what if the numbers don’t bear that out? What if our knowledge reveals that this complete Katseye factor was only a drop within the bucket?

Effectively, that will even be an fascinating story, however it might 1. Battle with lots of different reporting on the subject, and a pair of. Not be what individuals need to hear. So there will surely be some doubt forged on our findings.

Right this moment will not be a kind of situations. You already know that I’m all in regards to the sizzling takes, so right here’s the most well liked take of all for you: individuals had been, the truth is, speaking and/or dancing about this complete Katseye factor.

Let’s take a protracted view and have a look at Hole’s content material quantity within the U.S. since January 2020. We need to get fairly granular, so we’re going to go month by month. See in case you can pinpoint Katseye’s influence:

Hole Put up Rely: January 2020 – August 2025

Effectively alright then. Appears like one thing in August 2025 was liable for including about 2.5k posts to Hole’s month-to-month whole. 

However I additionally need to level out that Hole was already trending upward previous to August. For as a lot as we give the Katseye marketing campaign its flowers, it’s necessary to notice that the second got here on the heels of lots of model progress and funding in creators from Hole. In any case, as any marketer is aware of, it’s by no means simply in regards to the second: it’s about all of the moments that result in the second.

Hole Variety of Creators: January 2020 – August 2025

This long-term momentum is additional confirmed by Hole’s creator depend, which doesn’t fairly double between July and August, however comes fairly shut. (In actual fact, 3.3k of Hole’s 4.2k creators in August hadn’t posted in regards to the model in the course of the earlier month.) So it seems that Katseye does, the truth is, convey all of the creators to the yard.

Okay, up to now we’re seeing a reasonably clear upswing, however nothing loopy, IMHO. It is a model having a giant second, however not essentially one of many largest moments of all time, proper? Do we’ve got any numbers that present one thing like that?

Hole Engagements: January 2020 – August 2025

Oh.

On first look, that chart does appear fairly lopsided. However when you dive deeper into the numbers, it truly turns into extraordinarily lopsided. Listed below are two details to place issues in perspective:

• In July, Hole collected 3.7M engagements. In August, that quantity was 53.5M. That’s a month-over-month enchancment of 1,341%.
• These 53.5M engagements had been roughly equal to the cumulative whole of the prior 11 months: from September 2024 to July 2025, Hole netted 54.2M engagements. To beat in a single month what you’ve finished up to now yr is one yardstick for a profitable marketing campaign.

We noticed an identical, although barely much less pronounced, surge in impressions:

Hole Impressions: January 2020 – August 2025

Once more, “barely much less pronounced” is all relative. That is only a paltry 569% month-over-month enchancment, which begs the query: was Hole even attempting?

I feel it’s fairly telling that Hole noticed a sharper spike in engagements, moderately than impressions, surrounding its Katseye marketing campaign. That discrepancy demonstrates that individuals weren’t simply noticing the marketing campaign, or broadly conscious of it—they had been, nicely, participating with it: speaking about it, liking it, sharing it. As a rule, they had been loving it. In actual fact, over my decade or so within the area, Hole’s work with Katseye stands out as maybe probably the most extensively and passionately embraced marketing campaign that I’ve ever noticed. It grew to become a part of the discourse in the very best method, a uncommon feat amid an period when dialog typically appears to swirl round what divides us, moderately than all the explanations we’re stronger collectively.

Anyway, earlier than this article will get canceled, listed here are some extra graphs:

Breakdown of Hole’s Impressions

It is a breakdown of the place Hole’s impressions got here from in August: an virtually picture-perfect 60-40 break up between TikTok and Instagram. I used to be shocked {that a} better proportion didn’t come from TikTok, given how this stuff normally play out. Then I took a have a look at the breakdown of Hole’s August engagements:

Breakdown of Hole’s Engagements

Whereas engagements are normally dominated by Instagram, on this case we discover that TikTok drove a better share. That is additional proof of not solely the ample dialog surrounding Hole’s marketing campaign, however the place this dialog was going down. And by dialog, I imply creators syncing their dances to the dances in the business. I’m fairly certain it was unlawful to be on TikTok in late August and never be doing the dances.

Oh, and since I stated ‘late August’ simply now, right here’s another factor about Hole’s Katseye marketing campaign to make it much more spectacular: creators first began mentioning it on August 18th. So actually we’re taking a look at its influence over not even a full month, however moderately a two-week timescale.

Let’s all give a spherical of applause, a bow, and that twirly hand factor to Hole, and to Katseye. Typically you may’t totally plan for the context through which a marketing campaign is launching, and capturing lightning in a bottle all the time takes a little bit of luck. However by studying the room, tapping into the zeitgeist, and discovering a model companion that not solely displays its values but in addition makes for viral, participating content material, you may considerably improve your possibilities of success. Hole did all that, and the numbers don’t lie: it made for a marketing campaign like few others I’ve ever seen.

Now in case you’ll excuse me, I’ve a dance to be taught.

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