Let me tell you a story.

Actually, let me tell you four.

Four D2C brands-selling in crowded categories, burning cash on ads, fighting to stay visible in a sea of sameness-until they made one decision that changed everything:

They chose to become the most expensive product in their category.

Not accidentally. Not because of inflated operations. But deliberately.

And that one shift forced everything else to get better.

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1.Cinnamon Kitchen: What Happens When You Stop Trying to Sell to Everyone

Cinnamon Kitchen didn’t want to sell to everyone. In a category dominated by low-margin snacking and mass-market wellness, they made the boldest decision of all:

They shrunk their TAM on purpose.

• We removed all generic health claims and positioned each SKU around clear, functional rituals-digestion, diabetes, PCOS etc.
• Instead of trying to sell “healthy food,” we sold habit systems designed to compound.
• Meta ads weren’t turned off - they were turned strategic. Instead of spraying discounts, we ran paid campaigns designed to amplify already-converting stories and rituals.
• We raised the price. Removed discounts. And built trust through repetition, not urgency.
• The founder’s voice was embedded in everything- from product copy to retention emails.
• We added doctor-led breakdowns on PDPs and contextual packaging that explained exactly why each product was made.

Their main USP today is that they are India’s first PCOS-friendly bakery.
60% women in India have PCOS.
When one of these women chooses a healthy snack, they will buy from The Cinnamon Kitchen over other competitors even though the ingredients could be the same, in spite of TCK being 30% more expensive than competitors. That’s positioning.

Their AOV went up. CAC went down. LTV increased. But more importantly-they now own a category no one else is willing to touch. (and doing upwards of 1.5Cr in monthly revenue at consistently healthy ROAS)

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2.Just Human: Science, Simplified

Just Human didn’t just sell products. They sold transformation.

But “transformation” is hard to quantify-unless you build systems that show it.

• We repositioned the brand around measurable skin health using their AI-powered Skin Analyzer.
• Instead of selling SKUs, we sold outcomes.
• Their hero product wasn’t shampoo or serum-it was the 30-Second Foot Facial. An unexpected, highly demonstrable product that gave instant gratification.
• We built landing pages around that experience.
• We focused email flows on education and science-backed rituals.
• Photography showed texture, transformation, and efficacy-not vanity.
• Reddit posts and blog content spoke to real problems like pH imbalance and barrier restoration.

When you connect science to story, price becomes secondary. 

Achieved 3x orders (at a 30% lower AOV) without increasing advertising budgets

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3.Durva Life: Ayurveda Without the Incense

Ayurveda brands tend to follow the same playbook: rustic visuals, mythological undertones, earthy packaging.

We said: screw that.

Durva became Bio-Intelligent Wellness-where tradition meets clinical edge.

• Design overhaul introduced minimalism, not mysticism.
• Copy became clear, punchy, and confident. No more “ancient secrets.”
• Product names felt like tech stacks, not temple chants.
• Credibility via practitioners on call, on video, on landing pages.
• Newsletter content delivered consistency and curiosity in equal measure.
• PR hit both Ayurveda and longevity media-bridging both worlds.

Rs. 4.2K AOV in a Rs. 1.8K market. And a new archetype for Indian wellness.

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4.Shades of Earth: The Brand That Fits-Literally

Shades of Earth was losing money despite decent demand. Why?

They sat awkwardly between mass and premium. And their core differentiator at the time - sustainable fashion -was getting buried in generic storytelling.

So we did what we always do when stuck: we went back to why they exist.

• We rebuilt the entire funnel around the problem of “perfect fit” in wellness.”
• We centered custom sizing as the real luxury-not just a feature.
• PDPs were rebuilt to guide customers through body literacy and self-awareness.
• Photography became more human. More real. Less curated.
• Emails felt like style quizzes-not flows.

And slowly, people stopped price comparing. Because what we offered wasn’t a product-it was a relationship with their body.

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The Inelastic Framework 

It starts with just one question:

If we raised all prices by 30% today, what would HAVE to change to keep conversions stable?

Whatever comes up-do that. Now. Even before the price hike.

Because that’s the stuff that actually compounds: Retention. Story. Delight. Margin. Brand.

It’s not a campaign or a growth hack. It’s a mindset.

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What It Means to Build an Inelastic Brand

Let’s be clear: we’re not a branding agency. And we’re not a typical performance agency either.

Great brands don’t choose between brand and performance. They combine them.

Direct response bros scoff at “branding.” Brand folks avoid the word “ROAS.”

We live at the intersection. Because strategy without scale is wasted - and scale without story never lasts.

This framework is our way of doing both:

• Our approach to brand strategy ensures that your brand feels that it has no competition.
• We push PR before performance ads hit a wall - not just to make noise, but to stack trust.
• We build retention-optimized email flows that drive 30% of revenue.
• We own Reddit to capture & communicate the essence of what we stand for through real stories.
• We design offers that make sense because the story behind them is airtight.
• And yes, we run Performance ads - but only after we’ve earned the right to scale. Paid ads don’t create product-market fit. They amplify it.

Because in a new category, your innovation will not be new forever. People will copy your product. Try to undercut your price. Mimic your offering.

But they won’t be able to steal your customers. Because the real moat is emotional. It’s narrative. It’s the connection.

When you raise prices, the first thing that changes... is you. You stop relying on bandaids and start fixing the real things:

• Strategic brand positioning 
• Obsessive copy clarity 
• Founder-driven brand narratives
• Visuals that tell, not just sell
• Systems that compound instead of decay (like retention)

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Want Help Doing It?

📞 Book a free strategy call with our team.
We’ll help you get profitable, not with hacks but with clarity.

At Porcellia, we do what most agencies won’t: we go wherever your growth is hiding. We do performance. We do strategy. We do the boring ops stuff if that’s what it takes.

Good marketing can take your ROAS from 4 to 5. But it can’t take it from 2 to 5. If you’re stuck at low ROAS, it’s not a media problem. It’s a positioning problem.

We’re here to help you fix that - and everything else that comes with it.

And when everything clicks - brand, product, retention, storytelling - that’s when we scale the hell out of it. With ads that work because the brand already does.