The Shelf Has Always Been Yours. Now You Can Get Paid for It.
From day one of building Hummingbirds, I've been obsessed with word of mouth marketing. Not the influencer kind. Not the "post this caption, tag this brand" kind. The real kind. Local. Contextual. A recommendation from a trusted friend that sends you to the olive oil section at Target with total conviction.
I've spent years figuring out how to give brands the tools to design, fund, and scale that kind of word of mouth, working with our 55,000+ creators across 78 cities. We've seen undeniable success, massive growth, and real results for hundreds of brands.
But I kept feeling the classic entrepreneurial pull of: this isn't enough.
Our creators were telling us they wanted more ways to earn. They were telling us they love opening our weekly emails to discover brands. Our brands were telling us they wanted more ways to see how word of mouth actually moved product off shelves. They wanted proof that creators drive real, in-store purchases.
It all clicked.
The Gap Nobody Was Talking About
Think about this for a second.
Almost every creator and affiliate platform ever built was designed for online buying. Share a link. Your follower clicks. They buy. Cha-ching. Amazon Associates launched in 1996. Thirty years later, we've seen every flavor of storefront and link-sharing for e-commerce.
What we haven't seen? That same attribution layer for retail purchases.
Yet $800 billion is spent at grocery stores every year, and 84% of CPG purchases happen in-store.
That influencer you love who tells you the best almond milk to buy at Whole Foods? She'll never earn a dime from that. The cookbook author who swears by Good Culture cottage cheese and turned 150 of her followers into loyal buyers? The brand will never know she did that, and she'll never see a cent for it.
You can get paid for sponsored content. You can get paid when someone clicks your link to buy online. But you haven't been able to get paid when someone walks into Target and buys the thing you actually told them to buy.
Until now.
Introducing Hummingbirds Offers
Today, we're launching Offers, and I have been patiently and eagerly waiting to share this with you.
Here's how it works: Brands create Offers tied to specific products at the retailers where they actually sell — places like Target, Whole Foods Market, Costco, Walmart, and Sprouts. Consumers discover those Offers personalized to their taste and shopping habits, try products at the stores they already shop, upload their receipt, and earn real cash back.
Not points or a rebate check someday. Real cash back.
Every purchase is receipt-verified, which means brands finally get the velocity data their team needs to keep investing confidently in word-of-mouth — proof that what our hummingbirds are driving in-store is exactly what they set out to create: discovery.
When it comes to creators and shoppers, think of Offers as something you can share and earn from. When you share that Slate Milk you love with a friend, they go to the store and buy it (proved by a receipt of course) and you get a commission. You can use those unique, sharable links as part of Campaigns in our platform or by themselves.
A Storefront for Creators Plus Retail
Just when you thought Offers was exciting, we have something even better. Every user on our platform can now create different Nests. Think Pinterest boards but for your snacks, your workout favorites, your book club must-haves.
Every Nest is shareable — which means if someone loves the 18 products you recommended for book club must-haves and saves them all, you have an opportunity to earn beyond sharing one Offer at a time.
We've always known people have a lot of pride in what they stock in their fridge, their cabinets, or on their counters. We're finally giving consumers, tastemakers, and creators a way to curate a collection of their favorites.
What Birds Are Saying
We asked some of our birds what being part of the Hummingbirds community means to them. Here's what they said.
"Being a bird has not only helped me come out of my shell and share my passion for creating, but it has allowed me to be more involved within my community!"Casey — Kansas City, MO
"I love being a Bird because it allows me to try new things and share them with the Chicago community. I also love the freedom to choose campaigns that align with my personal brand and content. The best part, however, is the community! It's so cool to see everything that fellow Chicago Birds create."Jacqueline — Chicago, IL
"I love the opportunity to be creative with different types of content and share the things that bring me joy, especially when it means trying something new. Being a hummingbird allows me to work with a variety of brands, explore fresh ideas, and build connections both within my own community and with new ones."Elizabeth — Milwaukee, WI
One Platform. One Dashboard. One Story.
For brands already running creator programs on Hummingbirds for UGC and awareness, Offers layers right on. No separate coupon vendor or bolted-on attribution tool. The same dashboard where their creator programs live is now where they watch Offers convert.
Creator campaigns build the awareness. Offers closes the loop with verified purchase proof and retail velocity data — all in one place.
For consumers, this is discovery the way it should feel — personalized, rewarding, and nothing like a coupon app. Try products at stores you're already going to. Earn real cash back. Share what you love and earn again when friends try it too.
For the Brands Who've Felt It Work But Couldn't Prove It
If you're a CPG brand with real retail traction, you've almost certainly felt this. You run a creator campaign. Your community lights up. You watch engagement climb — then you walk into a leadership meeting with a deck full of impressions and engagement rates, but you still have uncertainty of the impact, despite every ounce of your being feeling it did what you needed it to do.
You couldn't prove content drove velocity.
That's the problem Offers was built to solve. Brands create Offers tied to specific SKUs at the retailers where they actually sell. When a consumer discovers that Offer — through a creator, through the app, or through a friend's recommendation — tries the product, and uploads their receipt, the brand sees a verified purchase tied to the community that drove it, sitting in the same dashboard where their creator programs already live.
For the first time, brands can walk into a meeting with velocity data that came directly from the word of mouth they invested in. That's not a vanity metric. That's the missing proof layer the whole industry has been waiting for.
See how campaigns and Offers work togetherWhat Brands Are Saying
We've been testing Offers with a small group of early beta brands, and the response has been everything we hoped for.
"Hummingbirds has been one of the most authentic ways we've found to build awareness at the local level. Their creators aren't influencers posting for reach — they're everyday people who actually buy and talk about products in their communities, and that shows up at shelf. With Offers, we're going to be able to see that connection in real numbers. Tying creator activity to verified in-store purchases across retailers like Target and Whole Foods is something the industry hasn't had before, and for a brand focused on building velocity in key markets, that data is really meaningful. We're excited to be an early partner and bringing this sophistication to our exciting growth story."
"Hummingbirds has become an important partner for Banza because it helps us generate authentic creator content at a scale that's difficult to achieve through traditional influencer programs. We're able to activate retailers like Target and Costco while creating content that continues to work across our owned and paid social channels long after a campaign ends. What excites us about Offers is the opportunity to better connect creator engagement with shopper behavior. As brands look for more accountability and insight from influencer marketing, having visibility into verified in-store purchases helps us understand what's resonating, learn faster, and make smarter decisions as we continue to grow."
We're Very Early, and Very Excited.
We have a lot to prove and we're all leaning in and ready for feedback and iteration and growth, right alongside brands and creators and shoppers.
With 12,000 users in early access last week and 20 beta brands, we're seeing a lot of signal that this is where creators in retail can go. Today in six cities, soon… nationally.
Here's my intention: I want to give even more people the opportunity to earn by sharing what they love. I want to give brands tools that help them connect creators to purchases in a way that's never been possible at retail, and I want to build a discovery experience that people actually want to open — not because there's a deal waiting, but because something they're going to love is right there.
If you're a creator doing sponsored content for food and beverage brands in retail, ask them if they have their Hummingbirds share links so you can earn when your followers redeem. If you're a shopper who wants to get cash back on brands you already love, sign up and see what we've got right on your dashboard. If you're a brand that's been looking for the missing link between creator content and in-store velocity, this is it.
Now you can finally get paid for it. 🐦
