On this episode, we're joined by Kiera Kehoe, Brand Manager at Smash Kitchen - the organic condiments and cooking oils brand co-founded by actor Glenn Powell.
Kiera previously built and ran Lift Off, a demo and merchandising agency covering roughly 40 states, and honed her brand management chops at cool brands like Zack's Mighty.
We dive into the real mechanics of building and running a demo program from the ground up. Kiera walks through how she thinks about budget allocation (sponsored search first, demos second), when brands should start demoing (three to four months after launch, not day one), and which categories see the best demo ROI - impulse-priced items like snacks and beverages versus low-margin singles where the math rarely works.
We get into how to find, hire, and motivate top brand ambassadors (referrals first, Facebook groups second), the case for starting with an agency before building in-house, and how to diligence demo agencies by asking where their strongest regions are. Kiera also talks candidly about the realities of scaling a national demo program, including why most brands eventually have to pull back on demo spend around the two-year mark as they move into conventional retail.
---------------
Episode Highlights:
🛒 How Lift Off demo agency was born from Zack's Mighty
🎯 Two marketing buckets: like your brand vs. buy your product
💰 Budget priority: sponsored search first, demos second
📊 Metrics that matter (samples distributed, sales, reorders)
🍟 Demoing frozen products (the tater tot air fryer story)
🤝 Why ambassadors are your best source of store-level intel
🎨 Table setup details that actually drive traffic
📋 Reporting with Piñata and why feedback is everything
🔍 How to find great brand ambassadors (referrals and Facebook groups)
⚠️ Agency vs. in-house: when to make the switch
🚀 Scaling a national demo program with regional agencies
📈 The two-year compounding effect at Whole Foods
👀 The future of demos and co-demoing to cut costs
---------------
Table of Contents:
00:00 – Intro
00:32 – How Lift Off demo agency started
03:08 – What a great demo actually accomplishes
04:08 – Biggest misconceptions about demos
05:14 – Common mistakes brands make with demos
06:47 – When demos make sense (and when they don't)
08:16 – Categories where demos work best
09:54 – Demoing frozen and cooked products
11:24 – Allocating marketing budget to demos
13:01 – Choosing which stores to demo at
13:45 – What a great demo setup looks like
15:17 – Reporting and tracking ROI with Piñata
16:06 – Metrics that matter during and after demos
18:10 – What makes a great brand ambassador
19:34 – How to motivate and incentivize ambassadors
20:53 – Where to find top brand ambassadors
22:13 – Agency vs. in-house demo teams
24:22 – How to diligence a demo agency
25:58 – In-store realities and what goes wrong
29:04 – Common consumer objections at demos
30:16 – Scaling a national demo program
32:04 – Core tools for running a demo program (Piñata, Gusto)
33:16 – The future of demos
34:25 – Wrap up
---------------
Links:
Smash Kitchen – https://smashkitchen.com/
Follow Kiera on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kieragk/
Follow Smash Kitchen on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/smash-kitchen/
Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/
For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out https://www.kitprint.co/
