If you run a business that depends on repeat customers, you face the same problem Fortune-50 marketers wrestle with: attention is scarce and creating a habit with your product is difficult. However, two very different brands, Liquid I.V. and Dr Squatch, just showed how to cement their own by attaching themselves to tiny, repeatable moments in a consumer’s day. Understanding their playbook will help you find (and monetize) the micro-moments that could be hiding in your own customer journey.

What are micro-moments in marketing?

Google once called micro-moments the “intent-rich moments when decisions are made and preferences shaped.” Today, these moments occur dozens of times a day, almost always on a phone, and 82 percent of shoppers say they consult that phone even while standing in a store deciding what to buy. Winning one of those split-second windows is the shortest path to habitual use (meaning, repeat revenue). You’ve also likely experienced these moments yourself:

• “I-need-a-recipe-now” moments – Standing in the grocery aisle googling what to make with chicken and kale.

• “Just-one-review-first” moments – About to grab a new moisturizer or tech gadget, but checking Amazon or Reddit before you commit.

• “I-can-fix-this” moments – Searching YouTube for how to silence a squeaky door hinge or unclog a sink, usually mid-task.

• “What-should-I-watch?” moments – Scrolling Netflix or TikTok at 9 p.m., trying to make a fast decision before giving up and rewatching something familiar.

• “Do-they-have-it?” moments – Looking up inventory or curbside pickup status at a specific store while already en route.

Each of these micro-moments is a trigger. If your brand shows up with the right message, right product, or right solution at that exact time, you don’t just win a transaction, but you begin to build a routine. Liquid I.V. and Dr Squatch show this idea at two very different price points and in two very different categories.

Liquid I.V. on turning the 4 p.m. slump into a branded ritual

On June 4, 2025, the hydration-powder brand brought New York’s Times Square to a stand-still. At 3:59 p.m., every billboard “crashed” to a blue error screen, and sixty seconds later the boards lit up again, announcing “I.V. O’Clock” as the most dehydrating minute of the day. Fifty robots then zipped through the crowd, handing out reusable branded bottles and 15 000 samples. At 4’oclock, it’s not coffee you need… It’s Liquid I.V. This focus on one high-stress minute has also paid off. Since Unilever bought the brand in 2020, sales have quadrupled, and the company now leads the U.S. powdered-hydration category.

Dr Squatch’s changing the name of the men’s shower

Dr Squatch started in 2013 with handmade bar soaps and tongue-in-cheek YouTube ads featuring a lumber-camp Bigfoot. The messaging was “smelling like a champion” without the chemicals your dad’s soap uses. That built a cult following strong enough for Unilever to agree to pay $1.5 billion for the brand in late June 2025, a big move into natural men’s care… and that kind of branding (rooted in humor, identity, and natural ingredients) turned a basic hygiene product into a daily ritual: one that fits neatly into the habit loop and reinforces itself with each use.

What’s the habit loop?

Neuroscientists describe a three-step habit loop: cue → routine → reward. Stepping into the shower is a high-motivation, low-effort habit. The prompt to the reward is simply stepping into the bathroom, and then ‘soap for real men’ has become a daily routine. Liquid I.V. used the 4 p.m. energy dip as the cue. Tearing open a stick is the routine; the refreshed feeling is the reward. Repeat that sequence daily and the action starts to run on autopilot.

How long does “autopilot” take? A study tracking real-life behavior found that automaticity peaks after roughly 66 days, though anywhere from 18 to 254 days is normal. That would be long enough for the habit loop to lock in and keep your revenue recurring.

Using micro-moments in your own strategy

These brands engineered habit loops that customers can easily stick to. Both began by identifying a daily moment of discomfort or disengagement: a late-day energy crash, or a morning routine that felt too bland and impersonal. Then, they introduced products that not only resolved the issue, but came packaged with recognizable cues, easy routines, and immediate rewards: the three parts of the habit loop.

How You Can Apply This Today

Creating a habit-forming experience around your product doesn’t require a massive campaign or Times Square takeover. What it does require is a deep understanding of your customer’s daily rhythm, and the discipline to turn one overlooked moment into a ritual.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Talk to your customers. Walk through their day. Pinpoint the exact moment they encounter a problem. Liquid I.V. found, “I always crash around four.” Dr Squatch heard, “Drug-store soap feels way too generic.”

2. Think in moments. Maybe your customer’s real pain point is the lunch decision panic at noon, the doom-scroll regret at 9 p.m., or the next-day shipping anxiety at 11 a.m. Whatever it is, that moment is your opportunity.

3. Name it in plain English. “I.V. O’Clock” doesn’t require a chart or explainer. A good name anchors the habit and makes it shareable.

4. Wrap it in a story. Give your customer more than a solution, but give them an identity. Dr Squatch didn’t just solve bland soap. It gave their audience a whole new showering experience.

5. Show, don’t just tell. Use visuals to dramatize how life improves when the customer follows the ritual. Staged moments, real use cases. Anything that makes the loop tangible.

The goal for your business isn’t just one more sale. It’s to create a reliable, repeatable connection with your customer that happens almost automatically. That happens when your product becomes the default response to a very specific, high-frequency moment in their day. Not a seasonal push, not a generic campaign, but a cue so familiar and a routine so simple that using your product feels like second nature.

When you identify that moment, name it clearly, and build a brand story around the relief you offer, you’re no longer competing for attention, but you’re earning a place in someone’s life. That’s when price becomes secondary. That’s when advertising gets easier, and that’s when you start turning casual users into loyal, long-term customers.

Let’s uncover your micro-moment

Our team at Jason Hunter Design helps brands package value into stories people repeat: on websites, social feeds, in checkout lines, and everywhere habits are made! Want to identify the minute that could change the game for you? Fill out the short form below and we’ll map it together. Own the moment, own the market.