When Warner Jenkins, Founder and CEO of Nordic Wave, set out to scale his premium cold plunge brand, hiring the right marketing talent became a bottleneck.
Nordic Wave manufactures and sells high-end vertical cold plunges in the health and wellness space. As a premium brand, design, positioning, and customer perception are everything.
Before working with GrowthPair, Warner explored agencies and fractional design providers that offered set hours per week across different pricing tiers. On paper, the model worked. In reality, it created friction.
The core challenge was not just execution. It was alignment.
“We were looking for designer talent, but finding someone who truly understands your brand, especially as a premium brand, is really difficult. The turnover is typically really high within these groups.”
Nordic Wave needed marketing talent who could operate within strict brand guidelines, understand their customer, and think beyond task completion.
Three core issues stood out:
1. Lack of brand alignment from generalist agencies
2. High turnover and inconsistent output
3. Time and money lost vetting candidates internally
Warner’s team did not want “task-only” contributors. They wanted strategic teammates.
For a tight, digital-first company like Nordic Wave, every hire needed to be a value add.
Nordic Wave partnered with GrowthPair to source marketing-specific global talent, starting with graphic design.
What stood out immediately was specialization.
“GrowthPair being focused just on marketing is a huge leg up. Instead of saying ‘we’ll find you anyone,’ it’s ‘here’s the lane we work in.’”
Rather than acting as a general recruiter, GrowthPair pre-vetted candidates deeply within marketing functions. Only high-quality, marketing-native talent made it to Warner’s desk.
This reduced noise, eliminated time spent screening unqualified applicants, and built trust in the process from day one.
The designer Nordic Wave hired integrated immediately.
“She integrated immediately into our Slack channels and workflows.”
But more importantly, she did not operate as a task executor.
“If we assign a task, they say ‘this is great, I’ll do this, but here are my thoughts on it as well.’ You’re not just getting someone who does exactly what you say word for word.”
This was a critical shift.
Warner contrasted the experience with traditional offshore or VA-style support, where output is often strictly one-to-one with the request.
For Nordic Wave, the expectation was different. Every teammate needed to think holistically about:
- How the asset fits into the broader brand
- How it impacts other ongoing campaigns
- What could be improved strategically
The result was better work and less managerial overhead.
While the engagement focused on talent quality rather than a single vanity metric, the impact was clear across operations:
- Higher quality creative output
- Stronger brand consistency
- Reduced hiring and onboarding time
- Lower long-term hiring costs
- Strategic lift from every marketing role
“GrowthPair’s ability to say “no” to out-of-scope roles also reinforced trust. I love that you’ve said ‘no’ to us a few times. You really stay in the lane and it shows.”
For Nordic Wave, that focus translated into higher confidence and repeat hiring as the company scales.
As Nordic Wave grows, the hybrid team model is becoming a core advantage.
The company maintains tight domestic leadership and culture while expanding globally across digital marketing functions such as:
- Graphic design
- Video editing
- Web design
- Other marketing-specific roles
Because GrowthPair specializes in marketing talent, expansion in these areas is straightforward and aligned with company strategy.
For premium brands, marketing is not a support function. It is the product narrative.
Having strategic global marketing talent embedded directly into the team ensures Nordic Wave can scale without compromising brand equity.
“It’s worth it. If you want talent within marketing, I highly recommend GrowthPair.”
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