Most luxury brands in 2016 still relied on celebrity endorsements and glossy magazine spreads. A page in Vogue cost six figures. A single campaign with a famous actor could run millions. That’s how you built a fashion brand—pay for prestige and hope customers follow.
Hawkers did the opposite. The Spanish sunglasses startup gave free products to college students with modest Instagram followings. No celebrities. No magazine spreads. Just hundreds of authentic people posting photos of themselves wearing affordable sunglasses.
The founders had stumbled onto something powerful. By October 2016, the approach worked well enough that Alejandro Betancourt López led a €50 million Series A funding round—one of the largest startup investments in Spanish history at that time. One month later, he became president with a mandate to scale what was already succeeding.
Rather than diversifying the marketing strategy, he doubled down. The influencer approach that built Hawkers’ initial success would receive far more resources and expand globally. That decision shaped how the company grew from a Spanish startup into an international brand operating across more than 20 countries.
Free Products That Generated Millions
The “free sunnies” campaign started small. Hawkers’ founders identified college students with a few thousand social media followers and sent them free sunglasses. No strict posting requirements. No corporate messaging guidelines. Just authentic content from people who genuinely liked the product.
The economics made sense. A single magazine ad might reach millions but cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sending free sunglasses to 100 influencers cost a few thousand dollars in product and generated hundreds of organic posts that reached engaged audiences.
Alejandro Betancourt López recognized the approach could scale far beyond what the founders had accomplished with limited resources. After taking over as president, he expanded the program dramatically—more influencers, bigger product shipments, systematic tracking of which partnerships generated actual sales.
“That approach totally disrupted the market in the way we penetrated the market,” Betancourt López noted. “And I think that innovation has built a huge brand that is today Hawkers.”
The strategy worked because it solved a specific problem for fashion startups. Luxury brands could afford expensive celebrity endorsements. Mass-market retailers competed on price and distribution. Hawkers occupied the middle—fashionable products at accessible prices—and needed marketing that matched that positioning.
Micro-influencers fit perfectly. Their audiences trusted their recommendations more than celebrity endorsements. Their rates were affordable enough to test hundreds of partnerships. Their content felt authentic rather than manufactured.
The approach generated millions in earned media value before influencer marketing became saturated and expensive. Hawkers built relationships with real people who became genuine brand advocates.
Different Markets Needed Different Voices
Expanding internationally meant adapting the influencer strategy for different markets. What worked for Spanish college students wouldn’t necessarily resonate in Mexico or the United States. Alejandro Betancourt López pushed for geographic customization rather than imposing a single brand voice globally.
Soccer stars promoted Hawkers in Mexico and Latin America, where football drives consumer culture. The partnerships made sense—people who followed soccer already saw their favorite players as style icons. Sunglasses fit naturally into that lifestyle.
American college students became campus ambassadors. They received free products and small payments to host events and create content. The campus ambassador program tapped into existing social networks at universities across the country, generating awareness among exactly the demographic Hawkers wanted to reach.
European fashion influencers positioned Hawkers as an accessible luxury alternative. The messaging emphasized style and quality at prices that made sense for young professionals.
Different content, different influencers, same underlying strategy—authentic endorsements from people audiences trusted.
“We always have been conscious about sustainability, and we know that the market is shifting toward that direction,” Alejandro Betancourt López said. “Everyone is getting more conscious and wanting to understand how the product they buy impacts their life, but also the world and environment as well.”
That awareness extended to marketing localization. Rather than assuming one message would work everywhere, Hawkers invested time understanding what mattered to customers in each market and found influencers who naturally fit those preferences.
The localized approach required more coordination and resources than a generic global campaign. It paid off in customer acquisition costs well below competitors relying on paid Facebook and Instagram ads. While other direct-to-consumer brands struggled with rising advertising costs, Hawkers built communities of genuine advocates who drove word-of-mouth referrals.
Building Systems to Support Scale
Influencer marketing only works if you can fulfill orders efficiently. Sending free products to 50 college students is manageable. Coordinating campaigns with hundreds of influencers across multiple countries while handling thousands of customer orders requires serious operational infrastructure.
Alejandro Betancourt López made manufacturing and logistics a priority alongside marketing expansion. The company established production facilities in Spain, Italy, and China—a three-region approach that enabled rapid fulfillment for customers in Europe, the Americas, and Asia.
Geographic distribution meant influencer campaigns in Mexico didn’t create shipping delays for customers ordering from those posts. Spanish campaigns could fulfill orders from European facilities. American campaigns shipped from distribution centers optimized for U.S. delivery times.
“Once I start something, I just don’t stop,” Betancourt López explained. “I try to see every single option that could turn negative and try to mitigate it beforehand. Even if the idea is great and you have the right people, it’ll always surprise you with things that are not expected.”
That philosophy shaped how Hawkers built systems to support influencer marketing at scale. Technology tracked which partnerships generated sales. Analytics identified which types of content resonated most strongly. Customer service teams handled inquiries in multiple languages.
The infrastructure turned influencer marketing from a creative experiment into a systematic growth engine.
The investment in operations paid dividends when Hawkers expanded into physical retail. The same distribution networks that supported e-commerce orders from influencer campaigns could stock retail locations. The data collected from online sales informed which styles to carry in which stores.
When the Advantage Disappears
By the late 2010s, influencer marketing had become standard practice. Facebook and Instagram adjusted their algorithms. Competition for influencer attention increased. Costs rose dramatically. What had been an innovative strategy became just another expensive advertising channel.
“Everybody goes to do the same thing, price goes through the roof, and the big winners are the social media companies like Facebook, Instagram, they’re making the money right now,” Betancourt López observed. “The margins are shifted in the chain of value, to somewhere else.”
That recognition prompted another strategic shift. Rather than continuing to pour money into influencer partnerships that were becoming less effective, Alejandro Betancourt López diversified Hawkers’ approach.
Physical retail stores opened across multiple countries. Email marketing and SMS campaigns targeted existing customers. Product quality improvements and sustainability initiatives—like sunglasses made from recovered ocean plastic—gave customers reasons to choose Hawkers beyond just price and social media hype.
The evolution demonstrated another principle Betancourt López applies across his portfolio: anticipate where value is moving in an industry and adjust before competitors force your hand. Influencer marketing worked brilliantly when it was new. As it matured and costs increased, staying competitive meant finding new advantages.
Hawkers today generates revenue through multiple channels—online sales, physical stores, wholesale partnerships, and direct customer relationships built over years. The influencer strategy that jumpstarted growth became one component of a larger marketing mix rather than the sole driver.
The €50 million investment in 2016 provided resources to scale influencer marketing before competitors saturated the channel. That timing advantage, combined with geographic localization and strong operational infrastructure, transformed Hawkers from a Spanish startup into a global brand generating over €100 million in annual sales.
The lesson isn’t just that influencer marketing works. It’s that identifying effective strategies early, scaling them aggressively, and evolving before advantages disappear creates sustained competitive positioning. That formula applies whether you’re selling sunglasses or any other product in crowded markets.
