Stay ConnectedBrand Builder brings you the people, stories, and lessons learned from the most innovative brands in the world. Presented by SnackNation. Hosted by Sean Kelly, Jordan Cohen, and Jeff Murphy.
Similar to How I Built This, The Dave Ramsey Show, and Seeking Wisdom by Drift.
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.
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Peter Rahal
Stan Graham
Dana Mangaliman
Jason Primrose
Ryan Williams
The Sleep Doctor, Michael Breus, PhD
Jordan 'Jet' Temkin
Summer Rona
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
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