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.
There are certain guests for whom there's just no denying - this person is a bonafide Brand Builder.
But Gigi Lee Chang, she's something else. When you look at her body of work thus far, she's not just a Brand Builder, she's more like a Brand Renaissance Woman.
Don't believe us? Just look at what Gigi Lee has done thus far in her career:
By the way, that was after she was already a successful marketing and advertising exec.
This week, Gigi Lee joins SnackNation CEO Sean Kelly to discuss this remarkable trajectory, and to share her lessons learned along the way. The pair discuss the packaging innovation that helped make Plum Organics a hit, the BFY model and why it's important to fuel growth without dilution, and the somewhat unexpected mindset you need to position your company for an exit.
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
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.
This week's guest is someone who - it might be argued - represents the very embodiment of success.
We're talking about Scott Painter, probably best known as the founder and CEO of both True Car and Cars Direct. He's made a name for himself by launching and leading disruptive companies that anticipate consumer behavior and capture huge markets.
But as is usually the case, its' rarely ever that simple. In this fireside chat with SnackNation CEO Sean Kelly, Scott reveals that while he has climbed to the heights of success multiple times… he's also lost it all just as many times. We mean really lost it all. As in lost his home, lost relationships, you name it.
Scott's newest venture is Fair.com, an innovative app that offers an alternative to traditional car ownership, and that lets you shop, get approved and pay for your next car — all on your phone.
This time out, Scott isn't creating a hard charging team full of "brilliant jerks" (his words). The brand is all about fairness, and that requires a culture to match.
Scott discusses how to make fairness a cornerstone of your culture - and how doing so helped him raise a billion (with a B!) dollars.
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Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
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
Our guests this week are Eugene Kang and Mathew Thalakotur, the CEO and Marketing Director at Country Archer Jerky Co.
Under their leadership, the brand has seen exponential growth, doubling sales each year for four years, and landing in more than 16k stores.
Eugene and Mathew joined us in studio to talk about the origins (and accidental rediscovery) of Country Archer, the challenges and advantages of reinvigorating a heritage brand, hiring, and the right way to launch your next product.
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 back with another culture-focused episode. This time we bring you a conversation with Honest Company co-founder and CPO (that's Chief Purpose Officer) Christopher Gavigan.
Believe it or not, Christopher doesn't run a CPG brand.
That's because the energetic co-founder considers Honest – the makers of beautifully designed, environmentally friendly, and unquestionably safe household products for parents and kids – to be a "portfolio of trust" rather than a typical consumer goods label.
Nomenclature aside, there's no denying that the company has experienced an astounding trajectory.
Christopher and partners Jessica Alba and Brian Lee launched the company in in 2011 with just 17 products that were all geared toward the young mother. Today, the company sells more than 100 products covering all aspects of the home – all of which are free from toxic ingredients and harsh chemicals.
Meanwhile, the company grew from three employees to more than 500 in less than four years. Christopher talked to us about what this rocket ship ride has been like, and how they've managed to scale so quickly without compromising their culture or core values.
Note - this interview was conducted by SnackNation CEO Sean Kelly and originally aired in 2015.
Key Takeaways
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Recommended Reading
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 on Brand Builder we've got Christy Krejci, the co-founder and CEO of Vegetarian Traveler.
In many ways, the Vegetarian Traveler origin story is a classic entrepreneurial tale. Christy and her husband/co-founder Chuck had been committed vegetarians for many years, and had always wanted an easy way to add plant-based protein to their meals. After waiting for someone else to solve this problem, they realized they had to do it themselves. Luckily for all of us, Vegetarian Traveler was born.
Today their toasted bean blends are selling out online, at grocery and specialty stores, and alternative health channels.
Vegetarian Traveler is one of several brands in recent years that have found success by focusing on features and benefits. And while the initial application is very niche, they've found that their shelf stable, non-gmo packs of plant protein have broad appeal.
In this episode, Christy reveals the uncommon ways they turn customer insights into sales, and why the key to their brand's success has been a passion for compassion.
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
No compromise.
Those two words sum up the Chomps brand better than any other.
Chomps make uber convenient, incredibly delicious meat snacks using 100% grass-fed beef. Their snacks contain no preservatives, no sugar and are certified Paleo, Non-GMO, and Whole30 approved.
Their committed to these standards hasn't been without its share of obstacles. Like, how do you manufacture a consistent product while steering clear of all preservatives? Turns out, you manually inspects every single stick that bears the Chomps brand - we're talking millions every month.
But Chomps' no compromise ethos has clearly struck a cord. The company has been profitable since day one, and seen year-over-year revenue growth between double and 10x every year since their 2011 launch.
What's more astounding, Chomps co-founder and CEO Peter Maldonado was the company's sole full time employee for the first five years of the brand's existence.
We learned all this and more from Peter and fellow co-founder and COO Rashid Ali. In this conversation, Pete and Rashid tell the story of the brands origins in the crossfit world, break down the success of their ecomm-first approach, and tell us why their core values are sacrosanct.
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Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Have you ever worked in a fear-based environment? One where you spend every waking minute walking on eggshells? Where the wrath of a demanding boss is always top of mind, stifling creativity and innovation?
If you have, you know it's not fun.
In fact, it can be downright miserable for employees. And, ironically, it doesn't produce great results either. The effect of a command-and-control atmosphere is actually the exact opposite of what was probably intended. Instead of precise, high quality output, you're much more likely to see uninspired, unimaginative work - and an anemic bottom line to match.
So what's the antidote to a fear-based workplace?
Today's guest has something to say about that.
In our inaugural Culture Builder edition of Brand Builder, we speak to Traci Fenton, a globally recognized researcher, speaker, author, and the founder and CEO of WorldBlu.
Traci founded WorldBlu in 1997 and has helped spark and lead the global conversation around reinventing workplaces using freedom and organizational democracy rather than fear and control. She and the team envision one billion people living, leading, and working in freedom worldwide.
SnackNation CEO Sean Kelly spoke with Traci about what it takes to create a Freedom Centered Workplace, and the astounding results you can achieve within the WorldBlu framework.
Links
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
Industry buzz is super important, especially for early stage brands looking to attract investors, recruit talent, or just make connections.
But how do you do that? How do you get the who's who of your industry talking about, well, YOU?
Yes, you need a story to tell, but you also need someone whose plugged in, and has a platform of influence.
In CPG, there are a few people as plugged in as John Craven.
John is the CEO and founder of BevNet, Project Nosh, and Brewbound. What started as a way to get free drinks in college has snowballed into three must-read blogs, several can't-miss events, and even a podcast (love those).
To find out the secret to working with the likes of John, SnackNation CEO Sean Kelly sat down with John to talk all things CPG.
In this mostly longform interview, John reveals some fascinating insights, including why brand loyalty is steadily declining, why the speed of innovation can be bad for the industry, and some of the big missteps he's seen in his 20 year career as an industry insider.
Links
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 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.
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Links
Have an idea for the show? Drop us a line! Brandbuilder@snacknation.com.
Brand Builder is a co-production of SnackNation and ForceBrands.
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