Food brands Freaky Friday

The sun is setting on Q1 and it’s making me nostalgic. So let’s take a look back at what happened this quarter, in hopes that we can learn something from it.

What’s ahead in today’s look back:

When we compare Q1 2026 to 2025, sends per brand fell across most retail categories. Accessories brands like Sheertex and Baboon to the Moon dropped their campaign volume significantly YoY. Footwear and apparel brands’ sends are also down.

Food & Drink is one of the few categories where the average sends per brand increased in Q1 2026.

What are food and drink brands doing differently? They’re specifically leaning in on Friday and Saturday campaigns.

Discretionary spending may be slowing down, but Friday and Saturday remain consumers’ highest-spend days. Brands like Domino’s, Chili’s, Jeni’s, Graza, and Maker Wine are increasing their campaigns at the end of the week to grab more of those dollars. Could this work for your brand as well?

On Fridays, Domino’s and Chili’s aim for conversion with limited time promos. Graza’s Friday campaigns include recipes, office dog photos, and haikus about mayo - content designed for engagement.

This quarter we saw brands turn out in droves to celebrate the big (American) retail holidays. Valentine’s Day was the peak of Q1 SMS activity for many retail brands. 31 brands messaged about the Super Bowl. 16 brands addressed International Women’s Day. KitchenAid gave a nod to Pi Day.

Only a handful of brands acknowledged March Madness. OLIPOP's "Flavor Face-Off bracket" was the most creative March Madness execution, turning the bracket mechanic into a product engagement tool.

I noticed only one brand in our sample of ~1000 brands explicitly acknowledged Ramadan. It was Nominal, a Palestinian-owned jewelry brand.

This quarter I started tracking many new brands, and made their SMS and MMS messages available at Tinytexts.co for you to search and bookmark.

Target’s SMS messages read like a circular, with weekly ad alerts, category promotions, and Circle deal pushes on a near-mechanical cadence. At 13 messages across the quarter it's restrained for a brand their size. See all of Target’s Q1 messages.

Salt & Stone is the most active new brand we’re tracking. They sent more than 40 messages this quarter, and their program reads like a Masterclass in scarcity sequencing. The Saffron Body Mist restocked, sold out, and restocked again across multiple messages, each cycle creating a small event out of inventory. See all of Salt & Stone’s Q1 messages.

Hostage Tape engages subscribers and browse abandoners with what looks like a genuine two-way flow. See all of Hostage Tape’s Q1 messages.

Bogey Bros. writes some of the best SMS copy. Every message has a voice — "True love is enabling each other's terrible shot selection", "Whatever you're hiding, we don't ask questions. We just provide coverage". See all of Bogey Bros. Q1 messages.

During Q1 Klaviyo rolled out RCS messaging to all its SMS customers and new RCS messages quickly started popping into my inbox. If you’re looking for RCS examples in the wild, here are five brands, all Klaviyo customers, to subscribe to:

In every week’s newsletter, I share job posts for retention marketers. Today I am looking for a marketing consultant with experience working with premium supplement brands who can advise a startup founder. The scope will include acquisition and retention strategy. Please reply to this newsletter with a few details about your relevant experience.

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Thanks for reading and see you next week!