CASE STUDY
Rent the Runway
I built RTR’s College Ambassador Program from scratch and grew it to 500 students within 1 year, resulting in meaningful acquisition gains.
Rent the Runway is the first rental platform for designer fashion. They just launched a membership program and were struggling to reach Gen Z consumers.
The Problem
College students only represented 2% of RTR’s customer base.
Brand awareness was low. RTR’s traditional marketing playbook–which focused on email and paid marketing–wasn't resonating. I needed to figure out how to acquire the next generation of RTR subscribers.
What I Did
I conduced extensive customer and competitive research to inform my approach. A key learning: authenticity is key, so an Ambassador Program became the foundation of our college marketing strategy.
I piloted a College Ambassador Program with 50 students (and no budget) to validate if this could be an effective marketing channel for RTR. It gained traction quickly. Incorporating real-time feedback from ambassadors, I grew the program to 150, 300, and ultimately 500 students across 75 campuses over the course of 3 semesters.
In the process, I introduced new systems–including Monthly Marketing Toolkits and a Campus Leader Team Structure–to unlock operating efficiencies.
Program Results
Generated +400% Increase in College Orders in Year 1
The program directly contributed to new customer acquisition growth, resulting in a 400% increase in college-aged orders.
Maintained 80% Ambassador Engagement Rate
Sustained an 80% ambassador engagement rate while growing the program size by 10x, from 50 to 500 ambassadors.
Validated Ambassador as an Acquisition Channel for RTR
I went on to build a customer-wide RTR Ambassador program in DC, Boston, and Los Angeles, applying learnings from this work.
