the Joshua Schall Audio Experience

Does it matter that Liquid Death “swung on and missed” its first attempt at extending its platform beyond the ready-to-drink beverage category? If you checked out my “beverage identity crisis” content from last week, I had originally intended to include these Liquid Death format expansion insights in that piece. But there was a bit too much strategic nuance that I believed would create confusion with the previous content’s central focus. So, instead…I figured I’d give this important recent Liquid Death business activity its own content…because there’s honestly a lot to unpack (learnings wise) that I believe can be valuable to my community of CPG industry leaders. In typical Liquid Death fashion, the beverage brand shared an entertaining video in mid-February 2024 to promote it had created a new powdered electrolyte hydration supplement drink mix. Death Dust comes in three flavor variants, each were formulated with the approach of them being lightly and naturally sweetened and flavored. Liquid Death also leveraged known flavor IP from its flavored sparking water SKUs. The Death Dust powdered hydration supplement stick packs were launched on Amazon (and direct-to-consumer) only. From a marketplace perspective, dollar sales for sports drink mixes were up 53% YoY for the last 52-week period ending 3/26/24. So, that’s obviously an attractive adjacent category for a beverage brand with the “platform strategy friendly” tagline of “Murder your thirst.” And even though the billion-dollar sports hydration powder market is filled with heavy hitter brands owned by the likes of Unilever, PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Company, and KDP…the unit economics of these products in terms of categorical gross margins (but especially net margins) are still quite desirable to Liquid Death. Now…for those pundits (that spewed hate when Death Dust launched), talking about Liquid Death profitability struggles and how this was a “Hail Mary” type move to save the company, come on guys let’s be real here! Liquid Death has only been around since 2019…achieving triple-digit growth for three consecutive years and generating $263 million in retail sales last year. It’s in over 120K retail locations and has become the fastest-growing brand in the water, flavored sparkling water, and tea categories. Liquid Death can pull that feat off because of its ability to achieve the rare feat of successfully building a truly distinct and memorable brand. Within the CPG industry, you’ll hear A LOT of entrepreneurs say, “our CPG brand this or that.” But few ever get past being simply a company that attempts to sell undifferentiated products. Yet, when you can sell a product that also brings someone an extremely desirable emotion like belonging/connection or status…you’ve done something special. But this isn’t just another one of those “I love the Liquid Death brand strategy” pieces of content…you’ve heard that story too many times already. Instead, I wanted to analyze nuanced strategic aspects about the Liquid Death “beverage identity crisis," which include the...CPG industry innovation paradox, double-edged sword effect of using known flavor systems, utilizing “lean startup” ideologies, leveraging the beautiful, underappreciated value of an online marketplace like Amazon. Liquid Death might not think “Death Dust” was a big swing, and by categorical size it wasn’t, but we are still talking about a relatively young CPG brand that missed on its first format (and I’d argue functional beverage) expansion. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YOUTUBE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TWITTER⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

40,000 convenience store owners have spoken, and they had A LOT to say about the growing energy drinks category. And even if you aren’t super familiar with this beverage category’s sales insights, I’m sure you intuitively recognize that convenience stores are the most important in terms of channels for energy drinks in the U.S. market. But here are the top 3 biggest “categorical” takeaways from the recent Goldman Sachs Beverage Bytes survey. The first is a market reaction to what I coined “energy everything” years ago…with performance energy drinks taking share from the coffee category. The second is that CELSIUS is likely to win the most incremental shelf space in 2024…just slightly ahead of C4 Energy. And finally, is that Red Bull is losing cooler space because the brand’s proprietary coolers are being replaced by CELSIUS and C4 Energy coolers. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠ ⁠⁠YOUTUBE⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TWITTER⁠⁠ ⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

I already predicted the massive MyProtein rebrand would face a “no pain, no gain” reality, so what is THG CEO Matthew Moulding all fired up about? THG (aka the company formerly known as The Hut Group) recently updated the public markets by releasing its 2024 Q1 trading statement. I’ll be utilizing that financial information, along with notes I took listening to the earnings conference call, and any relevant publicly disclosed information to obviously update you on the recent performance of THG Nutrition division that includes the world's largest online sports nutrition brand MyProtein, but also utilize everything to provide insights surrounding the global supplement markets. For those unaware, THG is self-described as “a vertically integrated, digital-first consumer brands group, retailing its own brands in beauty and nutrition, plus third-party brands, via its complete digital commerce solution, Ingenuity, to an online and global customer base.” During the first quarter of 2024, divisional revenue for THG Nutrition was approximately $188 million, which was down 5.8% YoY. Maybe what’s more concerning is that revenue dropped about 10.5% from last quarter. That’s a bit abnormal, as the “New Year, New You” Q1 seasonality boost of new buyers into the marketplace usually helps supplement companies grow revenues QoQ. So, what’s up with these poor growth rates when the overall global supplement market continues to grow? I'll dive into several things going on here at MyProtein including: its global digital sales channel strategy and retail partnerships in physical retail, integration of supply side acquisitions, the effect the previous pricing strategy had on the sports nutrition brand's customer file, and let’s just say A LOT is riding on the success of the MyProtein global rebrand. Early results of the biggest rebrand in the 20-year history of MyProtein is said to be promising in that brand awareness has grown four percentage points higher since rolling out in its home market of the UK. More importantly though…THG Nutrition leadership needs to pay close attention to key commercial metrics over the next year because to continue moving upstream in positioning (and unlocking sales channel diversification opportunities within the American market) it needs to ensure this rebranding decision is well received by and generates brand affinity with those less price-sensitive customers. Additionally, I've provided a few recent marketplace actions made by MyProtein that could be associated with unlocking future winning chess moves. Finally...I'll provide you with another funny Matthew Moulding LinkedIn moment that directly tossed shade at all the flip-flopping pundits and analysts for being stupid and suggesting THG should “sell or close the Beauty and Ingenuity divisions, and just keep Nutrition because then the company would be valued at least double.” I’m sure this is the type of stuff that the British media, financial, and business worlds hate…but it further supports my belief that it’s inevitable that all (or parts of) THG will be listed in the American stock markets soon enough. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YOUTUBE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TWITTER⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

In today’s functional CPG market, how would you categorize what is (or isn’t) a beverage? There’s a growing format expansion trend within key functional beverage categories that's causing most consumers to provide a widening variance in definitions. But the mainstreaming version of the “beverage identity crisis” was something I started talking more about publicly during the “Great Shutdown” period because there was this perfect storm of converging factors that provided an extra tailwind for this format expansion trend within key functional CPG categories. Yet, it’s that reversed format expansion playbook direction of “ready-to-mix (RTM) powder to ready-to-drink (RTD) beverage” that I want to unpack some more for you. That’s primarily because it could very well become the dominant build model process amongst functional CPG entrepreneurs…one that we will begin seeing play out repeatedly within other growing functional CPG categories, thus causing more “beverage identity crisis” scenarios in the future. The massive mainstream success of Bang Energy consciously (or subconsciously) inspired many sports nutrition brand entrepreneurs to take the leap from pre-workout powders to energy drinks. See…those tens (or hundreds) of millions in high-margin energy drink adjacent categorical retail sales were now seen as more than numbers in a spreadsheet or bank account, but members of an audience. And it’s those powerful audiences that have become defensible competitive moats and valuable business assets for CPG brands. Admittedly, sports nutrition brands (like C4 Energy, GHOST, and Alani Nu) didn’t invent the “build an audience first strategy,” but they’ve perfectly leveraged it by also operating within the shadows of harder to track sales channels like specialty and ecommerce…where they can incubate powdered pre-workout energy supplement platforms that can then be extended into the beverage format. And the proof is in today’s retail sales data for just how disruptively successful this “build process” has become within the energy drinks market. And what should be even more scary (for at least categorical incumbents), is that below the Top 10 energy drink brands, there’s many more strong powdered pre-workout energy supplement platforms that are in different phases of beverage commercialization strategies. Oh…and surprise-surprise, this “changing of the guard” isn’t just isolated to the energy category. Albeit a few years behind, the same thing is starting to play out within the hydration category. Beyond energy and hydration, I'll also cover the last of the “Big 3” mainstream functional beverage categories because protein is a bit different. While sports drinks and energy drinks are several multiples larger in total market size compared to hydration and energy powdered supplements, ready-to-mix protein powders outsell RTD protein beverages when you consider the entire multichannel sales landscape. So, it probably begs the question…why don’t we then see the highest number of “powder to liquid” format swapping sports nutrition brand disruptors in the protein category? I'll explore those differing barriers-to-entry considerations...but explain why 2024 and 2025 could end up being filled with impressive launches by sports nutrition brands “protein powder market leaders” that have strong audiences of loyal customers. Finally, I'll analyze three other functional CPG categories (greens, relaxation, and gut health) that each should see similar blurring of categorical definitions in the next handful of years. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YOUTUBE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TWITTER⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

Will insurgent CPG brands capture an even greater share of category growth as innovation by large companies remains limited and consumers seek meaningful value propositions? While accounting for less than 2% of market share in their respective categories, insurgent CPG brands captured nearly 20% of incremental category growth last year. And you might be asking yourself, what is an insurgent CPG brand anyways? Bain & Company defines them as those that generate more than $25 million of annual revenue in tracked sales channels, have growth more than 10 times the categorical average growth rate over the past five years, and have maintained at least 10% growth over the past two years. That analytical rubric recognized 97 brand names…some of which you’ll recognize (like GHOST, Celsius, Bloom, and RYSE) because I’ve recently recorded long-form content with its founders. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠LINKEDIN⁠ ⁠YOUTUBE⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠TWITTER⁠ ⁠INSTAGRAM⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠FACEBOOK⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

Is it time for protein bar brands to party like it’s 2019 again? I was recently asked about shifting convenient nutrition marketplace dynamics…including some questions directed towards delivery formats. And it was the bar delivery format that seemed to draw the most curiosity within that conversation. Maybe it’s because of what happened to the protein bar category because of the “Great Lockdown.” Maybe it’s because out of bars, liquids, and powders…it has the lowest current retail sales growth rate, but the highest household penetration. Or maybe it’s because of the sharp contrast from five short years ago when the protein bar M&A market was arguably at its peak. But during 2020 and 2021, many of us industry analysts/strategists looked past the near-term categorical struggles and pointed to the fact that underlying drivers (feeding long-term secular trends) were unchanged, and the inevitable consumer behavior normalization would continue to support bar format growth. Admittedly, some of that bounce back was slower than consensus expectations, but in this content I wanted to review several “signals” that I’ve been watching over the last 15 months which could be telling us that the protein bar market is ready to party again. These flashing signals include...several converging macro-economic data points, product-based differentiation, second-order effects from the rise in GLP-1 weight loss solutions, and then the final two are more focused on the attractiveness of the space (and format) to “build within” and then dealmaking and liquidity event probabilities and possibilities. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠⁠⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠YOUTUBE⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠TWITTER⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

Sharing is caring, right? I believe that commercial-scale precision fermentation facilities will be like data centers, which eventually became ubiquitous. And, like data centers, these commercial-scale precision fermentation facilities could one day be relied upon to make a vast array of vital products. But that future might hinge on how open or closed this food technology eventually becomes. Most precision fermentation startups are heavily funded by tech billionaires and venture capitalists. Why? Boilerplate “fight climate change” answers might be used publicly, but it’s about betting on the potentially enormous upside that comes with market domination of whole commodity groups and categories. But it’s those massive private investments that subsidize early deals that help overcome consumer adoption challenges around price. So, the debate over open-source food tech research is “complicated” and I’m sure global regulatory agencies will make it worse soon. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS LINKEDIN YOUTUBE ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TWITTER INSTAGRAM ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FACEBOOK ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

If you were comparing the beverage brand PRIME to a childhood toy franchise, which one do you think would be the best fit (and why)? Prime Hydration grew 510% YoY, reaching just shy of $660 million in U.S. tracked channels. If you combined with non-tracked channels (and international markets), that number would likely be north of $800 million in 2023. Furthermore, it was announced before the end of 2023 that the brand sold its one-billionth bottle in less than two years. PRIME is (or maybe the appropriate verb tense now would be “was”) a rocket ship brand. But as PRIME blasts towards officially reaching billion-dollar brand status, in terms of U.S. tracked channel retail sales in 2024…it inevitably faces the immoveable object in business finance called the “law of large numbers.” So, when you see these PRIME haters regurgitating NielsenIQ retail sales data that shows sales volume being down over the last four weeks in early March 2024…that is what’s going on, as the brand is now facing tougher comparatives. And I think I saw similar PRIME hydration retail sales data trends in the UK, so regardless of what side of the pond you’re on…it’s likely a similar storyline being propagated across mainstream (and social) media. But this content isn’t about simply providing you retail sales data trends…those numbers were just a required contextual base of knowledge that allows me to explore possible underlying drivers more easily without having everyone confused. Also, to spice things up…I’ll bring most of these underlying driver possibilities to life through a storytelling analogy with children’s toys. That being said, the celebrity/creator packaged goods trend is one that sees the most popular talent of today…becoming the biggest CPG brands of tomorrow. It’s because when you hit on the “right celebrity + right product” element, you can pull forward brand awareness to a level that takes competitors years or many millions of dollars. The major benefit of the creator packaged goods trend is that Logan Paul and KSI are masters of at winning consumer attention through today’s kingmakers…aka digital platform algorithms. Moreover, PRIME benefited from the “Liquid IV Effect” democratizing the hydration category…and because a large share of the most diehard audience of Logan Paul and KSI are under 18 years old, they’ve proven to be extremely powerful individuals in creating commercial value by injecting a level of youthful energy that made the beverage category fun, thus introducing it to a new younger demographic that wasn’t originally passionate about the sports drink market. Which brings us back to the connecting PRIME and kids toys with consumer behavior principles. And why I made the analogy with kid’s toys is that there’s well-marked patterns that created massive successes in the past. Think about key features that drive toy franchise fads…limited supply (or perceived supply constraints) that create rarity, elements of collectability, low price, and usually “made cool” because of an influential group. Do those sound like they relate to the PRIME growth story as well? FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠⁠⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠YOUTUBE⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠TWITTER⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

MyProtein is the world's largest online sports nutrition brand. So, you could say that “physical stores” aren’t much of a thing at MyProtein…or at least they weren’t in the past. More recently, MyProtein has invested in retail partnerships where the functional CPG brand places a limited (or exclusive) SKU range as part of bigger demand generation strategy. That could be as simple as offering a larger pack size of Clear Whey at Costco or something more unique like a healthy frozen meals licensing partnership within UK-based food warehouse Iceland. But it is a dynamic retail investment that signals MyProtein wants to drop the “online” part and simply become the world’s largest sports nutrition brand. It’s called Myprotein Kitchen…and it’s a concept store that provides customers with multi-sensory brand touchpoints that will also the sports nutrition brand to better understand customer behavior. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS LINKEDIN - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuaschallmba⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YOUTUBE - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/c/joshuaschall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TWITTER - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/joshua_schall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ INSTAGRAM - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/joshua_schall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FACEBOOK - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/jschallconsulting --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

Basically with what Quest Nutrition has been able to accomplish, competitors believe "it's basically cheating" at this point. In this latest episode, I'll utilize the Q2 2024 Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ: SMPL) earnings report, earnings call, and supplemental presentations that were filed on 4/4/2024 as the backdrop to provide broad nutritional snacking market insights. In fiscal Q2 2024, both Atkins Nutritionals (aka the Atkins diet) and Quest Nutrition performed well against the categorical competitors in tracked channel retail takeaway, with Quest Nutrition specifically having strong YoY growth at 13.1%. What's at the heart of the Quest Nutrition success? Quest Nutrition is still known for the original Quest Bar. That means the company needs the bar business to be healthy for any of this innovation risk to make sense. Here’s the good news…the core bar business is growing. In fact, this year it had tracked channel retail takeaway growth of 6%. Additionally, Quest Nutrition has proven it's one of the few brands that can successfully extend across multiple product forms...and its customer base expects them to come into an indulgent snacking category and flip it into great tasting (high protein, low sugar) offerings. The snacks segment of Quest Nutrition, which now accounts for almost half of all retail sales, saw retail takeaway growth increase 21%. But if we take this one layer deeper…the salty side of the Quest snacks segment had quarterly retail takeaway growth of about 40%. Quest chips now make up just over 20% of the total Quest Nutrition revenue and provides around 30% of new users to the brand. Salty snacks are where I’d argue the most excitement lies, but it seems the brand believes (at least right now) there’s more low-hanging fruit within sweet snacks. I say that because it was recently announced that Quest would launch a new bake shop platform for the fall of 2024. The offerings will start with high protein, low sugar, and great tasting muffins and a brownie. The company believes this new platform will bring new consumers to the active nutrition category and further expand usage occasions for the Quest Nutrition brand. Additionally, Quest Nutrition will prioritize its recently revamped RTD protein beverages more and even extend the packaged liquids form factor into protein iced coffee. These product innovations will be underpinned by a comprehensive marketing plan as part of the “Its Basically Cheating” advertising campaign with actor Kumal Nanjiani. This is another big step forward for Quest Nutrition…that will reach billion-dollar retail sales status by the end of this year. Finally, I run through what's causing the weak brand performance at Atkins Nutritionals and explain actions the company is taking to change it…especially against the backdrop of GLP-1 weight loss solutions. In my opinion, you’re going to see weight management brands like Atkins (and others) get repositioned on the right side of GLP-1 second-order effects through both product innovation (e.g. Atkins strong)...but most of the “innovation” will come in the targeted communication marketing strategies. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠ ⁠⁠YOUTUBE⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TWITTER⁠⁠ ⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

Market growth breeds commercialization activity. This was an idiom I created many years ago to describe the reactive nature of the functional CPG industry. And it would certainly describe what has played out within the hydration and energy categories over the last 5-7 years. These functional CPG segments have both seen an explosion in market growth that drove rapid experimentation and development within an ever-expanding number of usage occasions. Additionally, consider that both the hydration and energy categories sit squarely within my “divine triad of CPG” of having strong gross margins, high frequency of use, and passionate brand communities. So, it’s hard to not be enthralled by everything…which might be partly why Market Insights Director at SPINS, Scott Dicker, and I regularly feature them in our quarterly functional CPG categorical deep dives. Beyond providing some recent categorical retail sales data snippets, we describe several driving forces impacting comparative results...including the growing “beverage identity crisis” that stems from consumers more regularly swapping between ready-to-drink and ready-to-mix form factors. But don’t worry…that’s not the only time we reference how the supplement industry is altering the strategic plans at large incumbent beverage brands. In fact, Scott and I cover some of those trending hydration and energy category storylines that are hidden below the “Big 2” market share leaders. Additionally, we explain why these “incubated within the supplement industry” brands can scale faster than any other time in business history. These are just some of the fascinating topics we chatted about in this episode... FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠ ⁠⁠YOUTUBE⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TWITTER⁠⁠ ⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

FitLife Brands gave more than 25 million reasons why it believes in the MusclePharm turnaround. So, why am I not impressed? For those unaware, the supplement brands that are within the FitLife Brands portfolio are now categorized in four segments…NDS Products (which are a collection of brands mostly sold in the GNC franchise system), iSatori Products (which are a collection of brands sold through a diversified retail mix), Mimi’s Rock Corporation Products (which are a collection of brands mostly sold on Amazon), and then MusclePharm Products (which was acquired on October 10, 2023). In total, the FitLife Brands portfolio is sold through more than 20,000 retail locations globally. In the fourth quarter of 2023, FitLife Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: FTLF) had revenues of $13.3 million…which was up 148% YoY. On face value that obviously looks impressive, but you had both the Mimi’s Rock and MusclePharm acquisitions that happened in 2023 and greatly impacted the comparable growth percentage. If you look at the revenue from a QoQ perspective, FitLife Brands revenues declined around 4.3%. While there's strategic initiatives going on at legacy FitLife Brands and Mimi's Rock, the most intriguing segment within FitLife Brands is MusclePharm. But even though MusclePharm was owned for the vast majority of Q4, its contribution to the FitLife Brands quarterly performance was immaterial because they needed to procure inventory (as basically no inventory was acquired in the asset purchase), and they needed to negotiate new retail agreements with MusclePharm’s existing wholesale customers. So, what that all means is the MusclePharm business really didn’t begin ramping up in terms of both wholesale and online sales until this current first quarter of 2024. Because of that…FitLife Brands gave some additional forward-looking statements based on preliminary first quarter numbers to show the early turnaround progress at MusclePharm. In the first quarter of 2024, MusclePharm segment total quarterly revenue will be around $2.25 million. That’s a slight drop in revenue YoY from the 2023 bankrupt MusclePharm era and even a more significant drop from the $3.8 million in Q3 revenue the company generated before the FitLife Brands acquisition. So, then what is needed for FitLife Brands to turnaround MusclePharm? FitLife Brands isn’t looking to hit a homerun with the MusclePharm turnaround…or so I thought before I heard the comments on the earnings call and them sharing a new element of the strategic gameplan. But I’m fearing that FitLife Brands might be getting excited about early indicators of sales performance, getting overly-confident, and might be getting caught up in the last (and biggest) part of that old MusclePharm sales playbook…launching more and more new SKUs. I'll breakdown all the strategic elements within the recent FitLife Brands announcement that they're bringing back the MusclePharm Combat Crunch protein bars...including how it impacts projected margins within the MusclePharm segment, how that relates to FitLife Brands return on investment, and future supplement industry capital deployment strategy overall. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠ ⁠⁠YOUTUBE⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TWITTER⁠⁠ ⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

GOLI Nutrition announced in mid-March that it would be acquired by a collection of investors that includes its Mexico distributor, a private equity firm, and one of the company's original founders. More interestingly, the transaction, which has the full support of the company's lenders, is part of a pre-packaged bankruptcy process in Canada. Wait…what? You mean the company that introduced the world to apple cider vinegar gummy supplements just filed for bankruptcy? Weren’t they doing like a half-billion in revenue just a few years ago? Regardless of today’s bankruptcy process reality, that climb from nothing to $502 million in net sales within basically 26 short months is insanity. Yet, some supplement brands are like shooting stars. They burst through the industry in this spectacular arc, but they don't stay long. They just leave a trail of lessons we can learn. Mentioned in the bankruptcy documents was the fact that GOLI Nutrition sustained significant losses to the tune of $100 million since March 2022. Furthermore, GOLI Nutrition management outlined a collection of reasons they believed attributed to those significant losses. So, I'll put on my professor outfit and extract some insightful lessons those stated reasons, but also add some of my own opinions around the fall of GOLI Nutrition that could be helpful to supplement industry stakeholders. Some of those lessons include...how GOLI Nutrition supported this type of massive sales growth (along with some details on the Better Nutritionals contract manufacturing bankruptcy and court documents). Also, the market timing elements that helped GOLI Nutrition, but also subsequently caused liquidity constraints. Moreover, I talk about the apple cider vinegar supplement trend that created massive competitive risk for GOLI Nutrition...from third-party brands but also the same large retailers they had vendor relationships that created private label offerings. This leads into my discussion around the lack of strategic narrative at GOLI Nutrition that led them to being simply a product company. Finally, the “Mo Money, Mo Problems” lesson that any CPG entrepreneur should take to heart and that's you must have financial buffers in place for legal matters…whether that’s protecting intellectual property, guarding your hero product name from the godfather of apple cider vinegar CPG, or ensuring opportunistic class action lawyers or competitors don’t take you down. Can the new ownership unlock new growth opportunities? In 2023, GOLI Nutrition did around $119 million in net revenue…but lost close to $63 million. The business consortium acquiring GOLI Nutrition seems to think they can “launch their way out of this mess” and I disagree with this strategic approach. GOLI Nutrition needs financial discipline first and foremost. That means walking back a lot of sales, marketing, and product moves that just don’t make sense anymore. In doing so, GOLI Nutrition will almost certainly drop further from a top-line revenue perspective over the next few years. After that…who knows (and I do hope they achieve business growth again), but I’d be focusing more right now on surviving over thriving. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠ ⁠⁠YOUTUBE⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TWITTER⁠⁠ ⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again...not all indulgent snack brands need a “better for you” makeover! Earlier this year, Pringles launched a new version with blended multigrain and sweet potato ingredients. And I’m not Pringles guy…so I wasn’t ready to die on that hill. But now I’m hearing that PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay division is “vowing to increase its use of nutritionally diverse ingredients.” Now…if you want to enrobe Rold Gold pretzels with a sweet protein-rich icing…sounds fun. Maybe use a micro-filtered milk in Tostitos cheese dips…sounds proteintastic! But if you try putting chickpea flour in my Spicy Nacho Doritos…nah! I won’t let my beloved childhood snack violate the “Law of Line Extension” and I make it my new life’s work to stop you! 😉 FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS LINKEDIN - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuaschallmba⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YOUTUBE - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/c/joshuaschall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TWITTER - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/joshua_schall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ INSTAGRAM - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/joshua_schall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FACEBOOK - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/jschallconsulting --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

It’s no secret that A LOT of social situations are still very much centered around drinking alcohol (and specifically beer). But how does that tradition potentially shift against the backdrop of more people becoming conscious of their physical and mental health? Drinking a non-alcoholic beer was considered somewhat embarrassing and even stigmatized within the U.S. market, but the beverage category has gone through a renaissance of late. In fact, over the last handful of years, I’d argue there’s no other aspect of drinking culture that has enjoyed both this level of profound level of sales growth and huge cultural impact as non-alcoholic beer. So, as my interest in this captivating beverage category has increased substantially…I’ve continually found myself searching out those independent upstart brand stories that connect with my own “mindful drinking” journey. And you’ll hear about that connection when Jamie Fay explains what inspired him to create RationAle Brewing. Beyond talking through the RationAle Brewing strategic narrative, Jamie and I deeply analyze the driving factors and consumer behavioral trends behind the non-alcoholic beer categorical evolution. Additionally, we talk through how RationAle Brewing, despite being the fastest velocity non-alcoholic beer brand in the set, is staying disciplined as category hype grows. But furthermore…Jamie and I talk about his veteran CPG move to intentionally build RationAle Brewing in a strategic manner that’s efficiently flexible enough to attack when opportunities are right (especially as the company kicks off its largest round of fundraising yet). Lastly, we pontificate a bit around how we see the “future of zero proof” beverages playing out long-term. But these are just a few of the fascinating topics within our recent conversation… FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠LINKEDIN⁠ ⁠YOUTUBE⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠TWITTER⁠ ⁠INSTAGRAM⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠FACEBOOK⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

O-H-I-O! Other than that kind of annoying chant, what’s the easiest way to know that someone is from Ohio? They will usually tell you! As an Ohioan myself (see what I did there?), I’ll admit we don’t have special water that allegedly pumps through New York pipes that make their bagels and pizza so great. We also don’t have much sunshine like Florida, but there’s always one interesting insight I share with my startup CPG entrepreneurs about Ohio. Throughout much of the last few decades, Columbus has served as America’s top test market for businesses trying out new products in the real world before deciding to roll them out nationally. The demographics of Ohio’s state capital have always been indicative of the rest of the United States…just on a smaller scale where you can see high-rises and rural farmland within a 15-minute drive. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS LINKEDIN - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuaschallmba⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YOUTUBE - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/c/joshuaschall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TWITTER - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/joshua_schall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ INSTAGRAM - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/joshua_schall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FACEBOOK - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/jschallconsulting --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

Short-term arbitrage or long-term strategy? Either way…is it time for supplement brands to start hedging those TikTok Shop bets? It shouldn’t be news to anyone at this point, but the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill last week that would give ByteDance about six months to divest the U.S. assets of TikTok or face a ban. If that desired result sounds familiar, it’s because the idea of a TikTok ban has roots in the Trump administration. In fact, a deal was even worked out where Oracle and Walmart would become minority owners in ByteDance. That deal eventually fell through, and Trump’s ban was struck down by a federal court. By the time Biden came to office, he rolled back Trump’s executive order and began private negotiations with TikTok. ByteDance was founded in 2012 and is now valued at just under $300 billion. ByteDance is often seen as the world's leading company on algorithms because its flagship apps TikTok (and TikTok’s sister app in China) are powered by commanding recommendation engines that make its apps extremely attractive to users. And it’s those powerful algorithms within the popular Gen-Z app that are at the heart of this ban TikTok national security debate. American lawmakers are concerned about TikTok’s relationship with mainland China. Like with most big Chinese companies, China's ruling Communist Party has set up a party branch at ByteDance. Scrutiny over ByteDance expanded further after the government took a stake in its local subsidiary that awarded the Chinese government a board seat at the subsidiary. So, American lawmakers are worried that the Chinese government will pressure ByteDance to share U.S. data gathered on TikTok, which the CCP could potentially use for nefarious reasons. In this content, I'll also share my strategic game theory breakdown on why banning TikTok has now become a lose-lose situation. Additionally, I share details around the social commerce trend that's powering TikTok Shop. The meteoric rise of TikTok offers supplement brands a plethora of opportunities from brand storytelling to sales expansion and various collaboration strategies. Whether it’s FitTok/GymTok advice, Hot Girl Walks, hydration in those Stanley Cups, or under-desk treadmills, TikTok has defined many health trends. So, it shouldn’t surprise you that as much as 85% of the total U.S. market TikTok Shop sales were with health and beauty products. One of the biggest health category merchants has been RYSE, which I'll share comments from its founder Nic Stella in regards to the power of leveraging TikTok. But don’t let those huge RYSE TikTok Shop sales numbers blind you because there are still risks for functional CPG brands beyond those stemming from the total ban of TikTok. This was something I recently talked about with one of the top CPG industry lawyers Ryan Lewendon. But either way, I don’t see a future without social commerce. It has now become too entrenched, too popular, and too valuable within the U.S. market. Moreover, details were leaked on an Amazon and Meta partnership where customers would be able to shop Amazon’s Facebook and Instagram ads and check out with Amazon without leaving the social media apps. As social commerce continues its rapid ascent, it cannot be overstated enough that supplement brands must adapt their digital strategies to fully exploit these emerging customer relationship channels to maintain a competitive edge in this increasingly dynamic business landscape. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠LINKEDIN⁠ ⁠YOUTUBE⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠TWITTER⁠ ⁠INSTAGRAM⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠FACEBOOK⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

I grew up the typical Rust Belt kid eating mostly a hodgepodge of way-too-sweet, packaged foods and beverages. I’d like to think my “white trash palate” has evolved in the last few decades, but some things are harder to kill than 50 Cent. And you might be asking yourself…what does this have to do with your conversation with the founder of the energy drink brand Gorgie, Michelle Cordeiro Grant? Well…at this past year’s NACS Show, this recovering artificially flavored and sweetened Energy+ drink enthusiast tasted a few naturally sweetened and lightly flavored Energy+ drinks that were great…one of which that left an impact on me was Gorgie. So, naturally I wanted to lean-in further, especially after learning about the founder’s unconventional yet fascinating path to the CPG industry. In our conversation, Michelle explains how that business superpower allowed her to think differently and inspired many key strategic elements within Gorgie. We also breakdown the growing importance woman are playing within the energy drinks market. Plus, take it a step further and explain why it’s the perfect time to apply a much-needed female-first lens to the beverage category. Additionally, Michelle shares important lessons she’s learned in year one building an energy drink brand. Finally, we talk through some untapped exploratory sales channels and what Michelle’s lifestyle branding goals are for Gorgie long-term. But these are just a few of the fascinating topics within our recent conversation… FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠LINKEDIN⁠ ⁠YOUTUBE⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠TWITTER⁠ ⁠INSTAGRAM⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠FACEBOOK⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

Maybe making beer that uses vaginal yeast as one of its key ingredients isn’t going to take off anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean sex no longer sells within the CPG industry. We’ve come a long way from gas station boner pills, as the once-taboo sexual wellness space is booming…with the category now widely available at mainstream retailers. From a CPG strategist point-of-view, this is the time for entrepreneurs to remix sexual wellness products that do not meet modern-day consumers’ expectations. Whether that’s in any of the subcategories from sexual performance to reproductive health, remember that having a great product is only the entry fee to compete in today’s CPG market. Embrace the fact that although more consumers are becoming comfortable discussing these intimate topics, you can enhance your brand experience by helping navigate these difficult conversations and leaning into community building strategies. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS LINKEDIN - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuaschallmba⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YOUTUBE - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/c/joshuaschall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TWITTER - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/joshua_schall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ INSTAGRAM - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/joshua_schall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FACEBOOK - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/jschallconsulting --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

CELSIUS and PepsiCo. Nutrabolt and Keurig Dr Pepper. Bloom and Nutrabolt. NOBULL and TB12. What do these deals have in common (besides the fact that you’ve seen me break each of them down in content on my channel)? The only law firm in the world dedicated exclusively to the CPG community, Giannuzzi Lewendon. While insights from those massive deals are weaved into our conversation, I took the law firm’s partner Ryan Lewendon through my gauntlet of A to Z “CPG land” impactful topics. To be completely honest…this is the type of conversation for those REALLY into the CPG industry. Ryan and I talk about how integral the “divine triad of CPG” is…plus the importance of maximizing strategic optionality by building the brand with intention, both from organizational and customer-facing variables. We also ponder what the future of CPG looks like when its data-driven with layers of artificial intelligence. Moreover, we talk about the good, bad, and ugly around the strategic partnerships involving celebrities and the creator economy. Finally, we take that a step further and talk about today’s kingmakers (algorithms) and why the rise of social commerce has its possible downsides within functional CPG product categories. But these are just a few of the insightful topics within our recent conversation… FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS LINKEDIN - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuaschallmba⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YOUTUBE - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/c/joshuaschall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TWITTER - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/joshua_schall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ INSTAGRAM - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/joshua_schall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FACEBOOK - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/jschallconsulting --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support