×TLVC

“One of the best
days in our
marketing history.”

About · Merge

About Merge

Merge builds the unified API behind 750+ software teams. Its newest product, Merge Gateway, gives them one API to hundreds of LLMs.

Customers750+ teams

LogosOpenAI · Dropbox · Ramp

InvestorsAccel · NEA · Addition

New productMerge Gateway

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Contents

The four chapters.

IProblemsWhy a well-known company still started from zero on X

IIObjectivesWhat Merge engaged us to deliver

IIIStrategiesSeven plays that engineered the outcome

IVResultsWhat 3.67M impressions looked like

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Chapter I

Problems

Problem 01 of 04

01

A known name in a new category.

750+ teams knew Merge for integrations. Gateway was its first step into LLM routing, where OpenRouter and LiteLLM already owned the conversation.

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Problem 02 of 04

02

Little presence on X.

Merge was strong as a company and nearly invisible on X. The launch had to go out from a founder account with 7,847 followers, and most employees had brand-new accounts.

7,847

/ followers on @shensi, the launch account

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Problem 03 of 04

03

Built for engineers.
Bought by CTOs.

Routing policies, evals and benchmark scores are engineering vocabulary. Merge needed this launch to land a level up.

“This launch video isn't really for Eng. It's for brand and CIOs / CTOs.”

SHENSI DING, MERGE

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Problem 04 of 04

04

OpenRouter launched on the same day.

Merge went live at 7:00 AM PT. Seventeen minutes later, OpenRouter, the best-known name in LLM routing, announced a $113M Series B.

07:00 AM

Merge Gateway

07:16 AM

OpenRouter Series B

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Chapter II

Objectives

Objective 01 of 02

01

Make a splash.

“This was our introduction to the world, and we really wanted to make a splash.”

SHENSI DING, MERGE

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Objective 02 of 02

02

Reach was the goal, on purpose.

Merge engaged us for reach with the people who buy infrastructure, and for the hype that comes with it.

Shensi on launch morning: “i just care about views.”

TriggerViews on X

KPI 01Reach with CIOs & CTOs

KPI 02Brand & investor hype

Not the KPILaunch-day signups

Not the KPIEngineer-only reach

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Chapter III

Strategies

Strategy 01 of 07

01STRATEGY

Led with a point of view.

We pulled the story up from routing features to a belief any CTO could repeat.

From

Custom routing policies

↓

To

There is no best model.

/ the line that led the launch post

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Strategy 02 of 07

02STRATEGY

Filmed three hooks.

The hook decides retention, so we didn't bet the shoot on one. All three went on camera with alternate lines, and the final call happened in the edit.

Beat 1A

“A new ‘best’ model is released every month.”

Shensi · the treadmill

Beat 1B

“We made all major models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, and more available behind a single API.”

Shensi · the product

Beat 1C

“Nobody should get to decide what ‘good’ means for your AI.”

Shensi · the provocation

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Strategy 03 of 07

03STRATEGY

Posted from the founder, then stacked the signal.

Shensi posted, not the brand. Gil quoted it at 7:05, @merge_api at 7:23, and both founders went live on MTS that morning.

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Strategy 04 of 07

04STRATEGY

Curated influencers in tiers.

44 accounts

The credibility layer

AI and tech creators, vetted by who follows them. Quote posts and comments at 7:00 AM.

Merge's network

The insider layer

Investor voices like Turner Novak and Molly O'Shea, briefed with angles we prepared.

150 accounts

The momentum layer

Reposts from 7:15 AM to keep the post climbing.

/ Turner Novak's quote post, 7:26 AM

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Strategy 05 of 07

05STRATEGY

Internal network activation.

Before launch, we told Merge's own people exactly when to show up. Investors got an email, employees got a time to engage, and customers were asked to comment in the first three hours.

Tue · 7:00 AM PT

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Strategy 06 of 07

06STRATEGY

Ran the war room from the founder's account.

Shensi gave us delegated access, so we replied, pinned and steered the thread from her account in real time.

CHANNEL

#merge-atomik

VOLUME

701 messages

# MERGE-ATOMIK · LIVE

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Strategy 07 of 07

07STRATEGY

Kickoff to launch in 18 days.

Merge first asked for four weeks, then cut it to about two and a half. Script, shoot, edit and distribution ran in parallel, and late changes were absorbed until launch morning.

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Chapter IV

Results

Result 01 of 07

Result 01

3.67M

/ 3M by 11:12 AM PT on launch day

Impressions on X.

3,668,444 on the launch post alone, before a single quote post is counted.

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Result 02 of 07

02

467×

/ 3,668,444 impressions ÷ 7,847 followers

The founder's follower count.

The post traveled far past Shensi's own audience, which is exactly what the distribution was built to do.

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Result 03 of 07

03

+1.09M more from quote posts.

110 quote posts added 1,092,232 impressions. The biggest came from a creator on our list.

/ top six quote posts by views · ★ = TLVC creator list

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Result 04 of 07

04

Saved almost as often as liked.

LIKES

1,359

BOOKMARKS

1,316

/ 0.97 bookmarks per like · people saved it to come back to

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Result 05 of 07

05

The right people showed up.

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Result 06 of 07

06

The message stuck.

Replies came back in Merge's own words. Sentiment was overwhelmingly positive.

Skeptical replies were a small minority, mostly comparisons to OpenRouter and LiteLLM.

/ Recurring themes in replies + quotes

Theme 01“There is no best model”

Theme 02Runaway AI spend, with routing as the fix

Theme 03“LLM routers are so hot rn”

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Result 07 of 07

Result 07

Then they asked to
put paid behind it.

3.67M

IMPRESSIONS

+1.09M

QUOTE LAYER

1,316

BOOKMARKS

Day 2

PAID PROMO REQUEST

Two days after launch, Merge asked to run paid promotion of the video on X and LinkedIn. Reach was the brief. They doubled down on it.

27 / 29

Testimonial

In Shensi's words.

Shensi Ding, co-founder of Merge, on working with us on the Gateway launch.

Merge × TLVC · Shensi Ding

Watch on YouTube

youtu.be/J2LKOE72R8Y

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We make launch videos.
And make them go viral.