COA x Brain Dead | Growth Partnership
Growth Partnership Proposal · February 2026

Brain Dead

LA-Based Cultural Collective| Founded 2014 · Kyle Ng & Ed Davis| wearebraindead.com| @wearebraindead · 517K Followers
Brain Dead already has the hard part: culture, demand, and a globally recognized brand. Public signals show that demand arrives in spikes and is captured primarily via organic and direct traffic, while paid search capture is effectively off. The opportunity is to build owned, automated revenue systems that turn cultural relevance into repeatable revenue without changing the brand's voice.
$10M+
2021 Revenue
After 200% growth in 2020
~70%
DTC Revenue Mix
Pulling back from 120+ wholesalers
517K
Instagram Followers
@wearebraindead
228K
Est. Monthly Visits
Jan 2026 · Semrush

What Brain Dead Is

Brain Dead is an LA-based streetwear brand and cultural collective co-founded by Kyle Ng and Ed Davis in 2014. It has expanded beyond apparel into cinema, events, gaming, and experiential retail.
Revenue scale: Vogue Business reported Brain Dead generated over $10M in sales in 2021 after 200% growth in 2020. Likely meaningfully higher now, to be confirmed in diligence.
DTC-first model: Direct-to-consumer represented ~70% of sales at time of Vogue Business reporting. Brain Dead was actively scaling back 120+ wholesale partnerships to protect brand and margin.
Category expansion: Beyond graphic tees and outerwear, Brain Dead now operates in footwear (adidas collabs), denim, accessories, apothecary/home goods, and cultural programming.

Global Retail Footprint

Los Angeles
Brain Dead Studios
611 N Fairfax Ave

Brain Dead Fabrications
3819 W Sunset Blvd
New York
202 Elizabeth St
Portland
1022 W Burnside St
Tokyo
Brain Dead Studios Harajuku

Brain Dead Shibuya
Shibuya PARCO
DSM LA concession also listed. Japan operates a separate webstore. Market-specific demand is already operationalized in retail, but not fully in digital.
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228K
Jan 2026 Visits
Semrush estimate
660K
Nov 2025 Spike
Drop/collab-driven surge
46.8%
Organic Search
Largest traffic source
0%
Paid Search
No capture at all
✦ Key Signal

Demand is real, spiky, and almost entirely earned. Traffic surges 3 to 4x during drop moments (660K in Nov 2025 vs 188K baseline in Dec). This pattern is consistent with a culturally-driven brand where tentpole moments drive massive intent. That intent is currently not captured by paid systems.

Traffic Composition

SourceShareSignal
Organic Search~46.8%Healthy branded demand
Direct~30.0%Strong brand recall
SocialRemainderLikely underattributed
Paid Search0%No capture at all

Audience Geography

MarketTraffic ShareRetail Presence
United States42.63%LA (×2), NY, Portland, DSM
United Kingdom12.67%No physical store
Japan9.58%Tokyo (Harajuku + Shibuya PARCO)
Rest of World~35%
57% of web traffic comes from outside the US, but returns/exchanges are only available for US-delivered orders. This is the single largest documented e-commerce friction point.

Wholesale Markdown Pressure

SSENSE runs Brain Dead sale pages with discounts up to 70% off. Customers openly discuss buying via SSENSE sales rather than full-price DTC.
Brain Dead operates its own 50% off sale section. This creates trained behavior of waiting for markdowns, directly competing with full-price DTC conversion.
Price anchoring from wholesale partners pressures DTC margins. A structured retention and loyalty strategy can shift this dynamic without eliminating wholesale entirely.
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Key Finding

Brain Dead's marketing stack is already in place: Shopify, GA4, GTM, Hotjar, and Klaviyo are all confirmed via their published privacy policy. The infrastructure exists. What's missing is activation: automated flows, segmentation, paid capture, and lifecycle attribution.

Confirmed Technology Stack

ToolCategoryStatus
ShopifyE-Commerce PlatformActive
Google Analytics 4Web AnalyticsActive
Google Tag ManagerTag ManagementActive
GA Advertising FeaturesAudience/RemarketingPresent · activation unknown
KlaviyoEmail/SMS/CRMPresent · flow maturity unknown
HotjarHeatmaps/RecordingsActive
Google AdsPaid Search0 paid search traffic (Semrush)
Meta AdsPaid SocialUnknown · requires access

Source: Brain Dead Iubenda privacy/cookie policy (publicly accessible)

What This Means

The tooling is already installed. GA4 + GTM means measurement infrastructure exists. Klaviyo means CRM/email is technically connected. Hotjar means someone has been analyzing behavior.
But activation appears minimal. Zero paid search traffic suggests Google Ads is either not connected or not running. Klaviyo flow maturity, segmentation depth, and SMS status are unknown without account access.
This is the ideal starting point. COA doesn't need to rip and replace. We activate and optimize what's already there.
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Active Collaboration Partners

Currently hosted on Brain Dead's own site with dedicated capsules:

adidas
Oakley Factory Team
Brooks Brothers CA
A24
Ghost in the Shell
Magic: The Gathering
This is Brain Dead's growth engine. Each collaboration drives a traffic spike, social engagement, and drop-driven demand. The Nov 2025 spike to 660K visits is the direct result of this model working.

Cultural Programming

Brain Dead Studios: cinema/event space on Fairfax. Screenings, community events, cultural programming extending the brand beyond product.
Fantasy Games: gaming events and tournaments (Magic: The Gathering integration) creating experiential touchpoints and owned community moments.
Brain Dead Fabrications: the Sunset Blvd location focuses on home goods, apothecary, and lifestyle categories expanding beyond streetwear.
✦ Why This Matters

Brain Dead doesn't need "brand building." The collaborations and cultural programming already generate demand at scale. What's missing is the commercial infrastructure to capture, retain, and monetize that demand across every touchpoint.

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Thesis

Brain Dead has proven demand and cultural leverage, but the next leg of growth is gated by underbuilt owned revenue infrastructure: search capture, retargeting, segmented CRM/SMS, loyalty, and international conversion. The goal is to monetize demand without changing the brand's voice.

01

Capture High-Intent Demand That's Already Present

Impact: High · Effort: Low

Paid search is completely inactive. Semrush shows 0 paid search traffic. Every branded search, product query, and collaboration search is currently undefended. Retailers like SSENSE and FARFETCH are likely capturing this traffic instead.

Action: Branded search defense + product/category capture campaigns as an immediate test.
02

Fix the International Conversion Blocker

Impact: High · Effort: Medium

57% of web traffic is from outside the US, including UK (12.67%) and Japan (9.58%). Brain Dead ships internationally but returns/exchanges are only available for US-delivered orders. This is a documented purchase barrier for the majority of visitors.

Action: Priority-market rollout of returns solutions for UK and Japan, where retail presence validates demand.
03

Turn the Stack into an Automated Revenue Engine

Impact: Very High · Effort: Medium

Klaviyo + GA4 + GTM + Hotjar are already in place. The value is implementing segmentation, drop sequences, browse/cart recovery, and post-purchase flows that monetize Brain Dead's collaboration cadence without discount culture.

Action: Lifecycle automation (welcome, abandon cart, browse abandon, post-purchase, VIP) segmented by category and behavior.
04

Protect DTC Pricing Power Against Wholesale Markdowns

Impact: High · Effort: Medium-High

SSENSE and others discount Brain Dead up to 70% off, training customers to wait. A loyalty/membership layer tied to experiential rewards (screenings, tournaments, early access) can shift behavior back to full-price DTC.

Action: Design loyalty/membership program tied to Brain Dead Studios and cultural programming, not discounting.
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✦ Our Commitment

We're not proposing that Brain Dead become a performance marketing brand. We're proposing that Brain Dead build the commercial systems to capture the demand its creative work already generates.

Step 1: Access-Based Audit

Week 0 to 1 · Replace proxies with account truth

Shopify Analytics: Conversion rate, AOV, repeat rate, margin by category, discounting depth, return rate
GA4 + Search Console: True sessions, branded vs non-branded demand, geo mix, drop spikes vs baseline
Klaviyo: Current flow coverage, revenue attribution, segmentation maturity, deliverability
Google Ads + Meta: Pixel/CAPI status, past spend history, audience pools

Step 2: Baseline Report

Week 1 to 2 · Establish numbers we can defend

Channel mix: New vs returning, acquisition source, DTC vs wholesale contribution
Cohort analysis: Category performance, repeat purchase rate, customer lifetime value by segment
Email/SMS contribution: What % of revenue is email-attributed today? What's the ceiling?
International friction: Conversion rate by country, cart abandonment by geo, return policy impact

Step 3: 90-Day Activation Plan

Built from baseline data, not assumptions

Branded search defense + high-intent capture: test budget, immediate deployment
Lifecycle automation: Klaviyo flows + segmentation, category-specific sequences
International CX fix plan: returns/exchanges for UK and Japan
Retargeting + collab amplification: re-using existing organic creative, not creating "ads"
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W1

Week 0 to 1: Numbers We Can Defend

Fast Diligence · Account Access

Pull 12 months of GA4 + Search Console to quantify true sessions, branded vs non-branded, geo mix, and drop spikes vs baseline. Pull Shopify for conversion, AOV, repeat rate, and margin. Pull Klaviyo for flow coverage and attribution. Confirm Google Ads + Meta pixel/CAPI status.

W4

Week 2 to 4: Low-Risk Quick Wins

Activation that doesn't change the brand voice

Launch branded search: protect highest-intent traffic and reduce leakage to retailer SERPs.

Build core Klaviyo flows: welcome, abandon cart, browse abandon, post-purchase, segmented by category.

Stand up SMS for drops, back-in-stock, and time-sensitive Studios/Fantasy Games programming.

Build 3 category landing pages (Footwear / Denim / Apothecary) and drive all paid tests there, not the homepage.

M3

Month 2 to 3: Scale Levers

Compounding systems that grow with the brand

Retargeting + collaboration amplification: re-using existing organic creative to re-engage drop visitors who didn't convert.

Loyalty/membership design tied to experiential rewards (screenings, tournaments, early access) rather than discounting.

International conversion project: priority-market rollout of returns solution for UK and Japan.

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✦ Our Position

We specialize in culturally-driven DTC brands where creative credibility is the primary asset. We understand that for a brand like Brain Dead, the wrong paid ad or the wrong promotional tactic can do more damage than no marketing at all.

Our approach is designed for brands at Brain Dead's exact inflection point: organic growth has been extraordinary, but the next phase requires infrastructure that turns cultural relevance into owned, repeatable revenue without compromising what made the brand matter in the first place.


We're not proposing that Brain Dead become a performance marketing brand. We're proposing that Brain Dead build the commercial systems to capture the demand its creative work already generates.

⚠ The Follower Migration Gap

Brain Dead has 517K Instagram followers but only ~228K monthly site visits. That means fewer than half of the existing audience is making it from social to the storefront in any given month, and during non-drop periods, the gap is even wider.

517K
Instagram Followers
Proven audience
228K
Monthly Site Visits
Jan 2026 · Semrush
~44%
Migration Rate
Followers to site (peak month)
~36%
Baseline Migration
Dec 2025 · Non-drop month

The Product Is Already Great. We Make It Easier to Get.

Brain Dead doesn't have a demand problem. 517K followers, A-list collaborations, and cultural programming prove the audience exists and cares. The gap isn't interest. It's the bridge between interest and purchase.
Most followers never reach the site. Without paid amplification, retargeting, or automated push systems (SMS, email, app), the path from "saw it on Instagram" to "bought it on the site" relies entirely on the customer remembering to go there themselves.
When they do arrive, there's no system catching them. No branded search to intercept the Google query. No browse-abandon flow if they leave. No back-in-stock alert if their size sold out. No post-purchase sequence to bring them back.
COA's role is to close this gap. We build the connective tissue between Brain Dead's cultural output and its commercial engine so every follower, every drop viewer, and every collab-curious visitor has a frictionless path to purchase and a reason to come back.

What We Deliver

Branded search defense: protect the demand you're already generating from leaking to third-party retailers
Lifecycle automation: segmented CRM/SMS flows that monetize collaboration cadence without discount culture
International conversion: remove purchase barriers blocking 57% of your traffic from converting
Loyalty infrastructure: experiential rewards (screenings, early access, tournaments) that protect full-price DTC
Measurement: connect every dollar of creative investment to measurable revenue outcomes
The Ask

Grant COA access to Shopify, GA4, GTM, Klaviyo, Google Ads, and Meta for a 1 to 2 week diagnostic audit. We will deliver a baseline report and 90-day activation plan built entirely from your data. No assumptions, no proxies, no generic playbooks.

COA · Growth Partnership Proposal · Brain Dead · February 2026
All data publicly verifiable. Sources: Vogue Business, Semrush, Brain Dead site/policies, Iubenda cookie disclosures.
Confidential. Prepared for internal use only.