Case Study: Graza

Why Was Graza Unique, and What Made Them Stand Out?

Graza entered a crowded olive oil market (typically glass bottles, serious tone, premium price) and shook up expectations in several ways:

• Unconventional Packaging + Everyday Use: Graza’s signature squeeze bottle design stood out in a marketplace filled with glass bottles and dark labels. The design is functional (easy to use in cooking), bold (bright accents, playful fonts), and approachable. It reduced friction—no need to unscrew glass lids mid-stir, less mess, more usability. This packaging made olive oil feel less like a pantry luxury and more like a daily kitchen essential.

• Accessible Premiumity: While many high-quality olive oils are expensive and feel exclusive, Graza positioned itself with bold flavor (Picual olives from Spain), premium quality, yet at a price point and experience that feels more everyday.

• Organic, Community-Driven Growth: They launched with influencer gifting, strong content (recipes, cooking tips), and cultivated enthusiastic word-of-mouth rather than pouring big budgets into ads. Early weeks saw ~$100K revenue without paid ads.

• Lifestyle & Aesthetic Appeal: The visuals are clean, warm, modern. Graza’s social content, product design, and messaging are playful and culinary-inspired rather than overly formal. Their branding invites exposure — bottles showing up in influencer-cooking videos, in kitchens, across social media.

  

Their Detailed Marketing Strategy

Here are the core pillars of how Graza built its brand and grew quickly:

1. Pre-launch Product Seeding & Influencer Gifting
   Before launching, Graza reached out to food creators and influencers—about 25 bottles per week. These weren’t micro-influencers forced to follow scripts, but genuine food lovers. The gifting had little strings attached. Some posts happened; many didn’t initially, but the buzz grew organically. Molly Baz and Backyard Eats are names often mentioned.

2. Organic Social & User-Generated Content (UGC)
   After launch, Graza leaned heavily on UGC. Home cooks, chefs, creators used the bottle, showed recipes, drizzled oil in cooking videos. Graza reposts this content. Social media, especially Instagram and TikTok, became channels not just for push messaging but for community display.

3. Strong Email & Content Marketing
   They used email extensively, building a list before launch via landing pages. Their emails maintain the brand voice (warm, inviting, food-lover), with good open rates (50%+). Their blog ("Glog") features recipes, education on olive oil, features with chefs, etc., all driving both trust and acquisition.

   

4. Strategic Product Roadmap & Innovation
   They began with two core oils (“Drizzle” finishing oil, “Sizzle” cooking oil), then introduced refill beer-cans (for sustainability and novelty) and more formats (sprays, jugs) to meet different use cases.

   

5. Retail Expansion Balanced with DTC
   Graza started Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) but also made sure to get into grocers like Whole Foods, Target, etc. For new product launches (like the cans), they used creator outreach + social education + email to prepare demand before actual store rollout.

6. Selective Paid Marketing & Budget Discipline
   Even as growth took off, Graza kept paid ad spend modest. For instance, when olive-oil input costs spiked, they reduced marketing spend (from ~12.5% of gross revenue to ~5%) and focused more on organic channels, trusting their community and reputation to deliver reach.

How Can Other Business Owners Use/Implement This in Their Business?

Here are concrete ways to adapt Graza’s strategy across industries or niches:

• Start with seeding, not selling: Before offering your product broadly, send it out to creators or enthusiasts who deeply understand or appreciate what you do. Let them share it authentically, without strict scripts.

• Design for usage + aesthetic: Packaging that feels useful and beautiful helps. Graza’s squeeze bottle + refill cans combine function and visual appeal. Think about your product’s everyday usage, and make packaging align with lifestyle visuals.

• Invest in content & email acquisition early. Building your audience pre-launch (via email signups, landing page), producing high quality content (blogs, recipes, tips), and engaging via email can often outperform early paid ads.

• Be intentional with paid vs organic mix: If you can acquire customers or awareness organically, scale that first. Use paid in targeted moments (product launches, retail rollout) instead of constant ad spend.

• Product roadmap that meets real user needs: Products beyond your initial offering should solve real use-cases (refills, different formats, convenience, sustainability). Each new launch heightens momentum.

• Retail + DTC integration: Starting DTC provides brand control and margins. But getting into retail helps with reach and credibility. Use DTC to gather feedback, drive narratives, then support retail with content & community.

Takeaways

• Authentic aesthetics + usability = cultural fit: Graza’s design (squeeze bottle, bold visuals) made it photogenic in real kitchens and on social media. Visuals that work naturally in people’s lives are extremely powerful.

• Organic growth can scale if grounded in product-market fit. Graza hit $100K in week one and $500K some months later without big ad spends, because the product + presentation + community were aligned.

• Low-constraint influencer & creator strategies often outperform tightly managed influencer campaigns because they come off more authentic. Let creators use your product in their natural context.

• Balancing growth with cost discipline matters—especially when input costs or operating costs are volatile. Graza’s decision to reduce paid ad percentage shows agile financial strategy.

• Innovative product extensions sustain interest: refill cans, new “Frizzle” high-heat oil format, subscription kits—all contribute to momentum and keep people engaged.