The Challenge

Create, Launch, and Grow BBQ Perks

Over 11 months, from June 2024 through April 2025, I led the digital marketing efforts behind BBQ Perks, a bold experiment in building a curated barbecue membership club. Backed by Arteflame founder Michiel Schuitemaker, the project set out to create an ecosystem where grilling enthusiasts could discover premium brands, unlock exclusive deals, and join a growing community of BBQ lovers.

Like many new products, BBQ Perks had its highs and lows. While the concept ultimately sunset after its pilot run, the project left behind a wealth of insights on community-driven brand building, digital channel experimentation, and the power of authentic content.

The Work

From Sizzle to Strategy

The vision for BBQ Perks was simple but ambitious: create a premium membership model that connected grill enthusiasts with high-quality products at discounted prices. By leveraging partner networks, giveaways, and authentic cooking content, we aimed to build a community where discovery and deals worked hand-in-hand.

Throughout its life cycle, BBQ Perks went through several phases of experimentation:

• Launching with curated brand partners
• Testing affiliate marketing models
• Iterating through ad campaigns and social content strategies
• Exploring welcome packages and loyalty incentives

The project’s flexible nature gave us room to test, pivot, and learn rapidly.

Social Media

Social media was at the heart of BBQ Perks. From giveaways to cookout videos, it became clear that authentic, personality-driven content outperformed static posts every time.

• The most popular organic content was a video of Michiel’s cookout
• Giveaways such as “Free Steak” and “Win a Free Looft” drove spikes in engagement
• $100 in ad spend on the Thanksgiving giveaway alone delivered +170 new followers

Meta Ads

Meta Ads quickly became BBQ Perks’ strongest digital touchpoint. With a 25% overall engagement rate, our campaigns consistently funneled interested users to the site.

• Video ads outperformed images by 26x (44.85% engagement vs 1.71%)
• The best-performing ad hit a staggering 60% engagement rate
• While reach was strong, conversions remained low, signaling a gap in website messaging and value communication

The Results

Cooling Down BBQ Perks

After struggling to generate converting traction among our built audiences, the decision was made to sunset the project and focus on other ventures. While my belief is that with more time to learn, the value proposition would have become more concrete. Time and resources were constraints on this project, but ultimately, the project’s Achilles’ heel was the lack of proof-of-concept and clear value proposition. Without strong partner engagement or customer testimonials, it was difficult to inspire trust at scale.

Lessons Learned

Even though BBQ Perks closed its doors, the takeaways are invaluable for future digital projects:

• Proof-of-Concept First: Secure affiliates, influencers, or testimonials early to build credibility.
• Message Testing: Identify and refine core messaging that actually converts.
• Content Systems: Authentic, in-house media is gold—but it requires scalable systems to reduce production time.
• Iterative Advertising: Each round of Meta Ads improved, proving that even with limited resources, testing and learning leads to growth.

We were able to gather valuable information from this project. We can take away a few KPIs indicating success in areas like social media, where we developed an engaged and niche audience.