Mid-Day Squares makes some of the best content in CPG (if you've seen their founder content, you know). So it was a little surprising to hear co-founder Nick Saltarelli say that founder-led content, the darling of CPG, actually isn't enough to move the needle anymore.
As MDS expands even more (just look at their recent Costco and Walmart US expansion) and scales production (factory output just went up 71% in 30 days), content becomes even more important, with even less time to execute it. That's a lot more squares headed to a lot more shelves, and somebody has to buy them. But first, they need to know MDS exists.
That's where Vidovo comes in, and defines the next era of MDS's creator content.
Why creator content matters more than ever
Mid-Day Squares' founder videos are great at one thing: reaching people who already love the brand. That becomes a problem when you're scaling this fast.
Finding those casual buyers on Meta takes a lot of different faces. The algorithm tends to show a person to viewers who resemble them, so the same founders in every ad keep reaching the same crowd. People scroll to see people, and only real creators get you that effect.
"You have to throw a lot of diversity at Meta, and you simply cannot do that on your own or with AI."
Nick Saltarelli, Co-founder, Mid-Day SquaresSo MDS needed dozens of new people on camera, all performing ads built to the brand's standard. And they quickly realized that this would require some serious assistance.
Enter Vidovo
Vidovo is a UGC platform built on the idea that creator content is a volume game now. The platform has 40,000+ highly vetted creators, and brands can either self-serve or hand the whole thing off to Vidovo's team.
- Every applicant gets reviewed by a real person (only about 1 in 6 make it in)
- Every profile carries ratings and delivery history from past campaigns
- Anyone who dips below a 4-star average gets removed
In three years and 500+ brands, Vidovo has never had a brief it couldn't cast.
MDS, in the thick of a season of growth, decided to test Vidovo's Managed Service. Nick sent over exactly one thing: the script from an ad that was already winning. Vidovo's team built the rest: the variations, the new angles, every hook, every brief and every shot list, then sent it all to Nick for sign-off. Nick approved; Vidovo wrote.
Brand standard, without the brand doing the work
Most brands assume they have to choose between keeping creative locked in-house and handing creators a loose brief and hoping for the best. MDS wanted both: ads built to its own standard, performed by people who aren't the founders (and aren't AI slop, either). Vidovo delivered.
- One winning scriptMDSNick shares the ad that's already performing.
- Five variations, fully briefedVidovoNew hooks, a restructured body and a "blood sugar science" angle, written down to the cuts and exact lines.
- Sign-off on every concept and creatorMDSA hand-picked shortlist with portfolio links. Could they pull off a split-screen, film in a car, and read as someone who'd actually eat this bar?
- Shipping, filming, chasing and QAVidovo10 creators each perform a different variation. Nobody at MDS manages a creator.
- Raw footage, cut in-houseMDSMDS's own editors cut the footage however they want.
Baked into every brief
- 9:16, under 30 seconds
- Natural lighting, never sounds scripted
- Two revision rounds per video
- Free replacement if a creator misses a deadline or can't take direction
The first batch, in November 2025, started with one ad that was already performing. Nick approved all five variations, and 10 creators each performed a different one. A second batch in February brought in seven more creators for the No Bread PB&J launch.
