Brand Builder: Recent Episodes
Brand Builder
Brand Builder brings you the people, stories, and lessons learned from the most innovative natural food and beverage brands in the world. Hosted by Sean Kelly, Jordan Cohen, and Jeff Murphy. Presented by SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Similar to How I Built This, Marketing Secrets with Russell Brunson, and Seeking Wisdom by Drift.
When Alix Peabody was in her early 20s, she suffered from an ovarian torsion, in which an ovary twists, cutting off blood flow. Doctors recommended that if she wanted children one day, she should freeze her eggs. The only problem? The procedure, which can cost over $20,000 wasn't covered by insurance.
In an effort to raise funds, Alix started hosting ticketed parties and found a passion for creating female-dominated social spaces. She wanted to create that same energy in a product that people could enjoy again and again, and Bev was born.
In this episode, we talk to Bev Founder Alix Peabody about breaking into the male-dominated wine industry with zero experience, standing up against toxic drinking culture, and creating a fun and inclusive experience through every brand interaction.
Ocean Spray may have once conjured up images of bogs and cranberry juice, but the 92-year-old company made waves in 2020 with their arrival of CarryOn, a refreshing CBD beverage born from their Lighthouse Incubator.
In this episode, we talk to CarryOn's Innovation Lead and Managing Director Chris Petersen about the significance of behemoth brands entering the functional wellness space, the advantages of an Incubator operation, as well as its unique challenges. Chris also gets personal about the mindset shift that came with joining a corporate team after years of solo entrepreneurship and how he combines the best of both worlds for CarryOn.
Twist it! Flip it! Shake it! No, we're not talking about the old Bop It toys. We're talking about Drnxmyth's innovative packaging that houses fresh ready-to-drink cocktails from some of the best mixologists in the world.
In this episode, we talk to Drnxmyth Co-founder Brandon Schwartz about the early challenges and a-ha moments behind creating their revolutionary packaging, establishing (and re-establishing) their target consumers, and partnering with passionate mixologists worldwide to celebrate the 'craft' of craft cocktail-making.
It is officially the age of the hard seltzer. In fact, it feels like not a day goes by without a well-known beer or alcohol brand announcing their new low-calorie beverage, or a rookie brand announcing the same.
So, what was it like to be the first? Before White Claw was in every corner and Truly was truly everywhere, Julius Makarewicz founded Nude Beverages, the low-calorie beverage brand based out of British Columbia. Eight years later, Nude has amassed fans across the globe with their suite of delicious sugar-free hard seltzers, vodka sodas, hard iced teas and more.
In this episode, we talk to Julius about his entrepreneurial upbringing, his relentless pursuit of success, and the years of rejection that led to Nude Beverages being the powerhouse brand that it is today.
Roll out the red carpet because this week, we’re joined by royalty.
Erica Huss and Zoe Sakoutis became category queens in 2007 with BluePrint, a first-of-it’s-kind fresh pressed juice that leveraged high pressure processing (HPP) to land on market shelves nationwide.
Now, they’re back and better than ever with Earth & Star, a line of ready-to-drink functional beverages and snacks that harness the power of functional mushrooms and extracts.
In this episode, they share their proven strategies for turning fringe wellness trends into incredibly delicious and ‘sticky’ products that people can fall in love with. Plus, we get real and raw about the costly mistakes along the way that made them stronger entrepreneurs, brand builders, co-founders and friends.
For full show notes and relevant links, visit snacknation.com/brandbuilder
Where people see challenges, Kameron sees a new opportunity to build a life-changing brand. Not once, but twice.
In this inspiring episode, Kameron Norwood, co-founder of Half Day CBD and PackDash, reveals the surprising secrets and tested strategies that helped him navigate the stigmas of cannabis, launch his first brand and build an ecosystem to support it. Get ready for a crash course in hustling, being resourceful, and never letting roadblocks get in the way of your success.
When it comes to the world of venture capital, it can feel eerily similar to Squid Game, though not nearly as gory (thank goodness).
Thousands of brands competing for the resources and mentorship they need to take their product to new heights, some getting better outcomes than others.
So, how can today's founders find the most successful venture partner to help their brand grow? How can they rise above the noise, grab attention, and win support?
We thought, "Who better to ask than a venture capitalist?"
That's why we sat down with Jay Hirsh, founder of Break Trail Ventures, an early-stage venture fund based in Boulder, CO and Columbus, OH. In this episode, he gives us the ultimate crash course on finding and attracting the right venture partner for your unique brand, red flags to avoid, and his learn-first approach for success in venture and life.
Whether you want to grow your business, become a better leader, or reach your full potential, leveling up is tough work.
Add a global pandemic to the mix and it can feel near impossible!
This week, we're joined by Eric Partaker, an award-winning Peak Performance Expert and author of The 3 Alarms, who combines his own entrepreneurial journey at Skype and Chilengo with his in-depth knowledge of behavioral science to guide Fortune 50 CEOs to reach their full potential in work and life.
In this episode, Eric reveals his proven strategies for unlocking new levels of performance and how to leverage your current knowledge and resources to overcome challenges, discover your 'Why' and achieve sustainable success.
How would we describe Mark Samuel, the founder of the award-winning wellness brand IWON Organics?
Intensely focused, brutally honest, and above all, ruthlessly authentic.
It's this authenticity and his commitment to wellness that has fueled Mark's 17 years as an entrepreneur, launching IWON Organics to promote healthy snacking and successful, long-term eating habits.
Along the way, this same authenticity has attracted thousands to Mark's Linkedin, where he shares every lesson, every win, and every ugly truth about being a founder in the world of CPG.
In this episode, Mark reveals his secrets to achieving optimal focus, dedication, and authenticity as a CEO, with tactical tips for pushing your brand forward.
What happens when one of the world's renowned CPG behemoths take on the emerging direct-to-consumer (D2C) space?
You may think they'd have it easy with endless resources, envious budgets and national access, but you'd be wrong.
This week, we're joined by Caroo alumni Jordan Narducci, who now spearheads Kellogg's budding D2C efforts. After launching D2C at emerging startups, he's using these learnings to tackle Kellogg's unique challenges in a scrappy and innovative way.
In this episode, Jordan gives us an insider look at how one of the world’s largest brands is taking on the world of D2C. He'll also reveal the secret weapon that emerging brands can leverage to make massive gains in D2C and new trends Kellogg is keeping their eye on in the months to come.
You’ve heard the adage, “If you talk the talk, you’d better walk the walk.”
This week, we’re joined by Michele Liddle, founder of The Perfect Granola and a shining example of what it means to ‘walk the walk’ and build a truly cause-based brand.
If you’re an emerging brand, you know that marketing can be a Pandora’s Box that leads to more questions than answers:
Which marketing strategies will give me the most bang for my buck?
How can I create buzz for my brand, while doing everything else on my to-do list?
How do I connect with influencers and customers in an authentic way?
As the founder of marketing communications agency SchroderHaus, Elexis Schroder has helped build powerhouse brands like Lily’s, Good Karma, and C2O Coconut Water by honing in their marketing strategies across PR, digital media, brand positioning and more.
In this episode, Elexis bottles up her 15 years of experience to offer the ultimate crash course on brand marketing. From PR and media training, to influencers and branding on a budget, you’ll discover the secrets to creating a laser-focused marketing strategy where small steps make a massive impact.
What does it take to solve one of the nation’s most complex and pressing issues? For Cole Riley, he believes it takes a fresh entrepreneurial perspective and a new way of doing things.
This week on Brand Builder, we’re joined by Cole Riley, the founder of Wellfare. Not to be confused with government support, Wellfare is a nonprofit subscription box that’s making better-for-you foods more accessible to those navigating food insecurity.
With over 50 million people in the US lacking reliable access to healthy, nourishing food, Cole is on a mission to break down the barriers of food insecurity including accessibility, awareness, and affordability by bringing healthier options straight to people’s doorsteps.
Sometimes your greatest idea hits you at the most unexpected time. For Velobar founder Brant Reiter, it was during a leisurely bike ride in 2015 when he realized the world was missing a cannabis-infused protein bar.
From that moment until now, Brant has navigated a Wild West-style cannabis industry, creating and recreating an award-winning, high-protein CBD snack that can now be found in grocery stores, coffee shops, and gyms across the country.
In this episode, Brant demystifies the world of cannabis and takes us on the journey of Velobar, from breaking through red tape to finding a niche customer base with fans nationwide. Plus, we announce the arrival of Brand Builder’s new co-host!
Links:
- Velobar
- Connect with Brant on LinkedIn
Join our Exclusive Facebook Group!
What’s your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!
Facebook.com/groups/brandbuilderpod
Brand Builder is produced by Caroo.
“Climate change and sustainability can feel like such huge problems that you struggle to even know the first step you can take. So I thought, why don’t I start with something small?”
Where some see an overwhelming problem, Julia Collins sees a wondrous opportunity.
As founder and CEO of Planet FWD, Julia Collins is on a mission to tackle climate change using the magic of food, starting with the world’s first climate-friendly snack brand Moonshot Snacks.
Not only does Moonshot Snacks make ridiculously delicious crackers, but every step of their creation is dedicated to reducing emissions in the food system, improving soil health and optimizing human health.
In this episode, Julia shares how her and her team are using technology to discover scalable solutions to the food system’s biggest problems, and getting customers excited about making conscious choices that reflect the world they want to live in.
Links:
Moonshot Snacks
@moonshotsnacks on Instagram
@moonshotsnacks on Facebook
Connect with Julia on LinkedIn
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Pass the Honey Founder Douglas Raggio will be the first to admit that Pass the Honey is, in fact, a front.
Behind the scenes, Pass the Honey is working to restore legitimacy in the honey space, an industry that’s the third most fraudulent in the world. They’re on a mission to promote pollinator health, fight for land conservation and support habitat creation while creating 100% pure snacking honeycomb.
There’s no doubt that Douglas is a founder on a mission to good, but he’s not afraid to admit his journey to Pass the Honey has been coupled with dark times, hard truths, and wrongs he’s working to make right. In fact, our interview went to some deeply personal and unexpected places that you’ve got to hear for yourself.
In this episode, Douglas also highlights what he believes to be short-sighted venture capital and private equity investments in the food and beverage space, and how he’s tackling them head-on through his Bias and Blindspots Consulting Agency.
- Pass the Honey
- Bias and Blindspots Consulting Agency
- Connect with Douglas on LinkedIn
This week on Brand Builder we’ve got Ryan Hansen, the President and Founder of FireCreek Snacks, joined by Dustin Riechmann, FireCreek’s Chief Marketing Officer.
FireCreek’s origin story isn’t just a wholesome tale, it’s the inspiration behind their wildly successful beef and pork snack sticks and their path for the future.
As a self-proclaimed 3rd generation meat man, Founder Ryan has been around the jerky industry for a lifetime...and that’s not hyperbole. After following in the footsteps of his grandfather’s meat company, he partnered up with Dustin to introduce a new and delicious jerky stick to an already competitive category.
Four years later, FireCreek’s success has only grown as they’ve proven to be masters of alternative retail channels, trade shows, and data-driven branding.
In this episode, Ryan and Dustin reveal the family values that drive their products’ success, and how their niche retailing strategy has set them up for FireCreek’s next big move.
Links:
FireCreek Snacks
@firecreeksnacks on Instagram
@firecreeksnacks on Twitter
Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn
Connect with Dustin on LinkedIn
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Whether you’re ready or not, the ball is always snapped. It’s how you react that matters.
Business is full of sports metaphors… and some are definitely better than others. But this one carries a little extra weight because it comes from someone who played one of the toughest positions in football at the highest levels - including the NFL.
That man is Jeff Byers, a pro-athlete turned entrepreneur who is currently building the next great human performance platform. The platform is called Amp Human, and their mission is to help athletes at all levels achieve their limitless potential. He also happens to be our guest on this episode of Brand Builder.
To achieve this audacious goal, Amp Human has adopted a strategy to “win at the top." This means validating the product with elite athletes, pro-sports teams, and institutions like the military.
In this episode we talk to Jeff about the the serious science behind their flagship PR lotion and new Vitamin D lotion, why competing everyday is the key to entrepreneurial success, and why comparisons to aspirational brands like Nike and Gatorade really aren’t too far off.
This interview got us all sorts of FIRED UP… and we think it will have the same effect on you.
Links
- Amp Human
- Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn
Join our Exclusive Facebook Group!
What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!
Facebook.com/groups/brandbuilderpod
Brand Builder is produced by Caroo.
Beverage has been described as a “brand forward” category.
This is especially true in the premium beverage space. Consumers align themselves with particular beverage brands to make a statement about who they are. A drink in hand becomes like a fashion accessory - an expression of values and identity - and it’s not uncommon for premium beverage companies to think of themselves more like lifestyle brands than CPGs.
But sometimes the brand - or the can - hides a lackluster product.
Fortunately, that’s never going to be the case for Cloud Water.
Cloud Water is an all-natural sparkling beverage made with premium botanicals. Their two principle product lines are their original hemp-infused CBD sparkling waters and their new Immunity line, designed to boost your body’s ability to fight infection.
Cloud Water is a functional product that supports physical and mental wellness. But the real star of the show are their totally unique flavor profiles, like blood orange & coconut or Aztec chocolate and strawberry.
Now that’s not to say that Cloud Water doesn’t focus on its brand aesthetic - quite the opposite. The real genius of Cloud Water is that instead of thinking about brand and product separately, they focus on creating a holistic premium experience, marrying taste, function, and aesthetic.
We spoke to Cloud Water Brands co-founder and CEO Marc Siden about what it takes to create a holistic experience like this and the many ways this approach has paid dividends.
Marc also opens up about his entrepreneurial journey, his leadership style, and how the constraints of the pandemic inspired their latest innovations.
Links
- Cloud Water Brands
- Follow Cloud Water on Instagram and Twitter
- Connect with Marc on LinkedIn
Join our Exclusive Facebook Group!
What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!
Facebook.com/groups/brandbuilderpod
Brand Builder is produced by Caroo.
Food is a ticking time bomb.
CPG entrepreneurs often learn this the hard way. The minute your product comes off the line, you have 90 days to get it to a distributor. If not, you're looking at progressive discounts every month after that.
The reason? Most distributors insist on a 75% shelf life. If you can’t guarantee that timing at the outset, you’re taking on way too much risk. If you’re not careful, you can whittle away your margin completely.
That’s what makes demand planning and forecasting - the topic of this episode - so important. If you can nail the when, where, how often, and how much of your product, you’re well on your way to CPG success.
To help us understand all this we’re joined by CPG veteran and master-forecaster Alex Duong.
Today Alex is the CEO and founder of Ancient Provisions, a wholesome and delicious cheese-flavored cracker. Alex has seen CPG from just about every side of the business. And with previous experience onboarding emerging brands at Whole Foods and Procurement at Thrive Market, he’s honed some serious forecasting chops.
Alex also has a history of being ahead of trends, and he isn’t afraid to pivot when faced with new information. This is a big reason why Ancient Provisions is thriving, despite launching in one of the most challenging environments imaginable.
Alex shares how to nail your 2021 forecast, the single most common planning mistake he sees companies make, and why every entrepreneur should ask themselves: are they a Russell Westbrook, a Lebron James, or a Kawhi Leonard?
Links
- Ancient Provisions
- Connect with Alex on LinkedIn
Join our Exclusive Facebook Group!
What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!
Facebook.com/groups/brandbuilderpod
Brand Builder is produced by Caroo.
CPG veteran and insights guru Mark Mallardi is taking on a new challenge: build a brand from the ground up...and save the rainforest in the process.
Mark has decades of experience helping emerging brands scale using data and insights. Today, he's channeling that knowledge into AMARUMAYU, a newly launched line of superfruit juices.
The stars of the show are Camu Camu and Buriti, two immunity-boosting antioxidant-rich superfoods found deep in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon.
AMARUMAYU relies on a bio-economic model of preservation. By creating a viable commercial market for the sustainable harvest of Camu Camu and Buriti, the brand helps ensure the survival of the surrounding ecosystem.
For this to work, AMARUMAYU must adhere to a set of “wild-harvest” best practices that include never harvesting from felled trees and leaving a percentage of fruit on the vine for the area's wild fauna.
Another key to the success of this model is the close cooperation of local indigenous communities. Mark and his Peruvian counterparts have marshaled an impressive network that includes Peru’s Ministry of the Environment, local NGOs, and the Peruvian Indigenous People's Chamber of Commerce.
AMARUMAYU just launched exclusively on Amazon (where else?), and Mark walks us through they novel ways they're reaching customers at a time when sample and trial is so limited.
Mark also talked to us about how the survival of the Amazon rainforest is connected to the overall health of the planet, what it takes to harvest in a protected national park, and why this product was the right opportunity for him to become a true brand builder.
Links
- AMARUMAYU
- AMARUMAYU launch press release
- Connect with Mark on LinkedIn
Join our Exclusive Facebook Group!
What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!
Facebook.com/groups/brandbuilderpod
Brand Builder is produced by Caroo.
This week we’ve got a guest who approaches brand building unlike anyone we’ve talked to yet.
In fact, he’s less of a brand builder and more of a portfolio builder.
Our featured guest is Harrison Fugman, the CEO & co-founder of The Naked Market.
Our first question for Harrison was probably one you’re asking now: what exactly is The Naked Market?
According to their site it’s “an omni-channel food and beverage platform,” but I’d argue that the portfolio analogy is the easiest way to understand what Harrison and the team are doing.
Rather than focus on one brand, they launch multiple brands with the goal of creating market leaders in a capital efficient manner.
As you’ll hear, the approach borrows a bit from the worlds of tech and finance. Data is definitely king, and “fail-fast” is a foundational concept. Considering Harrison’s seven years with Credit Suisse, it all makes sense.
At the risk of oversimplifying, The Naked Market approaches brand building like this:
- Step 1: Identify a category that’s ripe for disruption
- Step 2: Create products to attack that category
- Step 3: Monitor the data to see if the brand is tracking the way it needs to
- If yes, scale it
- If no, shut it down
Harrison walks us through what that looks like in practice with TNM’s three flagship brands - Flock chicken chips, Avo Crazy, and Beach House bowls.
Harrison talks about the role of trends in this process (and the difference between true trends and fads), the potential downsides of this model and how they work to avoid them, and why the pandemic is the perfect time to double down on their strategy.
Links
- The Naked Market
- Flock Chicken Chips
- Avo Crazy
- Beach House Bowls
- Press Release: The Naked Market Closes $6MM Seed Funding Round
- Connect with Harrison on LinkedIn
Join our Exclusive Facebook Group!
What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!
Facebook.com/groups/brandbuilderpod
Brand Builder is produced by Caroo.
It’s a law of entrepreneurship that never fails:
No matter how much you prepare, nothing ever goes precisely to plan. There’s always something that comes out of left field and forces you to adapt.
Sometimes, that thing is a typo on your packaging. Other times… it’s the onset of a global pandemic.
The latter was the case for Clara Paye, the founder and CEO of UNiTE Food. After spending years on R&D and planning their March 2020 launch to a tee, COVID-19 changed everything.
Of course, what matters is how you adapt, and so far Clara and her small-but-mighty team have done that expertly. They quickly pivoted their retail-forward strategy, and UNiTE is rapidly building a DTC customer base, thanks in equal measure to media attention and a great product.
UNiTE’s brand and mission has resonated with consumers by infusing the functional bar category with nostalgia and fun. Their bars are clean yet indulgent, with flavors inspired by cross-cultural comfort foods like Mexican Hot Chocolate, Churro, and PB&J.
Clara - who describes herself as a “fearlessly positive immigrant founder” - created UNiTE’s signature product out of a desire to see more representation in the bar aisle.
With an MBA and years at the helm of the family’s plumbing supply business, Clara is a seasoned business professional but a first-time CPG entrepreneur. We talk about the lessons she learned running the family business, and what convinced her to take the leap and launch a food brand.
We also discuss why she’s crowdsourcing the next iteration of UNiTE Food, the neuroscience marketing principles behind their eye-catching packaging, as well as what it was like to share a magazine cover with Post Malone.
Links
- UNiTE Food
- SHELF Studio
- Connect with Clara on LinkedIn
Join our Exclusive Facebook Group!
What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!
Facebook.com/groups/brandbuilderpod
Brand Builder is produced by Caroo.
If you want to understand what drives JanaBanana and its powerhouse founder Janaina Lopes, look no further than the JanaBanana soccer team.
Janaina (Jana for short) grew up in Vale do Ribeira, a small coastal community in the southern part of São Paulo Brazil, renowned for its lush Atlantic Forest and plentiful banana farms.
But amidst this idyllic scenery, certain troubling inequities persisted.
“In this village… the girls are being forgotten,” Jana said. “I know because I was one of them.”
One glaring example: sports. While the local boys soccer team traveled to play area clubs, girls weren’t allowed to play the game at all.
To right this wrong, Jana launched the JanaBanana Girls Project, and the all-girls JanaBanana soccer team was born.
In this interview, we learn why making a positive impact is at the heart of everything JanaBanana does, both for its customers and for the communities it cares about.
Jana also shares why she left management consulting to launch her own company, the differences between Brazilian and American business culture, and why upcycling is such an important part of the JanaBanana brand.
Links
- JanaBanana
- JanaBanana Girls Project
Join our Exclusive Facebook Group!
What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!
Facebook.com/groups/brandbuilderpod
Brand Builder is produced by Caroo.
When you think about it, Salmon are a magical fish.
They famously swim upstream to the freshwater tributaries of their birth to spawn. Along the way, they become a vital food source for dozens of land animals. After they reproduce and die, their bodies fertilize trees hundreds of miles from the open ocean habitat where they spend most of their lives.
Without salmon, entire ecosystems would collapse. Yet their fate hangs in the balance.
Social entrepreneurs Justin Guilbert and Douglas Riboud came up with a radical idea to save them.
What if the best way to preserve this keystone species… is to eat it?
That’s the idea behind GOODFISH, the first 100% traceable Wild Alaska Sockeye crispy salmon skins.
So how does this make any sense? GOODFISH sources their salmon skin from one of the most sustainable, well-regulated fisheries anywhere in the world in Bristol Bay, Alaska. The idea is to raise awareness and create a market that supports a sustainable supply chain.
And GOODFISH is poised to pull it off. They’ve created a modern, joyful brand around a great tasting innovative product. A serving of these crispy, snackable skins packs 7g of high quality protein, 2600mg marine collagen, and 800mg of omega 3 fatty acids.
GOODFISH is a brand new product, and the first of its kind. But it’s also the flipside to Justin and Doug’s other venture, Harmless Harvest, the beloved coconut water brand that saw major investment from Danone in 2018. The way Justin describes it, the two brands are part of one ongoing project inspired by deep ecology and constructive capitalism.
Links
- GOODFISH
- Harmless Harvest
- Connect with Justin on LinkedIn
- Inc: How These 2 Guys Are Winning the Hyper-Competitive Coconut Water Wars
- Pattern Brands
- Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot
How many grammy winners can you name as investors?
If it’s zero or one, Partake Foods has you beat. Because this great tasting, allergen-free cookie brand counts both Jay-Z and H.E.R. as marquee investors.
And it’s not just celebrity investors who are taking notice. Today Partake is available in more than 2,700 stores (including major retailers like Whole Foods and Target), and has been featured everywhere from Forbes to the Today Show.
Not bad for a brand that launched out of an apartment barely three years ago.
So how did Partake do it? To find out, we sat down with Denise Woodard, the CEO and founder of Partake Foods.
One reason Partake has resonated so deeply is the idea of inclusion that’s core to the Partake story. Denise’s daughter suffers from a rare combination of food allergies, and her initial goal was simply to create a treat that her daughter, and kids like her, could actually enjoy.
Partake was also one of the inaugural brands in SnackNation’s Amplify box, a special curation highlighting and celebrating BIPOC- and women-founded snack brands.
The idea of inclusion extends to Denise as a leader too. Like any founder, Denise feels the pressure to do right by her customers and investors. But she also describes a deeper responsibility she feels to pave the way for women founders and founders of color through Partake’s success.
You can tell from speaking to and learning about Denise that she is a skilled leader, and she tells us about the leadership style that she’s honed over the years, first as an executive at Coca-Cola, and now as the leader of a high-growth startup.
Denise also shares when it’s time for your business to take venture money (and when not to), Partake’s early re-brand, plus the mindset brand founders need to build their brand in a pandemic.
Links
- Partake Foods
- Connect with Denise on LinkedIn
- Forbes: The Odds Are Stacked Against Women Of Color Seeking Venture Funds. Here’s How One Cookie Startup Broke The Mold
- Essence: Black Owned Cookie Company Gets Co-Sign From H.E.R.
- Pharell and Jay-Z: “Entrepreneur,” featuring Denise Woodard
Join our Exclusive Facebook Group!
What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!
Facebook.com/groups/brandbuilderpod
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Before he launched Magic Spoon, Gabi Lewis had wondered why no one had disrupted the cereal space.
When he asked around, the experts all told him the same thing:
“Cereal is a dying category.”
The truth is, while cereal might technically be declining slightly, it’s still an $11 billion opportunity. And the conventional wisdom that led so many founders to avoid the space actually created major opportunity - opportunity that Gabi and his co-founder Greg Sewitz promptly seized by launching Magic Spoon in 2019.
Magic Spoon is a concept that’s so brilliant, it seems almost obvious: cereal that looks and tastes like childhood favorites but is low carb, high protein, and zero sugar. Their goal from day one was to be the Halo Top or Oatly of the cereal aisle.
So far that strategy has paid off with booming sales and glowing praise from consumers and media alike. The brand has been featured in WIRED, CNN, and Fast Company, and called “The Cereal of the Future” by Forbes. Eye-popping packaging and whimsical branding that appeals to nostalgic, health-conscious Millennials doesn’t hurt either.
In this episode, we learn how Magic Spoon nailed product-market fit, their unconventional approach to influencer marketing, and the lessons learned from Gabi and Greg Serwitz’s first venture, Exo, the cricket based protein bar that they sold to Aspire Food Group in 2018.
Links
- Magic Spoon
- Forbes: Why Exo's Cofounders Have Become 'Cereal' Entrepreneurs
- Connect with Gabi on LinkedIn
Join our Exclusive Facebook Group!
What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!
Facebook.com/groups/brandbuilderpod
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Recess is a CBD beverage brand that almost never talks about CBD.
How is this possible? Because founder and CEO Benjamin Witte knows that the best beverage brands don’t focus on an ingredient… they convey a feeling.
Case in point: Redbull. You may have noticed that with all their talk of energy, action sports, and giving you “wings,” Redbull never talks about caffeine. Because feeling is more powerful than the ingredient.
So why should the CBD category be any different?
Founded in 2017, Recess is a consumer wellness brand creating products and experiences designed to help people feel balanced, centered, and inspired so they can be their most productive and creative selves. They make sparkling water infused with calming hemp extract and adaptogens for balance and clarity.
Benjamin and the Recess team have their sights set on becoming the next Redbull. To do that, they’re building their brand around the feeling of calm and tranquility - aka, “taking a recess.”
Recess also recently did something pretty unexpected - they launched an apparel collection called “Reality Wear.” In this episode, you’ll learn how this all ties back to Ben’s philosophy on brand marketing.
On top of that, you'll learn what every CPG brand should borrow from Silicon Valley, and why the era of building a brand by doing demos in Wegman’s is over (plus what to do instead).
Links
- takearecess.com
- Connect with Benjamin on LinkedIn
- Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
- 2PM newsletter by Web Smith
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Until COVID, you could argue that Dan Gluck had seen it all in the CPG world.
Dan brings an impressive trifecta of related experience to the table. He’s been an institutional investor with 15 years in the hedge fund space, an owner-operator with the wildly successful Health Warrior brand, and now a partner at one of the most innovative VC firms in CPG.
But COVID is an unprecedented challenge, forcing some brands to pivot on a dime and throw out the old playbook. Success in a pandemic requires founders to adopt a specific mindset and set of skills.
Fortunately, Dan's experience has given him a unique vantage point to guide emerging brands through this crisis. Even better, this week he shares that POV with Brand Builder.
Dan Gluck is a Managing Partner at PowerPlant Ventures, a firm that invests in emerging consumer food & beverage, foodservice and food-tech companies. Their mission is to “re-architect” the global food system by investing in world changing companies that deliver better nutrition in more sustainable and ethical ways.
Prior to PowerPlant, Dan founded Health Warrior, the plant-based superfood company that successfully exited to Pepsi in 2018.
This is a great conversation on Dan’s experience with Health Warrior and PowerPlant - for starters, we learn the 5 powerful megatrends that drive PowerPlant’s investment strategy.
But if that weren’t enough, what we really found valuable was Dan’s take on how COVID is affecting CPG. He talks in depth about how the best companies and leaders are reacting to the crisis, and what you should be doing right now to ensure your success during and after this challenging time.
Links
- PowerPlant Ventures
- Connect with the PowerPlant team: info@powerplantvc.com
- Connect with Dan on LinkedIn
- BB Episode 10 - Mark Rampolla
- Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
- Principles by Ray Dalio
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
For the last few years, Jeff Martin has made the same New Year’s Resolution –
“Speak up more.”
The financial-analyst-turned-CPG-entrepreneur isn’t talking about having a bigger hand in decision-making at Pipsnacks, the brand he co-founded with his sister Jen and wife Teresa. It goes deeper than that.
It means speak up and confront injustice, whenever he encounters it. Speak up as a founder of color in a space where that’s a rarity. Speak up so that others may follow the example he and his co-founders have set.
We are in the midst of historic societal change. The tragic, senseless death of George Floyd has ignited protests across the U.S. and around the world, and heightened our collective awareness of systemic racism.
Many are learning what others have known for a long time – that racial injustice affects every aspect of society. The world of CPG is no exception.
This week we’re bringing you a very special interview with Pipsnacks’ Jeff Martin. While Pipsnacks is one of our absolute favorite brands, this episode is not really about their business. (Check out Episode 5 for that.) This is a conversation about race and identity, and how those forces shaped who Jeff is as an entrepreneur and as a human being.
We originally recorded this interview as part of SnackNation’s internal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programming during Black History Month. And while this conversation was pre-COVID and before the global Black Lives Matter protests, we ultimately felt that it spoke to the present moment. We are grateful that Jeff agreed, and gave us permission to share it with all of you.
Links
- Pipsnacks
- Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn
- Brand Builder Episode 5 – How Pipsnacks Got Oprah Winfrey and Mark Cuban Excited About Popcorn
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
For Brendan Brazier, Pulp Culture all started with a question:
Why are there so many health-obsessed people who are absolutely unwilling to compromise on what they eat, yet so ready to compromise when it comes to alcohol? Why don’t we hold alcohol to the same high standards as food?
The answer, he realized, was that Pulp Culture didn’t exist yet.
Brendan is a former pro triathlete and a two-time Canadian 50km ultra marathon champion. He’s also the founder of the hugely successful Vega Protein Powder line, which he successfully sold to Danone. And of course, he was one of those people who are so adamant about healthy eating, yet constantly forced to compromise when it came to having the occasional beer or cocktail with friends.
His latest venture, Pulp Culture, solves this dilemma by taking 100% raw, fresh juice and allowing it to naturally ferment over three months through a process called “wild fermentation.” That means that there are no starters like yeast or sugar. All the fermentation comes from naturally occurring ambient bacteria.
The result is a zero-additive, zero-sugar alcoholic beverage with 6 billion naturally-occurring probiotics, and B vitamins.
In other words, an adult beverage that’s actually good for you.
In this interview, Brendan breaks down how he built the Vega brand, the parallels between building a business and rising in the sport of triathlon, the philosophy behind his successful Thrive book series, and why he’s so excited about the opportunity that lies ahead for Pulp Culture.
What do you get when you throw a serial entrepreneur, a vegan chef, and Rob Dyrdek in the same room?
Turns out, the perfect plant-based pork rind.
This week’s guest is Bill Glaser, the founder and CEO of Outstanding Foods.
Outstanding make snack foods that are full of flavor and free of guilt - both because they’re nutritious, and because they are made completely sans animal products.
Bill started the company with co-founder Chef Dave Anderson, who also happens to be the former lead product developer at Beyond Meat.
Outstanding’s first product is the PigOut Pigless Pork Rinds… which are 100% plant-based.
We talked to Bill about why loves high growth companies, why Outstanding is a decidedly judgment-free brand, and the surprising consumer forces driving the meat-alternative movement. And of course, we learn how Rob Dyrdek became a lead investor and ultimately helped him develop the brand.
Links
- Outstanding Foods
- Connect with Bill on LinkedIn
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Not to alarm you, but… Expo West is less than two weeks away.
Of course, if you’re listening to this podcast, you’re probably well aware of that fact.
Because if you’re in the natural foods and CPG space, it’s sort of taken as a given - the Natural Products Expo West is a big deal. A very big deal.
The numbers help tell that story. 2020 is on track to be the biggest Expo ever. We’re talking:
- 90,000 attendees
- 3,700 exhibitors
- 20,000 new products debuted
But is Expo West right for your brand? And how do you make sure you make the most out of the show? What are the insider secrets to make Expo work for you?
To answer all these questions and more, we talk to Mark Mallardi, Executive Director Strategic Development, Natural Products at New Hope Network (the organization that holds Expo West each year).
We’re calling this episode The Ultimate Insider's Guide to Expo West 2020.
We go in depth from everything from how to successfully walk the floor, to the top trends Mark expects to see at this year’s show, to the big question - the value of a show like Expo for your brand.
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
There's no getting around it, success in CPG requires this one thing:
Repeat purchase.
But how do you get someone not just to try your product, but to come back to you again and again? How do you build a brand that connects on a deep level, and is built for the long term?
This week on Brand Builder we learn the key just might be in creating a "ripple of impact."
This week’s featured interview is with Amanda Slavin, a Marketing Strategist & Brand Engagement Expert expert, bestselling author, and the CEO and co-founder of CatalystCreativ.
Amanda has worked with marquee brands like Coca Cola, Google, WeWork, NPR, The Nature Conservancy, and the New York City Ballet, helping them understand how and why Millennial and Gen Z consumers gravitate towards one brand over another.
She also understands how brands connect on a Direct to Consumer level - probably because Zappos’ founder Tony Hsieh is one of her mentors.
Speaking of Tony, we also spend some time talking about holacracy, the system of self organization she uses internally at Catalyst, and that she picked up from Zappos.
What we found most interesting was that before she was Amanda Slavin, Catalyst CEO, she was Ms. Slavin, a first grade teacher with a Masters in Education from the University of Connecticut.
As she tells us in this week’s interview, Amanda is grateful for her experience as an educator, and actually applies the engagement principles she developed in grad school to her client work.
Through education and engagement, Catalyst helps its clients reach Millennials and create a “ripple of impact” - and lasting value for brands.
There’s one question that emerging premium CPG brands need to ask themselves:
Do you want to be a unicorn... or do you want to ride the skate ramp to success?
If you’re a little confused, that’s ok. This will all make much more sense once you listen to this week’s featured interview with author and CPG expert Dr. James Richardson.
Dr. Richardson is the author of the new book, Ramping Your Brand, which we think is the best book for CPG entrepreneurs out right now. Seriously, we keep hearing from entrepreneurs- I wish this book had come out five years ago when I started!
Dr. Richardson has a unique POV. That doctor title - it’s because he has a PhD in Cultural Anthropology, and spent time living in southern India doing ethnographic research. The coolest part, he brings a few of the tools and insights from Cultural Anthropology to his work in CPG.
The book is a quick read, full of stories, examples, and specific tactics. The foundation of the book is this idea of the “Skate Ramp,” a pattern he saw again and again for the premium CPG brands that broke through and won. It’s a model for sustained exponential growth, and it’s more powerful and more achievable than the unicorn growth that tends to be celebrated.
We spent a lot of the interview breaking down exactly how brands can ride this Skate Ramp to win. Plus, Dr. Richardson explains why social pressure is at the heart of every premium CPG purchase decision, and a specific tactic for becoming the master of your category.
- Purchase Ramping Your Brand - www.rampingyourbrand.com
- Take the Founder's Quiz and see if your team is ready to accelerate to exponential growth - Are You Ready to Ride?
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week our guest is William Siff, the founder and Chief Formulator of Goldthread plant-based tonics.
Goldthread make a line of plant-based tonics with flavors like Turmeric Radiance, Lavender Bliss, and Honey Rose. Their tonics are a brewed formulation of plants that give you the capacity to expand and evolve past our perceived limits, refreshing the mind, body and soul.
One of the most fascinating things about the Goldthread story is that it’s all part of one continuous project - to improve people’s health and wellbeing through healing herbs.
This is really William’s life’s work. It started with an early interest in local flora, expanded into his decision to become a licensed acupuncturist, and took him down a path that included an apothecary, an organic herb farm, and most recently, a line of herbal tonics.
In this episode, William takes through this fascinating journey from hobby herbalist, to licensed acupuncturist and ethnobotanist, to CPG entrepreneur.
From day one, Ryan Fortwendel wanted Minna sparkling tea to stand for something more.
It’s evident in the name itself. The word Minna means “everyone,” and Ryan has spent the last few years creating a brand experience that lives up to this idea.
It’s why he focuses so much on inclusivity and sustainability initiatives, and why he made philanthropic partnerships core to the brand's DNA.
As we learn in this week's interview, Ryan spent years working for the legendary fashion house Marc Jacobs, which had a profound impact on how he conceives the idea of brand. We also go into the parallels between fashion and CPG, Ryan’s distribution strategy for 2020 and beyond, and why Ryan is so committed to doing things right from the beginning.
Links
- Minna
- Defy Ventures
- NYTAG
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
We all love success stories… and we’ve told a lot of those on this podcast.
But what we haven’t done as much of is shine a light on a success story in the making.
The story of EZER snacks is one of those.
Parents of three, Brittany and Meguell Suell created EZER out of their desire to fuel their family with healthy, and nutrient rich snacks. They make low-glycemic, keto-friendly 1-minute protein cake mixes.
Our goal in this episode: highlight a new brand with a lot of upside (but most of the journey still ahead of them) as they balance day jobs, family, and life in general with building their brand from scratch. The lessons they've learned are applicable to any brand at any stage, but especially to those who are looking for ways to accelerate growth in the early days.
One of the things Brittany and Meguell do best is maximize the event demo, especially for the niche space that they occupy. They take a tribe-based approach, getting up close and personal with the communities who will benefit most from their product.
As we look at the year ahead, the only certain thing is uncertainty. We know that despite the best of intentions, our best laid plans will face unforeseen changes, obstacles, and adversity.
That's what makes this week's topic so relevant and important. We are talking about a subject that just might change your life - not to mention your business. What is it?
Resilience.
Resilience is like a super power. It gives us the ability to turn our challenges into our successes.
What's more, resilience is also a skill, something you can cultivate and get better at with practice.
To learn how all this works, we talked to Tom Morris, the Sr. Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Performance at Indiana University.
Tom’s job is to get athletes to perform at their peak, and to show up as their best possible selves.
As you’ll hear in this interview, Tom has been on a dramatic journey, and has overcome major adversity to get where he is today.
A former college football player, he found his passion post-college as an elite cyclist, competing at the highest levels of the sport. But in 2012, his life changed forever when a cycling accident left him paralyzed from the chest down.
This set the stage for the fight of his life - the fight to regain his independence.
Today, Tom uses the lessons learned from this experience to teach his student-athletes to become better teammates and more resilient human beings.
In this interview, Tom teaches us specific strategies for getting us into our discomfort zone in order to come out stronger on the other side.
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
There's do denying it. Mushrooms are magical.
There are mushrooms that can eat plastic, clean oil spills, and even survive irradiated environments like Chernobyl.
Mushrooms and other fungi are some of the oldest life forms on the planet, and helped create the conditions for all subsequent plant and animal life on Earth.
Then there are the superfood mushrooms, many of which are adaptogens - meaning they support our nervous, endocrine, and immune systems, helping us recharge our energy when we feel depleted.
This week we learn all about building a brand around mushrooms from Tero Isokauppila, the founder of Four Sigmatic.
Four Sigmatic's mission is to make medicinal mushrooms more accessible to everyone. They do this through their best selling mushroom coffee, mushroom elixirs, mushroom cocoas, and other fungi-based products.
Tero is passionate about dealing 'shrooms. (His words.) He talks to us about how key hires can help create a brand that people connect with, why he never holds meetings, and the greatest challenge facing emerging CPG brands today.
Links
- Four Sigmatic
- @iamtero on Instagram
- Mushrooms and Santa Claus
- How to Nap on a Nail Mat
- Stem Cell Therapy
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
When we think about training for high performance, we usually think about training our bodies. We might even think about working our craft. But how often do we consider training our emotions?
Not very often, right? Well, if we care about performance, that’s actually a huge mistake.
That’s a big part of we explore in this episode with Dr. Glenn Fox.
Dr. Fox leads program design at USC’s Performance Science Institute, where he works with top athletes to devise strategies that optimize their abilities. He’s an expert on the ways that emotions - particularly gratitude and optimism - drive performance. According to his research, the ability to regulate emotions is the number one predictor of success in life.
This is just as true in business as anywhere else. Since gratitude and optimism affect performance, companies who proactively foster these positive emotions via a culture of recognition have an automatic leg-up on those who don’t.
In this presentation, Dr. Fox -
- gives us a functional definition of optimism and gratitude that you can use at your workplace (it’s not just rosy thinking and pretending everything is great)
- provides the 3 core components of a Competitor’s Mindset
- and walks us through a visualization strategy that top athletes often use, and that we can use in our own lives too.
Links
- Dr. Glenn Fox - bio and publications
- The Empiricist Blog
- USC Performance Science Institute
Recommended Reading
- Peak: Secrets of New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson and Robert Poole
- Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
- Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
It’s the Monday after Thanksgiving, and if you’re anything like me, you’re thinking about one thing right now…
Pizza.
Ok, maybe I'm the only one.
Before the holiday, I saw an incredible campaign by the folks at MOD Pizza. It’s their Spreading MODness initiative, a bold, anthemic vision statement in which they declare, “This is not a pizza place. This is a people place.”
In the campaign it’s quickly apparent that this brand is more than a pizza company, they’re a platform for greater good.
And while these aspirational campaigns can sometimes come off a little cheesy (pizza joke!), this one just works. The reason? Because MOD has been proving they’re the real deal since day one.
This week, we revisit an interview with MOD Pizza co-founder and CEO Scott Svenson. Scott and his wife and co-founder Ally see MOD as more than just a pizza chain, and a company as more than just a money-making enterprise. They call the approach “enlightened capitalism.”
Of course it doesn’t hurt that their pizza happens to also be amazing. MOD is a pioneer in the fast-casual pizza concept, and they’ve been the fastest growing restaurant chain in the U.S. for the past four years.
Key Takeaways
- Scott explains the importance of believing that human beings are inherently good, and how expectations often shape outcomes.
- Why even though pizza is all that MOD sells, but it’s actually not the most important thing in MOD’s business.
- Why when setting up guidelines for your team members, its all about creating "wide boulevards and high curbs."
- Why Scott and his wife Ally founded MOD Pizza under the banner of "enlightened capitalism."
- The surprising way that money can buy happiness (hint: it’s not how you think).
Recommended Reading
- Mindset, Carol Dweck
Links
- ModPizza.com
- @MODPizza on Twitter, @MODPizza on Instagram
- Scott on LinkedIn
- Email Scott at scott@modpizza.com
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Evan Holod isn’t afraid to admit it. Michel et Augustin is hard to say.
Holod is the CEO of Michel et Augustin U.S., and exactly how consumers might say their name is one of the first challenges he and the team encountered. “It’s something we spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about,” he told us.
It’s not just Michel et Augustin - every French brand that crosses the Atlantic has to contend with the fact that most Americans aren’t exactly Francophiles. According to Holod, it’s precisely this apprehension with the French language that has prevented French brands from connecting with American consumers in a big way. But Michel et Augustin is here to change all that.
This week we learn how Evan and the team are taking an iconic French brand and starting over in the states. Evan also talks about the “Share a Coke” campaign, which he worked on during his time as an executive at Coca-Cola.
Links
- Michel et Augustin
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
If you were only paying attention to the headlines, you’d be forgiven if you thought that the future of brick and mortar retail is a bleak one.
But brick and mortar isn’t dead - far from it. In fact, with digital-first players like Amazon getting in the game, pop-ups popping up left and right, and 8-figure investments in places like The Beverly Center in Los Angeles and Hudson Yards in New York, one could argue that we’re in a bit of a retail resurgence.
Still, retail strategy remains a sticking point for most brands. To help us uncover the secrets of brick and mortar success, we talk to Dylan Lauren, the CEO & Founder of Dylan’s Candy Bar.
Why Dylan? Because Dylan’s Candy Bar launched in 2001, and has thrived during this entire period of disruption and change.
Dylan’s Candy Bar is the largest confectionery emporium in the world with over 20 locations worldwide, including a new location in Hawaii. Their flagship NYC store is a cross between FAO Schwarz, Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory, and Disneyland.
Success for Dylan’s lies in constantly creating fresh, memorable experiences that keep people coming back for more.
We also learn why Dylan conceives of the brand as a fusion of art, fashion, and lifestyle, plus the top lesson learned from her father, the iconic fashion designer Ralph Lauren.
Links
- Dylan's Candy Bar
- Connect with Dylan on LinkedIn
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
When Saffron Road founder Adnan Durrani first started talking to investors about things like social entrepreneurship and multiple bottom lines, they looked at him “as if [he] had nine heads.”
Thirty years ago, Adnan saw the emerging Millennial consumer as the future of CPG, even if the wider business community wasn't ready for a brand proposition that placed health, sustainability, and animal welfare at the forefront.
Today, Adnan’s big bet on Millennial values has paid off, and he sits at the helm of a $50 million brand: Saffron Road.
Saffron Road specialize in halal foods, and make world-cuisine inspired frozen meals, simmer sauces, and snack foods that are a hit with Millennial consumers.
Saffron Road was also at the center of a minor controversy that landed Adnan on CNN. Rather than panic, Adnan took a potential PR crisis and turned it into a win - while also strengthening the relationship with their most important partner.
Links
- Saffron Road
- Connect with Adnan on LinkedIn
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Spend a few minutes with the dynamic duo behind Owl's Brew, and a few things become apparent.
First, the depth of the passion for what they do. Founders Jennie Ripps and Maria Littlefield are a testament to the idea that big things happen when vision meets drive. Another - the importance of discovering white space in the market. Add to that, the imperative to capitalize on that discovery, before someone else does.
The Owl's Brew story is a case study in brand building, with all of its challenges and triumphs, its strategy and its serendipity. But I'd argue that you can actually sum up the Owl's Brew story with two words -
No compromise.
The temptation to compromise is something that most challenger brands face, but one that people don’t really talk about. It’s an especially thorny area for emerging better-for-you brands, whose values are core to their appeal.
In fact, it is precisely this unwillingness to compromise that actually creates the magic for these brands, and that paves a pathway for success.
This week we talk to “tea drinking boozers” (their words not ours) Jennie Ripps and Maria Littlefield, the CEO and COO of Owl’s Brew. They make organic spiked tea and tea and botanical mixers that have been a huge hit with a new class of alcohol consumers.
Owl's Brew has won by saying "no" - no to flavor houses, no to artificial ingredients, no to compromise of any kind - and that has made a world of difference. This ethos is why Jennie and Maria are well on their way to making Owl’s Brew the category king in the spirits industry.
Links
- Owl's Brew
- Connect with Jenni and Maria on LinkedIn
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
A lot of brands looking to scale focus on optimizing and growing in the market they’re already in.
But at a certain point, you’ve got to think bigger. In order to achieve scale, you have to break into new markets. And that’s what this week’s episode is all about.
Alejandro Restrepo is the co-founder and COO of Ekoa, and he’s embarking on the ultimate market breakthrough - taking a successful suite of brands in Brazil and entering the U.S.
Ekoa is a line of all natural dried fruit bars. Their tagline says it all - discover simple. In this interview, Alejandro describes his strategy for breaking into the U.S., plus all the unexpected obstacles he encountered along the way.
He also talks about the meaning of brand, his four part framework for success, and why he personally ate more than 700 bars as part of Ekoa’s R&D.
Links
- Ekoa
- Listener spotlight: JOI
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week on Brand Builder, we hear from Oliver Bogner, the CEO and founder of brandable.
Brandable is a CPG platform focused on innovating, curating and creating brands that enable people to live their best lives.
Think of it almost like an entertainment studio, but for better-for-you CPG brands.
Oliver has a big, audacious vision for brandable: he wants to become the “Millennial Unilever,” with a suite of brands that will be around for the next hundred years. And with exclusive deals with Target, Walmart, and other big time retailers, he and the team are well on their way.
So how do you create transcendent, better-for-you brands that will stand the test of time?
By “keeping your eyes open” and honing in on true consumer pain points. Oliver breaks down his framework for discovering these pain points, and explains why brands have to focus on moving the needle for consumers in order to be successful.
Links
- Brandable
- Connect with Oliver on LinkedIn
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
What does your brand stand for?
If you’ve never considered it, now’s the time. Today's consumers - especially Millennial and Gen Z - vote with their dollar, and want to support brands that make a difference, not just a profit.
This week, SnackNation Chief Revenue Officer Chelsie Lee sits down with Briana Crane, the Director of Development at Feeding America to understand how this dynamic shows up for your brand.Both Briana and Chelsie have unique insight into the ways philanthropic giving can help create a lasting affinity and deeper loyalty with your brand. The Feeding America network is the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, and they rely on the support of hundreds of companies across the U.S. to help end hunger in America.
Briana also delves deeply into the problem Feeding America is solving, and the ways brand storytelling helps raise awareness and inspires both brands and consumers to get involved in the fight.
Links
- Feeding America
- Take action to fight food insecurity
- Connect with Briana on LinkedIn
- Connect with Chelsie on LinkedIn
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Fresh from Expo East, SnackNation's Clara Kim joins Brand Builder this week to talk about the best products, flavors, and trends from this year's show. Plus, learn how to get the most out of your next trade show.
Links
- Connect with Clara on LinkedIn
- Expo East 2020
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week Jordan is going back to school, because our guest is Brenda Bailey-Hughes, a Sr. Lecturer at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business - and Jordan's former professor.
Brenda is a communication expert, and she has coached executives in Fortune 500 companies around the world, helping them understand their audience, build a personal brand, and become more effective executives.
We go deep on the topic of influence - which, by the way, probably doesn't mean what you think it means - unlocking the 3 pillars of influential communication and the two dimensions of credibility.
Why does all this matter? Because if you’re listening to this, there’s a good chance you have to make big pitches - to your board, to investors, to retailers - and Brenda’s here to help you nail that next big, important meeting.
If that weren't enough, we also talk about design thinking, which is both a fascinating topic, and a useful framework that will help you create a stickier brand.
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Think about the one thing you love to do.
It could be a task you perform in your job, in school, or in your everyday life. This is the thing that energizes you when you think about it, and motivates you to get up every day. When you're doing it, time seems to fly by, and you walk away with more energy than when you started.
This is your unique ability, and designing your life (and work) to spend more time doing it is the secret to greater happiness and productivity.
In this leadership-focused episode, we break down the concept of unique ability in the context of our working lives. You will learn:
- What we mean by unique ability.
- How to discover your own unique ability.
- How to align our work with our unique ability.
- How to bring out unique ability in the people you work with.
BONUS EXERCISE: Love It / Loathe It
Here's Marcus Buckingham's quick and easy strategy for discovering your unique ability:
- Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. On one side write “Loved It,” and the other write “Loathed It.”
- As you go through your week, reflect daily on the things that you looked forward to, that made time speed up, that energize, or that may have made you a little tired, but that you want to do again. Those all go in the “Loved It” category.
- Now think about everything you do that you put off, that makes time drag on, or that leave you completely drained and exhausted. Those go in the “Loathed It” category.
- Before long, you’ll have a clear picture of your strengths. The beauty of this method is that it’s not abstract – these are actual tasks, functions, or activities that you actually perform during your week.
- Now summarize your findings using specific action verbs (again, nothing abstract).
- For Marcus, these words were “interview” and “mingle” – he found that he loved interviewing people, but absolutely loathed mingling.
Links
- Dan Sullivan, Strategic Coach
Is happiness something good leaders should care about?
Ask most business leaders fifteen years ago, and you’d be hard pressed to find one who thought that happiness was a primary concern.
Work should be about results, right? Happiness is incidental at best.
Or so we all thought.
Then came Zappos' visionary CEO Tony Hsieh, who realized that delivering happiness was a unifying theme throughout the business. Not only did delivering happiness sum up the ideal experience for his customer, but making happiness a primary concern internally actually drove results.
There’s no one in the world who understands the power of Happiness better than this week’s guest, Jenn Lim.
Jenn is the CEO and Chief Happiness Officer of Delivering Happiness, a consulting firm she founded with Tony Hsieh to inspire science-based happiness, passion and purpose at work, home and everyday life.
Jenn was a foundational team member at Zappos, and in 2010 she led the launch of Tony’s book Delivering Happiness, which has sold over 600,000 copies worldwide.
Jenn refers to Delivering Happiness as a book that became a company that became a global movement.
This episode is all about how to supercharge your team with happiness. Jenn takes us through the Delivering Happiness framework, describes the life-changing events that led her to focus on positive psychology + the science of happiness, and shares her inspiring vision for the future of work.
Links * DeliveringHappiness.com * Delivering Happiness on Facebook * @DHMovement on Twitter * Email Jenn directly: jenn@deliveringhappiness.com * UC Berkeley
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Our guests this week are Becky and Jeremy Dahl, the creative minds behind Bex Brands.
Together they lead an agency that specializes in packaging design, brand identity, and brand management in the packaged goods industry (i.e., they are the perfect guests for Brand Builder).
If Bex Brands sounds familiar, that might be because they’re the agency behind the transformative brand refresh and packaging redesign for Lily’s Sweets (episode 116).
In fact it was our conversation with Lily's CEO Jane Miller that inspired this episode. We wanted to learn about the rebrand process from the agency side. How do they approach projects like these? What’s the best way to maximize the chances of success when working with a branding agency like theirs?
Becky and Jeremy are the perfect people to provide this insight. In addition to Lily’s, they have worked with Chameleon, Once Upon a Farm, Dr. Praegar’s, and Primizie, just to name a few.
We also really loved what they had to say about trends... and why they don't believe in them.
Links
- Bex Brands
- Connect with Becky and Jeremy on LinkedIn
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Our guest this week is Steven Izen, the CEO and founder of Lokai.
In simplest terms, Lokai makes bracelets that promote balance. In every Lokai bracelet, one of the beads contains water from the top of Mount Everest and another contains mud from the Dead Sea - a reminder to stay humble in life’s high points and hopeful in life’s low points.
The Lokai story is one of rapid, viral growth. They’ve sold 10 million units in about 6 years, and because they donate 10% of profits to charity, they’ve raised more than $8 million for charitable causes.
But while Lokai bracelets symbolize balance, the brand is coming out with a new functional product line that promotes balance in a much more tangible way.
Meet Elements by Lokai, a line of herbal tonic concentrates made with adaptogenic plants that work with your body to give it what it needs.
We talked to Steven about why a bracelet brand is launching a beverage, why athletes like Cam Newton love Lokai, plus how Lokai went viral in the first place.
Links
- Lokai
- Elements by Lokai (use promo code SNACKNATION for 50% off)
- Connect with Steven on LinkedIn
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Our guest this week is Jane Miller, the CEO of Lily’s sweets.
Lily’s make a line of delicious chocolate bars, baking bits and baking bars that have less than 1 gram of sugar per serving.
Jane represents a slightly different type of guest for us. She's a CEO with 35 years of food business experience... but not a founder.
Jane’s background is as a high level executive at places like Heinz and Frito Lay, and she joined Lily's with a specific goal in mind: help scale the business. With a new look, new SKUs, and the rising tide of awareness around the drawbacks of too much sugar, the brand is poised for mainstream success.
This role is a new challenge for Jane as well. She’s used to coming in and fixing things that are broken at big organizations. Now she’s on a total rocket ship ride - which brings a whole new set of obstacles to overcome.
In this episode, we talk about the Lily’s rebrand, Jane’s personal philosophy of "running your own race," and the surprising way they use data to find their sweet spot.
Links
- Lily's Sweets
- Connect with Jane on LinkedIn
- Bex Brands
- Check out entrepreneur, photographer, and Brand Builder listener @quinngunter on Instagram.
Recommended Reading
- Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Full episode: https://www.snacknation.com/blog/eric-wilkinson/
How important is my logo? Should I hire a full time designer? Do I need to rebrand? Can I rebrand? What’s a brand book anyway?
This week we learn the answer to all these questions and more from veteran Creative Director Eric Wilkinson, who teaches us the secrets of creating an irresistible brand identity.
Brand Checklist (make sure your brand does this if you want a brand that sells)
- Design a scalable logo – your logo isn’t your brand, but it does need to do a job, and scalability is the most important factor. Design a logo that is legible at a variety of sizes, including on a mobile screen.
- Invest in high quality lifestyle and product imagery – a picture tells a thousand words. Invest in imagery that tells the right story. It’s arguably the most important brand touchpoint.
- Maintain a consistent voice across all channels – in our social media age, so much of your brand is communicated through copy. Nailing that voice is critical.
- Create consistent URLs and social handles/tags – again, because social media is often the primary means of communicating your brand, avoid confusion with consistency across all platforms.
- Develop your Brand Book – this exercise ensures internal alignment and brand consistency across all channels.
- Hit the streets! Your brand can – and should – change with your customer. Get that feedback early and often
Links
- Classic Brand Book examples
- Beginner’s guide to color theory
- SnackNation Insights
- Connect with Eric on LinkedIn
- EZER Snacks
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
In honor of Presidential Proclamation 5219, this week's featured brand is completely reimagining America's favorite frozen treat.
(Hint:🍦)
Yes, in honor of National Ice Cream Day, we're talking to Dream Pops CEO and Co-Founder David Greenfeld.
Dream Pops is a plant-based frozen dessert, packed with superfoods, but made without dairy, gluten and soy.
Its innovative shape and consistency make it remarkably snackable (which we love), and with a 3-star Michelin chef concocting the flavors, it's downright delicious.
But the appeal of Dream Pops goes beyond even that. The product itself is beautifully designed, and David and the team have worked hard to create a consistent, holistic brand experience across all consumer touch points.
David talked to us about his first entrepreneurial foray (which involved exploding bags of wine), the Latin American culinary tradition that inspired the entire Dream Pops line, and why every Dream Pops employee is required to spend a day making the product in their downtown LA facility.
Takeaways
- The Seven Whys. David shares a really cool exercise to discover your brand’s motivating purpose.
- The Power of Brand Collabs. Dream Pops actually credit brand partnership opportunities as the main catalyst of their whole business in the early days. David shares specific tactics on how to pitch huge brands (Like Starbucks, Beats by Dre, and Nike).
Links
- Dream Pops
- Dream Pops x Lokai collab
- Connect with David on LinkedIn
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
It’s summer, and hopefully for you that means spending some time in the great outdoors.
And whether you're hiking, camping, or glamping, we've found a new must-add item to your outdoor gear checklist -
Kuju Coffee.
This week, we have brothers and co-founders Jeff and Justin Wiguna of Kuju, a premium, single-serve pour over coffee brand. Kuju is great for anytime you want great coffee on-the-go, but it's really caught on among outdoor enthusiasts.
Jeff and Justin brought the heat, telling us about the inspiration behind their brand, and why they're building a business for the long-term, not for a quick exit.
Takeaways
- Using niche retail as a foothold or launchpad. Kuju started off in places like REI and Bass pro shops - and it’s a huge advantage. They were able to demonstrate high velocity, and then bring a customer-base with them to new channels (like Whole Foods).
- Great example of a brand built around a feeling / an emotion. That’s the “Kuju moment.” If you look at the way they tell their story, they don’t focus all that much on the filter - even though it is innovative. They talk about the memories you create, the moments you can experience, etc. I think every brand can learn from their success here.
Life isn’t easy. Life isn’t perfect. But life is good.
That’s the motto that has propelled Life is Good - the lifestyle clothing brand that celebrates optimism - from a $200 initial investment in 1989 to a $100M company today.
This week our guest is Life is Good co-founder and CEO Bert Jacobs. In the interview, Bert shares how he and his co-founder/brother John conceived of the company, and why placing optimism at the core of the brand has helped it reach millions of people.
As Bert tells it, before it was ever a company or a t-shirt, “Life is Good” was a spirit personified by Bert and John's mother, Joan, an eternal optimist who taught her children to turn the music up, enjoy the moment, and always remember to focus on the good things in life.
Ultimately, the pair took her message to heart, and made the spread of positive energy their lives work. In addition to the brand's uplifting message, Life is Good achieves spreads good vibes by donating 10% of net profits to the Life is Good Kids Foundation, and by holding events like the Life is Good music festival.
Bert was an incredibly honest, good-natured, and fascinating guest. He told us why he believes our disposition determines our happiness, why employee engagement is so important to his organization, why work/life is balance is an inherently flawed concept, and why the people who have the hardest road ahead of them tend to gravitate toward the Life is Good brand the most.
Speaking to Bert put us in a great mood and taught us a lot about leadership and business, and we think listening to him will have the same effect.
Recommended Reading
- Life is Good: The Book by Bert & John Jacobs
Links
- Lifeisgood.com
- Life is Good on LinkedIn
- @LifeIsGood on Twitter
- @LifeIsGoodCo on Instagram
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week on Brand Builder, how to leverage PR like a boss, without wasting money.
Some brands are a little wary of PR. They're afraid of throwing their money away on something they don’t quite understand. They might have even felt burned in the past by an agency who over-promised and under-delivered.
Why does this happen? Because the media landscape moves so quickly. The PR tactics you used 18 or even 12 months ago just aren’t as effective today. Each year you have throw out your playbook and start fresh.
This week’s guest is Sabina Gault, the CEO of Konnect Agency. She's here to tell you how to design campaigns that succeed in today’s media landscape, and how to continually evolve your approach, so that you can make PR work for you without wasting time and money.
Konnect is a consumer public relations firm based in LA, New York, Austin, and Denver that just celebrated their 10 year anniversary. They are change agents for food & beverage, franchise, lifestyle and family brands, reaching Millennials, entrepreneurs, health-minded consumers and moms. Clients include some big names, like KRAVE, Lenny & Larry’s, 4505, Kodiak Cakes, Lyft, TEDxLA, Skyzone, and more.
Takeaways
- PR in our fractured media age. Things are just different now - one splashy campaign used to move the needle. Now, you need a multi-channel approach.
- Effective storytelling - and how to connect types of stories you tell with the business outcomes you want.
Building a brand isn’t just about the tactical and strategic. It’s also about the abstract and esoteric. Things like leadership, culture, personal development, even psychology - they all play a part, and they can all be difference-makers.
That’s why we’re bringing you this live conversation with Ryan Holiday, a bestselling author, media strategist, and the former marketing director of American Apparel.
Ryan has been in the trenches for years, building brands to unbelievable heights, and today is one of the most highly regarded marketing minds of his generation.
His work has been translated into over 30 languages and has appeared everywhere from the New York Times to Fast Company. His books include Trust Me, I’m Lying, Conspiracy, The Obstacle Is the Way, and Ego Is the Enemy.
In this interview, Ryan focuses on the lessons from the latter, laying out a framework for how Ego can undermine our goals and intentions, and providing strategies for overcoming it.
Takeaways
- The difference between Confidence (a good thing) and Ego (a potentially harmful thing). Ryan explains how Ego can sabotage our goals, plus how to overcome it.
- Life as a continuous training. This simple mindset shift can help you become both happier and more productive.
- Focus on the work. Ryan breaks down why you must separate the work you do from external validation.
Links
- RyanHoliday.net
- @RyanHoliday on Twitter
- Ryan on Facebook
- Buy Ryan's books
Recommended Reading
- Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
- The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
- Trust Me, I’m Lying by Ryan Holiday
- Growth Hacker Marketing by Ryan Holiday
- Sherman: Soldier, Realist, American by B.H. Liddell Hart
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
When it comes down to it, what is a brand? Ask a hundred founders, and you might get a hundred different answers. But this week's guest has a simple, compelling answer -- Words. That's according to Dave Gerhardt, the VP of Marketing at Drift. Why words? Because at the end of the day, a brand all comes down to the stories you tell and the emotions that resonate with your customer. And the medium through which these flow are almost always words on a page (or a screen, as it were). And if a brand is made of words, then copywriting is the most important brand building skill there is.
That's one reason why Dave and the team built Drift, the world’s first and only conversational marketing platform. Drift helps businesses build real relationships with their customers by facilitating real conversations.
In addition to Drift, Dave co-hosts the Seeking Wisdom podcast, and it the co-author of the books Conversational Marketing and This Won't Scale.
Dave joins us to share his unique approach to marketing, gives us his top trade show tip, and describes the strategies you need to grow your business from $1M to $10M in just 12 months.
For this episode, we enlisted the help of our in-house marketing expert, SnackNation CMO and co-founder Andy Mackensen, to guide us through the interview.
Takeaways
- Copywriting = brand building. It’s all just words at the end of the day. What you say and how you say it is the key to creating a powerful emotional connection with your consumer.
- The best ideas come from outside your industry. You have to zig when your competitors zag, so it often helps to look outside of your space for inspiration.
Recommended Reading
- Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy
- Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
- Influence by Robert Chialdini
- The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy
- This Won’t Scale by the Drift Marketing Team
- Conversational Marketing by David Cancel and Dave Gerhardt
Links
- Drift
- Seeking Wisdom podcast
- Connect with Dave on LinkedIn
- Connect with Andy on LinkedIn
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Kurt Seidensticker thought he was building a paleo running company. Turns out he was building a billion dollar beauty brand.
Kurt is the CEO and founder of Vital Proteins, an all-natural collagen brand and category leader. Vital Proteins make collagen-infused water, lattes, and powders, and their collagen comes from natural sources like pasture-raised cows in Brazil and wild-caught fish in Hawaii.
And while he originally thought Vital Proteins would appeal to long distance runners like himself, it really caught fire with a different demographic, one who loves Vital Proteins for its anti-aging effects.
The rapid ascent of Vital Proteins is undeniable. The brand has been featured in top-tier outlets like Vogue, Men’s Health, Well + Good, and People, and has celebrity fans like Jennifer Aniston and Kourtney Kardashian. In fact, Vital Proteins is the first product launch by POOSH, Kourtney’s new wellness and lifestyle site.
We talked to Kurt about his unconventional path to entrepreneurship (he spent his early career teaching astronauts to fly the space shuttle), his successful influencer marketing strategies, and why #wesprint is his team’s internal motto.
Takeaways * Your customer chooses you. Kurt's actual customers turned out to be very different from who he thought they would be. Understanding and accepting this has been a catalyst for success. * The case for vertical integration. Kurt lays out why relying on distributors and co-manufacturers can hurt your brand in the long term, and advocates building capabilities in order to add to your gross margin. * The Importance of creating a framework for speed and agility. Vital Proteins' internal motto is #Wesprint, and Kurt even has a skunkworks program that enables the company to move even quicker and take advantage of market opportunities. He tells us why that's so important.
Links
- Vital Proteins
- Vital Proteins X Poosh Collaboration
- Connect with Kurt on LinkedIn
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Aunt Flow founder Claire Coder talks about the "hidden cost of menstruation." What does that mean? Well, consider the following: * 86% of women have had their period at work and didn't have access to menstrual products. * 64% of women have left work because of this reason. * School attendance for young girls decreases by 2.4% among young girls who don't have access to menstrual products.
To Claire, these stats are unacceptable, particularly because they all stem from one fact about how our society deals with menstruation - We don't talk about it. The good news is, that's a solvable problem, and Claire and Aunt Flow are committed to opening up the conversation and increasing access to quality menstrual products. Claire is in the midst of a critical inflection point for her brand, as she chases her goal of servicing 1,000 offices this year. Claire stopped by the Brand Builder studio to share her story, and break down how she is making the world a better place, one cycle at a time. Takeaways * Customer Obsession - which customer do you obsess over? Claire sheds light on a dynamic that we see a lot, particularly in a B2B model like hers: serving the end-user vs. the decision maker/buyer. * Raising her seed round. Claire recently closed a $1.5 million seed round, and it was anything but easy. She shares her tips, and why it took 86 meetings to close.
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Ask yourself - as a leader, are you coming from a place of fear and uncertainty? Do you look for fault and blame in others, cling to an opinion and fixed worldview, and believe in scarcity over abundance? Or are you open to outside interpretations, curious about the world around you, and committed to learning more about yourself and those around you?
In other words, are you leading below or above the line?
That’s the topic of this week's Brand Builder, as we explore the concepts contained in The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, a fantastic read and a book that can help you become the leader your brand needs to level-up.
On the show is Diana Chapman, one of the book’s co-authors and a founding partner at Conscious Leadership Group. Diana has coached more than 1,000 organizational leaders and many of their teams, is a TEDx speaker, and has given keynotes everywhere from the Mindful Leadership Summit, to the Stanford Graduate School of Business and UC Berkeley Haas School of Business - and a lot more.
To say that this book has had a huge influence on the culture and leadership style at SnackNation is a major understatement. We apply the precepts within it as we all strive to get better every day.
In this episode, Diana explains both how to practice conscious leadership and why it’s so important, both to our businesses and our lives.
While we absolutely recommend reading the book, here's a quick rundown of the 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership that Diana discusses.
Commitment 1 - Radical Responsibility
- The idea with this first commitment is to locate the “cause and control” inside us, not in external events. This means we stop believing that the world should be a particular way, and instead believe that the world just shows up.
- In the second part of this process, we move from rigid, closed mindedness to curiosity, learning and wonder (something that naturally occurs if the first shift happens.)
- But most of all, radical responsibility is not about being right! Letting go of the need to be right is something all top tier leaders do.
Commitment 2 - Learning through Curiosity
- Conscious leaders are passionately committed to knowing themselves (the basis of curiosity) and allow themselves to wonder.
- Success here depends on approaching people with an unreasonable benefit of the doubt, especially those you manage. Be truly curious in what they say.
Commitment 3 - Feeling All Feelings
- So many leaders stay in their head and don’t access their guts or hearts enough. To be an effective leader, you need to acknowledge all your feelings.
- Emotions are just energy in motion. They’re neither good nor bad - they just are. The key is learning how to deal with your emotions and process them. Every feeling we experience is a way for us to grow and improve in awareness.
Commitment 4 - Speaking Candidly
- According to the book, the team that “sees reality the best wins.”
- So many people are scared to speak candidly, but when they do that they’re robbing themselves and other people from the natural flow of energy, from what really needs to be said.
Commitment 5 - Eliminating Gossip
- Gossip is defined as anything said with harmful intent, that you wouldn’t say in front of the other person. While gossip is a manifestation of our species’ desire for deep social bonds, it no longer serves us, especially in business.
- Here we break down why we gossip, and discuss strategies for reversing and avoiding our tendency to engage in this destructive behavior.
Commitment 6 - Practicing Integrity
- Remember that integrity has nothing to do with being right or wrong, it’s all about being whole. (The root of integrity is integer, after all.)
- We discuss the importance of not blocking the natural flow of energy, and the Four Pillars that help us maintain our integrity.
Commitment 7 - Generating Appreciation
- For this commitment, we talk about what it means to give people the unreasonable benefit of the doubt and why leaders need first and foremost to pay attention.
- Additionally, we dive into the various reasons why people don’t accept appreciation, and what masterful appreciation really looks like.
Commitment 8 - Express Your Zone of Genius
- This commitment is all about finding that one thing that you do well and love to do. Similar to concepts like "unique ability" and flow state, your "zone of genius" is the area where you make the most valuable, creative contribution.
Commitment 9 - Remember to Play
- Contrary to what most of us are taught earl in life, work doesn't have to be nothing but stress, misery, and toil. Play, laughter, and improvisation are vital to being productive and fulfilled. (Besides, what good is life without a little bit of laughter?)
Commitment 10 - Consider the Opposite of Your "Story"
- We all have a "story" - it's the way we see the world, the assumptions we take with us when we approach problems. The idea here is to consider that the opposite of your story is as true or truer than your own.
Commitment 11 - Be Your Own Approval
- Commit to being your own source of approval, rather than relying on it from others.
Commitment 12 - Recognize You Have Enough
- How many times have you caught yourself saying "if only I had enough time. Enough money. Enough support. Enough space. Enough energy." This commitment reminds us that this imagined state of "enough" is never going to happen, and asks us to be satisfied in what we have now - and get stared solving problems!
Commitment 13 - See People as Allies
- Whether or not you consider someone an ally or obstacle is largely a matter of choice. So which would you rather have, enemies or allies? Choose allies.
Commitment 14 - Win for All
- Recognize that life is not a zero-sum game and commit to creating win-for-all outcomes.
Commitment 15 - Be the Resolution
- Finally, the most important commitment - be the resolution the world needs. Stop being content with apathy and recognize problems as opportunities to step up and become the solution.
To see more of what the 15 Commitments look like in action, check out the Conscious Leadership Group.
Links
- Conscious Leadership Group
- Connect with Diana on LinkedIn
- The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership
Join our Exclusive Facebook Group!
What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!
Facebook.com/groups/brandbuilderpod
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week we’ve got Daina Trout, the CEO and co-founder of Health-Ade Kombucha. If you’re not familiar, kombucha is a high acid, low sugar, bubbly beverage, and Health-Ade makes the best testing and highest quality kombucha you can buy.
One of the most fascinating things about the Health-Ade story is that they’ve successfully scaled the small batch, artisanal production that makes for great kombucha. It’s pretty crazy - they are the fastest growing company in all of refrigerated beverage, yet they still brew in 2.5 gallon glass jars. (They just have 250,000 of them.)
Dainia gets real and vulnerable in this interview. She talks about the highs and lows of building a business, dealing with the self doubt you feel as an entrepreneur, and even near death experiences that changed her perspective on life and business.
And of course, we dive into the tactical. Daina breaks down the leadership style that helped lead Health-Ade into the massive success it is today.
Links
- Health-Ade Kombucha
- Connect with Daina on LinkedIn
- Stacy’s Rise Project Are you female founder? Apply to the Stacy’s® Rise Project for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to grow your business through funding, mentorship and community. https://stacysrise.helloalice.com/
Join our Exclusive Facebook Group!
What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!
Facebook.com/groups/brandbuilderpod
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
“What we’re going after is almost once in a generation.”
Dosist CEO Gunner Winston has big plans for the brand.
Founded with the goal of creating the first cannabis products based on the science behind the plant, dosist first made a name for itself through product innovation. Their dose pens, which deliver a consistent dose of THC, even landed them on TIME magazine’s 25 best inventions of 2016 list.
But what really drives dosist is a strong brand identity, one that elevates benefits over features, taps into customer aspirations, and has more in common with Nike, Apple, and Starbucks than your typical cannabis company.
Why is this the approach? That’s what we cover in this week’s Brand Builder.
Takeaways
- The greatest brands transcend their categories. That’s the sort of brand innovation that dosist aspires to, and Gunner lays out the strategy to make dosist one of those transcendent brands.
- From Hmbldt to dosist. Pay special attention to what Gunner says about why the company rebranded from hmbldt to dosist, as well as their new brand positioning and the messages they lead with.
- Earn it before you start expanding. Gunner explains why brands have to lay out a vision, and then deliver on the promise before they can start expanding their offering.
Links
- dosist
Join our Exclusive Facebook Group!
What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!
Facebook.com/groups/brandbuilderpod
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
We’ve interviewed a lot of great jerky brands on Brand Builder: Country Archer, Field Trip, Chomps, all progressive brands who have helped people see the category in a whole new light. But every single one of these brands give props to one brand that did it first and paved the way for the rest - KRAVE.
So of course, we’ve been dying to get Jon Sebastiani, the founder of KRAVE jerky on the podcast for a while now. The wait is over, as Jon joined us in the Brand Builder studio for this incredible interview.
Jon founded KRAVE way back in 2007. At the time, the brand was revolutionary - an elevated jerky that had more in common with gourmet foods or fine wine than the typical gas-station fare that existed at the time.
In fact, what Jon created with KRAVE is pretty remarkable when you think about it - a market big enough where all of these brands can coexist and be successful.
Jon walked us through his career path which has been marked with milestone accomplishments, including the founding of KRAVE.
What you might not know - Jon also founded Smashmallow, sits on the board of brands like Dang, and is now an investor through Sonoma Brands, his consumer products incubator and venture fund.
Takeaways
- What it's like to be a first-mover, and the importance of speed in today’s CPG landscape.
- The emotional toll of entrepreneurship. Jon gives tips for dealing with self-doubt, anxiety, and gives you tips to stay focused.
Links
- Sonoma Brands
- KRAVE Jerky
- Smashmallow
- Connect with Jon on LinkedIn.
Join our Exclusive Facebook Group!
What's your biggest takeaway from the episode? Join our invite-only, private Facebook group just for Brand Builder Community members, where you can connect with fellow entrepreneurs and founders, crowdsource ideas, share best practices (or lessons learned), and get your most important questions answered. Join now!
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
To celebrate our 100th episode, we're launching The Brand Builder Playbook, featuring advanced tips to help you skyrocket sales, grow your brand, and become a household name.
We’re living in a golden age of CPG. An influx of capital, lower barriers to entry, and a consumer that cares more than ever about ingredients, health, and the social impact of the products they purchase - it all adds up to massive opportunity for the right kinds of emerging brands.
But there’s a flip side. Competition is at an all time high. The margin for error is razor thin, and there's a mounting pressure to grow quickly. One wrong move, and your venture can fail.
So what’s the secret? You have to learn from those who’ve been there before. Sure, some lessons can only be learned the hard way. But if you want to win in the modern CPG landscape, you have to limit those failures as much as you can. You have to stand on the shoulders of those who came before you. That’s why we put together this playbook.
We’re also giving away a free ebook version of the Brand Builder Playbook, which contains two exclusive bonus tips.
So listen to the episode, and then download The Brand Builder Playbook for more in-depth details plus two exclusive bonus tactics.
www.snacknation.com/playbook
This week on Brand Builder we have a conversation about how to get close to the customer, and why that’s so important.
It all stems from the idea of infinite supply - that in the era of nearly infinite consumer choice, the way consumer brands innovate has to change if they want to survive.
We have to give credit to the team at Drift and their book This Won’t Scale, where the idea for this conversation first came. Here’s the passage that inspired this episode:
“You can only achieve hypergrowth by being close to the customer…
We realized that in a world of infinite supply, the customer has all the power.” (p. 7)
The infinite supply dynamic has long been at play in digital products like software, but it increasingly applies to physical products like CPG and snack brands. Consumer choice is approaching infinity, which means competition is too, and brands have to realign their approach.
Here's what we cover.
Takeaways
- Tip #1 - Need Brand Innovation & Connection
- Tip #2 - Brands are Relationships
- Tip #3 - Practice Essentialism
- Tip #4 - Serve as a Guide to Positive Transformation
- Tip #5 - Go To Your Customer
- Tip #6 - Create Two-Way Conversations
- Tip #7 - Own Your Relationships
Links
- This Won't Scale by the Drift Marketing Team
- Connect with Sean on LinkedIn.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
There are things you’re doing right now that are hurting your business.
It’s ok. You’re not the only one. It can be hard to keep up in the constantly shifting landscape of social media platforms, direct to consumer retail channels, marketing best practices, and latest and greatest growth hacks.
Luckily, we've got a marketing expert to help you identify and avoid these mistakes. Joining us is Erik Huberman, the founder and CEO of Hawke Media.
Erik knows his stuff. Hawke is a full service marketing consultancy who has done work for literally thousands of brands, including household names like Red Bull, inCase, Proactiv, Verizon, and tons more. Plus Erik has been named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 list, Inc. Magazine’s top 25 Marketing Influencers, and he’s a frequent keynote speaker and contributing writer.
Erik starts with the fundamentals, then gets really granular and nuanced when it comes to tactics.
Pay special attention to the “three pillars of marketing” that Erik describes. If you come away with anything from this episode, that should be it. But of course there's a lot more to it than that:
Takeaways
- What to do when your customer isn’t who you think it is. When brands discover this… most make this one big mistake. Erik tells us what that is.
- Do things that aren’t measurable. Yes, of course do the things with clear ROI, but not all value is immediately measurable.
- Why direct response marketing is less important than it used to be, and what to focus on instead.
Links
- Hawke Media
- Connect with Erik on LinkedIn.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
What if you could take 15 years of CPG experience, distill it down in a 30 minute podcast interview - would you be interested?
If you said yes, you're in luck, because that's precisely what's on deck on this week's Brand Builder.
We interview Dustin Finkel, the CEO at the Ancient inGRAINed Snack Co., makers of Ka-Pop! snacks.
Dustin is a 15+ year veteran of the CPG business. He’s got an MBA from Northwestern, and he’s an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
But With Ka-Pop - it’s the first time he’s started his own brand, and he was surprised by how much he still had to learn. He told us that if he's struggling with these things, he know there are other entrepreneurs who need help with this stuff too. He’s all about paying it forward and giving back.
Ka-pop is a popped chip made from ancient grains. It’s made with clean ingredients, it tastes great, contains omega 3s, and has a great brand to support it.
Takeaways
- The most common deficiency Dustin sees with early stage entrepreneurs, and how they can get better.
- How to scale a tribe-based marketing strategy.
- How to raise a pre-revenue seed round. Sometimes it’s the last thing holding you back - a proper seed round to get you off the ground.
Links
- Ka-Pop! Snacks
- Connect with Dustin on LinkedIn
- Ka-Pop! joins Kraft Springboard Brands
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week's episode is all about hard choices.
We're talking to Bob McClure, one of the founders of McClure’s pickles, an artisan pickle brand based out of the twin capitals of cool, Brooklyn and Detroit. It's a true family business - Bob launched the brand in 2006 with his brother Joe using their great grandmother Lala’s recipe.
For many, their first introduction to the McClure’s brand was their great tasting pickle-flavored potato chips. And I was super surprised when they discontinued them.
Pivoting away from a popular product in order to focus on doing one thing really well is never an easy decision. But Bob explains that diversifying their offering in that way wasn’t quite the right move - even though they had a fantastic product that a lot of people loved. He tells us how they knew it was time to make the hard choice to shut it down.
Bob also provides fantastic practical advice about how to approach your relationship with buyers, and cutting through the noise in a digital world.
Links
- McClure's Pickles
- Connect with Bob on LinkedIn
- Also in this episode - Stryve Biltong
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
When you look at the numbers, the meal replacement category represents a gigantic opportunity. We're talking about a $4 billion market in the U.S., and $12 billion globally. What's more, the category lacks product leadership. It's as if the market is just waiting for an upstart brand to seize the mantle - and the marketshare. This week's Brand Builder guest is on a mission to be that brand. We're talking to Nathan Gordon, the CEO and C0-Founder of SANS Mealbar, and his goal is to make SANS the undisputed product leader of this huge category. Right now, SANS’ primary challenge is awareness. We talk a lot about how they’re overcoming it and how that informs their overall strategy. Plus, we learn about the personal connection that inspired SANS ambitious social mission.
Top Takeaways:
- Becoming a product leader. What this means and what SANS is doing to achieve it.
- Power of trial and sampling. When you believe in your product, there’s nothing better to invest in than putting your product in front of potential customers.
- Differentiating in a saturated D2C landscape. Nathan lays out strategies for standing out in a sea of D2C noise.
Links
- SANS Mealbar
- Connect with Nathan on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Resilience is something that every entrepreneur needs - and that this week's guest has in spades. We're talking to Andrew Cates, the co-founder of the Wine RayZyn Co. Andrew takes superfood wine grapes, dries them, and covers them in dark chocolate - to make Cabernazyn, Merlayzyn, and Chardonayzyn Wine RayZyns. The result is a healthy yet indulgent snack loaded with antioxidants. We ran through a ton of topics with Andrew, including his founding story and the on-the-ground way he stays close his customers. But perhaps the biggest lesson was on the topic of resilience. As you’ll hear Andrew, faced catastrophic loss after the devastating Napa fires of 2017, and it was his resilient spirit that enabled him not just to persevere, but to emerge triumphant. How he rose from the ashes is enough to inspire anyone. Links
- The Wine RayZyn Co.
- Food Recovery Network
- Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
We just wrapped four epic days at the Natural Products EXPO West, the center of the CPG universe. We came, we saw, we sampled.
Expo is a big deal. According to New Hope Network, who puts on the show every year, there were more than 3,500 exhibitors and 85,000 attendees at last year’s Expo. And I heard estimates that there were more than 90,0000 this year.
Rather than getting caught up in the madness that is Expo West, we narrowed our focus to one topic: data.
Our mission was to find out how brands are leveraging data to innovate and stand out in this fast growing but insanely competitive space.
With that, we hit the floor.
Brands in this episode:
- Wilde https://www.wildebrands.com/
- Kween - https://kween.co/
- Kim and Jake’s - https://kimandjakes.com/
- Break Trail Ventures - https://www.breaktrailventures.com/
- Mooala - https://www.mooala.com/
- 4505 - https://4505meats.com/
- Nutty Goodness - https://nuttygoodness.com/
- Cave Shake - https://eatspaceshake.com/
- Eat Your coffee - https://www.eatyour.coffee/
- Zee Zee’s -https://www.zeezees.com/
Customer Obsession is a hot topic right now. Inspired by the success of Amazon and other customer-centric organizations, brands of all shapes and sizes are realizing that putting the customer's needs first is a recipe of success.
At a surface level, being obsessed with your customer creates exceptional experiences and generates goodwill for your brand.
But when it's really working as it should, being customer-obsessed actually drives innovation, and expands your organization's capabilities.
But how does this dynamic work in practice? And what does it take to practice Customer Obsession at your company?
At SnackNation, our theme for 2019 is Customer Obsession, so we sat down with SnackNation CEO Sean Kelly to find out exactly what this idea is all about.
Here's what you'll learn in this episode:
- What it means to be Customer Obsessed - Sean provides a simple working definition of the concept, and more importantly, points out what it is NOT.
- How Customer Obsession shows up in your business and culture - Customer Obsession isn’t the same for every business. Sean provides a framework for working out what Customer Obsession means for yours.
- Practical Tips for Staying Connected to Your Customers - Sean breaks down how the best leaders listen deeply to their customers on a continual basis.
Links
- Amazon's Leadership Principles
- Uncommon Service by Frances Frei
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
How do you go from side-hustle to CEO? This week's Brand Builder guest Kelly LeVeque can tell you - because she's done exactly that.
Kelly is a health coach and holistic nutritionist to the stars, advising celebrity clients like Jessica Alba and Jennifer Garner, and the owner & CEO of Be Well by Kelly, a full-service nutrition, wellness and lifestyle company.
But before she was running the show at BWBK, she spent years in the oncology field, working on cancer treatments. She had a stable career, but deep down she knew she could make a greater impact by focusing on prevention rather than treatment. She tells us what inspired her to change careers, plus the specific tactics she used to build her brand and set herself up for success.
As inspiring as her story is, what listeners might find even more valuable is her perspective as an influencer. Kelly has built an impressive personal brand and a massive reach, and she breaks down exactly how she built that influence and how she evaluates the brand opportunities that come her way.
In other words, if you want to work with celebrity influencers, she’s going to tell you how.
Kelly is super smart, with an amazing story and great energy… and that makes for a fantastic episode.
Links
- Be Well By Kelly
- Body Love by Kelly LeVeque
- Connect with Kelly on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Stop me if this sounds familiar:
You’re a brand new employee at a company that values teamwork and collaboration. Eager to prove yourself, you come out of the gate swinging. You do good work early on, and garner a reputation as a high contributor and team player.
This reputation results in more people from across the org asking for your assistance on all sorts of projects. You, of course, say yes (you are a team player, after all).
Before long, you feel yourself spread thin. You make a millimeter of progress on a thousand different fronts, but no significant progress on any. Your “priority” list is thirty items long. In an ironic twist, your early success has now undermined your ability to contribute at a high level.
The quality of your work goes down, while your stress level skyrockets.
It’s a surefire recipe for burnout.
Luckily for us, today’s Brand Builder guest has developed a solution - Essentialism.
Greg McKeown is a renowned speaker and author. His New York Times best selling book, Essentialism, is all about helping readers discover the disciplined pursuit of less - that is, helping them find their unique abilities and highest leverage activities, and realigning their lives to focus on making the highest contribution possible.
The concept of essentialism was inspired in part by McKeown’s experience working in Silicon Valley. What McKeown found was that the early success of these startups was actually a double-edged sword. It presented them with an overwhelming amount of opportunity - in the form of partnerships, new markets, acquisitions, and the like - which ultimately detracted from their ability to focus on the essential activities that made them successful in the first place.
In this way, success can actually become a catalyst for failure.
The experience lit a bulb in McKeown’s head, and the framework of essentialism - the disciplined pursuit of less but better - began to take shape.
This was an incredible interview, packed with tons of practical tips and engaging stories that will start you down the path of Essentialism.
Key Takeaways
- Greg breaks down the meaning of “Essentialism,” and shares how he arrived at the concept.
- Greg explains how the experience of working with Silicon Valley companies played a role in developing the Essentialist framework, and how success can often become a catalyst for failure.
- Greg relays the story of an employee who, after being pushed to the brink with nonessential activities, decided to “retire in role” in order to return to his essential activities and highest level of contribution.
- Greg explains why essentialism sometimes requires us to say no, and relays the story of Paul Rand, the “man who said no to Steve Jobs.”
- Greg shares a tactical tip for shortening your to-do list.
- Greg talks about the phenomenon of decision fatigue, and how to combat it.
- Greg points out why it’s so important to create space in your life to determine your truly essential activities.
- Greg shares how to create a one-page “life design” that will keep you on track.
- Greg explains why people are too focused on one half of innovation, and that true innovation involves simplifying and reducing.
Recommended Reading
- Essentialism by Greg McKeown
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
- “Steve Jobs and Paul Rand: The impact of confidence” by Josh Smith
Links
- GregMcKeown.com
- @GregoryMcKeown on Twitter
- Greg on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
The first thing you notice about Watermelon Road is that it's a beautiful product.
From the pastel packaging to the vibrant strips of fruit jerky itself, Watermelon Road almost looks tailor-made for Instagram.
Turns out it's no accident - and a big reason why the product has resonated with consumers.
This week on Brand Builder we have Jamie Melzer, the brand's founder and CEO.
Watermelon Road make clean and delicious dried fruit jerky, with mouth-watering flavors like Watermelon Lemonade, Mango Margarita, and Pineapple Mojito.
Jamie is a big believer in “food as medicine” - the idea that changing what we eat and how we think about food can lead to healthier lives. She put this to the test when her husband was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and it was this experience that inspired her to launch Watermelon Road.
A little over a year in, Watermelon Road are accelerating into their next big growth stage.
To date, the brand has grown almost entirely organically, largely by word of mouth and press. Jamie talks about how her early investment in a strong visual and brand identity from the get go has been the key to garnering this buzz.
We loved what Jamie had to say about the future of CPG, particularly in the way new brands reach consumers. She also tells us how she's been able to fill the knowledge gap that all first time entrepreneurs have, and
Links
- Watermelon Road
- Connect with Jamie on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Wellness can sometimes be a confusing space, with dubious or contradictory claims, and even pseudo science.
Which is a shame - because focusing on health and wellbeing is one of the best things anyone can do.
This week on Brand Builder we have two people who are helping consumers and entrepreneurs navigate the sometimes confusing landscape of wellness. We’re talking to Erica Huss and Zoë Sakoutis, the hosts of Highway to Well, a podcast that we are very big fans of.
To say that Erica and Zoë are wellness experts is a major understatement. They helped bring the wellness category mainstream with Blueprint, the hugely popular juice cleans brand they built and sold. Now they’re giving back to the wellness community through their HTWpodcast, bringing a fresh voice to the business of being well.
Zoë and Erica bring a unique perspective because they built their own brand, they have experienced investing and mentoring, and now they’re building a community with Highway to Well. In this interview they also talk about exit strategies, plus the need for brand to be platforms in an age when content is king.
Links
- HTW Podcast
- Blueprint
- Connect with Erica on LinkedIn
- Connect with Zoe on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
You know we’re all about company culture on Brand Builder - because brand is culture and culture is brand.
In that vein we have a very special episode this week.
It’s a conversation between two extraordinary leaders about a very specific cultural topic - one that will help you become a better leader, and build the team your business needs to level-up in 2019.
We’re talking about Radical Candor.
To discuss it we’ve got Chelsie Lee, a culture expert and the SVP of Customer Strategy at SnackNation, speaking with SnackNation CEO Sean Kelly.
We love this conversation because it not only defines Radical Candor in a simple, usable way, but Chelsie does a great job of dispelling one of the biggest misconceptions about giving Radical Feedback… it’s not license to be an asshole!
Of course, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that the discussion here owes a lot to the ideas in Kim Scott's amazing book Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity.
Links
- Radical Candor by Kim Scott
- Connect with Chelsie on LinkedIn
- Connect with Sean on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week on Brand Builder. Protes, the pea-protein infused chip that’s pushing the envelope when it comes to functional food.
Co-founder and CEO Krik Angacian is a self described “no-B.S. guy” - and that trait actually shows up in the brand. Protes is all about transparency. They don’t claim to be anything other than what they are - a great tasting, better-for-you functional product, packed with high quality protein.
It also showed up in this interview, in the form of practical, no-B.S. tips for growing your business - like Krik’s low-budget tactic to learn exactly who your customer is. He also explains us why you should listen to everyone, but why success ultimately depends upon forging your own path.
And we can’t forget the amazing true story about the time Protes would’ve gone out of business, if not for the company-saving actions of a food scientist named Marv...
and former athletes came up with an idea that’s so smart and so simple, it’s kind of a shock that no one else was really doing it yet - Greek Frozen Yogurt.
Amanda and Drew seized their moment in 2011, founding the brand and becoming the first mover in the category. Today Yasso has about 30 employees and closed out 2018 with north of $80M in revenue.
We got very tactical in this interview, learning their approach to R+D, how Yasso drove growth through experiential marketing, and why they favor IRL events over digital influencers. But mostly we learned how to create something that doesn't exist yet.
They also told us an epic story about some friendly(ish) trolling from one of the biggest ice cream brands around.
Links
- Yasso
- Game On! Foundation
- Connect with Amanda and Drew on LinkedIn
- Folow @yasso on Instagram, @yassofroyo on Twitter
- Ice Cream School
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Welcome to the fourth and final installment of our founder’s bootcamp mini series.
So far we’ve learned all about business law from lawyer Nick Giannuzzi, fundraising strategies from investor Andy Whitman, and organizational culture from engagement strategist Lisa Kane.
To round out our program we have Blake Cadwell, Vice President at Day One Agency.
Day One is a Creative Communications Agency with offices in New York and LA. They’ve done outstanding work for big name clients like Nike, YouTube, American Express, and Chipotle, and they were named the 2018 small agency of the year by the Holmes Report.
What Day One does best - and why we had to have them on this series - is find creative ways to make headlines.
Earned media matters for smaller brands. Because while you can’t always compete when it comes to ad spend, you can get creative and leverage cultural trends to build real, organic buzz. And that translates to sales, distribution, and more.
We spoke to Blake about how smaller brands can drive growth through earned media, specifically by inserting themselves into consumer trends and cultural conversations. We also spoke about how brands can cultivate and engage those early adopters, and turn them into lifelong brand evangelists.
Links
- Day One Agency
- Chipotle + Hinge campaign
- Connect with Blake on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Prepare to get really smart, because this week's Brand Builder is all about fueling your brain for peak performance.
Our guest is Will Nitze, the founder and CEO of IQ Bar. Based in Boston, IQ has the distinction of being the first and only "brain food bar" that leverages nutrition and neuroscience to boost everyday brain function.
Will has had cognition on the brain for a while. He first became obsessed with brain performance as an undergrad at Harvard, where he studied psychology and neuroscience, but the idea for IQ Bar didn't strike until 2017 while he was working in the software industry. After noticing his own focus and cognition flag during the workday, he started experimenting with ways to boost performance using nutrition. IQ Bar was born in his kitchen soon after.
The concept resonated immediately with consumers. A successful Kickstarter campaign saw $90,000 worth of orders... before Will and his team really had a fully dialed product.
We talked to Will about those early days of IQ, delved into the brand's current challenges, as well as the neuroscience behind the IQ formula. He also lays out why he thinks of the IQ brand as having two-layers - the surface level message, and the deeper meaning, and why that can be a powerful strategy for functional products.
Links
- IQ Bar
- Connect with Will on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Here’s a fact: when it comes to setting goals for the coming New Year, the odds are... you’re doing it wrong.
The numbers don’t lie. 92% of people who set goals, never achieve them. In fact, only 45% of people even set them to begin with.
So what separates the people who crush their goals from the rest? Turns out, it’s just a few simple adjustments to your strategy and mindset that make all the difference.
Here to break down exactly what it takes to hit your 2019 goals is SnackNation CEO Sean Kelly. Sean isn’t just passionate about goal setting, he has been refining his goal setting strategy for more than a decade and a half.
This is the Brand Builder Guide to Winning 2019.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Welcome to the third installment of our 4-part founder’s bootcamp miniseries. If you haven’t yet, go check part 1 with lawyer Nick Giannuzzi and part 2 with investor Andy Whitman.
Again, the idea with this series is to feature a different subject matter expert each episode to supplement your business knowledge and help you get your brand to that next level, faster.
This week we have a conversation with Lisa Kane from Siegel+Gale.
Siegel+Gale is a global brand strategy, design and experience firm. They’re all about unlocking the power of simplicity to help organizations realize their full potential. Lisa is the firm’s Group Director of Strategy, and her specialty is Employee Engagement - which is why we had to have her on this series.
Perhaps it's not surprising that Lisa has a refreshingly simple perspective on Employee Engagement, which tends to be a convoluted topic for a lot of founders. She explains how engagement connects back to your overarching brand story and mission.
Lisa also shares her top 3 tactics for creating an engaged team. If there’s one thing we learned from this show, culture and engagement matters, no matter how big your team or what growth stage your company is in. Lisa gives us her best practical tips for ensuring that your brand has the right culture to support your goals.
Links
- Siegel+Gale
- Siegel+Gale Simplicity Index
- Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Ghee is officially having a moment.
For those not yet in the know, Ghee is a filtered butter reduction, and a staple ingredient in traditional Indian cooking. It has a higher smoke point - which makes it great for cooking - is full of healthy fats like CLA, and boasts a nutty, delicious flavor that people just love.
When it comes to bringing Ghee to the mainstream, you’d be hard pressed to find a more influential brand and founder than Fourth & Heart’s Raquel Tavares.
Raquel founded 4th & Heart in 2014 with $80,000 of her own savings. Today they are the category leader and are innovating with new SKUs like flavored Ghee oil and chocolate spreads.
We talked to Raquel about her first introduction to Ghee and her role in driving the growth of the category. Plus we dive into the Fourth & Heart brand and culture, and ultimately why running a business requires her to listen to both her head and her heart.
Links
- Fourth & Heart
- Connect with Raquel on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week on Brand Builder, we seek the answer to one question - what makes great chocolate?
After all, the ingredients are essentially the same for everyone. But all chocolate are certainly not created equal. So what separates phenomenal product from the rest?
To find out, we spoke to Brad van Dam, the president and CEO of Marich Confectionery Co.
Marich is known for premium product. They make all natural, fair trade certified, pan-crafted chocolates - that people just love.
Brad told us the fascinating history of Marich, which begins in war-torn 1940s Holland, and traced his own unlikely path from tech to CPG.
We also spent some time on the cultural side of things. One of the most interesting things about Marich is how much time and energy Brad spends cultivating just the right organizational culture. After all, it's culture that transmits the craft of candy making from one generation to the next.
Links
- Marich Confectionery
- Connect with Brad on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This is the second installment of our 4-part founder’s bootcamp miniseries. If you haven’t yet, go check the first episode featuring CPG super lawyer Nick Giannuzzi.
Our goal with this series is to feature a different subject matter expert in each episode to supplement your knowledge and help you get to that next level, faster.
This week we have investor Andy Whitman, a Managing Partner at 2X Partners.
In many ways, Andy and the 2X team paved the way for so much of what we see today in CPG. Virtually no one was investing in emerging natural food brands when 2X launched about 15 years ago. Today, that’s obviously a much different story.
Andy got his start growing small to mid-sized brands at Kraft. He was the guy tasked with turning around smaller brands in the portfolio that weren’t quite turning a profit. And it turns out he had a knack for it.
As you’ll hear, Andy sees financials for more than 700 brands a year, yet typically only invest in two. He breaks down exactly what he’s looking for when chooses which brands to put his money on.
Andy also explains what makes the 2X model unique, the difference between trends and fads (and how to spot them), and the ideal amount of money your brand should raise.
Links
- 2X Partners
- Connect with Andy on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week on Brand Builder, you’re going to hear us roar.
Well... ok, you’re going to hear from ROAR Organic CEO & President Roly Nesi. And he's got a lot to say.
ROAR is an organic electrolyte infusion drink that is making a huge splash. ROAR started as a side project, but early velocity made its founders realize that they had a hit on their hands. Less than a year and a half since launching, the brand can be found in more than 6,000 retail doors, including COSTCO, Target, Kroger, and Whole Foods.
The words “electrolyte" and "beverage” usually bring to mind one, maybe two isotonic beverage brands - the ones that have dominated the category for decades.
But ROAR’s success suggests that it might be time for a changing of the guard. ROAR offers something different - a bold, healthy, alternative to the sugary, artificial, traditional isotonic beverages available today.
They’re targeting a totally different consumer. If their brand were an item of sportswear, Roly says they’re more like a pair of Lululemon yoga pants than a varsity jacket.
So how do you unseat the dominant players in the category? By carving out a new one. Roly breaks down their decision NOT to take on the category leaders on their home turf, but to change the game altogether. We talked to Roly about the biggest challenges facing ROAR, and the ambitious vision that motivates them.
Links
- ROAR
- Connect with Roly on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week we have story that proves that a brand is so much more than a name or a logo. It’s about the way you show up, and the way you do business. We’re talking to LesserEvil, out of Danbury, CT.
LesserEvil take a holistic approach to their brand, and it shows up in their superior product. They make organic popcorn and paleo puffs, made with the highest quality ingredients like raw extra virgin organic oils and grass fed organic ghee.
But the brand you see today was very different from when it started. LesserEvil is a bit of unique case, but their story has far reaching implications for just about any brand out there.
They were founded in 2005 with a “better for you alternative” proposition. But it wasn’t until the brand changed hands and the new leadership radically rethought this core proposition that LesserEvil really found their footing and took off with consumers.
And here’s something you don’t always see from an emerging brand. LesserEvil is vertically integrated. They made the bold choice in 2012 to stop working with co-packers and open their own factory. It was a potentially risky move, but as you’ll hear in this interview, it gives LesserEvil some unique capabilities.
One of the big challenge for LesserEvil is that some of the most interesting things they do … are essentially invisible. There is a fascinating obsession with doing things the right way - in terms of processing and sourcing - that isn’t always apparent on the surface.
We spoke to LesserEvil CEO and President Charles Coristine about the evolution of LesserEvil, and why setting aside some of the brand’s legacy baggage was the key to create a brand and product line that resonated with consumers in a much bigger way.
Links
- LesserEvil
- Brand Spotlight: Sunnystreet Snacks
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Welcome to the first episode in our Founder’s Bootcamp series - a conversation with CPG super lawyer Nick Giannuzzi.
We obviously talk to a lot of founders on this show, and many of our guests have cited one lawyer as a major influence, mentor, and partner - someone who helped show them the way to CPG success. That someone is Nick Giannuzzi
In fact, the L word - LEGEND - has been thrown around in reference to Nick. In 2017, Forbes named him a “top consumer industry dealmaker and influencer,” and he’s worked with everyone from RXBAR, to Siggi’s, to Glaceau Vitamin Water. (Oh and by the way, he helped negotiate the deals that turned Vitamin Water into a $4B success story.)
We spoke to Nick about the biggest legal mistakes that early stage brands need to avoid at all costs, his advice on fundraising, and his predictions for the M&A landscape.
Here’s episode 1 of our founder bootcamp series - and it’s all about positioning your brand for a successful exit.
Links
- The Giannuzzi Group, LLP
- Follow @GiannuzziGroup on Instagram
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week we’ve got Adam Deremo, founder & Managing Partner of AWAKE Chocolate.
Launched in 2012, AWAKE make great-tasting caffeinated chocolates. They’re all about providing consumers with a quick, easy - and delicious - energy boost to help them get the most out of their day. One of their bars has the same caffeine as a cup of coffee.
One of the unique things about AWAKE is that Adam and his cofounders have a history in big, traditional CPG. He talks about how this experience has given them a competitive advantage as they’ve built their brand.
Awake also has a unique channel strategy. They’ve made a point to really hone in on point of consumption and work their way outwards. In fact it's how they landed on two of their most successful channels.
Another big theme with AWAKE - testing and learning… Adam and the team do a great job taking customer feedback and iterating, to keep pace with their consumers, something that every brand out there can apply to their business.
We spoke to Adam about all this, plus the origin of Nevil, the brand’s official spokes-owl.
Links
- AWAKE
- Connect with Adam on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This episode is all about Ugly Drinks, the UK’s first flavored sparkling water brand with no sugar, no sweetener and no calories. They’ve become a smash hit across the pond - today you can find them in 5000 UK stores - and this year they’ve been breaking into the states in a big way.
Ugly is a bit of an “anti-brand” - but it’s not a “brand-less” product, not in the least. When everyone else is maybe going for this minimalist approach, Ugly has chosen a bold aesthetic.
Ugly CEO and co-founder Hugh Thomas on the show this week joins us to talk about the origin story of the brand, plus their strategy for bringing the Ugly truth to the U.S.
Links
- Ugly
- Connect with Hugh on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Brand Builder was the exclusive podcast on the floor at this year’s WORLDZ Summit - a global event that unites tomorrow’s leaders with CEOs, CMOs & cultural icons to create the world of tomorrow. And this… is the Brand Builder WORLDZ Mashup episode.
WORLDZ is all about big ideas. They take the planet’s biggest problems, and explore how brands and brand storytelling can create a platform where people can solve them.
But as great as their programming is (and it is great), what so many people love about WORLDZ is the one-on-one interactions with other attendees. The caliber of attendee is very high at WORLDZ, and it’s those interpersonal connections that can spark new ideas, new ventures, and major change.
That’s what I had the pleasure to do - I was on the floor for two days straight… just talking to people. Learning their stories and asking them some big questions.
One of the things I was most interested in learning: Why is brand the right platform for tackling these problems? How do you approach it? Here's what we found out.
Links
WORLDZ Recap Video
Peter Rahal
- RXBAR
- Connect with Peter on LinkedIn
Stan Graham
- Elements for Athletes
- Stan on Instagram
Dana Mangaliman
- City Year LA
- Connect with Dana on LinkedIn
Jason Primrose
- The Lost Children of Andromeda
- Connect with Jason on Linkedin
Ryan Williams
- Podcast
- The Influencer Economy
CJ Johnson
- @CJJohnsonJr on Instagram
- Connect with CJ on LinkedIn
The Sleep Doctor, Michael Breus, PhD
- The Sleep Doctor
- Connect with Michael on LinkedIn
Jordan 'Jet' Temkin
- Drone Racing League
- Jet on Instagram
KIND Heaven
Summer Rona
- SummerRona.com
- Slingshot music video
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
What would life be without coffee?
It’s a daily ritual for millions of people across the world, and the lifeblood of business here in the States.
With a product so ubiquitous, and with coffee brands seemingly a dime a dozen, how do you build a brand that cuts through the noise?
To find out, we’ve got the folks from RISE Brewing - co-founders Grant Gyesky and Justin Weinstein.
RISE Brewing Co. brews nitro cold-brew coffee kegs and cans for offices, bars, restaurants, cafes, and has a growing direct to consumer business too.
And by all accounts, they have a hit on their hands.hey’ve seen rapid growth and some high profile accounts - like NIKE, Facebook, and the NBA. Consumers are going crazy for the the delicious, natural sweetness that the nitro imparts. Plus their coffee is organic, non-GMO, fair-trade, single-origin, non-dairy and contains zero calories.
So how did they pull this off? In part by taking a craft beer approach to brewing coffee. We dive into the rapid rise of RISE in this conversation.
Links
- RISE Brewing Co.
- Connect with Justin and Grant on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
A conversation with Josh Tetrick, the CEO and co-founder of JUST.
https://justforall.com/
It's time for another Culture Builder, our ongoing series on culture and leadership. And as promised, Soylent CEO Bryan Crowley is once again our subject.
This episode features Bryan's unique take on culture, which he picked up during his 22 year career in CPG.
Bryan has worked for or led all types of brands, from behemoths like Anheuser Busch and Mars, to emerging brands like KeVita and Veev spirits, and shares a few lessons he learned early in his career that he still carries with him today. He also talks about Soylent’s culture - specifically what it was like to take over as CEO after founder Rob Rhinehart decided to take a back seat.
This week on Brand Builder our guest is Bryan Crowley, the CEO of Soylent.
Founded in 2013, the Los Angeles-based company garnered a ton of early attention by bringing a futuristic, Silicon Valley-style approach to food and nutrition.
Because of all this early press, Soylent is a brand that people think they understand… but we'd argue really don’t.
Today Soylent's focus - and appeal - has certainly widened, and their growth is undeniable. They're up to 55 employees, and this year alone they’ve grossed $15M in sales just on Amazon. A recently inked Kroger deal now has them in more than 1,850 stores, and more than 10,000 retail locations altogether.
But that's still just part of the story. We love Bryan and the Soylent team for their big picture ideas. They are tackling some of the biggest challenges facing not just our food system, but our planet and society.
We talked to Bryan about sustainability, food voids, and the company's unabashed PRO GMO stance. Bryan also spoke to us extensively about Soylent's fascinating company culture - and it’s so good that we’re releasing that part of the interview this Thursday as part of our ongoing Culture Builder series.
Links
- Soylent
- Bryan's awesome BevNet keynote
- Connect with Bryan on LinkedIn.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week we have a special bonus episode. We’re releasing one of our favorite interviews featuring Roman Tsunder, the mastermind behind WORLDZ and PTTOW.
If you haven’t heard, WORLDZ is a global summit that unites tomorrow’s leaders with CEOs, CMOs & cultural icons to create the world of tomorrow.
As you’ll hear in the conversation between Roman and SnackNation CEO Sean Kelly, the driving force for Roman has been his belief in what he calls “irrational generosity.” It’s something he’s experienced personally in the most successful leaders, and that he believes is actually the key to their success.
This is a deep, seriously inspiring conversation that you don’t want to miss. Not to mention that this content is especially timely because WORLDZ 2018 is less than a week away! This year the summit will feature leaders from top brands like Amazon, Google, Hulu, Samsung, VICE media, Marvel and so many more - plus keynotes from everyone from Senator Barbara Boxer, to Rose McGowan, to the RZA.
And don’t miss a joint Master Course on Culture taught by SnackNation CEO Sean Kelly and RXBAR CEO Peter Rahal. If that weren’t enough - Brand Builder will be on the floor at WORLDZ this year, recording conversations with all the inspiring leaders at the show.
For more info visit WORLDZ.us.
Links
- WORLDZ Chapter 3 - Chasing True North.
- Connect with Roman on LinkedIn.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week on the podcast we have an in-depth conversation with Julie Rice, a co-founder of SoulCycle and a Partner at WeWork.
SoulCycle’s rise is now the stuff of legend. Julie and her fellow co-founders took the fitness and business worlds by storm, and grew a fanatical customer base by focusing on who they wanted their customers to become.
Now Julie is a partner at WeWork, another business that feels more like a movement. Both SoulCylce and WeWork are prime examples of what you can build when you provide best-in-class experiences that help customers reach their aspirations.
SnackNation CEO Sean Kelly sat down with Julie this summer in WeWork HQ in New York as the SnackNation and WeWork teams were putting the finishing touches on the WeMRKT. The recently launched premium onsite markets provides a meaningful and relevant retail amenity to WeWork members, including snack and beverages curated by SnackNation. (For more on WeMRKT, check out this New Yorker article: “WeWork Does Bodegas.”)
But that's just scratching the surface of all the goodness Julie gave us in this conversation. She takes us through the entire SoulCycle founding story, discusses what it takes to scale culture (and why that’s important), and explains why building communities is really her life's work.
Links
- WeWork
- SoulCycle
- Connect with Julie Rice on LinkedIn.
- The New Yorker: WeWork Does Bodegas
Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
For those not yet in the know, matcha is a fine powder made from stone ground green tea leaves. On the show this week this week is Matcha expert and evangelist Graham Fortgang, the co-founder of MatchaBar.
MatchaBar provides sustained energy and focus via their energy drink Hustle, which is made from ceremonial-grade Matcha.
MatchaBar started as these incredibly popular cafes in Brooklyn, and now they’re poised to take over the energy market. And the brand has this really interesting dual personality going on. Sure, they’re modern, cool, and innovative, yet they also have this fascinating ancient heritage. The matcha ceremony dates back to 13th Century Japan, and was performed both by Samurai warriors and Buddhist monks for focus and energy.
In the interview, Graham goes deep on one of the most innovative launches we’ve seen in a while – “Gift the Hustle,” their partnership with Whole Foods, Facebook Messenger, and celebrity influencers like Diplo and Ansel Elgort that resulted in more than 300 million impressions and countless cans of Hustle gifted.
Graham talks about all this, plus why experiential and guerilla marketing is the heart of their brand strategy.
Links
- MatchaBar
- Connect with Graham on LinkedIn.
Brand Spotlight: Blake’s Seed Based
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Bitsy’s is a brand with a message. Like literally - their newest SKU “Good Cookies Cookies” have inspirational messages printed on the cookie itself.
This week we have Maggie Patton, the co-founder of Bitsy's, to tell us about the evolution of their brand - and how they're building a movement by focusing on the small things.
We caught up with Maggie on the tail end of the Bitsy’s positivity tour. In this interview, Maggie goes to some unexpected places (the living room of an unofficial cookie museum in Philadelphia) and draws inspiration from some unexpected sources (Pat Benatar). But through it all the focus remains on one person - the kid sitting at a lunch table who could use a bit of encouragement, a bit of hope, and maybe just a friend.
Links
- Connect with Maggie on LinkedIn.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
We’ve talked a lot on this show about how your internal culture informs your external product and brand, and that is definitely still true. But this week we look at this dynamic from the other direction - how a customer-centric mindset should influence the way you think about your company’s culture.
This idea has a name - “Employee Experience” - and it’s top-of-mind for CEOs and people-focused leaders at high performing companies.
And sure, it’s a bit of a buzzword, but in a tight candidate market, understanding Employee Experience can have a huge impact on your business.
To help us demystify all things Employee Experience, we have a fantastic interview with Kelly Keegan, the Sr. Director of People at SnackNation.
Kelly has more than a decade of experience supporting and driving the rapid growth of organizations, from start-ups to Fortune 500s.
In this interview, Kelly explains why Employee Experience is such a powerful concept (especially right now) and how it can set your company up for that next big growth stage.
Here’s Kelly Keegan, the Sr. Director of People at SnackNation.
Links
- Connect with Kelly on LinkedIn.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week on Brand Builder we have Barry Turner, the founder of Lenny and Larry’s.
Barry is a bit of a Renaissance man - he's a former competitive bodybuilder and American Gladiator, turned protein cookie pioneer. He helped create the baked nutrition category back in 1993 when he and his then partner asked, “Why can’t we put the protein in this chicken breast… into that muffin?”
Today, the Lenny and Larry’s effect is felt across the natural foods space. Protein-infused snacks are everywhere as consumers are beginning to understand the importance of high-quality protein to their overall health and nutrition.
Barry and the brand's EVP Aaron Croutch joined us in the Brand Builder studio to talk about the origins of the protein cookie, why they never took on debt or raised capital, and their recent push to make Lenny and Larry’s a true consumer brand.
As Barry puts it, it’s just your typical 25-year overnight success story.
What comes to mind when someone says the words "frozen food"?
Probably dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, ice cream, or the long forgotten TV dinner hanging out in the back of your freezer.
And that's the problem. What most people don't know is that freezing food - particularly produce - has a ton of health and nutrition advantages. For example, did you know that blueberries have 200% more vitamin C when frozen versus fresh after 3 days. Or that spinach has 25% more vitamin E after 3 days when its frozen? Bonkers.
Rachel Drori is here to change all that. Rachel is the founder and CEO of Daily Harvest, a company that delivers single-serve cups of frozen ingredients (organic, whole ingredients and superfoods, with no preservatives or added sweeteners) that can be turned into crave-worthy eats in just seconds. She and the team at Daily Harvest are leading a frozen revolution, and making the case that frozen might be the ultimate way to provide convenience without nutritional compromise.
Rachel joins us to talk about her customer-centric brand philosophy, a record setting series B fundraise, and getting people to forget about those dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets.
Links
- Daily Harvest
- Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week on Brand Builder we talk to Lisa Curtis, the founder and CEO of Kuli Kuli, the company that is taking moringa mainstream.
What’s moringa? Only the next great superfood, with a leaf more nutrient-dense than kale.
Kuli Kuli has been featured in more than 350 national publications and around 10 national broadcasts - including MSNBC and Good Morning America - all without hiring a PR firm or writing a single press release.
In this episode, SnackNation CEO Sean Kelly talks to Lisa to learn the DIY tactics they've used to attract serious media attention. Plus there are spirit animals, a Peace Corps mission, a terrorist attack, a raging wildfire - and a truly remarkable brand success story.
The next time an ROI-obsessed executive or board member questions why you're so heavily invested in something “fuzzy” like brand, throw this quote back at them:
"We were able to get to $40M, no marketing spend."
That's Rosie O'Neill, the co-founder and co-CEO of Sugarfina, and our guest on this week’s Brand Builder.
You may have seen Sugarfina at an upscale mall or a Nordstrom near you - they’re a luxury candy boutique for grown-ups that brings a fresh and fashionable approach to confections, and a true disruptor in the $200B confections industry.
In this conversation with SnackNation CEO Sean Kelly, Rosie credits their emotionally resonant brand for helping make them a word-of-mouth sensation. Plus, Rosie explains why Sugarfina is bullish on retail when most companies balk at brick and mortar.
Links
- Sugarfina
- @Sugarfina on Instagram
- Connect with Rosie on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
"Millennials are the modern hippies. They got to Coachella and want the world to be a better place - that was the insight.”
That's Livio Bisterzo, the CEO of Green Park Brands, the brand studio behind the insanely popular puffed snack Hippeas. This week, we talk to Livio about taking a consumer-oriented, Big CPG approach to building startup brands. Plus, he fills us in on the unintended consequences of launching in Starbucks, why he's bullish on billboards, and of course, why he believes Millennials are the hippies of today.
A few years ago, “incubation” wasn’t a term you really heard in CPG at all.
That's definitely changed. Whether it’s Big CPG or a venture capital firm, the big strategics are trying to get closer to that early stage innovation, and incubation is one way to do that. The list of brands finding success within the incubator model seems to be growing exponentially.
But many - if not most - of the food incubators we see today are modeled after something like TechStars: the incubator provides mentorship, funding, a community, all in exchange for an equity stake in the company. Sometimes that’s a great arrangement for founders. But not always. In fact, many of these models are anything but "founder friendly."
Chobani has come around and turned this model on its head.
This week we have Jackie Miller, the former Director of the Chobani Incubator, which is taking a totally a radical approach. They provide a sizeable grant to the brands in their program - with absolutely no strings attached. They provide community, mentorship, all the resources you'd expect and more, but they don’t don’t ask for any equity in return.
How is this possible? It all comes down to Chobani’s values, and founder Hamdi Ulukaya’s belief that doing good is good business.
In this episode, Jackie walks us through the founding of the Chobani Incubator, and explains how your brand can gain acceptance to their highly selective program.
One quick programming note - since recording the podcast, Jackie has moved on from Chobani. While she’s off on another mission-driven adventure, we all agreed that the content is still super relevant and valuable.
Links
- Chobani Incubator
- How to Apply to the Chobani Incubator
- Questions? Email the Chobani Incubator
- Connect with Jackie on LinkedIn
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week on Brand Builder we speak to someone who claims to have discovered the world’s healthiest nut.
And by the looks of it, he’s on to something.
Darin Olien is widely recognized as an authority on plant–based nutrition, supplement formulation, and elite performance programs. He’s also a global superfood hunter, and he and the team at Barukas are on a mission to bring the obscure baru nut to the masses.
A quick look at the numbers and you can see why Darin and the team are bullish on baru. Whether you’re talking calories, protein, antioxidants, fiber, or micronutrients - Barukas leads the pack in the nut category. And there’s the taste - notes of coffee, chocolate, and just buttery, nutty goodness.
The baru nut isn’t cultivated. It grows wild in the Brazilian Cerrado (basically the South American savannah), which makes sustainably sourcing it a big challenge. But it’s a challenge that Darin and the team have taken on with gusto.
So how has the Baru nut, a source of nutrition for indigenous tribes for millennia, remained a secret for so long? And why did it take a global superfood hunter like Darin Olien to begin to bring this to the rest of the planet?
We dig in with Darin to find out.
Links
- Barukas
- Connect with Darin on LinkedIn
- Read Darin's book, Superlife
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
When people in the food industry meet Robyn O’Brien for the first time, they often remark, “Funny, you don’t look like one of them.”
“One of them,” presumably being the stereotypical food or environmental activist.
And in a way, they're right. Robyn is a self-described “conservative Texas mom” raised in a military family, and admittedly, the last person you’d expect to be leading a crusade to reform the food industry. Yet she is at the forefront of a movement to fundamentally rethink what goes into our nation’s food supply.
As a financial analyst in the food industry, Robyn began to undercover undeniable links in the chemical pesticides, GMOs, and antibiotics in our food and troubling health trends like the explosion of childhood food allergies.
Through her writing and her now Famous TEDx Talk, Robyn triggered an allergic reaction in the food industry when she dared to asked: “Are we allergic to food or what’s been done to it?” Today, she is a sought-after advisor and speaker, inspiring organizations and individuals to engage in the “New Food Economy.”
Robyn was a delight to interview, and as usual, the conversation took some unexpected turns. What we found most fascinating was Robyn's insight into her journey from financial analyst to food warrior. Fear, she says, was the one thing holding her back, but how leading with love (something she learned from her mother as a child) has given her the courage and resolve to bring these important issues to light.
Key Takeaways
- Why Robyn is optimistic for the future of the natural foods movement, and why the big food industry players are finally admitting that it isn’t a fad or a trend.
- Why what we feed ourselves and our families directly impacts how we feel, live, and work.
- How a conservative girl from Texas from a military family became a crusader for reforming our food supply.
- How observing the exploding rates of food allergy in children inspired Robyn to dig deep and uncover the untold story of the food industry, and why accepting that this is her purpose has enabled Robyn to let go of the fear that has held her back from making a difference.
- How and why everyone should listen to their heart in order to find their true purpose and be the person that we’re truly meant to be on this planet.
- Why our traits and emotions are like muscles, and why courage is just as easy to exercise as fear.
- The origin behind Robyn’s now famous TEDx Talk, and why she didn’t want to do it at first.
- Why making a difference isn’t about focusing on the naysayers, but being energized by the positive voices you see opportunity in the challenges ahead.
Links
- Field Trip Jerky
- www.RobynObrien.com
- Robyn on LinkedIn
- Robyn on Facebook
- @foodawkenings on Twitter
- Robyn’s TEDx Talk
Recommended Reading
- The Unhealthy Truth by Robyn O’Brien
- The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist and Teresa Baker
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week on the podcast we have Sisun Lee, the CEO and founder of Morning Recovery.
Using functional ingredients that have been widely used by South Korean revelers for years, Morning Recovery takes the sting out of a night of heavy drinking so that you can do more the next day. The product launched on Indiegogo and immediately resonated with consumers, hitting 1000% of its crowdfunding goal and selling more than a million dollars in the first three months.
And that’s not all. While the company is barely a year old, Sisun and the team have accomplished the following:
- 1.5 million bottles shipped worldwide, and built a $33 million dollar brand
- Announced $250K research fund with USC School of Pharmacy
- Grew from a team of 1 to 18
The path to Morning Recovery was anything but straight for Sisun, who began his career as a software engineer at places like Tesla, Uber, and Facebook. Sisun tells us how he ended up the savior of countless partiers across the world, while interviewer (and SnackNation CEO) Sean Kelly teases out the lessons learned along the way.
Links
- Morning Recovery
- Connect with Sisun on LinkedIn
- How Morning Recovery built a $33 Million brand in less than a year.
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com. Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
“Waste isn’t waste until you waste it.”
Our guest this week claims to have discovered the most sustainable superfood on earth - and it’s something that most manufacturers were simply throwing away.
This week we have an in-depth conversation with Kaitlin Mogentale (MOJ-en-tail), founder and CEO of Pulp Pantry.
Pulp Pantry make innovative, totally delicious snacks out of pulp - a byproduct from commercial juiceries that usually just gets thrown in landfills. They’re creating a healthy, delicious, sustainable product that’s helping solve some of our most pressing healthy and environmental challenges.
And if that were all that the brand was about, that would still be pretty cool. But there’s so much more.
This was an awesome conversation and great story full of challenges and valuable lessons. We go over everything from what it’s like to bootstrap a business, why Pulp Pantry chose to work with a food accelerator, and the values that drive the brand.
At the heart of it all is this idea of Food Justice, something that Katilin studied as a Environmental Studies major at USC. It’s a driving force behind both the product development and the brand messages.
Links
- Comparably
- USC Environmental Studies Program
- Connect with Kaitlin on LinkedIn
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com. Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
For our 50th episode, we have a classic conversation with Jason Nazar, an incredibly accomplished entrepreneur and Culture Builder extraordinaire.
Jason is the founder and former CEO of DocStoc (which was acquired by Intuit), and he’s also a board member and advisor for some impressive companies. We're talking Wondery, The Bouqs, and StackCommerce to name but a few. Today Jason is the co-founder and CEO at Comparably, a company culture data platform.
Suffice to say, Jason has a ton of first-hand knowledge about building teams from the ground up, and he shares that in this long form interview with SnackNation CEO Sean Kelly. Jason also describes his first foray into entrepreneurship at age seven, explains why he did a 180 on the importance of culture, and reveals the three hiring rules that helped him build teams that win championships.
Links
- Comparably
- Jason’s writing on Forbes.com
- Jason’s writing on WSJ.com
- @JasonNazar on Twitter
- Jason Nazar on LinkedIn
Recommended Reading
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
- People Over Profit by Dale Partridge
- Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh
- Talent is Overratedby Geoff Colvin
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com. Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Functional ingredients seem to be all the rage. But what’s behind the functional ingredients craze in CPG these days?
To find out, we spoke to two companies and three entrepreneurs who are leading the functional ingredient revolution - MCT Co.’s Matthew Trimner and NeuroGum’s Ryan Chen and Kent Yoshimura.
I turns out, functional products are all about aspiration - consumers are increasingly looking for products that aren’t just clean, convenient, and taste amazing, but that make their lives better in a demonstrable way. They want products that move them a little bit closer to that ideal version of themselves.
A tall order for sure. To find out how to pull this off, we spoke to two companies and three entrepreneurs who are leading the charge.
Here are our main takeaways from this episode:
- Aspiration drives everything. It’s all about what consumers want to do, and who they want to become. The ingredient is really just a means to move the consumer closer to that aspiration.
- Think of the product as a delivery system. The product is a means to deliver the ingredient - but also has to conform to the context of the use case - and has to be clean and taste great. (That’s a tricky needle to thread.)
- Brand ties everything together. The brand delivers these messages. It helps create the community that communicate and amplify the aspirations.
Links
- NeuroGum
- MCT Co.
- Connect with Ryan and Kent on LinkedIn
- Connect with Matthew on LinkedIn
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
This week we’ve got Zak Normandin, the Co Founder & CEO of Dirty Lemon Beverages
Dirty Lemon make functional beverages designed to help you get better sleep, elevate your metabolism, or just look your best.
Zak and the team have created a red-hot brand that’s been a hit with consumers. But as we learn in this interview, there’s so much more to it than that.
Dirty Lemon is the first consumer brand in the world to offer products exclusively via text message.
We’re back with another “Culture Builder” edition of the podcast, where we focus on how to build great teams and become the leader your brand needs to reach that next level.
Our guest this week is Dr. John Izzo, author of six bestselling books, most recently releasing The Purpose Revolution, a manual to show leaders and companies how to transform their corporate culture so they can succeed in the midst of this Purpose Revolution.
Dr. Izzo has been a pioneer in creating thriving businesses for over twenty years, focused on the topics of employee engagement and social responsibility. He’s spoken to over one million people, advised over 500 companies and helped some of the world’s most admired companies.
We jump right into a conversation around the journey of humanity, exploring how humans can step into their highest possibilities. What does this look like? Izzo calls out three major shifts: our relationship to the planet, our relationship to each other and lastly to the economy.
Doing good is good business and is more fulfilling for leaders and employees. Citing a Harvard study, Izzo explains that when asked if activating purpose and social good within their company would make a big difference, 85% of CEOs said yes.
Expanding, he calls out that customers only rate 6% of brands as acting on purpose. This is a major opportunity for brands to increase customer attitudes and gain a competitive edge.
In this episode, learn how to embed purpose and social good in your company and ignite a revolution.
Books
- The Purpose Revolution
- The Five Thieves of Happiness
- Stepping Up: How Taking Responsibility Changes Everything
- The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die
- Values Shift: Recruiting and Engaging the Multigenerational Workforce
- Second Innocence: Rediscovering Joy and Wonder: A Guide to Renewal in Work, Relationships, and Daily Life
- Awakening Corporate Soul: Four Paths to Unleash the Power of People at Work
Links
- Dr. John Izzo
- Amy Wrzesniewski, Yale School of Management
- A Walk by Rainer Maria Rilke
What does it take to bring a totally new product to the US market? How do you go about sourcing the highest quality option for a single-ingredient product? How do you bring an ancient Indian practice to the US CPG industry?
Even after just a couple months to market, Priyal Bhartia and Nadine Habayeb of Bohana have answered these questions with their newly launched snack: popped water lily seeds.
Yes, that’s a thing - and we’ll tell all about how this dynamic duo is bringing this functional and delicious Indian ingredient to The States.
Bohana as a brand has a lot of depth to it… it’s built around Ayurvedic principles and their core value of “free spirit snacking.”
Priyal and Nadine talk about all this and share some great lessons learned, including why they had to develop their own supply chain from scratch.
Priyal fell in love with popped water lily seeds as a kid, recounting that she and her family used to eat them all the time as a staple in the Indian diet, and one of the only sanctioned foods that can be eaten during fasts. Years later, she shared some with her friend Nadine and they both knew they were onto something.
During Nadine’s last couple of months in graduate school, the two tested the market by sharing water lily seeds with friends and classmates.
After 6 months of market validation, the two began the process of building their brand, starting with the sourcing of the seeds. After finding that the supply chain was hugely disorganized, they decided to cut out the middleman and go straight to the farmers, developing relationships that allowed them to source high-quality product, have confidence in their ability to scale and give more of the profits back to the farmers.
After bringing the ingredient back to the US for production and perfecting the finished product, they worked to develop a brand that embodied their core value of “free spirit snacking.”
Priyal and Nadine join us this week and take us along their journey to market through an 18 month R&D phase.
Links
- Bohana
- @BohanaLife on Instagram
- Connect with Priyal and Nadine on LinkedIn
Can you turn a commodity into a brand? How do you take something familiar, and build a story around it? How do you make something old new again?
Karma Nuts is doing exactly that. Founder and CEO Ganesh Nair has brought innovation and brand building to the common cashew.
The innovation is so simple, it’s genius. Karma Nuts are wrapped, meaning they are presented with the skin on, which increases the flavor and provides as much antioxidants as blueberries and other superfoods.
We’ve seen this sort of innovation happen a few times with almonds, and to a lesser extent macadamia nuts, but never before in cashews, despite their popularity as a stand alone snack.
Why has this been so difficult? Part of the reason is the supply chain. Unlike many other popular nuts, cashews aren’t grown in the U.S. - or even in the West for that matter. Virtually all of the cashew production takes place in the developing world, especially in India. Most of these are small, family run farms, and the supply chain is a collection of these smaller growers. The cashew industry lacks the monolithic, industrialized agribusinesses who are responsible for so much of the nut production - and brand and product creation - in the States.
It helps that Ganesh is also the CEO of Wenders Food and Western India Cashew Co, an 85 year old family-owned business.
Ganesh joined us this week to help us understand the ins and outs of this challenge, as well as talk to us about competitive moats, optimism, and why how much feedback you need before you can really invest in a brand building exercise like this.
I think it’s fair to say that many entrepreneurs (or their investors) have an exit in mind as they're building their brand. It’s a familiar trope - work like crazy for a few years, build some buzz and some momentum, and eventually a bigger fish is bound to snatch you up.
Of course, the reality of the experience is usually much different.
We wanted to know - why do companies consider mergers and acquisitions? How do you court a buyer? How do you reach a deal, and maybe more importantly, what happens next? Is it a matter of handing off the reigns to your new strategic partners, or is it something else? How do you merge your team?
To answer these questions, we’ve got Aihui Ong, the founder of EdgiLife and now the SVP of data and insights at SnackNation. This week on Brand Builder we bring you under the hood, going in depth on SnackNation’s recent acquisition of EdgiLife and their marquee brand Love With Food. She tells us why she founded Love With Food, why she decided to merge with SnackNation, and what it’s like to integrate her team into a brand new (albeit aligned) company culture.
We also speak to Aihui about data and insights, and how the best brands leverage data throughout their life cycle to get a step ahead of the competition.
Links
- SnackNation Acquires Love With Food (official press release)
- More on the Love With Food / EdgiLife acquisition
- Connect with Aihui on LinkedIn
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com. Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
To follow up our conversation with KNOW Foods co-CEO Yemeni Mesa, we're replaying this classic culture-focused interview with Tom Bilyeu.
Tom is the co-founder of Quest Nutrition and now leads Impact Theory, a first-of-its-kind company designed to facilitate global change through the incubation of mission-based businesses and the cultivation of empowering content. Their mission? To “free people from The Matrix,” which he explains in this interview.
A logo that you designed yourself on a cross country flight. Packaging you slapped together in powerpoint minutes before the first production run. A brand name that you landed on because, well, the URL was available.
In the startup world, there’s no shortage of accidentally, stumbled upon, or just plain DIY brands. But why have an accidental brand when you can have a strategic one? A well-thought out brand might just be the one thing holding you back from your next big growth phase.
This week on brand builder we talk about the rebrand, and how refreshing your brand can position you for massive growth.
To help us out we enlisted two people who have been there before - Amir Haque and Alysse Burroni.
Amir is a 16-year vet of the advertising business, and a partner at Mistress, an internationally awarded, full-service creative agency based in Santa Monica. Mistress has done work for tons of brands, including Coca-Cola, Sambazon, Campbell’s, American Apparel, and more.
Alysse - aka ABB - is the Director of Brand Marketing at SnackNation. She’s worked for famed branding house Ogilvy & Mather, and now leads brand marketing efforts in-house at SnackNation as the company looks towards the next phase of its growth.
These two branding experts got together to break down the elements of brand, and explained exactly how a strategic rebrand can position you for success, using the recent SnackNation rebrand as a case study.
Here’s a cheat sheet of some of the concepts Amir and Alysse cover in this episode.
The Rebrand Process
(1) Buy-in:
A critical first step is to make sure internal stakeholders understand and are invested in a rebrand or brand-refresh.
Why is it important? For starters, going with a branding agency can get expensive, and strict ROI is hard to track.
The key is painting a vivid picture not of what the brand will be, but of what the brand will do - that might be retaining customers (and increasing revenue), communicating your value proposition more efficiently (and increasing sales), or attracting the talent you need to grow.
(2) Strategy:
This is where the work truly begins. Now is the time for stakeholder interviews, customer research, customer avatar creation, and coming up with your "beacon brands." The brand architectures comes together during this phase.
(3) Creative:
Now the task is translating the ideas from the strategy phase into creative assets - logos, colors, aesthetics, packaging, etc. You really need expertise here, and that’s where a good agency becomes invaluable.
Speaking of brand architecture, there are several misnomers when it comes down to the taxonomy of branding. Amir did a great job clarifying.
Brand Architecture
- Brand Vision - what’s the big picture vision for the customer? For the world?
- Mission - how do we actually make this vision real?
- Positioning - how do you articulate the benefit to the consumer in a competitive context?
- Message - what are we actually saying to the consumer? What is the language, tone, and tenor?
This week on Brand Builder, we have someone with hands-on brand building expertise. In fact, she’s helping build the next generation of enduring brands.
We’re talking to Jordan Gaspar, one half of the duo behind AccelFoods.
Jordan is a Managing Partner at AccelFoods, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in consumer products. She and partner Lauren Jupiter co-founded the firm in 2014 with the goal of offering entrepreneurs a unique perspective and approachable capital.
AccelFoods’ value can really be summed in three words - access, expertise, and infrastructure. They pride themselves in their hands-on approach, and their portfolio includes some top tier brands you’ve definitely heard of (and probably have eaten).
Today the fund manages $40M and 33 portfolio companies - and they’re always looking to grow.
One of the reasons she relates so much to startup brands? She and Lauren started AccelFoods as a startup.
She tells that story in this interview - but that's really just scratching the surface of what Jordan brought to the table. She also broke down exactly how she and her firm select the brands they work with, and ultimately provide enduring value.
Jump to
- Jordan and the AccelFoods story 2:30
- How a venture fund like AccelFoods works. 13:40
- Advice for emerging brands. 18:03
- Advanced tactics in the age of retail disruption. 20:24
- The AccelFoods Legacy. 29:11
Links
- AccelFoods
- Connect with Jordan on LinkedIn
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Tara Bosch is a woman on a mission to kick sugar.
In service of that mission, she and her team at SmartSweets make low sugar, non-chocolate confections... and really nothing else. The thinking is, if you can offer something that tastes like regular candy without all the sugar, you can break the cycle of sugar addiction that adversely affects so many people’s diet - and overall health.
It all started with a heart-to-heart conversation between Tara and her grandmother. After years of enjoying sweets together, Tara was surprised to hear her grandmother say that consuming too much sugar was a major regret in her life, as it had taken a toll on her and her family's health.
Whereas most people might have taken this information and perhaps changed their diet, this conversation sent Tara down a path of entrepreneurship. A week later she had a gummy candy mold, a candy thermometer, and was recipe testing in her kitchen. Her goal was nothing short of building the leading low-sugar confectionary brand on the planet.
Oh, and by the way... she was still in college at this point.
It's been a remarkable journey. We caught up with the young founder just as she and the team closed a $3 million funding round and announced nationwide distribution at Whole Foods.
Jump to
- SmartSweets origin story. 3:15
- Early challenges scaling the brand. 7:19
- Tara on finding mentors. 9:43
- Tara's experience launching in a tech incubator. 12:51
- SmartSweets' Critical first hires. 17:35
- Tara on the speed with which SmartSweets launched. 21:35
- How Tara maintains her mindset. 23:53
Links
- SmartSweets
- Connect with Tara on LinkedIn
- Invoke Labs (Tara's incubator)
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
We’re currently experiencing a golden age for startup brands. It’s easier today to launch, build, and scale a consumer brand than perhaps any other time in history.
But that’s not to say it’s easy.
Startup brands still face obstacles, old and new, including how to stand out from the glut of new brands, how to adapt to the constantly shifting landscape of retail, and how to best leverage the wide array of data and tools now available at their fingertips.
Luckily for us, Courtney Reum is here to answer those questions.
Courtney and his brother Carter are the co-founders of M13, a brand development and investment company that accelerates businesses at the nexus of consumer products, technology, and media.
I.e., Courtney is perfect for Brand Builder.
With brands like Lyft, Pinterest, Snapchat, Chomps, and Sambazon, M13’s portfolio is downright impressive.
Courtney and Carter recently compiled their brand building expertise in a best-selling book called Shortcut Your Startup, and he shared a few of these top tips in this week’s episode.
Prior to M13, Courtney’s main focus was building VEEV, the first acai infused vodka in the world and one of the fastest growing spirits in the US. Not surprisingly, VEEV was snatched up and acquired in 2016.
Courtney gives a glimpse into the book with of his shortcuts -
- Role of brand in frictionless scaling. 11:55
- How to make sure you don't miss out on a key insight. 17:45
- Why it's important to know whether your brand is a “speedboat” or a “sailboat.” 22:45
- The power of “heart-based” momentum. 24:47
- Why success doesn’t necessarily equate to an exit. 26:09
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
When you think about distribution channels in the natural products space, you probably think of Whole Foods, Wegman's, Kroger, maybe UNFI. I'm guessing your brain doesn't automatically go to 7-Eleven.
But, with 63,000 stores worldwide, maybe it should.
This week we bring you a fireside chat with Marisa Bertha, the Director of Business Development at 7-Ventures, who shares how brands can work with and big successful in the convenience giant's stores.
Jump to:
- A brief summary of 7-Eleven’s 90 year history. 3:20
- The top misconceptions about the convenience channel. 4:55
- How brands find success in the C-store space. 6:40
- How 7-Ventures evaluates brands for their portfolio. 11:03
- How brands become successful within 7-Eleven. 15:35
Links:
- 7-Ventures
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Daniel Katz might have the ultimate entrepreneur story.
Sleeping under a desk? Check. Half a million dollar mistakes? Check. Breeding reptiles and flipping houses in high school? Also check.
Daniel is the founder of No Cow, makers of non-dairy, low sugar, high protein snacks that people just love. You can tell Daniel loves the grind, and he's most comfortable when he's doing everything himself. But with success comes growth and change. These days Daniel has a small but dedicated team, a CEO to run the day-to-day, and strategic partners in 301 Inc. and 2x Partners.
Ultimately, great products solve problems, and Daniel has built a successful business by focusing on the right problems, the right distribution channels, and by treating consumers like an extension of his team.
Takeaways:
- How to hack your company’s growth. Daniel shares the surprising strategy he used to scale his company without investing really any money marketing.
- How to make the leap from product to brand. Daniel is taking No Cow and converting it from a bar to more of a platform. He tells us why and more importantly how.
- How to build a stellar team. At a certain point, rise and grind just isn’t enough. Daniel’s at a point where the team around him makes a huge difference. He tells us how he built it up, and how to approach conversations with the people who will become your board.
Jump to:
- The Now Cow origin story. 3:30
- How No Cow scaled with no marketing budget. 9:40
- Why and how Daniel and team are converting the No Cow bar into a brand platform. 15:15
- Daniel on the No Cow logo mark. 17:40
- Why Daniel slept under his desk for the first two years of No Cow - and why he wants to move back in. 19:20
- How Daniel made 500k in packaging errors in one year. 21:48
- Why Daniel reached out to partners. 22:38
Links:
- No Cow
- Daniel on LinkedIn
- 301 Inc.
- 2X Partners
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Didn’t make it to Expo West this year? Or maybe you attended, but were overwhelmed by all the new brands and products you saw? Perhaps you hit up too many happy hours and… need a refresher?
Either way, Brand Builder has your back.
We wrap up our Expo West coverage with our favorite brands, products, and trends from this year’s Expo - we talk cauliflower, grain-free chips and puffs, pili nuts, fruit and vegetable jerkies, maca, and more. Featuring SnackNation's George Youmans and Clara Kim.
Brands mentioned:
- Jackson’s Honest
- From the Ground Up
- Pan’s Mushroom Jerky
- Siete Foods
- Peato’s
- Kitchun
- Pure Tradition (pili nuts)
- Mama Chia
- Zele
- I’m Different
- Bubba's
- Nothing But the Fruit
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Welcome to our first ever Battle of the Brands.
We spoke to 10 interesting emerging brands on the Hot Products floor of Expo West, and asked them to tell us their unique brand story - what inspired their product? What problem are they solving? What are they all about?
10 Brands, 10 stories, but there can only be one.
The winner of the Battle of the Brands gets a full length Brand Builder episode. And it’s all up to you.
Just let us know which story you liked the best. Post it on social media using the hashtag #brandbuilderbattle. Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram - use the hashtag and we’ll see it.
The Brands
- Wilde Chicken Chips
- Health Lab Beauty Balls
- Bubba’s Fine Foods
- Laiki
- I’m different
- Nothing But the Fruit
- Chomps
- Little Secrets
- Magic Dates
- Ketosweets
#brandbuilderbattle
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
The Super Bowl of Snacks. CPG Christmas. Whatever you call it, it’s one of the most anticipated trade shows of the year. This is where deals are made, where dreams come true, where fortunes rise and fall.
And it’s only a few days away.
Yes, this week we’re going deep on The Natural Products Expo West (known by pretty much everyone as “Expo West”).
In this episode, we go over everything from how to tweak your elevator pitch, to how make yourself memorable, to the real value of the show.
We start with this question - today is Monday. Expo starts Thursday. What should brands be doing right now to make the most of their Expo experience?
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
There was a certain point in the early days of LivBar where most people probably would have given up.
Despite a product that people really loved and some encouraging momentum, the future of LivBar seemed to be in jeopardy. Their "big break" with a major grocery chain had just fallen through, and the company's co-founders had lost their passion for the business and were looking for the exit
But for co-owner and soon-to-be CEO Jayson Selander, quitting was not an option.
"I didn't have a choice," he recalls. "There was nothing inside of me that was telling me to stop."
This week, Brand Builder sits down with Jayson, a tenacious entrepreneur and a fascinating interview. He's a CEO who loves strategy, but doesn't consider himself a "planner." He's a passionate entrepreneur, but inherited a business with legacy brand and core values. Through it all, his tenacity, his knack for solving the problem in front of him, and his designer's eye have helped elevate the LivBar brand and deliver great tasting bars to thousands of happy consumers.
Takeaways
- Jayson has a background in graphic design, and as an entrepreneur, it’s been a huge asset. We talk about what it means to have a designer’s mindset, and how it can help you lead your company.
- With Expo West coming up, it’s a great time to ask - are those big trade shows worth the expense? Jayson thinks so, hear why in this interview.
- Finally, what do you do when that Big Break doesn’t pan out? Jayson went through this. Hear how LivBar recovered and what he learned from the experience.
Jump to
- The LivBar origin story. 3:42
- How Jayson's experience as a designer has elevated the LivBar brand. 6:20
- How LivBar comes up with their unique flavor profiles. 8:36
- How to bounce back when your "big break" falls through. 11:08
- Why so much of the LivBar experience feels hand made. 13:56
- Why Jayson loves Expo West. 19:50
- Jayson's final advice for entrepreneurs. 21:37
Links
- LivBar
- Connect with Jayson on LinkedIn
- 26 and 2, LivBar's onsite yoga studio
- Salt and Straw
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Evan Delahanty is not a foodie.
Yes, the man who founded Peaceful Fruits, a company that makes honest, whole fruit snacks ... was not all that into food at first.
So how did he end up at the helm of a company that's changing the fruit snack game?
It's all about connecting people and markets to the Amazon. Evan spent 27 months as a community economic development specialist in Pikin Slee, a remote village of Suriname accessible only by canoe. Giving back to this amazing place has become Evan's life's work.
Takeaways
- How do you know which ideas you should commit to, and which you should leave for someone else? Evan share his framework for evaluating these.
- We’ve heard a few times on this show that emerging brands should run with as lean a team as possible. This makes every hiring decision critical. Evan shares one question that will tell you whether or not an applicant has what it takes to join your squad.
- Kickstarter is actually a great way to help launch a CPG brand. But what are best practices? Evan shares his experience and top tips.
Links
- Peaceful Fruits
- Connect with Evan on LinkedIn
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Some people follow their dreams in a figurative sense. And then there's JJ Rademaekers.
JJ is the founder and CEO of JJ's Sweets. Their signature candy is an award-winning, coconut milk caramels called Cocomels, and the idea for Cocomels came to JJ in a dream.
For this special episode of Brand Builder, we sent our intrepid field reporter Travis Miller to Boulder, CO, to see where JJ launched JJ's sweets, and to learn how JJ went from scientist, to musician, to candy maker, and finally to candy business-maker.
Takeaways
- Don't cut those corners. JJ shares with us a few lessons he learned the hard way.
- Build the right team for your growth stage. JJ explains why he's built a hybrid team, when to make that first critical hire, and how he iterates his team as the business scales.
- Get your product out there. The proverbial (coconut) cream rises to the top. Share your product with taste makers for some earned media magic.
Jump to
- JJ describes the dream that inspired Cocomels. 2:35
- Some of the early failures JJ encountered while managing his own candy production. 6:29
- Tips for rebranding. 8:27
- How Cocomels ended up in Oprah magazine. 11:34
- JJ’s newest creation, and the process he took to develop and launch the product. 13:13
- Why networking is so crucial to building out your business. 14:41
- Tips for maximizing your experience at trade shows. 18:56
- How to build your team to your growth stage, and how to adapt as your business scales. 22:50
- How to keep the big picture in view. 26:05
Links
- Cocomels
- Connect with JJ on LinkedIn
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Missed Fancy Food Show this year? Well we've got you covered. This week we talk to our resident brand partnership experts Allison Schmidt and Taylor Clute, who are fresh from the floor of the 2018 Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco.
In this episode, Allison and Taylor tell us their favorite products and brands from this year's show, explain how brands can cut through the noise on a crowded trade show floor, and share why attendees should treat trade shows like Coachella if they want to survive.
Here are some of the top brands we saw at this year's Fancy Food Show in San Francisco:
- Edoughble
- Zee Zee’s nutrition bars
- Miracle noodles
- Hakuna Banana
- Gluten Free Bar
- Moon Bark
- Dang Foods
- Belgian Boys
- Don Bugito
- Field Trip
Top trends:
- Edible cookie dough
- Savory chocolate
- Keto-friendly everything
- Sugar alcohol as a sweetener
- Grain free granola
- Ancient grains
- Carb-less noodles (seriously!)
Want to get in touch with Taylor or Allison? Contact them directly - allisons@snacknation.com or taylorc@snacknation.com.
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Want to be more confident in your decision making, build a better team, and realize your potential, both as a business leader and as a human being? Well, this episode makes a strong case that you should cancel that professional coaching session and head straight for the Amazon rainforest.
We’re joined this week by Tyler Gage, the founder and CEO of RUNA and the author of Fully Alive: Using the Lessons of the Amazon to Live Your Mission in Business & Life.
RUNA is an Amazonian beverage company that creates livelihoods for indigenous farmers in Ecuador. Their brand of tea bags and bottled beverages are made from guayusa tea, a native Amazonian tree leaf with more caffeine and double the antioxidants of any tea.
One of the most fascinating things about Tyler is that he’s been able to connect two worlds that, on the surface, appear to have nothing in common - Shamanic principles from the indigenous peoples of the Amazon region and our modern world of high growth startup brands.
Tyler’s story is a fascinating one, and in this conversation he demonstrates how the lessons of the Amazon have helped him build an incredible brand and become a more fully realized version of himself.
Takeaways:
- What can the indigenous peoples of the Amazon rainforest teach us about business? A lot more than you probably think. Tyler shares the Shamanic principles he’s applied growing RUNA.
- What’s the most important skill for on the fly decision making? Tyler tells us what it is and how to hone it.
- Finally, Tyler tells us why getting lost is sometimes the key to finding your path - in business, and in life.
Jump to:
- The RUNA origin story, which involves a depressed collegiate athlete, Shamans, and a rare leaf found deep in the Amazon rainforest. 4:45
- The power of intuition, and how you can hone it to make better decisions at your business. 11:45
- How short term goals can help early stage brands find their footing. 12:34
- How to build a better team, and how to build a board of advisors. 19:03
- Why being lost in life is actually a privilege. 28:36
Links
- RUNA
- TylerGage.com
- Tyler’s book, Fully Alive
- Connect with Tyler on LinkedIn
- Email Tyler
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
The Consumer Packaged Goods space is 3.5 times the size of Tech, but you'd never know it based on how much attention Tech companies receive compared to CPG brands.
Part of the reason has to do with efficiency, and the relative ease with which tech startups can access capital - and make splashy headlines as they take on funding or make big exits.
Compared to Tech, CPG just isn't efficient. Right now, the best way to learn about new opportunities - both for investors and brands - is to attend a few gigantic, hectic trade shows each year.
Ryan Caldbeck is here to change all of that.
Ryan is the founder and CEO of CircleUp, an investment platform that provides capital and resources to innovative, early-stage consumer brands. They've developed game-changing machine learning technology called Helio that continuously analyzes 1.2M CPG companies to help connect investors with brands and brands with resources.
In this episode, Ryan tells us why he founded CircleUp, why he's so bullish on data, and why right now is the best time to be an entrepreneur.
He also shares a DIY data hack that any brand - regardless of resources - can deploy to help make smarter decisions and iterate their products at the speed of the market.
Takeaways:
- We know data is king - but what if you’re a young brand that can’t afford the money, or time, to invest in it? Ryan presents an ingenious DIY data hack.
- What’s the #1 metric that investors and retailers care about? Ryan lives and breathes data, and tells us the right KPI to focus on.
- How do you optimize sampling for maximum insights? Not all sampling is equally effective - Ryan tells you what you need to know.
Jump to
- Ryan describes the journey to find his purpose and the origins of CircleUp. 4:40
- A great breakdown of CircleUp's mission and the Helio technology platform that powers much of what they do. 9:19
- The DIY data hack that all emerging brands should use to make decisions and iterate their product. 15:10
- Why you should think twice about sampling at that big music festival. 22:00
- The most important KPI for emerging brands. 23:20
- Why right now is the best time to be an entrepreneur. 24:33
Links
- CircleUp
- The Up Round (CircleUp's blog)
- Ryan's blog on Helio
- Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
When we last left Project 7 founder Tyler Merrick, a few missteps and some bad luck had put Project 7 in a bad spot. As in, “this might kill the business” bad spot.
Rather than give up, Tyler asked himself, "If we were to take one more shot at it, what would that look like?"
The rest is CPG history. Tyler killed all product categories except one, and doubled down on an old strategy from his days in pet food.
And it paid off. Tyler and Project 7 disrupted a declining category and pulled of the impossible, becoming the top selling gum at major retailers like Target. Most importantly, Tyler and his team have been able to make a huge impact in the 7 areas of need that inspired Project 7 in the first place.
Takeaways & Recap:
- If you really want to make a difference, lead with product and brand. It doesn’t matter how great your cause marketing is or how charitable your customer. At the end of the day, features and benefits drive consumer behavior. You need a thriving business before you can give back.
- Hire smart. Not sure whether or not make that next hire? Only pull the trigger if you’re confident the revenue they bring in will be 2.5x their salary.
- Let your sales numbers tell a story. Start with the buyers who are on board with your concept in order to provide proof of concept - show some momentum and you'll have a nice little velocity story to bring to the more skeptical buyers.
- Practice Radical Responsibility. Tyler had to make some hard choices, and he maintained his credibility as a leader by shouldering some of the blame.
- Innovate inside the box. You can diversify your product line without adding too much risk by innovating within limitations.
Jump to
- The strategy that would bring Project 7 back from the brink, and disrupt the gum industry in the process. 2:18
- How Tyler and the team went about the business of repairing relationships and getting back on shelves. 7:15
- How Tyler deployed "Inside the Box Innovation"to jump to the top of their category and diversify their offering. 13:30
- Finally, Tyler returns to the mission and purpose that inspired Project 7 in the process. 22:21
Links
- Project 7
- Connect with Tyler on LinkedIn
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Tyler Merrick's world changed when he heard the following two words for the first time:
"Social entrepreneur."
Up to that point, Tyler had created a veritable pet food empire, providing dog and cat owners with gourmet, out-of-the-box food and treat combinations. But while the business was undoubtedly successful, it was anything but fulfilling for Tyler.
Then came a fateful conversation with a fellow socially-minded business owner, who opened his eyes to the concept of social entrepreneurship.
Tyler took the conversation to heart. He sold the pet food business not long after and launched Project 7, a gourmet specialty candy brand dedicated to creating one of a kind customer experiences while giving back to 7 areas of need. Basically, Project 7 comes up with totally out there flavors - like birthday cake flavored gum or moscow mule flavored organic gummies - and then partner with non profits who are making an impact both in America and abroad.
In part one of this two part episode, we embark on a journey of transformation with Tyler, and learn from his early mistakes building a consumer brand centered around doing good.
Takeaways
- In social entrepreneurship, is your cause a lead actor or part of the supporting cast? Project 7 was founded on Tyler’s desire to bring more purpose to his life’s work. Finding the right way to position the causes he cared about involved a giant learning curve. Tyler shares how he found the balance that would allow the causes to shine and the business to flourish.
- Stay lean. Think your business can’t reach the next level without hiring a bunch of CPG heavy hitters? Well, Tyler and Project 7 expanded to 12,000 stores with fewer than 10 full time employees. He shares a very specific tactic for figuring out whether or not you really need to make that next hire.
- How to bounce back. One of the most interesting parts of Project 7’s success story… is that it could have easily ended. Tyler answers the question - how do you recover from the brink of failure?
Jump to
- The origins of Project 7, and why Tyler felt the need to transition out of the pet food game and launch a CPG brand. 5:19
- The right way to do cause marketing. 17:50
- Tyler's specific tip for knowing whether or not to make that next hire at your company. 24:55
- The SNAFU that almost sunk Project 7. 30:00
Links
- Project 7
- Connect with Tyler on LinkedIn
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Human beings are hardwired for stories.
Storytelling opens up neural pathways in the brain that excite us, make us feel, and help us retain information. In fact, people are 22 times more likely to remember information that’s presented as a story rather than merely factually.
It’s why crafting a compelling brand story can be so powerful. When done right, your brand’s story engages your most important customers emotionally, developing invaluable brand loyalty and trust in the process.
Of course, it’s a lot easier said than done. So many brands think they can slap some contrived, half-baked story on their website and call it a day, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Telling your brand’s story is an ongoing, always evolving project, one that extends to branding, packaging, and even customer experience.
In this episode, we learn more about these ideas from one of the best - SnackNation SVP of Customer Strategy Chelsie Rae Lee.
Chelsie breaks down the ins and outs of crafting your own compelling brand story, as well as the opportunities most brands miss when it comes to communicating this story to their most important customers and prospects.
Jump to
- Chelsie tells us her life’s purpose and how it relates to brand story and customer strategy. 2:20
- What we mean by brand story and how it can drive outcomes for your business. 3:15
- The secret sauce for creating a compelling brand story. 4:40
- How internal culture and values can automatically build your brand story for you. 7:15
- How to differentiate your brand’s story and cut through the sea of similar narratives. 8:50
- How building on a simple message keeps you from alienating your most important consumers. 11:15
- One tip to create (and scale) exceptional customer experiences. 16:50
Links
- The art of the TED talk
- The Most Astounding Fact, with Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Uncommon Service by Francis Frei
- Warby Parker
- Little Secrets
- "If I Should Have a Daughter" TED Talk
- Connect with Chelsie on LinkedIn
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Why is Nestle reportedly selling off their candy business? Why does “big” seem synonymous with “bad,” while artisanal is king these days? And why does every big food corporation seem to have a Silicon Valley-style venture capital arm?
The short answer:
Because this is CPG, where the C stands for consumer, and consumer trends dictate everything.
Staying ahead of consumer trends might be the difference between your brand truly taking off, and your brand being left behind by the next big thing in CPG. But distinguishing between a true trend and a passing fad isn’t always easy.
In this episode, you’ll learn all about how to do exactly that thanks to the trendiest person we know - Alysse Burroni, SnackNation’s Sr. Manager of Brand Experience.
Alysse takes us through the forces that are shaping consumer behaviors, and tells us exactly how to stay one step ahead of the market.
Jump to
- Alysse takes us through the evolution of the consumer values that adrive consumer behavior. 4:00
- Alysse breaks down the current trends in CPG for 2018 and beyond. 7:22
- Alysse provides a super useful tactic for keeping up with the latest trends in your space. 22:00.
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Content marketing can be a game changer for brands. It accomplishes so many things in one fell swoop - builds awareness, fosters goodwill and trust, and forges an emotional bond that makes your brand irresistible to consumers.
But the things that make content marketing so valuable are also the things that make it so difficult. Content marketing is an authentic, sustained conversation with consumers. It’s not a campaign - and it’s definitely not a transaction. It’s a relationship, and it takes years.
This week, we have content marketing master John Hardesty to show us the way. John is the CMO of Nutrabolt, the makers of mega-hit protein bar FitJoy.
In our opinion, John deserves an honorary doctorate in content marketing. He honed his skill at places like Quiksilver, as the head of his own marketing agency, and as a top content strategist at Bodybuilding.com, a content juggernaut that attracts millions of unique visitors to its site every month with - you guessed it - high quality content.
In this episode, John reveals how to approach content in a way that resonates with your target consumer and inspires them to fall in love with your brand.
Takeaways
- Start with why. Simon Sinek said it best. Understanding why you do what you do is fundamental to brand marketing. John breaks down how to do it.
- Content is King. John explains both why content marketing can be so effective, and how to do it right.
- Ultimately, tasting is believing. In CPG nothing beats getting your product in the hands of real consumers. John helps us make the connection between marketing and trial.
Jump to
- John describes his journey to Nutrabolt, which includes a foray into entrepreneurship and formative years at Bodybuilding.com. 3:31
- Why John needed to join Nutrabolt and launch FitJoy. 8:49
- How to do content marketing right, and how it can work in CPG. 11:23
- The story behind the FitJoy name. 15:47
- John’s biggest challenges, and his proudest achievement at FitJoy. 17:52
Links
- FitJoy
- John on Linkedin
- Bodybuilding.com
- Simon Sinek
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
“Ideas are ideas, and without great people they never come to life.”
Translation: if you want your brand to take off, you better surround yourself with the right people.
And we can’t think of anyone more qualified to tell us how to attract those people than Josh Wand, a 20 year veteran of CPG and the founder and CEO of ForceBrands.
ForceBrands builds the teams that build the best brands in CPG (and just so happen to co-present this show with SnackNation). Josh and his amazing team came to the Brand Builder studios, and we got him to discuss the origins of ForceBrands, his philosophy on business and leadership, and of course his particular area of expertise - building teams that build amazing brands.
In this episode, you’ll learn the following three takeaways:
- Find your magic. Josh believes helping teams “find their magic” is really what his job is all about. He tells us what that means and how he does it.
- Flip the script. Josh describes a simple mindset shift leaders can use to make sure their teams feel valued - which is super important.
- Don’t recruit, build a community. A lot of people see hiring as a transaction, but not Josh. He explain why the secret to building winning teams is to create a community.
Jump to:
- The ForceBrands origin story. 4:05
- The importance of the relationship between founders, plus a story about how Josh's business partner saved the company on Josh's wedding day. 8:17
- What it was like launching a recruiting business during the Great Recession. 9:30
- Why your employee experience determines your customer experience. 13:05
- Why Josh launched Piñata, a technology platform that matches amazing freelancers with brands. 20:12
- Josh’s final piece of advice for entrepreneurs and brands. 24:02
Links
- ForceBrands
- Josh on LinkedIn
- Piñata
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
When you look at Mark Rampolla’s resume, he almost seems like he might secretly be The Most Interesting Man in the World.
Here’s a partial list of the jobs Mark has held: Landscaper. Dishwasher. Peace Corp Volunteer. President of International Paper (a multinational corporation). CEO of Beanfields (aka, Chief Bean Fiend). Partner at Powerplant Ventures (a venture capital fund that invests in sustainable, plant-based businesses). Author of the book High Hanging Fruit.
But he’s probably best known as the guy who started ZICO coconut water.
Yep, he and his team essentially created an $8 billion beverage category - and believe it or not, the inspiration ties back to his days in the Peace Corps. We picked Mark’s brain on building a CPG brand to exit, what it’s like to go from entrepreneur to VC, and a whole lot more.
Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode.
- Presence = performance. According to Mark, when you make an effort to live in the moment and enjoy the journey, a funny thing happens. You enjoy life more - and you’re better at whatever you’re doing.
- Realize that “you’ve already won.” Mark tells us his lowest moment while building ZICO (he almost lost his house), and reveals how this piece of advice helped him dig himself out and get back on top.
- It pays to go after the “High Hanging Fruit.” It’s not just the title of Mark’s book. Going for the High Hanging Fruit means seeing beyond your limitations and striving for something greater. When you do that, magical things can happen.
Jump to:
- Mark’s background, including why he joined the Peace Corps. 4:50
- Mark explains why he moved to El Salvador to run a division of International Paper. 9:09
- Mark tells the ZICO origin story. 12:35
- Mark describe his lowest moment in the early days of ZICO, and how he overcame it. 17:30
- Marks breaks down how he evaluates businesses that he invests in. 23:50
Check out Mark’s book, High Hanging Fruit.
Links
- PowerPlant Ventures
- Beanfields
- ZICO
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Food, family, and love.
For the folks at Skinny Dipped, these three things are hard to separate.
For one thing, it's because co-founders Val and Breezy Griffith are family - mother and daughter to be exact.
Another reason - this epic food brand was launched as a way to bring the Griffith family closer together after they experienced an intense personal tragedy.
The Seattle based company make irresistible dark chocolate covered almonds that are both healthy and indulgent. Their products contain way less sugar, more fiber and protein than traditional chocolate covered nuts - plus no artificial ingredients or GMOs. And while Val (the mom) thought maybe they'd sell these almonds at a few farmer's markets, CEO Breezy (the daughter) had much bigger ambitions.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Time doesn’t heal all wounds - ACTION does. Big challenges are inevitable as you build your brand - and they won’t solve themselves. Don’t sit and ponder, attack your problems and find a way forward.
- Products are discovered, but brands are built. Val and Breezy describe an “instinctive” recognition of a great product offering. On the flipside, they remind us that brand building is a thoughtful, deliberate exercise.
- Don’t run from difficult conversations, embrace them. Even if you aren’t in business with your mom (or daughter), running a business can tax even the best relationships. Don’t run away from difficult conversations - have them now or they’ll cause much bigger problems down the road.
Jump to
- How a personal tragedy inspired Val and Breezy to launch their company. 5:29
- The challenges of working together while being mother and daugter. 10:10
- Breezy describes a potentially fatal challenge that almost sunk the business - and how they overcame it. 15:11
- The duo on the Skinny Dipped brand overhaul. 18:50
Links
- Skinny Dipped
- @GetSkinnyDipped on Twitter
- @GetSkinnyDipped on Instagram
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
If there’s one constant in CPG, it’s change. Startup CPG brands have to constantly adapt to changing taste preferences, changing retail trends, and changing norms around supply chain and ingredients.
Change is also ingrained in the entrepreneurial experience. It’s sort of the entrepreneur’s way - deploy a minimum viable product, test it in the market, iterate until you see real traction. In this model, change is inevitable, and the plan you start with is rarely the plan you end up with.
So it's fitting that 301 Inc. - an “emerging brand elevator” that helps startup CPG brands optimize for growth - underwent it's own strategic pivot a few years after launching in 2012.
In this episode we talk to John Haugen, the VP and General Manager of 301 Inc. 301 is a VC arm within General Mills, providing direct investment, strategic counsel, and the resources and expertise that only a company like General Mills can provide.
We spoke with John to learn how 301 have made themselves an indispensable partner for growth.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Capital and capabilities. When working with an investor or accelerator, the money is important, but the other value-adds can be make a much bigger difference.
- Make sure you’ve got something special. We get caught up in the importance of branding (this is Brand Builder, after all), but you must have a compelling product offering. The former can’t exist without the latter.
- Avoid the paralysis of perfection. John explains why the entrepreneurs’ willingness to make mistakes is her competitive advantage. Don’t strive for perfect execution all the time.
Jump to
- How John landed at General Mills, and why he thinks of himself as a "realistic optimist." 4:33
- How 301 pivoted to their current model. 10:25
- The biggest advantage that startups have over big conglomerates. 12:05
- Why now is the best time to be an early stage entrepreneur. 17:03
- John weighs in on the age-old brand/product debate. 19:40
- Why the 301 Inc. story ultimately won't be told by John and his team. 25:31
Links
- 301 Inc.
- John Haugen on LinkedIn
- D’s Naturals (No Cow)
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is presented by SnackNation.
Serial entrepreneur Jim Simon knows a thing or two about launching successful brands. He's a veteran of Web 1.0 and has started or run six companies, mostly in tech. But ironically, he didn't recognize one of his biggest opportunities the first time out.
That opportunity? His namesake clean bar brand, JiMMYBAR!
A bout of pneumonia and several allergies inspired Jim to create a healthier bar that wasn't full of the usual garbage. The bars were a hit locally, but it took a fellow entrepreneur to say, "Hey, you should really pursue this bar thing," for Jim to see the potential.
Jim and team haven't looked back since. JiMMYBAR! has built a loyal following by focusing on alternative channels like hospitals, sports stadiums, museums, military bases, and college campuses - especially colleges. According to their site, they're available at nearly 400 colleges across the U.S. and counting.
Today, the Chicago-based bar brand has an ever-expanding footprint, and are putting their products in the hands of health- and taste-conscious consumers across the U.S. (and beyond). The company strives to be the "Ben and Jerry's of bars" - a purpose-driven, personality-infused brand that's fun and stands for something.
How are they doing it? We got the inside scoop from Jim himself.
In this episode, you will learn the following takeaways:
- Your Founder IS Your Brand. People want to buy from a person, not a corporation. DON’T be another boring brand.
- Diversify your distribution. Jim explains why their multi-channel approach has proven a key to their success.
- Pound the Pavement. According to Jim, investing in salespeople over brokers will always result in higher ROI. He tells us why.
Jump to
- JiMMYBARs are born. 3:14
- Some candid feedback from a woman in Whole Foods proves to be highly influential on the JiMMYBAR! strategy. 7:33
- Why "educating the consumer" can be a misguided approach. 10:47
- Jim breaks down the sales approach that has been so effective for JiMMYBAR!, and why alternative channels are their bread and butter. 12:39
- Why your founder is your brand, and why you CAN'T be just another boring brand. 14:53
- Jim on the challenges of scaling, and why access to alternative sources of cash is a must. 17:48
- How to know when it's time to bring on some CPG veterans. 20:30
Links
- Jim Simon on LinkedIn
- JiMMY Bars
- @JiMMYBars on Twitter
- @JiMMYBars on Instagram
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is presented by SnackNation.
Vincent Kitirattragarn wasn't trying to start a company. He was just trying to find a traditional ingredient to make one of Mama Dang's delicious Thai recipes.
But, as so often happens, fate intervened, and a brand new snack category - and company - was born.
Dang.
Of course, creating a new category is always a challenge. You have to come up with something brand new that still feels familiar. But by all measures, Dang has done it. The Berkeley based company make whole food, Asian inspired snacks that people just can't get enough of.
And while they started with coconut chips, today they’re a platform for all sorts of better for you, dang delicious snacks, including onion chips and their new sticky rice chips. We talked to Vincent to learn how he and his team did it.
In this episode, you will learn the following takeaways:
- You’re unique - embrace it. Vincent definitely didn’t grow up in the food biz, but he brought skills that served him well in his previous career, which turned out to be a major advantage.
- Data. Data. Data. Vincent doesn’t like to sell. He lets the data tell the story - and do the selling for him.
- Educate the retailer before the consumer. With an innovative product, it’s tempting to go straight for the consumer, but it’s so important to start with retailers. Otherwise, you’ll never get the chance to make your case to the consumer.
Jump to
- The Dang origin story. 3:10
- How Vincent's science and engineering background helped the Dang team grow their brand. 7:30
- The challenges of creating a new category, and how to do something new that's still familiar. 9:58
- Why you should over invest in data, and the specific metrics you can use to level up your business. 13:47
- Why finding - and leveraging - your unique ability is critical to a new brand's success. 16:42
- Why Dang went through a Dang refresh. 19:40
- Why sustainability is a hallmark of the Dang Foods brand. 21:30
Links
- Dang Foods
- Vincent on LinkedIn
- @DangFoods on Twitter
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is presented by SnackNation.
It was a once in a lifetime break.
Just four months into launching their business, a chance encounter and a random act of kindness helped land Pipsnacks a coveted spot in Oprah’s “Favorite Things” episode. This meant massive exposure and the halo effect that only comes from the one and only Lady O.
But elation quickly turned to devastation during the first airing. Within five seconds of their logo flashing on the screen, the influx of traffic crashed the company’s home made site.
Pipsnacks are best known as the makers of Pipcorn, the delicious, artisanal mini popcorn that not only tastes great, but that's easier on the stomach and teeth thanks to a more delicate hull.
On this week’s Brand Builder, we are fortunate to have all three of Pipsnacks’ founders - siblings Jeff and Jen Martin and Jeff’s wife Teresa - to tell the incredible Pipsnacks story, including how they landed on Oprah’s radar, and how they went about assembling a brand and a culture that could weather all the ups and downs of CPG entrepreneurship.
In this episode, you will learn the following takeaways:
- Kindness really does count. While most brands would spend their time hunting for ways to get on TV with the biggest stars, Pipcorn found its way onto the main stage...through an everyday act of kindness.
- Power of brand. How did this brand make popcorn one of the trendiest snacks in the industry? Hint - it's all about brand.
- Tell the right story. Good storytelling should be a part of every single interaction, whether that’s approaching a potential distribution partner, an investor, or even just a vendor you want to work with.
Jump to
- How Jeff and Jen Martin discovered Pipsnacks' signature product - Pipcorn. 3:00
- The moment Jen, Jeff, and Theresa decided to get serious and go into business together. 4:30
- How the Pipsnacks team knew they were on to something big. 5:07
- The dynamic of the Pipsnacks team, and how the family feel comes through in their brand. 6:35
- How Pipcorn ended up being one of Oprah’s favorite things. 9:40
- How the team dealt with their site crashing during their big moment. 12:06
- Pipsnacks on the power of their brand values. 15:08
Links
- Pipsnacks
- Pipsnacks' new Bigs and Littles products
- Jeff on LinkedIn
- Jen on LinkedIn
- Teresa on LinkedIn
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is presented by SnackNation.
They’re the bar brand everyone is talking about.
RXBAR make whole food, minimally processed protein bars that taste great and are made with only a handful of ingredients. Their bars are also famous for emphasizing what’s NOT in them - No Dairy. No Soy. No Gluten. No B.S. And they are killing it.
Less than five years after launching the brand from their kitchen, founders Peter Rahal and Jared Smith recently announced a $600 million acquisition by Kellogg.
How’d they do it? We’ve got co-founder and CEO Peter Rahal to clue us in.
In this episode you’ll learn the following three takeaways:
- Prove your concept. The RX story isn’t about accepting a huge sum of money, like the headlines might imply. It’s about NOT taking money. It’s about going out there and selling bars. Peter explains this mindset and how it’s shaped his outlook.
- Look inward to find your brand identity. Peter and the RX team intentionally didn’t look at the marketplace for inspiration for the brand and product. He explains why they did that and how that became their big advantage.
- Simple sells. This is a brand that made their ingredient list their marketing campaign. We’ll hear from Peter about the thought process behind that decision.
Jump to
- Peter tells us how his dyslexia shaped his personality, and how the dyslexic mind can be an advantage in business. 3:50
- Peter describes the early days hatching the RX brand - and making hundreds of RXBARS in his parents’ kitchen with co-founder Jared Smith. 6:50
- Peter tells a great story about the moment he and Jared knew they had a hit on their hands. 8:30
- Peter explains why he didn’t raise money until he could prove there was a demand for his product. 9:55
- Peter tells us what it’s like building a business with his childhood best friend. 12:33
- Peter describes the history of RXBAR’s simple packaging, and the thinking behind the simplicity of their brand. 14:28
- Peter tells us why you shouldn’t look to the market for inspiration, and why he’s ultimately in the people business. 16:30
Links
- RXBar https://www.rxbar.com/
- RX on instagram https://www.instagram.com/rxbar/
- RX on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RXBAR/
- Peter on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-rahal-037bba43/
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is presented by SnackNation.
If you want to understand Deep River Snacks, look no further than their infamous tagline -
“Because we give a chip.”
The company makes small-batch, non GMO kettle chips, popcorn, and tortilla chips, but their mission is so much bigger than that. It's about using their amazingly successful, irresistible product as a platform for good.
It’s why they feature a different charity on every single variety of Deep River snacks. And not just any cause will do. They feature causes that they have a personal connection to. Whether it's breast cancer, Crohn's disease, or liver disease, these are issues that the people behind Deep River and those closest to them face every single day.
It's also why they've turned down some major distribution opportunities. If it doesn't feel right and isn't consistent with their mission, Jim and the Deep River crew just can't put their name on it (and vice versa).
That being said, the brand is about to embark on something entirely new (and a little scary for Jim) - opening up the conversation to their consumers by letting them decide which charity will appear on Deep River's new Black Truffle flavored kettle chips.
We got the scoop on what “Giving a Chip” is all about from founder and CEO Jim Goldberg in this moving episode of Brand Builder. In its essence, it means caring about the people in your life, and doing something to make an impact.
Jim says it best:
“That’s what give a chip means - we do what we do because it’s the right thing to do. Period.”
In this conversation, you'll learn the following takeaways:
- Be a fierce brand protector. Jim explains why authenticity is everything in CPG, and how to keep your brand identity true to you.
- Never Lose the Bootstrap. Highly leveraged brands that shouldn’t fail often do - and it’s because they forget what it feels like to be bootstrapped. Jim tells us how he’s kept the bootstrap mindset at Deep River, even as they’ve taken on investors.
- Culture = Brand. Culture is never really internal. Who you hire and how treat your employees has a direct effect on the brand you put out in the world.
Jump to
- The Deep River origin story. 3:08
- Jim shares a moving story about the power of the "Give a Chip" tagline. 5:27
- Jim explains what the tagline means and why it's central to the brand. 8:06
- Jim tells us what he learned from working in Big Food, and how that impacted the culture at Deep River. 9:05
- Jim breaks down the difference between the Deep River brand and their product. 13:30
- Jim tells us why he and the team are allowing the fans to choose the next charity that will appear on the Deep River bag, and he why loves the idea even though it makes him a little nervous. 16:06
- Jim explains why Deep River will never lose the bootstrap mindset. 18:23
Links
- Deep River
- Deep River’s Put a Cause on it Campaign
- Deep River’s Honchos
- Jim Goldberg on LinkedIn
- @deepriversnacks on Twitter
- @deepriversnacks on Instagram
- Deep River Snacks on Facebook
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is presented by SnackNation.
NOTE: we'll be releasing "snack sized" bonus episodes like this every Thursday during our launch, and new full length episodes every Monday.
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Let's say you're an up-and-coming brand with a slick e-commerce store and a little bit of buzz. Maybe you were just featured in an influential newsletter or appeared in a high profile publication.
In fact, you're kind of a big deal.
Your analytics tell you that tons of people are visiting your Website each day, but the majority just aren't buying anything.
What gives?
Turns out this scenario is all too common, and there's a simple tactic you can use to convert more of your site's traffic into paying customers.
In this "snack sized" bonus episode, SnackNation Marketing Director Emil Shour shares the single best tactic for optimizing your Website traffic. Take his advice, and you'll be seeing fewer bounces and more sweet, sweet $$$$.
Emil also proves to us that he is definitely NOT a marketing robot.
Jump to
- Emil breaks down the best tactic for maximizing your website traffic. 2:40
- Emil tells us the best platform to try it out. 4:40
- Emil shares best practices for the ad copy you'll need for this trick. 5:40
- Finally, Emil tells us the right metrics to track and measure success with this tactic. 6:32
Additional Resources
- DigitalMarketer.com
- Backlinko
- Connect with Emil on LinkedIn. (He's relatively friendly.)
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is presented by SnackNation.
In 2010, Tom Donigan and his friends Scott Fiesinger and Matt Levey launched a jerky brand on a modest $11,250 seed investment, and didn’t take on any additional money for an entire year. Today that brand - Field Trip - can be found in more than 30,000 retail locations, and last year closed a six-figure funding round.
How’d they do it? That’s what this episode of Brand Builder is all about.
In our debut episode, Tom tells Brand Builder co-hosts Jordan Cohen and Jeff Murphy how the Brooklyn-based company elevated a gas station staple and created a company that fuels adventures for thousands of people every day. In this episode you’ll learn:
- How Field Trip landed their first big distribution partnership with JetBlue airlines. Tom calls it their “first big win.” Six years later, the partnership is as strong as ever.
- How (and why) Tom and his cofounders launched their company with just $11k in seed money. Tom also breaks down the plan they came up with to make that initial investment last for the entire first year of the business.
- Why Field Trip recently refreshed their brand aesthetic. Tom tells us how the team knew it was time for a refresh, and how they pulled it off.
Jump to
- The Field Trip origin story. 3:06
- Tom breaks down the difference between brand and product, and why it’s so important to develop both. 6:13
- How Field Trip landed their first major distribution partnership, and how partnerships can help amplify your brand message. 8:23
- Tom explains that how you experience Field Trip is just as important as the product itself. 12:45
- How Field Trip was able to go an entire year on just $11k seed investment, and why they eventually decided to raise some big time capital. 14:10
- Tom discusses the thinking behind Field Trip’s recent brand refresh. 17:40
Links
- FieldTripJerky.com
- @fieldtripjerky on Instagram
- Field Trip on Faceboook
- Tom on LinkedIn
- Arcteryx
- Topo bags
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is presented by SnackNation.
Brand Builder brings you the people, stories, and lessons learned from the the most innovative brands in the world.
In this introductory episode, co-hosts Jordan Cohen and Jeff Murphy break down what the show is all about, share their favorite brands and top business book recommendations, and amuse themselves with the magic of podcast editing...
Brand Builder is presented by SnackNation.
For episode show notes and additional content, visit www.snacknation.com/brandbuilder
Contact Brand Builder - brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Similar to How I Built This with Guy Raz, Marketing Secrets with Russell Brunson, and Weird Work by HubSpot.