How Melonz Eyewear Builds Buzz with Influencer Gifting

Why influencer gifting made sense

"We're still in the awareness phase," Jarrod explains. "The goal is to get people talking about Melonz and trying the fit. Gifting is how we do that." Every month he gifts about 5 micro-influencers — usually 5K–10K followers — with a custom experience: frames in three sizes, so creators can show the fit difference. He's not paying for posts; he's seeding product to aligned creators and hoping some share organically.

The manual way (and why it broke)

Before using a tool, gifting was painfully manual: DM or email to ask for sizing, style, and address — with the risk of wrong fits, delays, and ghosting. Jarrod was spending too much time just coordinating logistics.

One link instead of the back-and-forth

Jarrod switched to Influencer Gift Form, which lets creators submit their shipping info and pick their product through a branded link. "Now I just send one link," he says. "They choose their sunglasses and sizes. I get their email, it goes into Shopify, and it's ready to ship."

It works for corporate gifting too

During the holidays, Jarrod used the same flow for a corporate gifting program — a client paid to gift Melonz sunglasses to 50 employees. He created a custom link, sent it out, and tracked redemptions directly through Shopify. "Next time I'll pair it with a card and QR code, but the whole thing worked great."

His takeaways for other scrappy brands:

• Keep it scrappy — 5 creators a month is still progress.
• Use gifting data — emails and redemptions can build your CRM.
• Turn organic creators into future collab partners.

"We're just trying to move mountains one stone at a time," he says. "Influencer gifting helps us build that base."