In January 2022, GFUEL sent me a bunch of flavours and it lined up perfectly with what was already working on my page. At that time I was running a series around a Raspberry Pi mini PC that was performing really well, and I did not want to derail that momentum by randomly switching into “sponsored drink review” mode. So instead of forcing a separate post, I incorporated GFUEL into the series in a way that still matched the format people were showing up for.

That was the whole advantage. When you already have a series that the algorithm and your audience are rewarding, you do not start from zero. The job becomes finding a natural insertion point that does not feel like an interruption. With GFUEL, it was easy to do because it is already adjacent to the gaming and tech world, and the Raspberry Pi content had that same audience overlap. The collab made sense without me having to convince anyone.

The video hit around 7K views and pulled 400+ likes, which is a strong engagement ratio for a product integration. That is the part I care about most, because likes are a signal the content did not feel like a forced ad. People only like posts when it still feels like “your content,” not when it feels like a brand script. The series format kept it moving, and GFUEL became part of the story instead of the entire story.

GFUEL also set me up with my own 30% off discount code, which is a big deal in creator marketing because it is a direct way to track intent. Views are attention, likes are approval, but a discount link is where you find out if anyone actually wants to buy. It shifts the partnership from “post and hope” to something measurable, and it gives you a reason to keep building content around it over time instead of treating it like a one-off.

This partnership is a good portfolio example because it shows I know how to integrate a brand into content that is already working, rather than making a separate piece of content that kills momentum. January 2022 was peak Raspberry Pi series performance for me, and GFUEL fit into it clean: product shipped, content stayed native, the post landed 7K views with 400+ likes, and the brand gave me a real conversion lever with the 30% discount code. That is exactly how you make sponsorships feel like content, not commercials.