Derek Lauermann

Director of Paid Media @Grüns

Honolulu, Hawaii, United States

About

Ad Snacks for growth marketers and executives 🍬 I’m a marketing operator who’s spent the last decade scaling ecommerce brands through paid media, creative systems, and clean measurement. Currently leading growth at Grüns, with prior experience building and managing in-house, remote, and agency teams across eight-figure performance budgets and nine-figure revenue targets. I’m known for decisive execution, strong creative instincts, and building systems that help teams move fast without breaking things. I’ve worked with and alongside brands like Grüns, Disney, QALO, Rorra, and more. What I focus on: • Paid Media & Creative Strategy • Incrementality, MER, LTV:CAC • Influencer & Performance Creative • Retention & Revenue Optimization • Shopify Plus & DTC Growth Ops Sharing what’s working (and what’s not) through Ad Snacks, bite-sized lessons from the trenches.

Experience

  • Contributor: Ad Snacks at Operators Podcast
    Nov 2025 - Present · 8 mos

  • Director of Paid Media at Grüns
    Sep 2025 - Present · 10 mos

  • Paid Media Director at Gardyn
    May 2024 - Aug 2025 · 1 yr 4 mos

    • Oversee all paid media channels including paid social, paid search, Amazon, affiliates, CTV, and more. • Collaborated cross-functionally to expand into new channels such as TikTok, Pinterest, and Programmatic Display. • Optimized the creative process and implemented best-in-class data practices which resulted in CTR +51%, CPC -20%, and overall CAC -40%, despite increased CPMs from Meta. • Led a team of marketing analysts to create and automate our marketing KPI dashboard reporting. • Own forecasting that ties marketing objectives to financial outcomes.

  • Marketing Advisor at Rorra
    Jan 2025 - Jun 2025 · 6 mos

  • WIN Brands Group (Full-time · 2 yrs 3 mos)
    • Head of Performance Marketing
      Jan 2024 - May 2024 · 5 mos

      • Promoted to oversee multiple agency directors and lead day-to-day operations for all B2C and B2B performance marketing for the portfolio totaling over $16M+ in spend and $70M+ in revenue. • Led marketing strategy and operations for all licensing partner marketing including Disney, MLB, Mattel, HBO and more leading to over $10M+ in annual revenue.

    • Director of Paid Media
      Aug 2023 - Jan 2024 · 6 mos

      • Tested a new AI advertising solution on Facebook that saw an average lift of 15% in sales while reducing creative asset production needs. • Applied a central feed solution for our portfolio of brands on Facebook and Google that's projected to save us $60k a year. • Directed a paid social team as well as multiple Google teams and agencies remotely while fostering a productive and collaborative environment. • Provided critical input into merchandising calendars and site initiatives that resulted in more scalability for our portfolio of brands.

    • Director of Paid Social
      Mar 2023 - Aug 2023 · 6 mos

      • Directed a multi-million dollar paid marketing strategy for the Win Brands Group portfolio: Qalo, Love Your Melon, Homesick, Gravity, and MiHIGH that resulted in 46% direct revenue growth on average for paid social • Developed paid social and creative strategies across the Win portfolio of brands leading to a 49% increase in new customer MER • Pioneered a new creative testing process and trained new team members on specific processes to paid social that improved direct click revenue for Qalo +18% and ROAS +30% YoY • Integrated AI into our paid social process for content and copywriting saving each member on the team a minimum of 2 hours a week • Expanded Qalo’s marketing mix into Twitter after doing research around target personas resulting in +20% AOV at +1% ECR compared to store averages while adding no additional creative work