How Ryze Grew By Turning College Students Into Ambassadors And Creators Into Affiliates

The coffee world is crowded. Walk down any grocery aisle or scroll TikTok and you’ll see Starbucks, Dunkin, Peet’s, plus dozens of indie brands fighting for attention. It’s a tough category for a new name to break into, because most people already have a coffee habit they stick to every day.

But Ryze managed to stand out in the coffee space by going all-in on something that brands often overlook, or only dabble in: influencer marketing.

They’ve built an influencer strategy that shows up everywhere — on college campuses, inside ads, across social feeds, and even on their website. No matter where a shopper discovers the brand, they see real people validating the product. They're playing the long game, and designing a system that keeps working across channels.

This blog breaks down exactly how Ryze designed their influencer programs and what other consumer brands can learn from their playbook.

5 Key Takeaways

1. Build influencer programs that are always-on, not one-off, so creators keep posting over time.
2. Make it easy for people to join—dedicated landing pages lower friction and bring in motivated partners.
3. College campuses are high-density networks where small efforts create outsized word-of-mouth.
4. Treat creator content as core creative, recycling it into ads, socials, and even your website.
5. Invest in your creator community so they feel valued—loyalty reduces churn and compounds results.

The College Ambassador Program

Most coffee brands fight for shelf space in grocery stores, and it’s tough to convince someone to swap out a product they’ve been drinking for years. By the time someone is in their 30s, their daily rituals — which coffee they buy, how they start their morning — are often set in stone.

Ryze took a different approach.

Instead of trying to break old habits, they went to the place where new routines are still forming: college campuses.

Why do college campuses matter so much for CPG brands

College campuses are one of the most efficient proving grounds for consumer products. They’re dense, self-contained communities where word-of-mouth spreads fast, and where habits are still in formation.

A single student can influence their dorm, their club, or their friend group, and suddenly you have dozens of trial users without ever buying a billboard.

Unlike paid ads, campus influence feels organic. It’s peers recommending to peers in the spaces where daily rituals are being set. And because students are naturally plugged into both offline networks and online platforms, the impact doesn’t stay on campus alone. It multiplies through TikToks, Instagram stories, and group chats.

For a challenger brand competing against giants, that kind of grassroots awareness is both cost-effective and sticky. It creates early loyalty that can carry well beyond graduation.

If creators are at the center of your growth, you can’t rely on chance encounters or scattered DMs. Ryze’s answer was to make joining the brand as frictionless as possible.

A dedicated landing page to attract college ambassadors

Instead of spending time and money constantly reaching out to students, Ryze created a landing page where the right people can learn about the program and submit their applications.

Ryze doesn’t have to DM students one by one or run expensive campaigns to find ambassadors. The landing page does the filtering for them: only students who are genuinely interested and already see a fit with the brand will take the time to apply.

For Ryze, this means they save on outreach costs and end up with more motivated ambassadors. For students, it makes the program feel official and legitimate, and not just some casual gig.

But a program is only as strong as the clarity behind it.

To keep students engaged and aligned, Ryze spelled out exactly what the ambassador role should look like in practice

What Ambassadors Actually Do

Ryze doesn’t leave the role vague. They give students a clear set of responsibilities so everyone knows what’s expected.

Ambassadors are asked to represent the brand at campus events, partner with student clubs, share samples, and host small activations that get people to try the product.

They also create social content — nothing overly polished, just posts that feel natural in a student’s feed.

Another part of the role is education.

Ambassadors are expected to explain the benefits of mushroom coffee in simple terms to their peers. That might mean answering questions at a sampling table or just talking about why they switched in a casual conversation.

To keep the program connected, Ryze runs weekly check-ins where ambassadors share what they’re seeing on campus. These sessions double as both training and feedback: the brand learns what’s resonating with students, and the ambassadors get fresh ideas to try.

Unlike the affiliate program, college ambassadors aren’t paid on commission. Instead, it’s a flexible paid role with a set number of hours each week.

But the interesting part isn’t just what ambassadors do—it’s what they don’t. Ryze intentionally avoided one of the most common asks in campus programs.

Why Ryze Doesn’t Push Sales at the College Level

Ryze does have an affiliate program where influencers earn commissions, but their college ambassador program is focused on building brand awareness. That's intentional.

College students are at a stage where what matters most is being part of something, connected to a brand, and being seen as someone who’s “in the know.” They’re not trying to maximize affiliate income. They just want to seem ‘cool.’

If Ryze tried to make the program sales-driven, it would immediately feel transactional and lose authenticity. No one wants to be “sold to” by their classmate in the dorm lounge.

What's the goal of Ryze college ambassador program?

Instead, the focus at the college level is exposure and habit formation:

• Get as many people as possible to taste the product in real-life settings.
• Start conversations about mushroom coffee as an alternative to energy drinks or traditional coffee.
• Collect feedback about what resonates, what doesn’t, and how young consumers describe their experience.

That approach pays off long term.

If Ryze becomes the coffee someone starts drinking at 19, the brand has a shot at being their go-to for years. Affiliates and commissions can come later, once people are out of college and more focused on purchasing.

But of course, at some point the brand also needs a way to drive conversions and reward creators who can actually move product. That’s where their affiliate program comes in.

Ryze Affiliate Program

Just like with the college ambassador program, Ryze makes it easy for affiliates to come to them. Instead of DM’ing creators one by one, they built a dedicated landing page where influencers can learn about the program and apply on their own.

The page is designed to sell the affiliate program.

It lays out the perks clearly: earn commission on sales, get free product to try and share, and be part of an active community of other Ryze creators.

There’s also a FAQ that answers the basics (who can apply, how long it takes to hear back), plus a personal note from the influencer marketing manager to make it feel more human.

The program also leaves room for growth. Affiliates who perform well can move up into deeper partnerships and potentially become paid brand partners, which gives creators a reason to stick with the brand.

Jovana, Influencer Marketing Manager at Relish, explained how layering contests and rewards improves retention and consistent posting.

“Creators often juggle multiple brand partnerships, so it’s natural for consistent posting to slip. Contests and rewards help on two levels: they provide tangible incentives to stay active, and they strengthen the relationship between the brand and the creator. Beyond the rewards themselves, these initiatives keep the brand top of mind and create moments of excitement that reinforce loyalty. I’ve also found that pairing these with softer, community-driven tactics, like sharing behind-the-scenes access, early product drops, or educational content, helps creators feel like insiders. That sense of belonging often translates into more authentic enthusiasm, consistent posting, and ultimately stronger retention of top creators.”

The landing page also goes beyond plain text.

There’s a section showing actual reels and short videos from existing affiliates. This works as social proof. New applicants don’t just read about the program, they see real people already creating content around Ryze.

After building momentum with ambassadors and affiliates, Ryze’s smartest move was recycling creator content so it powered ads, socials, and even the website.

Leveraging influencer-generated content

One of the smartest things Ryze does is make sure influencer content doesn’t just sit on Instagram or TikTok. When you’re already investing in creator partnerships, that content can do multiple jobs across different channels. Ryze squeezes more value out of every post by repurposing it across channels.

Better ads without the production costs

Ryze runs influencer clips as paid ads.

Because they look like native posts, they don’t trigger “ad fatigue” the way polished commercials do. Viewers are more likely to watch and trust them, which means higher performance at a fraction of the cost of traditional production.

A steady stream of fresh social content

Instead of filling their feeds only with brand shoots, Ryze reposts content from ambassadors and influencers. That mix keeps their social presence dynamic and more relatable — it looks like what real customers are sharing, not just polished marketing.

Instant social proof on the website

Ryze also brings creator content onto their website, and landing pages.

Screenshots of reels, photos, and quotes from affiliates and ambassadors act as proof that real people are enjoying the product. For new visitors, that’s often more convincing than glossy product shots.

The YouTube Review Pattern: “I Tried Ryze for X Days…Here’s What Happened”

Apart from TikTok, and Instagram, Ryze also partners with YouTube creators for influencer marketing. One clear pattern shows up when you look at Ryze on YouTube: many creators frame their videos as challenges — “I tried Ryze for 7 days,” “I drank mushroom coffee for 30 days,” even “I used it for a year.”

That format is clever.

A first-sip review wouldn’t capture the full experience of mushroom coffee. The taste is different from regular coffee, and not everyone loves it right away.

By stretching the review over a week or a month, creators can show the adjustment periode, e.g., how the flavor grows on them and how the benefits, like smoother energy and less crash, start to show up over time.

It’s more convincing when someone explains, “By week two I actually started to enjoy it,” instead of just giving a quick reaction after one cup. It gives creators a natural story arc, and it reassures potential customers who might otherwise quit after a couple of days.

Making Influencer Programs Work Without a Huge Team

Looking at Ryze, it’s clear that influencer marketing can do much more than generate one-off posts. With the right design, it becomes a system: ambassadors driving awareness, affiliates driving conversions, creator content fueling ads, socials, and the website.

The challenge for most brands is that running a program like this looks overwhelming. Recruiting, tracking, reusing content, staying on top of dozens of creator relationships — it sounds like the work of a 100-person team.

But it doesn’t have to be. With the right tools, you can build the same kind of structured influencer engine without burning out your marketing team. That’s exactly why we built SARAL.

SARAL helps you:

• Find and onboard the right creators quickly.
• Manage ambassador and affiliate applications in one place.
• Track performance and feedback without endless spreadsheets.
• Collect influencer content
• Manage affiliate links, coupon codes, and even contracts

If you’re ready to run influencer programs that actually pay off, we’d love to show you how SARAL works. Book a call with us here and see how you can build an ROI-driven program of your own.

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