In this episode of The Future of Consumer Marketing, host Brett Stapper interviews Alex Schulze, CEO and Co-Founder of 4ocean. Born from a surf trip to Bali where Alex witnessed devastating plastic pollution, 4ocean has evolved from a simple bracelet company into a vertically integrated ocean cleanup operation that has removed over 41 million pounds of trash from the ocean. What started as a direct-to-consumer lifestyle brand leveraging viral marketing has transformed into a multi-faceted business including B2B partnerships, government contracts, and a global network of cleanup crews. Alex shares the brutal realities of scaling a mission-driven company through algorithm changes, health crises, and the challenges of the modern e-commerce landscape.

Topics Discussed:

• Building a vertically integrated ocean cleanup operation from a consumer product

• Navigating Facebook’s political categorization that killed organic reach overnight

• Pivoting from viral social media marketing to relationship-based B2B partnerships

• Managing the operational complexity of employing hundreds of cleanup crews globally

• Surviving the e-commerce bloodbath and why most DTC brands are struggling

• Dealing with greenwashing accusations in the sustainability space

• The founder’s personal health crisis and how it shaped business priorities