Editor's note (2026): This 2020 interview with Kristina Nolan of DMi Partners on the Rastelli's affiliate program remains one of the clearest working examples of how affiliate marketing functions as an editorial-commerce channel — trusted media outlets, promo codes over sample seeding, publisher conversion mechanics. Read alongside our current pillar, Affiliate Marketing Ate The Editorial Internet, and the 2026 case-study series on Wirecutter, Shopify, and Amazon.
At Everything-PR we like to review successful campaigns. Today, an interview with Kristina Nolan, Vice President of Affiliate at DMi Partners, on a successful campaign for Rastelli's.
Set up the situation for us: who is Rastelli's and what did they task your agency with?
Rastelli's started out in 1976 as a small New Jersey butcher shop. They evolved into one of the largest producers of organic beef in the U.S. and a leading distributor of high-quality meats and seafood to a wide network of restaurants.
In 2019, they wanted to expand to an online, direct-to-consumer model, which is where DMi Partners stepped in to help reimagine their brand identity and develop an ecommerce website. Because the DTC model lacked brand awareness, Rastelli's needed a way to reach new consumers and inform that audience about their new product offering. They engaged DMi's affiliate service.
What was your approach to accomplish that affiliate coverage?
Our affiliate team leveraged relationships with trusted media outlets to promote Rastelli's services and products.
Consumers put more stock in third-party testimonials than traditional advertising, because they come via independent journalists in trusted and respected publications. This lent Rastelli's solid credibility for quality products and top-notch customer service.
The affiliate partner sites where we had success included a number of leading publications — Food & Wine, Rolling Stone, CNN, USA Today, and other big names.
Our web development team had engineered and built an ordering system from the ground up for Rastelli's that does incredibly innovative things with a la carte and subscription shopping. We wanted to ensure that affiliate reviewers were aware of, and covered, the ease of shopping and innovative subscription technology, so they were sent promo codes to experience the process themselves rather than receiving product samples. Because the Rastellis.com site was so intuitive, publishers saw high conversion rates which led to more potential earnings for them — which encouraged them to continue promoting the brand.
What were the results of the affiliate campaign?
The affiliate program garnered more than 120 placements, performing successfully as a tool to introduce the brand to a new consumer audience and drive traffic to the website. We secured placements on a pure commission basis that had a media value of over $250,000 if they were to be bought on a flat-fee basis.
How did the pandemic affect Rastelli's business and what did that mean to the overall marketing strategy?
Consumers were increasingly wary of in-store shopping. Demand for quality meats surged and Rastelli's was uniquely positioned to serve as a reliable source for protein. Their customer base grew quickly.
From an affiliate perspective, there was a surge in interest. Of the 120-plus placements mentioned, about half were executed in Q2. For the overall business, the result was an increase of over 1,000% in orders and revenue between March and April 2020.
That is stunning growth. What are the marketing challenges to fulfilling such a quick change in demand?
To ensure they were able to ramp up online orders, the DMi team laid the groundwork for a range of important logistical and marketing changes.
The immediate priority was to let people know that Rastelli's was open and fulfilling orders. Paid search and paid social introduced Rastelli's to new customers and reminded existing ones of the offering. It also proved to be an area they could gain customers from competitors, many of which were facing inventory and logistic issues.
Email marketing was vital for communicating availability and providing shipping and deliverability updates. The team focused messaging on transparency around the shift of the shopping experience. As a result, the email list grew significantly — exceeding 5% increases weekly — and consisted of active subscribers with impressive open and engagement rates.
Were there any unplanned marketing tactics that the DMi team implemented in response to the situation?
Strategic collaboration is an area we are always interested in pursuing but is not always viable.
When the pandemic began, we recognized there were a number of opportunities to work with complementary brands. We formed partnerships with non-competitive food delivery companies that could supplement the Rastelli's line and provided opportunities to cross-promote Rastelli's meats.
For those partners, the relationship provided an opportunity to offer their customers a much-needed dietary ingredient and rounded out their overall product offering. Having access to a single source for multiple fresh groceries increased the revenue of all parties.
Additionally, as travel companies saw a decline in booking revenue, they expanded advertising efforts. Rastelli's partnered with American Airlines to be featured in a newsletter to their audience, giving consumers a discount on a relevant product, allowing American Airlines to take a profit share in the sales, and generating new high-LTV customers for Rastelli's.
