How Every Man Jack Is Evolving After 19 Years as a Challenger Brand

Welcome back to The Friday Fortune! If your week has felt like a never-ending Slack thread, a calendar full of “quick syncs,” and at least one moment where you wondered if deodorant counts as a productivity tool, congratulations, you’re in the right place.

Every week, we bring you insights from the marketers shaping the brands you see everywhere. From the shelves at Target to the timelines on your phone. Think of this as your weekly marketing coffee break: part inspiration, part strategy, and just enough entertainment to keep your brain from turning into campaign analytics.

Here’s what’s on deck this week:

• A sit-down with Every Man Jack President of Marketing, Kim Dao

• Why Coca-Cola made March Madness a moment for BodyArmor

• OpenFortune x Liquid Death

📈 Marketer of the Week

If there’s anyone redefining what it means to lead a challenger brand in today’s crowded CPG landscape, it’s Kim Dao, Vice President of Marketing at Every Man Jack. With more than two decades of experience across consumer brands like Neutrogena, Clif Bar, and Conscious Foods, Kim has built her career around understanding what makes consumers tick, and translating those insights into brands people genuinely connect with.

Interestingly, marketing wasn’t Kim’s original plan. She began her career in financial and economic consulting before returning to school and discovering that brand marketing offered the perfect blend of creativity and analysis. Reflecting on the shift, she described brand marketing as being like “a modern-day anthropologist really studying and understanding consumers.”

That mindset has guided her through roles across personal care, food, and wellness, categories where brands often live or die by their emotional connection with consumers. And today, she’s bringing that same consumer-first philosophy to Every Man Jack, a brand that has quietly spent nearly two decades carving out space in the men’s grooming aisle.

When the company launched 19 years ago, it filled a clear gap in the market: clean, natural grooming products that were still affordable and widely available. But as the category exploded with new competitors, that positioning alone was no longer enough. For Kim, the answer was to revisit the brand’s roots. In digging into the origin of the name “Every Man Jack,” she discovered it dates back centuries and essentially means “for every man, without exception.” That insight helped refocus the brand around a more inclusive and emotionally resonant idea of masculinity, one rooted in effort, perseverance, and authenticity.

That philosophy now drives the brand’s new campaign platform: “For men who put in the work.”

To bring that story to life, the brand partnered with NFL quarterback Baker Mayfield, whose career journey reflects resilience and determination. Rather than focusing purely on athletic achievements, the campaign highlights the human side of perseverance, connecting the brand with stories of grit across sports and culture.

The storytelling doesn’t stop with one athlete. Every Man Jack is also spotlighting individuals like legendary skier Tanner Hall, who battled back from devastating injuries and addiction, and Michigan basketball player Elliot Cadeau, who was born with a hearing impairment and rose to compete at the highest levels of college basketball. “So it's really telling these human stories and leveraging brand ambassadors that are true to the brand but also bring to life what we're all about,” Kim explained.

Alongside this storytelling shift, the company is also launching a new premium product line driven by deep consumer segmentation. The team identified two key audiences: a confident grooming enthusiast who treats self-care as part of his identity, and a younger consumer who’s still building his routine but is strongly motivated by values-led brands.

That research helped shape products that combine natural ingredients with stronger performance, an important balance in a category where many consumers feel forced to choose between the two.

But for Kim, the most powerful insights still come from staying close to the people using the products. Whether it’s meeting consumers at events, connecting with fans online, or hearing feedback directly at trade shows, those interactions often spark the next wave of ideas.

Kim’s Takeaway

Kim believes the biggest advantage a marketer can have is curiosity, especially in an industry evolving as quickly as this one.

Her advice for early-career marketers is simple but powerful: “Stay curious.”

She encourages young marketers to explore different disciplines across the business. from sales to PR to performance marketing, because those experiences build the perspective needed to lead brands at a higher level.

To hear more about how Kim is leading Every Man Jack’s transformation, and what it takes to evolve a challenger brand in today’s crowded market, listen to the full episode of CMO Weekly.

🥠 The Cookie Jar

Crack open a handful of the week’s best marketing links—because good fortune favors the curious.

• OpenAI Killed Sora. Creatives Had Already Moved On. One million downloads, zero agency workflows. Rest in peace, king.
  

• Why Coca-Cola made March Madness a moment for BodyArmor. Coke just ran a full-court press with its own bench player.
  

• TreSemmé links with ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ for affordable luxury push. Miranda Priestly would not approve, but your wallet absolutely would.
  

• How Liquid Death Created a Dark Marketing Hit with OpenFortune. Crack open a cookie, question your life choices, sign up for cursed texts. That's a marketing funnel.

That’s a wrap for this week’s Friday fortune.

If you enjoyed the read, pass it along to your favorite marketer who could use a little extra inspo in their inbox.

Until next time, may your marketing be memorable and your cookies always be fortunate!

— The OpenFortune team