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Most list-growth advice assumes you have a website people visit. Cove Soda doesn't. They sell zero sugar soda in roughly 7,000 retail doors with no real DTC store, which means no site traffic, no purchase pop-ups, and no easy email capture.

Zoe Kahn runs marketing for Cove as interim VP. In this episode she breaks down how a retail-first brand still builds a direct, owned channel, why she treats in-person events as the acquisition surface, and how she competes in a soda aisle that already has Olipop and Poppi running Super Bowl ads.

What you'll get:

The event tactic that grows an email and SMS list without DTC: trade a full can for an opt-in
How to segment by geography so US news goes to US fans and Canadian news goes to Canadian fans
How she picks which events to sample at, and why marketing assets in a state change the math
Using Amazon attribution links to test creative and copy when you have no DTC
A clear take on why an oversaturated category is not a reason to quit
The early-career mistake that shipped roughly 700 wrong orders, and what it taught her

Who this is for: retail-first and omnichannel operators, beverage and CPG founders, retention and lifecycle marketers, and anyone who has been told they can't build a list without DTC.

What to steal: the can-for-email swap at events, geographic list segmentation, and an event-selection checklist built on demographic fit and asset location.

0:00 Intro

3:16 Building a Canadian Brand in the US

7:55 How Cove Soda Stands Out in a Crowded Market

10:09 Using QR Codes to Grow Email and SMS Lists

17:50 Practical AI Workflows for Marketing Teams

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Ep 624: How Cove Soda Builds an Email and SMS List With No DTC, Trading Full Cans for Signups at Events

DTC Podcast

Ep 624: How Cove Soda Builds an Email and SMS List With No DTC, Trading Full Cans for Signups at Events