You'll find no About Us page on the Hampton Creek website. There's no blog. No pop-up interrupts your visit insisting you share your email address.
Their home page doesn't even have a headline. I'm not kidding.
See?
The company sells food - egg-free food alternatives to be specific - but their home page doesn't feature a single photo.
What does their home page offer? Just a few links, a manifesto, and three product teasers: "Just Mayo", "Just Cookie Dough", and "Just Cookies".
Yet, even without these traditional website elements, the company is building significant momentum online.
Just what?
Hampton Creek says eating well should be easy.
They say they're leading a movement to fundamentally change the world.
They also say they've created the fastest-growing food company on earth.
And as for marketing... what say these forerunners of sustainable food?
They say, "Dear ______________. " (Pictured above.) The fine print says, "Click here to explore our open letters in the New York Times." When you do so, you're served links to their minimalistic, but brash ads - nine letters written by CEO and founder Josh Tetrick.
The white-on-black letters are addressed to: 2015, Food leaders, CEOs, You, 23-year-old, Mom, Great-Grandma, Presidential Candidates, Mom and President Obama.
Tetrick tells the chief, "Food needs a leader." He writes, "If we started over, good food - for the body and our land - would be much less expensive than crappy food." In his P.S., he offers the President (and the millions of NY Times readers) his phone number and email. Of course he does.
A social media recipe for success
So how is Hampton Creek achieving success without the common website ingredients and approach?
From a marketing point of view, the company butters its bread via social media, especially YouTube.
Via the website, they encourage you to bounce on over to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, Wikipedia (uh, okay) and YouTube.
Starting with YouTube - their channel is just plain tasty, it's a lesson in how to do the Tube. They've created playlists for you there...
- Just Recipes is the most robust. 158 videos. In fact, their most viewed video shows you in how to prepare Sesame Somen Noodle Stir Fry (time lapse style)
- Creek Culture and The Hampton Creek Story take you behind the scenes
- Hot Off the Press presents featured news clips
If you watch just one YouTube video, watch this: A mom's surprise in the NY Times. It'll rip your healthy heart to shreds.
With 228K fans, Hampton Creek has got it going on on Facebook too, though the content is largely YouTube videos. Same for Twitter, where they have 64K followers and Instagram, where they have 32K followers.
In this sense, Hampton Creek is building content on the platforms where their audience is, rather than dictating where they should be - which can be risky, in building on rented land, but as shown here, it can also pay off.
Hampton Park is also relying on their driving mission and message to expand their reach, stating what they're about and enabling fans rally behind that cause. This is particularly relevant in appealing to Millennials, who, studies have shown, have greater alignment with businesses who stand for something more than just selling products.
W'zup with just?
And in the interest of fairness, I need to clear something up.
When the company's uses its favorite word, just, they don't mean "only." Atop their YouTube channel, they set things straight.