‘No one in history has ever done anything great by following how it’s always been done’

We were thrilled to speak to Nick Saltarelli- founder of Mid-Day Squares, one of our favourite brands, about their journey to becoming an $100m brand.

‍

Here are some of the highlights- 

‍

‘There’s a lot more room in today’s day and age for authentic communication’

Mid-day Squares lead their social media content with- ‘follow us to watch us become one of the biggest chocolate companies ever, or crash and burn- we’re still not sure which one it’ll be’, they allow their fans to feel what they feel and go through the building of a business together, to connect.

The whole point of marketing is to have humans relate to what you are doing and feel connected to what you are putting out into the world, and vulnerability is a great way to do that.  They lift the curtain and show everything- highs and lows, personal and professional and as a result have a true community of brand fans who are genuinely invested in the business.

Taking inspiration from Elon Musk, Dragon’s Den and The Kardashians

Being extremely charismatic x lifting the curtain on business x sharing everything 

Mid-day Squares combine all three and when done well means they don’t need to do any ‘traditional marketing’   

Act like a music band 

‘We act like a music band, but instead of selling records we sell chocolate’ build genuine brand fans, not just consumers.

Invest in connection

Initially they would send out personalised polaroids with every DTC order, when that became too much one of the founders mums took over and wrote a personalised note- she’s now done over 600,000- there’s no reason a brand of any size can’t do small personal touches 

Un-average inputs lead to un-average outcomes

Mid-day Squares saw the opportunity to do something in refrigerated, one of the toughest parts of the store- going against the grain, but the power in doing something hard and hairy like that is you get to create your own rules, and live in your own little world that no one else is living in.  

Be fearless 

Be willing to lose it all- fearlessness will show in the work you put out, people can sense when you are playing from a place of fear.  When you start to have the boldness of bearing responsibility as a leader you create a real culture, not a culture you write on a piece of paper and tell people to follow.  

‍

Lean into what makes you un-replicatable 

They can’t compete with the big four chocolate companies on making and distributing chocolate, but they can be the best in the world at making people feel something. Work out what it is you can be the best in the world at. 

‍