How to Stress-Test Your Brand Strategy with Michael Keplinger

On the show, we have David Czinn, co-founder and president of D'Vash. If you’re not already familiar, D’Vash’s makes a line of all-natural sweeteners which are derived from superfoods, like dates and sweet potatoes, (think “syrups" and "nectars”, except with 25% less sugar than regular honey).  While the idea of using dates to create a sweetener is pretty new in the US, date syrup has been around for a long time – as in, dating back to the biblical era. During a trip in the Middle East, David and his best friend, Brian, tried date syrup for the first time and became obsessed. Realizing there was nothing like it sold in the US, David and Brian soon partnered up, founding what would become D'Vash. In just a couple years, D'Vash went from two friends selling their Original Date Syrup at Farmers Markets, to now, where they're sold in over 5000 stores, and have a growing product line. On today’s episode, David takes us through how he and his partner scaled the business up, from developing the product, to shifting to a co-packer, to landing the golden ticket of their first Walmart PO. Obviously things have been going pretty well for D'Vash, but there were certainly bug learnings in the process, which David shares in today’s episode. Whether you’re thinking of starting your own food company, in the midst of scaling, or are trying to gain more market share, David’s interview will  leave you with plenty of savvy marketing ideas applicable at almost any size company.    David's Recommended Reads: Scaling Up by Verne Harnish Learn More About D’Vash at: @dvashorganics on Instagram dvashorganics.com Food Marketing Nerds is a production of Blue Bear Creative, the Social Media Agency for CPG and Restaurants.

On the show today, we have Chas Littlefield, VP of Marketing for one of the largest spirit brands in the world: Jägermeister. As a heavy hitter in the industry, Jägermeister is recognized across the globe, in just about every country. New product launches aside, brand awareness isn’t necessarily the main challenge at Jäger’s scale. the question instead becomes “how do you influence the way consumers think or feel about a brand they already  know,” or at least think they know. In our conversation, Chas and I discuss some of Jäger's recent campaigns and innovations, all of which bring different use cases of the product to the forefront. Jäger’s marketing team has done a great job highlighting the unique strengths of their product by identifying and leaning into how consumers are actually behaving. We discuss the campaigns from insight to execution, how they’ve adapted the ideas to a changing wine and spirits landscape, and plenty of the learnings in between. It’s not everyday you get to learn from a marketing legend, discussing one of the most recognizable brands in the world. Joining us out of New York, we're excited to welcome Chas Littlefield. Recommended Reads Your Marketing Sucks   Learn More About Jägermeister: Jägermeister.com @jagermeister on Instagram

Joining us on this episode, we have Michael Keplinger, Director of Strategy at Smashbrand. Even if you’re not familiar with Michael’s agency, you’ve certainly seen their branding and packaging work on shelves, both at grocery stores or even in your own home. Smashbrand uses a research-forward process to stress-test brand strategy and packaging design, which helps them better understand what sways consumers in a given purchase decision. Smashbrand works with brands like Kool-Aid, Yucatan Guacamole, 7-Eleven Private Label, Duracell, and even PayPal. While their brand work reaches beyond the food and beverage space, make no mistake, these people are absolutely food marketing experts.  In this episode, you’ll learn how Smashbrand uncovers the hidden insights that validate or nullify ideas around what influences purchase decisions.  If you’re in the strategy or consumer research side of marketing, I think you’ll find this conversation to be especially useful.  Learn more here: Smashbrand For full interview transcripts and other valuable resources, check out FoodMarketingNerds.com. Food Marketing Nerds is a production of Blue Bear Creative, the Social Media Agency for CPG and Restaurants.

On the show today, we have Fred Hart, partner and creative director at Interact. Fred is a Food Marketing Nerds regular - he’s been on the podcast a handful of times, and he always brings new knowledge and a fresh perspective – which is why we keep inviting him back on.  Interact, is a world class branding and packaging design firm that specializes in CPG. They recently launched a really informative series called SprintToSuccess, which explains the branding and packaging design process. The content dives into the research, strategy, and creative work that goes into identifying and capitalizing on the white space in a given category.  In today’s episode, Fred talks us through the process of developing a winning brand strategy, and applying it through all facets of the brand. While Interact specializes in CPG, and the deliverable of the process we discuss is ultimately new packaging design, the knowledge  Fred shares around brand strategy and how to apply it in the real world is universal across a spectrum of different industries within food & beverage.  Whether or not you have a rebrand in the pipeline, there are plenty of valuable takeaways in this episode for all of you brand marketers out there.  Additional Resources: Interact Boulder Sprint to Success Content Series SuperFrau For full interview transcripts and other valuable resources, check out FoodMarketingNerds.com. Food Marketing Nerds is a production of Blue Bear Creative, the Social Media Agency for CPG and Restaurants.

We have an awesome interview lined up for you. Hayley Raymond, Associate Director of Brand Marketing at HelloFresh, joining us out of Brooklyn for today’s episode. HelloFresh has grown into the leader in the meal kit space, and as a direct to consumer company, they’ve built their portfolio of brands largely through performance marketing.  While branding and performance marketing have traditionally been somewhat at odds with one another, a big part of Hayley’s role is to break down silos and make sure HelloFresh is building brand equity at every stage of their marketing funnel. In this episode, we talk through How to quantify the results of difficult to measure top of funnel efforts Why a “brand sandbox” has replaced the standard brand book at HelloFresh How to merge dynamic creative with continuity through your customer touchpoints And plenty more.  A lot of times, branding and performance marketing are discussed as two completely separate schools of thought, but Hayley connects the dots of that right and left brain thinking in a really elegant and original way, that I think you’ll find very refreshing.  So without further adieu… 

On the podcast today, we have Michael Sloan, CEO of Chloe’s Fruit. If you’re not familiar with the company, you are seriously missing out. Chloe’s makes several different varieties of clean ingredients, frozen treats that I can say from personal experience, are incredibly delicious and very quality.  Whether you’re a rising startup or the industry leader, product quality is critical to long term success. But, as you likely know as a listener of this podcast, there’s so much more than goes into which challengers become and remain household names, and which ones become statistics.  In most David and Goliath scenario’s, Goliath often wins. But in this episode, Michael tells us the story of how Chloe’s mission to create more accessible better for you options, not to mention a lot of savvy tactics met with great execution, has taken the company from a single shop in New York to the freezer aisle of over 10,000 stores across the country. We get into a lot of things... Pricing strategy when your ingredients are more expensive How licensing deals can help create opportunities for more distribution How to innovate your way to more shelf space… ...and so much more.  Michael is an amazing thought leader, and you’re going to come away from this episode with a lot of new thinking around non-traditional ways to build your company through the rapid changes in the food and bev industry.  Recommended Reads: Trillion Dollar Coach @ChloesFruit on Instagram

Luke Lahman, who is a long-time friend of mine and repeat guest on Food Marketing Nerds joins us on the show today out of Scottsdale, AZ. Luke is the Business Development Manager at E. & J. Gallo, the largest winery in the United States. Luke joined us back in Season 1 to discuss in-store marketing, which I’d strongly recommend if you’re interested in learning more about merchandising and influencing purchase decisions at the POS. It was one of our most downloaded episodes of last season, so we invited Luke back on to talk to us through the impact COVID-19 has had on the wine and spirits industry.  If you’re not already familiar, E & J Gallo is a winery and distributor; they have a ton of household names in their portfolio and, fun fact, they’re also the largest exporter of California wines. By the nature of Luke’s role, he has a great pulse on consumer behavior around wine and spirits, and he’s tapped into what’s selling at both a category and brand level. We’ll be covering all of that in this episode, along with a few of Luke’s thoughts around how you can adapt your in-store marketing to the current state of socially distanced store layouts. For full interview transcripts, visit FoodMarketingNerds.com. Food Marketing Nerds is a production of Blue Bear Creative, the Social Media Agency for CPG and Restaurants.

We’re chatting with Margaret Fortner, Head of Growth at the digitally savvy Hydration mix company, Hydrant. The company has thrived as a direct to consumer brand; so much so, they’ve recently expanded into the retail space. Hydrant is as data-driven as companies come, which has helped them dominate the world of e-commerce.  As Head of Growth, a big part of Margaret’s role is to help make sense of the company’s sales and marketing data, making sure important learnings are taken into account throughout her team’s ongoing efforts. Looking at their digital advertising, Hydrant may have 50 or more different ads running at any given moment, testing and uncovering what levers deliver the highest ROI. And in this episode, you’ll learn: How to adapt the creative review process for rapid iteration What incentives convert interested leads into buying customers Why you need to update your approach to split testing And plenty more.  Just a friendly heads up, in a couple of sections of the conversation, we get a little more into the weeds of data analysis than usual, but those parts are relatively short. If that’s not your thing, bear with us, because there’s plenty of practical insights around performance marketing applicable to all food and beverage brands with a growing digital presence, D to C or otherwise. So without further adieu! Recommended Reads & Other Resources: HotJar Tableau Leadership Lessons from Sports Learn More About Hydrant on: Facebook Instagram For full interview transcripts, visit FoodMarketingNerds.com. Food Marketing Nerds is a production of Blue Bear Creative, the Social Media Agency for CPG and Restaurants.

We’re chatting with David Klavsons, CEO of King Juice / Calypso. By volume, Calypso is the leader in bottled lemonade, and while the product has always been amazing, the company’s growth was a little stagnant. That is, until David entered the picture. Since assuming the role of CEO, David has staged a massive turnaround, helping Calypso in all areas from marketing and branding to sales and distribution. In his words, Calypso has focused on mastering the basics, and that approach is paying dividends. David has extensive CPG experience, having worked at Pepsi, Kraft, and Frito Lay - helping companies thrive in the industry is basically second nature for him. Thankfully, he was happy to dumb things down to help me understand. While this specific conversation focuses a lot on bottle beverages specifically, a lot of the topics would be make perfect chapters in a “Winning in CPG for dummies” book. In this episode, you’ll learn  What hires are most crucial for breaking through a plateau Why you shouldn’t write off a smaller social media following What metrics matter in leading a company turnaround Why fact-based selling is crucial to successful product sell-through And plenty more. David is awesome, and I know you’re about to learn a ton from his interview. Learn more about Calypso: On Facebook On Instagram

On the show today, we’re jumping into some do’s and don’ts of social media video. With how aggressively social platforms change and release new features, we brought on Matt Oesterle, manager of video production at our own Blue Bear Creative, to talk through the latest best practices relevant to food marketing in 2020. If you’re looking to up your content game on social, this episode offers plenty of practical insights on how to set your videos up for success. Let’s get after it.