Blackbird

Building a Scalable Web2 Brand for a Web3 Consumer App

Overview

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Client: Blackbird
Timeline: Q3 2024 -Q1 2025
Role: Social + Content Strategy/Management, lite social graphic design, onsite event coverage, marketing operations and project management
Blackbird is a consumer dining and restaurant loyalty platform founded by Resy and Eater creator Ben Leventhal. The platform enables diners to earn rewards directly from restaurants by tapping an in-store device and accumulating points that can later be redeemed toward meals.
While powered by Web3 infrastructure, Blackbird’s growth strategy required a Web2-style consumer marketing approach, prioritizing accessibility, human connection, and restaurant culture rather than technical positioning.
As the company expanded into new cities, Blackbird needed a structured marketing system to scale awareness, increase downloads, and identify which growth channels delivered the strongest performance.
frequency partnered with Blackbird to build and operate a human-driven, multi-channel growth system that could support expansion while turning brand awareness into measurable installs and active users.
Key objectives:
- Grow Blackbird’s consumer audience and social presence
- Identify which acquisition channels drove the strongest performance
- Scale content production while maintaining a human, community-driven voice
- Support major market launches in San Francisco and Charleston
- Improve conversion from discovery to app download
- Strengthen retention and lifecycle engagement
Blackbird did not need a new brand identity. It needed a working marketing system.
Key challenges included:
- Social activity existed but lacked a repeatable operating structure
- Content production needed to scale without losing quality or brand voice
- Awareness did not consistently translate into measurable downloads
- Market expansion into new cities required localized storytelling and on-the-ground visibility
- Existing users needed stronger retention and re-engagement
- As a web3-backed product, messaging needed to remain consumer friendly and human rather than technical
The challenge was not creative direction alone. It was building a system that connected brand awareness, product growth, and user lifecycle engagement.

Strategy & Approach

Establish the Social Strategy and Content Foundation

What frequency did:

Defined a clear social media strategy aligned to Blackbird’s audience and growth goals
Built partnership programs with influencers, PR activations, and restaurant events
Established content pillars, posting cadence, and channel roles
Created repeatable content templates to increase production speed and consistency
Maintained a tone prioritizing food culture, community, and real user experiences.

Why it mattered:

This shifted Blackbird’s social growth from passive posting into an active partnership-driven acquisition channel, while simultaneously strengthening the brand’s relatability by highlighting real restaurants, real dining experiences, and the culture of eating out, helping the platform resonate more naturally with its core audience of food lovers.

Impact:

Instagram grew from ~6K to 15K followers in ~5 months through organic growth, influencer collaborations, PR visibility, and live events.

Build and Operate the Content EngineActions

What frequency did:

Wrote all social copy and managed publishing across platforms, ensuring a consistent brand voice and reliable posting cadence
Edited video and short-form social content optimized for engagement and platform performance
Created scalable templates for feed posts, stories, and video formats, improving production efficiency and enabling higher content output
Sourced, hired, and coordinated photographers and videographers to expand creative capacity, helping demonstrate the need for expanded in-house video leadership as content demands grew
Covered restaurant events and deployed real-time social content to capture authentic dining experiences and drive timely audience engagement
Leveraged cultural moments, trending audio, and emerging video formats to keep content relevant and increase interaction with Blackbird’s food-focused audience

Why it mattered:

Rather than outsourcing production piecemeal, frequency built a structured content workflow that ensured consistent output, reinforced a clear and recognizable brand voice, and allowed creative production to scale alongside Blackbird’s market expansion and growth efforts.

Support Market Expansion Through City Launches

What frequency did:

Led content strategy for launching Blackbird in San Francisco and Charleston
Used short-form video and local storytelling to reach in-market audiences
Highlighted restaurants, dining culture, and community experiences
Positioned Blackbird as embedded in local restaurant ecosystems

Why it mattered:

City launches required trust and local relevance. Human-centered storytelling helped the product feel native to each market rather than a national app entering from outside.

Improve Conversion From Awareness to App Download

What frequency did:

Analyzed website traffic and mapped the full user acquisition funnel
Identified friction points between discovery and download
Worked cross-functionally with engineering team to improve clarity and conversion flow

Why it mattered:

This connected marketing activity directly to product growth, ensuring increased awareness translated into measurable installs rather than vanity metrics.