Krissy Cela, founder of Oner Active, reveals how her decade as a fitness influencer and a highly effective ambassador program propelled her activewear brand to $200 million in just six years. This episode dissects Oner Active's strategy for cultivating a passionate community, leveraging user-generated content, and achieving massive ROI through authentic influencer marketing to drive rapid DTC growth.
Key takeaways
Implement a highly selective ambassador program that rewards top performers with affiliate opportunities, turning gifted products into a flywheel for sustained content and sales.
Prioritize gifting exclusive or unreleased products to ambassadors to generate hype and secure high-quality, authentic content that acts as strong social proof.
Leverage deep community understanding, gained from direct engagement as a creator, to inform product development and marketing, ensuring genuine resonance with your target audience.
Focus on a high ROI ambassador strategy: Oner Active generated 16 million impressions from just 100 gifted sets by empowering ambassadors to create user-generated content.
Build an engaged community first, as Krissy Cela did for 10 years, before launching a product to ensure a receptive and loyal customer base from day one.
Krissy Cela, the fitness influencer and founder of the activewear brand Oner Active, spent 10 years building up her expertise as a creator before finally launching her brand. That time spent researching, getting to know the community, and building an audience has paid off. Just six years of the brand's existence, it has already reached nearly $200 million in annual revenue. For this week's Glossy Podcast, Cela joined Glossy editor-in-chief Jill Manoff for a live recording from the stage of the Glossy E-Commerce Summit in Miami, where the discussion centered on how she's been able to scale up her brand so quickly. Part of that comes from her knowledge of the community. Oner Active's ambassadors program opens for applications once a year and routinely gets around over 30,000 applicants. “All of them are vetted, and then we send them a free set from the latest collection — no one else will have access to that collection," Cela said. "And in return, they’ll create content. I think we’ve created 16 million impressions across social when only gifting 100 sets,” she said, explaining the program’s high ROI. “The girl with the content that performs the best then becomes affiliated with the brand. [She can then
What does this episode say about influencer & creator?
Implement a highly selective ambassador program that rewards top performers with affiliate opportunities, turning gifted products into a flywheel for sustained content and sales.
What does this episode say about dtc strategy?
Prioritize gifting exclusive or unreleased products to ambassadors to generate hype and secure high-quality, authentic content that acts as strong social proof.
What does this episode say about brand & content?
Leverage deep community understanding, gained from direct engagement as a creator, to inform product development and marketing, ensuring genuine resonance with your target audience.
What does this episode say about paid acquisition?
Focus on a high ROI ambassador strategy: Oner Active generated 16 million impressions from just 100 gifted sets by empowering ambassadors to create user-generated content.
What does this episode say about influencer & creator?
Build an engaged community first, as Krissy Cela did for 10 years, before launching a product to ensure a receptive and loyal customer base from day one.
