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HOW A COLD EMAIL IN 2016 BECAME TIDAL’S LONGEST CLIENT RELATIONSHIP – AND WHAT WE’VE LEARNED ALONG THE WAY.
8 Years. +219% ROAS. +35% Margin. 69% CPA Drop.
A cold email turned compounding revenue engine.
THE COLD EMAIL THAT STARTED EVERYTHING
Back in 2016, Simon (TIDAL Co-Founder) was working at Virgin Mobile in Dubai Design District. Chaps & Co had just opened their D3 barbershop. He went in for a haircut, loved the experience, and instantly felt there was something special about the brand.
At the time, Simon was freelancing on the side. So he did what any slightly overconfident marketer would do – he went to their website, found the contact email, and sent a cold note offering marketing support.
A few days later, Jordan replied. They met for coffee, hit it off, and Simon started helping them straight away.
When TIDAL officially launched in 2019, Chaps became our first client. They’ve been part of our story ever since.
“Eight years later, they’re still with us. Not because of a contract. Not because switching is inconvenient. Because something actually works.”
THEY BUILT A CATEGORY, NOT JUST A BUSINESS
Most barbershops compete on price, location, or convenience. Chaps never played that game.
From day one, they built and owned a category: The Modern Barbershop Experience.
Premium service. Distinctive brand. Consistent execution from their online voice to the chair you sit in.
That positioning decision – made years before we worked together – is the foundation everything else builds on. It’s why their marketing works. It’s why customers pay more. It’s why they’ve expanded while competitors have struggled.
Key Insight: You can’t market your way to a category position. You have to build it first. Chaps did the hard work of creating something genuinely differentiated. Our job is to make sure the right people find it.
THE BRAND STRATEGY GAP NOBODY’S TALKING ABOUT
Here’s what most “you need more creative” takes miss: creative poverty is a symptom, not the disease.
Brands with clear positioning, distinctive assets, and defined category narratives can generate 8-12 distinct concepts because they have strategic depth to draw from. Brands without this foundation resort to the same three concepts because they have nothing else to say.
Creative liquidity isn’t just a production problem. It’s a brand strategy problem. The brands who can produce problem-first messaging, aspiration-first messaging, rational justification, emotional disruption, lifestyle demonstration, social proof, community narrative, and product superiority angles? They’ve done the brand work.
Everyone else is just resizing ads.
THE RESULTS: WHAT DURABLE GROWTH ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE
For Chaps, the challenge wasn’t reach – it was relevance. In a service category where loyalty and reputation drive long-term growth, every impression had to build trust, not just chase attention. Quick wins wouldn’t cut it.
We didn’t chase volume. We engineered consistency. Every move was designed to protect ROAS, preserve margin, and reinforce why Chaps & Co was the only brand worth coming back to – even when wallets tightened.
| Metric | Result |
| ROAS Uplift +219% | Spend stayed stable. Returns didn’t. Strategy and structure did the heavy lifting. |
| Total CPA Reduction -35% | By focusing on qualified returners, we lowered the cost of every sale. |
| Bounce Rate Drop -58% | Sessions became stickier and more relevant, leading to stronger downstream bookings. |
| Paid CPA Drop -69% | Driven by deeper segmentation and intent-aligned creatives. |
| Page 1 Rankings +144% | Longer-term search visibility created a pipeline of organic discovery. |
| Margin Increase +35% | Proof that service brands can scale when every touchpoint is built to convert. |
HOW WE DROVE DURABLE GROWTH ACROSS BOOKINGS
Prioritising Warmer Audiences
Instead of cold reach, we focused on reactivating known customers and high-frequency bookers, those most likely to return and refer.
Rapid Testing for Real Results
Messaging, offer cadence, and channel mix were tested in tandem, giving us fast readouts on what moved the needle, and what didn’t.
Timing with Intent
We sequenced messaging to land when customers were most likely to book, not just because they clicked yesterday.
Trust-Led Creative
From ad copy to CTA, the message was clear: you’re in safe, professional hands. Not a gimmick. A conversion driver.
WHAT “SEARCH & DISCOVERY” LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE
Our Search & Discovery framework exists because the way people find businesses has fundamentally changed. It’s no longer just Google. It’s ChatGPT. It’s Reddit. It’s TikTok. It’s Instagram. It’s asking a friend, who got their recommendation from a YouTube video.
For Chaps, the strategy is straightforward: own the conversation everywhere it happens.
Where Chaps Shows Up:
| 🔍 Google Search | 🤖 AI Search | 📱 Social | 💬 Community |
| Page 1 rankings for “best barbershop Dubai” | ChatGPT & Perplexity recommendations | Instagram Reels, TikTok discovery | Reddit threads, word-of-mouth |
When someone in Dubai searches for “best barbershop,” compares options on Reddit, asks ChatGPT for recommendations, or scrolls past a Reel – Chaps should be the definitive answer. Not because we’ve gamed an algorithm, but because the brand genuinely deserves that position.
The Truth: This only works because the product backs it up. You can’t manufacture category authority. You can only amplify what’s already true.
THE THREE THINGS THAT MAKE THIS PARTNERSHIP WORK
After eight years, three principles define why this relationship has lasted:
Trust Allows Risk
When a client backs you fully, you make bolder decisions. You test things that might not work. You invest in long-term plays that don’t show up in next month’s dashboard.
Jordan understands what real partnership looks like. He gives direction when it matters, but never interferes with the process. That level of belief empowers our team to do our best work – and take responsibility for the outcomes.Patience Enables Compounding
Brand growth compounds over time. Not every win is immediate, but every move contributes to momentum.
Chaps has never chased short-term metrics at the expense of brand equity. They’ve understood, consistently, that the work we’re doing today creates advantages that pay off for years. That patience is rare. It’s also why they’re winning.Alignment Beats Management
We’re not being micro-managed or limited by tactical briefs. We’re aligned around outcomes that genuinely move the business forward.
That distinction matters more than most people realise. Managed relationships produce output. Aligned relationships produce impact.
THE PRIVILEGE OF WORKING WITH FOUNDERS WHO GET IT
Working with a founder who truly trusts the agency is rare.
Most client relationships involve layers of approval, competing stakeholders, and endless compromises. The best ones – the ones that actually produce great work – have a founder or decision-maker who understands that partnership requires letting go.
Jordan has always been that person for us. He’s demanding when it matters. He pushes back when he disagrees. But he’s never undermined the process or second-guessed decisions he hired us to make.
The strongest results happen when both sides share the same ambition and mutual respect. Chaps has been proof of that since 2016.
WHAT EIGHT YEARS ACTUALLY PROVES
There’s a version of marketing where agencies churn through clients every 18 months. Brief. Campaign. Results plateau. Blame. Pitch. Repeat.
That model exists because most agency-client relationships are transactional. They’re built on deliverables, not outcomes. On reporting, not results. On managing expectations, not exceeding them.
Chaps has been with us for eight years because we’ve never treated them as a “barbershop client.” They’ve always been our hero client – the one we go above and beyond for. And they’ve reciprocated that belief consistently.
“When trust, patience, and long-term vision align, performance and brand grow hand in hand.”
That’s the relationship we try to build with every client. Chaps just got there first.
READY TO BUILD SOMETHING LIKE THIS?
The best partnerships start with a conversation. If you’re a founder building something worth talking about – and you’re looking for a growth partner, not a vendor – we should talk.
Want to compound your brand’s growth like Chaps?
Let’s design your category advantage.
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