Target Audience: Equity Partner

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Redefining the Naturals Category Through Cultural Transformation with Kimberly Lee Minor, Bumbershoot

August 17, 2020  |  an article by Diana Fryc

Gooder Podcast Featuring Kimberly Lee Minor

The resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement has caused businesses and people to again rethink their relationship with brands, businesses and retailers. As brands continue to grapple with the realization that systemic racism is a set of blinders and the uncertainty about how to make the operational, innovation and leadership changes that need to be made, consumers are pushing. If you are brand owner, particularly in the naturals and better-for-you space, this lack of visibility is hampering your growth.

Bumbershoot CEO Kimberly Minor, shares insights and guidance with us around organizational cultural transformation that will provide you with new visibility about the hurdles of black-owned brands as well as share renewed opportunities for growth in becoming better brand and consumer stewards. Black women and families have been naturals a long time, it’s time for our current better-for-you community to see and embrace new ways of being natural and start using our super-powers in
bigger ways.

In this episode, we learn to:

  • Amplify and empower diversity and inclusion initiatives in ways that dive profit, not simply “check a box”
  • Create a business culture that is welcoming and supportive so that women and people of color can excel and accelerate their careers
  • Translate your company values and mission in a way that allocate for wider or different definitions of natural
  • Identify and support those brands and companies that reflect your vision, using mission and values as a filter

About Kimberly Lee Minor:

Kimberly Lee Minor is a business owner and creative executive who cares about people.

Kimberly is committed to bringing more joy and connection into people’s lives.  To do this she relies on personal insights, losses and hard-won growth achieved in over 25 years of senior leadership in creative customer-centric brands, and even more experience just in my years of living.

Before starting her own business, Lee Minor rolled up her sleeves and got to work – from the executive training program with Macy’s to Express where she received the Key Contributor Award to Footlocker Global, where, again Kimberly was awarded the Key Contributor Award for business innovation and team transformation. From Brand President for London Fog, Joe Boxer & Bongo to SVP of Strategy, Merch Operations & Merchandising at BBW she strived to grow businesses and to help her teams find their passion.

Lee Minor believes that we are at our best when supported by authentic connections of diverse and positively passionate people to influence and empower us.

Using her transformational leadership skills, customer-centric point of view and focus on creating connections she helps business leaders strategically reposition their cultures for collaboration and inclusivity to provide a welcoming and empowering community for career acceleration of women and people of color. I start by listening to the VOC and VOE, evaluating core values and processes to prepare these organizations for a 21st-century workforce, increase the pipeline of diverse talent, improve the desirability of the organization to the candidates, and the retention of the hires.

Kimberly holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, and has completed coursework towards her MBA at Drexel University.  She holds an executive certificate in Leadership and Management from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. She and her husband have 2 sons and live in New Albany, OH.

kimberly@bumbershoot.net

973-738-4020

Linkedin.com/kimberlyleeminor

IG – Kimberly.l.minor

Show Resources

Bumbershoot – Bumbershoot, LLC is a different kind of media company.  We create digital niche communities to influence lifestyles through authentic connection, creative content, informative events, unique experiences, and meaningful philanthropy.

Our team draws on the diverse executive experience of creative and critical-thinking merchants, marketers, innovators, and data scientists in multi-media, fashion and personal care industries who have grown competitive brands and developed engaging product and content introduction strategies that make people smile.

Spiceteria – I’ve been Blessed with a full life – a sweet, salty, sour, hot, and tangy life. All of these flavors, experiences, people, and loves brought me here – to the creation of Spiceteria. A flavor-centric hub for women. Spiceteria’s mission is to bring together women of taste – in a warm, respectful, and welcoming community – bridging tech and humanity through the sharing of stories, themed products, experiences and technology that enhance your life and ensure that you will never be alone.

Authentically Us – A community for Millennial-aged professional women. They are new to the community and relatively new to their careers. The Authentically Us community provides a soft landing for authentic connections, professional development and mentoring, mental and physical well-being, personal development and fun.

Gooder Podcast

Redefining the Naturals Category Through Cultural Transformation with Kimberly Lee Minor, Bumbershoot

Diana Fryc

For Diana, a fierce determination to pursue what’s right is rooted in her DNA. The daughter of parents who endured unimaginable hardship before emigrating from Eastern Europe to the U.S., she is built for a higher purpose. Starting with an experience working with Jane Goodall to source sustainably made paper, she went on to a career helping Corporate America normalize the use of environmentally responsible products and materials before coming to Retail Voodoo.

Connect with Diana

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Brand Innovation: When You Can Make Anything, What Should You Make?

August 11, 2020  |  an article by Diana Fryc

Manufacturing capability, ingredient access, and direct sales channels mean that brands in the natural food and beverage category today can pretty much make and market anything they want.

But a blue-sky approach to innovation isn’t particularly helpful. If you can make and market virtually anything, then how can you possibly decide what ideas to act on?

Instead of limitless innovation, you need boundaries to frame the discussion about how to grow your offering. And the source of those boundaries is your brand strategy.

Six Types of Brand Innovation

First, let’s look at the six primary areas for innovation in the naturals category:

Form factor innovation — We hold up Califia Farms as the prototypical example. Califia’s curvy, nostalgic bottle shape exploded all the conventions of milk and juice packaging.

Product innovation — Probably the most common and consistently deployed type of innovation, this involves new flavors, ingredients, and similar or tangential products (like expanding from beef to plant-based jerky or adding organic salsa to go with your organic multigrain corn chips).

Channel innovation — This means finding new places and ways to sell your stuff. When we worked with DRY Soda, for example, we identified an opportunity for the brand to expand in the hospitality market, which had a carryover impact that boosted their retail sales, as well.

Operational innovation — Think people, processes, and systems. This type of innovation is often tasked with driving cost-saving or improving efficiency. Your team should constantly be looking to streamline ops.

Marketing innovation — Not just a new tagline or social campaign; true innovation in marketing involves significant changes in sales and promotion, pricing, packaging, and communication strategy.

Cultural innovation — Internal shifts that reshape the organization, teamwork, and values. Cultural innovation often follows a major reboot in the brand strategy.

Brand Strategy as a Framework for Innovation

Brand strategy should inform all types of innovation. Back to our original question: If you can make and market anything, what should you make and market?

In other words, where does the brand have permission from customers to grow?

Think of a Venn diagram with two circles representing the consumer’s need and the brand’s mission: Your opportunity for innovation lies in the overlap.

Disregard both the consumer and your brand promise, and your innovation will bounce all over the place. You’ll toss a bunch of products out there to see what sticks, constantly shift your messaging in search of the right tone of voice, play the price-discount game. And you’ll never have a sense of what works and why. Willy Wonka was in a constant state of innovation (chewing gum that replicated a turkey dinner, anyone?) and we all know it didn’t go well; he was all about his own joy in experimentation, not about the people he was creating for.

Armed with a strong strategic foundation for your better-for-you brand and a deep understanding of your consumer, you’ll have a roadmap for creating new products that reflect your brand’s promise. You won’t have to test-market 15 new flavors; you can confidently launch 5 you know your audience will respond to. You won’t have to chase the next pumpkin-spice trend.

An innovation miss, on the other hand, has the potential to unravel the brand story you’ve worked so hard to create. You’ll be perceived as inauthentic and opportunistic rather than as a citizen brand.

Case Study in Product Innovation: HighKey Snacks

The low-carb Keto-friendly brand HighKey came to us when they sought to expand from the DTC channel to big-box retail. They were competing in a crowded Keto market, and their world was about to get even more cut-throat. During our 360° strategic review of the brand, we discovered that they were speaking to the wrong audience. They thought their fanbase was made up of protein shake-chugging workout dudes; rather, it was busy moms seeking to manage their weight and unwilling to compromise on taste and convenience.

With this insight, we helped them reformulate their brand’s why, along with a total packaging and messaging overhaul. As important, though, we helped them rein in their innovation pipeline. The team had far too many product ideas in the works; we helped them focus on products that would mesh the brand’s values — low-carb snacks with amazing texture and flavor — with the customer’s desire to not feel like she’s missing out. Once we figured out who the true HighKey customer was, we figured out the products that she’d put into her purse and pantry.

Case Study in Form Factor Innovation: NuTraditions

This third-generation Chinese American-owned company came to us as they planned to relaunch the brand to capture the attention of stressed-out consumers. The company has long sold traditional Chinese herbal products, and it had a great backstory, but it needed a modern brand strategy. We helped them focus on a mission: using natural methods to restore balance to hectic everyday life.

They had a library of potential products, and we advised them to hone in on clean energy and clean sleep products for launch. The natural sleep aid isn’t a pill or beverage, but a dissolvable strip that melts on the tongue. A second product, a ginseng-infused coffee that provides alertness and sustained energy, comes in K-cup brewing pods. The two products work together to help people sleep well and get through their days without the up/down dynamic of caffeine and sleeping meds.

For NuTraditions, innovation meant looking at a three-circle Venn — the brand’s mission, consumer trends, and manufacturing capability. At its reboot, the company is well-poised for future product launches and smart growth.

In life and in business, we need guard rails to keep us from skidding off the road. A strong brand strategy is the guard rails for innovation, helping you answer the question: Is this a good idea or a bad idea?

Diana Fryc

For Diana, a fierce determination to pursue what’s right is rooted in her DNA. The daughter of parents who endured unimaginable hardship before emigrating from Eastern Europe to the U.S., she is built for a higher purpose. Starting with an experience working with Jane Goodall to source sustainably made paper, she went on to a career helping Corporate America normalize the use of environmentally responsible products and materials before coming to Retail Voodoo.

Connect with Diana

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White Paper: Navigating Brand Disruption

July 28, 2020  |  an article by David Lemley

Covid Series: Vol 01

Why it’s time to develop a brand-driven strategy to future-proof your brand.

Learn why food, beverage, and wellness brands are rethinking their fragmented strategies that hinder their marketplace performance in the face of unexpected disruption.

Businesses who are relying on the four P’s of marketing are especially subject to disruptions in the age of Covid.

By switching to a brand-driven strategy, better-for-you brand owners are future-proofing their business and retooling for growth.

Download this white paper to learn how to:

  • Plan for distribution hiccups and eliminate lost opportunities.
  • Reduce ingredient dependence in favor of brand-driven benefits.
  • Outpace copycat competitors by delivering on brand purpose.
David Lemley

David was two decades into a design career with a wall full of shiny awards and a portfolio of clients including Nordstrom, Starbucks, Nintendo, and REI. His rocket trajectory veered when his oldest child faced a health challenge of indeterminate origin. Hundreds of research hours later, David identified food allergy as the issue and convinced skeptical medical professionals caring for his child. Since that experience, David and Retail Voodoo have been on a mission to create a cleaner, healthier, more sustainable food system for all.

Connect with David
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Investing in Food & Beverage? Here’s What to Look For

February 26, 2019  |  an article by David Lemley

As of Q2 2018, food and beverage startups had raised $9.5 billion in venture capital investment, representing more than 2,000 deals over the previous five years. And we don’t expect that to slow down any time soon.

Because they stand for something beyond selling product, better-for-you (BFY) food and beverage brands rally an army of loyal believers willing to try every SKU and stick with the brand when competitors enter the space. That passion — of the audience and of the visionary who founded the company — makes BFY food and beverage brands appealing to investors, both within the food industry and beyond it, including investors typically focused on the tech sector.

As they strategically innovate new products and expand into new channels, BFY brands often hit a point where they need a cash infusion to fuel their growth. The challenge for investors is to identify brands on the rise and get in just at the right time.

How to Know When a Food Brand is Ready for Purchase

Unless you have a contact within the company, you might not know that a BFY brand is seeking investment or ready to sell. As we’ve worked with F&B brands and counseled investors in the category, we’ve come to recognize the key signals a brand gives off that tell the world it’s ripe for acquisition or investment.

Most tellingly, the brand may have had some traction in a channel and that channel is tapped out. Perhaps it’s a vegan snack bar that’s selling like gangbusters through outdoor retailers like REI, but that channel is not big enough to create a viable outlet for the brand to grow or to make it a household name.

Some ready-for-purchase brands have languished for years with flat or minimal growth. The company has added capacity but not generated increased organic sales, so it is seeing more sales but slim profit margins. That scenario usually points to problems in sales or operations, which require outside investment and expertise to fix.

A significant competitor that’s disrupting a category previously led by an early-to-market brand might signal that the once-dominant brand is ready for acquisition. The world is changing around them: This is the brand that’s been marginally interesting for awhile but has leaders who have been asleep at the wheel and awakened too late to the competition.

All of these challenges lead to an inability among the brand’s leadership team to make decisions with confidence. They’ll take small moves, change pricing, stumble into a new channel but not get traction — bumbling along because they’re reluctant.

Manage the Owner, Manage the Brand

Investors find these BFY darlings (or former darlings) that have so much more market cap possibility. What’s holding them back besides a need for capital? Systems, distribution, and innovation, certainly — but usually the psychology of the owner is a major obstacle investors should address carefully.

We like to say that approaching a founder/owner is kind of like approaching a skittish horse: You have to walk slowly, whisper the right things, and maintain a gentle hand. Taking time to understand the psychology of the founder will produce an opportunity to show your investment team as sensitive experts.

People generally start BFY brands because they or a family member has a particular dietary goal or need and they decide to develop a unique product to meet it. Maybe the founder is a gluten-intolerant outdoor enthusiast in search of a gluten-free energy bar to fuel his all-day hikes. He’s not a business person. And so he launches and runs the brand on pure instinct and emotion. His life is intertwined in the company, and he makes choices based on that deep personal connection.

When this owner comes to realize that his company needs investment in order to continue, fear creeps in. He worries about whether he can trust that investors are looking out for the brand’s best interests, whether they “get” the brand’s ethos, whether they’ll preserve the family of employees he’s surrounded himself with.

There are plenty of horror stories circulating in the industry, and owners worry that even considering a deal will reflect poorly on them. Will my brand’s tribe of loyalists think I’m selling out for the money? Will the investors think I’m in the way and push me out? Will my company turn into something I don’t recognize anymore?

As you’re doing due diligence, spend meaningful time with the founder/owner to understand what drives her and what she fears. Dig into the brand story to determine how intertwined it is with the founder’s personal narrative.

Investors: Become a Steward of the Brand

Because of their passionate founders, employees, and consumers, BFY brands need sensitive leadership from funders. A successful investor in a BFY brand either becomes a brand shepherd or brings one to the table to help the internal team adapt and feel safe during the changes.

We often function as that shepherd interfacing between the investment team and the brand team. Commonly, we’re the first stop after a VC firm has purchased a BFY brand. They introduce us to the management team and require that these leaders work with us. That initial meeting can be tough, but we’re adept at building trust, and brand teams eventually come to love working with us.

Alternately, we serve as a resource for investors evaluating brands before purchase. We quickly conduct a SWOT analysis to identify the market opportunity, organizational psychology, brand performance, and other key performance indicators that can inform the purchase decision.

It’s a Seller’s Market

BFY food and beverage is the new tech: It’s a sexy market. Consumers are flocking to these brands, trends open up new product potential all the time, and social media is full of talk about food and health. Right now, we’re seeing food expos overrun with investors seeking brands to acquire; there’s more capital available than there are brands up for sale, which means it’s a seller’s market.

And that matters, because founder/owners seeking capital or acquisition are likely facing multiple suitors. How you interact with that founder can be the difference between “yes” and “no.”

Investors, especially VCs from the tech world, need to understand that BFY brands aren’t based on specs and features but on personas and passion. If you’re going to buy in, you need to understand the ideology that extends beyond just making money. Before you’ve got a deal on the table, or even once you’ve made a move, we can help. We’ve worked with enough BFY food and beverage brands to understand the unique animals that they are.

David Lemley

David was two decades into a design career with a wall full of shiny awards and a portfolio of clients including Nordstrom, Starbucks, Nintendo, and REI. His rocket trajectory veered when his oldest child faced a health challenge of indeterminate origin. Hundreds of research hours later, David identified food allergy as the issue and convinced skeptical medical professionals caring for his child. Since that experience, David and Retail Voodoo have been on a mission to create a cleaner, healthier, more sustainable food system for all.

Connect with David

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Founder Fears Associated with Private Equity and Acquisitions

November 28, 2018  |  an article by David Lemley

Better-for-you food and beverage has become the investment world’s industry darling. And with good reason. All but the most resistant non-believer understands that what we eat and drink and do to stay active have a direct impact on our health.

Combine this with the pace of change that technology affords entrepreneurial business, combined with the appetite for change of the typical technology-minded investor and it is just too fast for most incumbent brands. That’s why the longstanding practice of big companies buying startups to help them stay relevant is in high gear. And there’s no reason your company can’t be one their acquisitions and tomorrow’s breakout brand.

This white paper discusses a set of often unspoken expectations that minority investors, would-be acquirers and founder-owners need one another to understand in order to help you avoid getting swallowed up by anxiety.

The white-hot world of better-for-you food and beverage has more players from the equity world looking to get in before “old guard food brands” can discover the next rising star. A lot of these new players are holding companies and tech investors looking for a way to transition from Silicon Valley thinking to something more holistic.

This better-for-you flurry has got a strong head of steam. According to foodbusinessnews.net, the number of food investors has doubled in the last 5 years. Food has so much interest that its seems as though food & beverage investments now outnumber technology investments.

But this capital-infused high comes with its own challenges.

Food & Beverage Brands’ Key Investment Players

The tech investors tend to make their money by pushing people and systems to the edge. They are not accustomed to being in the people business and, sometimes, can have the attitude of disposable people and disposable relationships. Tech investors love ABC’s Shark Tank and sometimes fancy themselves as the sharks (and that is okay as long as the brand’s founder is aware).

Founders create a gem of a brand with their own tears, blood, and sweat. They live and breathe their company culture (even if it’s bad). So, while they are looking for capital to grow their organization, they are often reluctant to bring in partners who have a track record of being heavy-handed in operations, equipment, HR, and, well anything other than sales, marketing, and funding. This isn’t because the founders don’t understand these key areas as being critical to building meaningful, operationally significant brand systems. It’s more primal that that. Many founders, when faced with the specter of an investor putting multi-expert-hands in their proverbial pie, simply recoil. It makes many of founder-owners feel that potential equity partner or investor is only about growth at all costs — and when they don’t talk openly, the relationship is bound for the therapist’s couch (at best).

To work through this, the founder needs to ask questions of the core acquisition team and talk to other brands in their past and current portfolio. This is the only way to discover if the investor’s normal mode of growing an acquisition fits well with the culture of the current brand.

What Investors Need To Understand About Founders

Food and beverage brand creators are running on emotion and will likely question their gut instinct in the face of investor bravado.

Once contractually together, investors will often push for changes that the founder owner hadn’t anticipated. This can be resolved during the due diligence phase if the founder owner can look at and ask the following important (and often undervalued) question. Will my new partners possess and behave with the same moral compass that we used to build this business?

Food & beverage founders face a common set of fears when seeking investors.

  1. Founders fear that the industry may perceive them as a sell-out, especially if the acquiring entity and/or investor do not allow the brand to continue with the moral compass they created.
  2. Founders are weary that the earn-out portion of the deal may remain unattainable if the acquiring company’s pro forma is merely lip service in an attempt to calm the their nerves. The founder is concerned that the EBIDTA demands of the acquiring entity will put pressure in places inside the organization that will change the company’s stance on ingredients, sustainability, and hard-earned business relationships. So, in a worst case scenario, the founder could be labeled a sell out, not get paid, and be seen in the industry as having been bamboozled by people with deep pockets and a shallow conscience.
  3. They are not gonna “get” me, and I will be stuck reporting to a room of accountants and analysts who don’t believe in the brand beyond the balance sheet.

Investor Types: Which Is Best For Founder-Owners?

As a founder owner of a food & beverage brand, you will sleep better if you know and understand your would-be acquirer’s investment strategy. Are they looking for quick flips? Will they invest strategically in building the company out the way you envision or will they default to a specific point of view once the deal is inked?

Here is a simplified view of common equity partner philosophies.

  1. Moonshot investors think like Google and Apple. These investors buy a bunch of thought-leading brands and let them fight it out in the court of public opinion, believing that, eventually, one of them will be amazing and a must-have for everyone. The other brands are left to languish, fight for resources and ultimately go away. After all, there can only be one Siri.
  2. Spendthrift investors search for brands in distress so that they can acquire them at a bargain. Hostess and Necco Wafers and are great examples that happen to share the same acquiring investor. Roundhill Investments has made a name for itself by acquiring and growing nostalgic brands that have fallen out of fashion with consumers. Hostess is well on its way, It will be fun to see what they can do with the beloved Necco brand.
  3. Aggregator investors are looking for ways to make their marquee brand better. This is great if you have an ingredient-focused brand, or have  product that is more than the sum total of its ingredients. But it gets risky if you think you have a consumer-facing brand but are making most of your revenue in bulk or private label.
  4. Shepherd investors look for brands they can guide to greatness. As conventional food companies see more consumers choosing innovative natural, organic, and better-for-you products over legacy brands, they are seeking ways to meet that demand from acquisition to early-stage investments, and they have demonstrated a willingness to pay high multiples. These conventional food organizations are best suited to make acquisitions like Hormel (acquiring Applegate) and WhiteWave foods (acquiring Vega).

Obviously the best kind of equity partner for a founder-owner who wants to stay involved is the shepherd investor. But how does a founder-owner determine precisely what kind of investor they are talking to?

We recommend having a list of prepared questions about their business practices and their past wins and losses (as well as references from both). Here is starter question to ask a potential investor:

In the last three years, what has changed the most in our industry?

They should be able to speak candidly about the changing nature of consumers, the evolution of their preferences and behaviors, and connect these insights to your brand.

Many other situationally appropriate questions can be formed through a meaningful SWOT analysis prior to getting into due-diligence conversations.

For both parties it comes down to fierce, upfront dialogue. Be true to yourself and your vision from the very beginning. Listen, ask hard questions, answer boldly and with vulnerability, and whatever you do, don’t tell them what you think they want to hear.

Looking for a branding partner that has helped investors navigate founder brands – you found us. Drop us a note and let’s talk.

David Lemley

David was two decades into a design career with a wall full of shiny awards and a portfolio of clients including Nordstrom, Starbucks, Nintendo, and REI. His rocket trajectory veered when his oldest child faced a health challenge of indeterminate origin. Hundreds of research hours later, David identified food allergy as the issue and convinced skeptical medical professionals caring for his child. Since that experience, David and Retail Voodoo have been on a mission to create a cleaner, healthier, more sustainable food system for all.

Connect with David
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Food Brand Investors: 5 Things to Fix Before You Sell

September 25, 2018  |  an article by David Lemley

Food and beverage (F&B) is a hot market for investment right now. The number of investors backing small food brands has tripled in the past four years, as private equity firms, big food companies, and even tech-focused investors have entered the space.

Investors and behemoth companies are drawn to specialty F&B brands like RXBAR (acquired by Kellogg), EPIC Provisions (General Mills), and Bare Snacks (PepsiCo) because they’re passion-driven, founder-owner companies with great products and dedicated fans. Typically, private equity funding jumpstarts the brand from niche to mainstream, and then the investors sell to a big multinational that takes the business global.

We’ve witnessed the action from the inside. Working with investors and their leadership teams, we’ve seen what it takes to take a brand through that niche-to-global transformation.

So, you’ve invested in a brand that makes great products, employs good people, and has strong-ish sales. Your due diligence shows a big upside to this growth opportunity. Where should you invest first to get traction?

5 Areas to Target When Transforming a Food Brand

1. Employee engagement

A passionate workforce is usually one of the most appealing aspects of a food brand for investors. It’s also a stumbling block because passion can stand in the way of progress. Vision is the biggest problem here. Has the company’s vision changed from its early founding days? If there’s new leadership at the table, it probably has. And it’s no longer clear to the team.

As the new equity partner, if you don’t communicate the vision properly in a way that reassures employees, they’ll create their own narrative based on fear. Your message has to be more about growth and progress than about flipping and selling because passionate employees don’t want to be a part of something that’s solely transactional. A compelling vision for the brand’s future, communicated in a way that gets employees to buy in, is essential to keeping them engaged.

2. Sales and distribution

When facing the ever-increasing competitive set, a brand may struggle with velocity at retail. Having a defensible brand position with clear point of difference — one that the sales team believes in — is a game changer.

As an investor, you’re targeting growth, and you may have relationships that can facilitate new production capacity or distribution channels for the brand. That’s great. But you still have to make the sales team into evangelists. That’s where brand strategy comes in: It will give you the language you can share with the sales force so they can embrace the changes you’re implementing and move quickly to engage retailers.

3. Product innovation

Leaders of F&B brands talk about it, but they often misunderstand what it means or what it takes to be truly innovative. We see two key challenges for F&B brands in transition:

First, innovation is reactive, not proactive, focused on short-term gains instead of how new products extend the brand’s promise. Leaders make ingredient tweaks — hey, chia is hot now! — looking to get a sales blip.

Second, it isn’t supported by dedicated dollars and brains. Brands need a strategic pipeline of products coming one, three, even five years down the road. These new products may entirely replace the initial line.

As an investor, you need to view innovation through a macro lens, looking not at narrow trends like flavors but at megatrends that are long-term and global, like the shift to whole ingredients. For example, we knew five years ago that plant-based protein would be a major trend in food, so we’ve helped our clients push their products in that direction.

Innovation should be about meeting customers’ needs rather than pandering to their desires.

4. Capacity

The topic of capacity comes up frequently in our work with F&B brands looking to spark growth. How can you meaningfully expand retail outlets when you don’t have the means to actually make more product? This kind of growth comes at a real cost, either buying capacity in another facility or building one yourself.

It’s a huge challenge, and equity investment can be the bridge. When we were working with a midwestern food manufacturer, for example, their goal of getting into Costco came with significant risk because they didn’t have the output to fulfill that business. Our market research showed that it was a good opportunity, however, so the brand’s PE partner made the move and invested in additional capacity.

5. Branding

The brand’s fundamental promises — and the way that you as an equity partner keep them — all affect the first four items. A solid brand vision engages employees with a clear and compelling value proposition. Meaningful points of differentiation will reassure your sales team and your retail partners of your brand’s market potential. Brand strategy drives new product development and new distribution channels. And it provides a benchmark for taking on risk.

Investors recognize that there’s big opportunity in F&B to transform a niche brand into a global name, a product with moderate sales into a must-have for consumers. The work takes vision and guts. It takes getting the right people at the table to have fierce conversations about reality, to use data to confirm or disprove assumptions, and to make decisions based on fact.

David Lemley

David was two decades into a design career with a wall full of shiny awards and a portfolio of clients including Nordstrom, Starbucks, Nintendo, and REI. His rocket trajectory veered when his oldest child faced a health challenge of indeterminate origin. Hundreds of research hours later, David identified food allergy as the issue and convinced skeptical medical professionals caring for his child. Since that experience, David and Retail Voodoo have been on a mission to create a cleaner, healthier, more sustainable food system for all.

Connect with David

Don‘t see what you need?

Just drop us a line and we‘ll talk

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Food & Beverage Companies Add Value with Strategic Brand Extensions

May 23, 2018  |  an article by David Lemley

Your brand is one of your company’s most valuable assets. You know that. As with any asset, sustaining your brand’s longevity requires action; dormancy is not an option.

For many companies, brand extension presents an exciting opportunity to strengthen, grow, and preserve a brand. By leveraging a brand’s existing equity to create new product lines, brand extension can open the door to new sales and marketplace possibilities your business may have never thought possible. And while brand extension is certainly an investment, it’s one that’s well worth the risk when the right strategies are in place.

We’ve seen it time and time again: Well-implemented brand extensions can create tremendous value for a company. Devoid of strategy, however, a brand extension can be disastrous.

Successful Brand Extension Relies on Strategy Over Opportunity

Simply put, a viable brand extension needs to align with the fundamental way the market understands your brand. New product development shouldn’t happen in a vacuum; there has to be a strategy behind it.

Unsuccessful brand extensions tend to latch on blindly to the trend du jour, resulting in product lines that exist only to give the customer what your company thinks they want. Divorced from your brand’s purpose and promise, a brand extension will fade as quickly as the latest fad it follows.

The Wrong Way to Extend Your Brand

We know from experience how easy it is for a company to fall into brand extension that’s more opportunistic than strategic (think: Pumpkin Spice Latte).

Piggybacking on the success of popular brands and products is certainly an appealing brand extension tactic, but it’s not sustainable. If your brand extension exists simply to follow the demands of the latest market trend, its eventual failure is all but inevitable.

We’ve already speculated about the trajectory of Diet Coke’s recent brand extension, which was predicated on the popularity surge of sparkling and seltzer water. It’s too early to chalk this up as a brand extension failure, but we have doubts that Diet Coke went into it with the right strategy in mind.

Diet Coke’s new campaign is clearly targeting millennials, who are buying premium water products by the caseload. What Diet Coke failed to pay attention to is why someone would choose to drink a LaCroix or flavored Perrier over a soda in the first place.

The real reason Diet Coke has been losing traction over the last few years is not their flavors or their packaging. It’s their ingredients. Bottling the same old formula in a slim, sexy can is like putting lipstick on a pig. It may look more appealing, but the underlying issue is still there. This is a classic brand extension misstep — creating a product without considering what the actual market needs or wants.

Diet Coke wasn’t misguided in targeting millennials or even jumping on the LaCroix bandwagon. They just missed the mark when it came to brand strategy.

In our opinion, a Diet Coke brand extension that combined the look and feel of the new flavor cans with the ingredients and messaging of Coca-Cola Life (the no-sugar, no-aspartame version of Coke) would have been much more on target.

The Right Way to Extend Your Brand

A successful brand extension has to speak to what is already true about your brand and what the marketplace needs in light of that truth.

If you’re in the health food market, or maybe a vegan or vegetarian yourself, it’s likely you recognize the Hilary’s Eat Well brand — or at the very least recognize their most popular product. For the longest time, Hilary’s brand name was synonymous with just one product (albeit a damn good one), their “World’s Best” Veggie Burger.

In order to capitalize on the success of this veggie burger, Hilary’s took their own stab at brand extension by releasing a line of veggie burger products with different flavor profiles. This flavor diversification approach was, by and large, a success, but Hilary’s wasn’t really gaining additional traction in the marketplace. Most of the customers buying these new veggie burger flavors were already avid loyalists to the brand’s original veggie burgers.

When Hilary’s started working with Retail Voodoo, our team helped them realize they would only be able to grow so much in their current niche (veggie burgers) without finding other places in the store where vegans, vegetarians, and flexitarians would essentially give them permission to show up. In other words, they needed to figure out what was appealing about their brand apart from the draw of their already established and successful veggie burger product.

Ultimately, we helped position them as culinary vegetarian and free-from common allergens — two things that were already true about their brand — because we knew those concepts would resonate with both existing and potential customers. Once that brand promise was established, it was easy for them to find where they could and should go in the grocery store. That strategy has made all the difference for their brand.

A Brand Strategy Firm Can Guide You Through the Brand Extension Process

For well-established brands looking to create new revenue opportunities, brand extension can be a great marketing tactic — but it can be risky to go it alone.

If you’re curious about brand extension or not sure if your current brand extension strategy is on the right track, speaking with a brand strategy firm like Retail Voodoo is a great place to start.

David Lemley

David was two decades into a design career with a wall full of shiny awards and a portfolio of clients including Nordstrom, Starbucks, Nintendo, and REI. His rocket trajectory veered when his oldest child faced a health challenge of indeterminate origin. Hundreds of research hours later, David identified food allergy as the issue and convinced skeptical medical professionals caring for his child. Since that experience, David and Retail Voodoo have been on a mission to create a cleaner, healthier, more sustainable food system for all.

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Food Trends & Innovation: Branding Will Decide the Winners at Expo West

February 28, 2018  |  an article by Diana Fryc

Trends. Are you tired of following the whiplash of what’s next in food? No? Me neither. My favorite trade show of the year, Expo West (or better known as the Natural Foods Expo), is just around the corner. This show touts itself on being “the world’s largest natural, organic and healthy products event,” and it is frankly THE trade show for food, beverage, health, and wellness right now. I love seeing our clients and partners, but I’m mostly excited about innovation – real innovation, not just flavor profiles. I’m talking about revolutionary thinking about food, nutrition, and extensions that align with brand positioning.

Plant-Based Protein

We can probably call this a mega-trend at this point. The continued desire to eat more plant-based foods is part earth sustainability, part health, and part animal-welfare related. The bigger guys are doing it well (I’m looking at you, Tofurky, Field Roast, and Amy’s – you guys are killing it with line extension right now), but we see a lot of up-and-comers continuing to move into this space too, like our friends at Hilary’s. Specifically, Beyond Meat has caught my attention. Yes, it’s super kitschy that the burger “bleeds,” but the strategic merchandising next to ground meat in the meat department is freaking brilliant. I’d like to shake the hand of the salesperson that convinced Kroger to do that. There’s your zag. This trend is going to be around for a while, and we are excited to see how it grows beyond soy-based products and outside some of the basic products.

Sugar-Free or Low-Sugar Beverages

I’m not talking Stevia or some other sweetening substitute. I mean removing sweet flavors from the palate completely. The continued sugar backlash is creating quite the demand for alternative beverages (AKA not soda or traditional juices). Add the sugar tax and you’ve got a beverage consumption shift happening that is going to bring us whiplash. I anticipate 2018 to be just the beginning. I find it interesting that many traditional beverages like water (yeah – the clear stuff) and tea are rising in popularity. I suppose that’s to be expected, everything old is new again. Add sparkling beverages like DRY and drinkable soups and broths and you’ve got a full-on rebellion happening. Coke and Pepsi are certainly watching and taking note – as is evidenced by Diet Coke’s recent rebrand, but I don’t know that they are moving fast enough. My bet is there will be several portfolio acquisitions in their future to offset decreasing traditional soda sales. If you’re a brand considering a purchase, now might be a good time to clean up your books.

Ethnic Flavors

Consumers’ demand for something interesting and new is extending away from earlier trends of Mexican, Chinese, and Thai. An infusion of Middle Eastern, Southeast Asian, and African flavors are showing up on the shelves. As these are new flavors to the traditional American palate, it’s easy to position these as healthier options to the traditional Americanized version of our current “ethnic” options. While Korean and Vietnamese have been in my rotation for a while, I’m excited about the influx of “legit” Middle Eastern flavors becoming more accessible.

Biohacking

As consumers become more comfortable with the idea of using science to maximize the benefits of food, we are now seeing biohacking cross over into more conventional diets. From the more conventional Whole 30 to intermittent fasting, eating well has become a lifestyle. While Bulletproof and Soylent are my current brands to watch, I have a feeling Expo West will produce more food and snack options for those that have become comfortable with hacking their food for performance purposes.

Root to Stem

Eating the leaves of beets or the roots of cilantro doesn’t sound very exciting to me. However, if you are a foodie or a person interested in your environmental footprint, this might be for you. The flavors and nutrition from fruit and vegetable parts we have traditionally thrown away are becoming vogue. This trend is so new that I’m not sure I’m going to see any Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) on the floor just yet, but it is picking up speed in restaurants and homes of the more adventurous chefs. What I do expect to see are the beginnings of these conversations in the fresh produce sections of the show. How it will manifest for the average consumer (outside of maybe food delivery services and the produce section) is yet to be discovered. I’ll be curious to see how this trend might manifest in the next 12 months.

Meal Delivery

In the beginning, there was Schwans. Yeah – they’re still around, but being first to the market doesn’t make you the winner. Newer and hipper brands like Martha & Marley Spoon (sorry – Martha is my queen) will continue to grow. This category is getting incredibly crowded, and the winners won’t be the ones that have the best recipes, cheapest meals, or fastest delivery – it will be about the brand. Other than Martha (who is already a titan in the foodie world), the others will need to figure out their brand in order to stay in the game.

Instacart, Amazon, and even Kroger and Walmart will likely disrupt this category. They already have strong existing brand equity, supplier partnerships to support this area, and a robust operational infrastructure. They can deliver exactly what Sunbasket and others are doing with little heartache to their business. In the case of Instacart, the Uber of grocery shopping, they have a lot of flexibility because they are not limited to one retailer. The consumer that stays with them will be the one that wants to shop but is fickle about their commitment to a single retailer or brand and doesn’t mind paying for the convenience of having someone else do the shopping. (I love that my shopper texts me during their shopping trip to help me navigate inventory!) The newer brands will need to figure it out quickly and buckle up. It’s going to get bumpy through this transition. These brands will likely not have a booth at Expo because they sell direct to consumer, but they are on-trend and competing for those grocery and CPG dollars. They’ll probably be walking the floor looking for ideas or partner vendors.

Cannabis and Hemp Infusion

OK, OK, cool your jets. I am actually not sure this is a mainstream trend yet. However, with the growing number of states legalizing marijuana and the number of people that are warming up to the idea of it not being “the Devil’s drug,” cannabis and hemp seem like the next frontier for CPG. There is still a lot of research and development going into learning the health benefits of this product outside of recreational use. But one thing is for sure: It’s not going away, as evidenced by the financial investment into the high brand and packaging that is hitting the market. It will be interesting to watch how (and if) the recreational and functional (I’ll call it) parts of the product break apart for the different product shoppers. I fully anticipate Expo to be the place for this trend to break out into the CPG world.

As you can see, some trends may not be ready for CPG primetime, but it’s fun to watch the genesis transform. Sometimes you need to hit the floor and see the brands live before you really know if they’ve got legs. I’ll be sure to follow up after the show to reveal what mattered on the floor – not just what stood out.

By the way – if you are interested in seeing our work at Expo this year, here are the brands you should visit: Wedderspoon, Essentia Water, Second Nature, DRY Sparkling, Hilary’s Eat Well, Sahale Snacks, Living Intentions, Teton Waters, Alden’s Ice Cream, Atlantic Naturals, and Derma E. And if you want to meet up to chat, book a time today!

Diana Fryc

For Diana, a fierce determination to pursue what’s right is rooted in her DNA. The daughter of parents who endured unimaginable hardship before emigrating from Eastern Europe to the U.S., she is built for a higher purpose. Starting with an experience working with Jane Goodall to source sustainably made paper, she went on to a career helping Corporate America normalize the use of environmentally responsible products and materials before coming to Retail Voodoo.

Connect with Diana

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In Food & Beverage, M&A Success Relies on Brand Strategy

January 24, 2018  |  an article by David Lemley

The purpose of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is to combine the intellectual property, capabilities, and reputations of different entities into something more powerful, more valuable, and ultimately more sustainable over the long-term.

Ownership changes, acquisitions, and huge funding deals continue to swarm the food and beverage industry like flies at the world’s biggest better-for-you summer picnic.

The benefits of an M&A include diversified product and service offerings, increases in capacity and market share, merging operational expertise, shared research and development, and reduced financial risk.

These are all good, but an average of 50 percent of the 70,000 M&As in the last two years failed to create long-term shareholder value (some rank this number as high as a 75 percent failure rate).

There are two key problems that contribute to this:

  • Lack of vision or poor long-term strategy. In most cases, vision and strategy are rolled out after the deal is sealed and usually as a knee-jerk reaction to the people experiencing heartache while the new entity figures out how to increase shareholder value without an articulated vision. Poor strategy is the leading cause of merger failure.
  • Not taking care of the people affected. Failure to acknowledge, plan, and follow through on how to integrate the different cultures prior to the merger can leave employees struggling to cope with cultural differences, politics, and lack of effective communication. And when people feel as though they are being tossed about in a storm without a compelling vision of how they fit into the new big picture, they jump ship.

But take heart, we have seen many M&As succeed culturally and simultaneously increase in value. Simply put, brand strategy allows the acquirer and the acquired to have a shared vision for a shared future that extends beyond simply increased revenue and marketplace dominance by considering the ways they can influence the world – together.

Use the M&A to change what your brand stands for

The questions and decisions leadership makes about brand play a crucial role in unifying the merged entity and maximizing long-term value. Decisions about the brand are signals following a merger or acquisition. Go-forward brand strategy translates how a merger or acquisition makes sense and establishes a compelling vision for the combined new entity that resonates with employees, customers, and the outside world.

A brand is a set of promises your company makes and the manner in which you keep those promises (resulting in what Seth Godin calls memories, stories, and relationships that give people a preference for one product or service over another). Then we can begin to see how brand, although less tangible than a financial report and operational integration plan, can enhance or detract from the likelihood of M&A success.

Use the acquired brand to improve the cultural relevance of your brand

There was much ado about Spam maker Hormel’s acquisition of organic meat producer Applegate Farms in 2015. People began lamenting that the little guys had sold out to greedy corporations and that the big guys used it as an opportunity to squash the little do-gooder brand’s influence on the landscape of consumer concern about our food chain — everything from quality organic standards and sustainability to animal welfare practices. We confess, at first, we were skeptical and a bit freaked out by what they might do to our “Sunday Bacon.” We watched them carefully (along with many brand loyalists) looking for clues suggesting that design and marketing could be masking a decrease in quality or standards.

But we could never produce any evidence.

In short, the little guys weren’t selling out. Instead, the biggest guys in the world bought their way into this emerging ideology and consumer preference. They bought into the future.

Bottom line: Hormel now gets a lot of respect from retailers and clean label-reading consumers for not destroying the integrity or quality of Applegate Farms.

Use brand strategy to inform planned integration – or intentional separatism

Understanding and integrating two different corporate cultures is tricky. Management often assumes that the other company is just like them and then dismisses the need for deeper cultural understanding (especially when acquiring a business in the same or similar industry). But it’s one of the most common reasons for failed mergers. Certainly, it’s much better to have a cultural understanding prior to a merger and keep two brands operating independently until this situation changes.

Unilever’s acquisition of Ben & Jerry’s is a great example of successfully keeping cultures separate. Throughout the critical post-acquisition integration phase, Ben & Jerry’s successfully retained its culture, corporate identity, and brand image and at the same time became profitable. This happened because the leadership at both organizations knew that combining the cultures would risk destroying Ben & Jerry’s most valuable asset: values-driven culture.

Use brand strategy to define the next generation of your portfolio strategy

In a move that surprises and inspires us, InBev (Anheuser-Busch), the beer giant, acquired Hiball Energy, a producer of organic energy drinks and the Alta Palla brand of sparkling juices and waters.

The acquisition represents a strong desire by InBev to diversify their brand portfolio and to tap into a new high margin, high-growth segment.

“The combination of Hiball’s category-leading organic energy drinks and Alta Palla’s organic sparkling juices and sparkling waters together with our network and operational know-how will create tremendous growth opportunities for these brands,” João Castro Neves, president and CEO of Anheuser-Busch, told the Chicago Tribune.

This acquisition, along with the joint venture with Starbucks and Teavana made in 2016, signals that InBev is actively pursuing brands that will help them with their next generation product portfolio beyond the latest micro-brew industry darling. This forward-thinking during an M&A proves the positive impact brand strategy can have on the overall development of your portfolio.

Use brand strategy to acquire a meaningful innovation pipeline

Large companies innovate to refresh their products and enter new markets. The bigger a company gets, the harder this can be to achieve (success at scale is often the antithesis of innovation). So, many larger companies feel they must acquire a market-leading startup or leading niche player to expand into new markets, feed their innovation pipeline, add new capabilities to fill a gap in its existing capabilities system, or to respond to a change in its market.

Another giant watching consumer trends, Campbell’s Soup, acquired Pacific Foods, currently a leading producer of organic broth and soup. Founded in 1987, Pacific Foods has a sustained track of growth and according to the Campbell press release, “has strong health and well-being and organic credentials, particularly with younger consumers.” Campbell noted that the acquisition will broaden its access to organic customers and channels largely because the Campbell’s Soup brand is not in the consideration set of people looking for healthier options.

Making the conscious – or too frequently unconscious – decision not to focus on brand strategy early on in M&A or waiting until your people are unhappy is a recipe for failure.

With so much opportunity and so much at stake in the fluid yet highly competitive landscape of M&As, we believe that investing in brand strategy to drive your planning and vision at the front-end of the new relationship will reap rewards more quickly and sustainably.

David Lemley

David was two decades into a design career with a wall full of shiny awards and a portfolio of clients including Nordstrom, Starbucks, Nintendo, and REI. His rocket trajectory veered when his oldest child faced a health challenge of indeterminate origin. Hundreds of research hours later, David identified food allergy as the issue and convinced skeptical medical professionals caring for his child. Since that experience, David and Retail Voodoo have been on a mission to create a cleaner, healthier, more sustainable food system for all.

Connect with David

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Outdoor and Fitness Brands Ripe for Investment

October 19, 2017  |  an article by Diana Fryc

Last month, we shared which food and beverage brands have potential to make it big. These brands have that something special, but have not quite made it “big.” This month, we’re going to do the same thing, but focusing on another category we work with – outdoor and fitness.

Let’s face it: if you eat healthy, you likely play healthy too. It is the reason why Retail Voodoo works in the intersection of outdoor, better-for-you food and beverage, and health and wellness brands. You’re not likely going to see a runner’s pantry filled with Cheezy Puffs and soda. On the flip side, healthy foods don’t typically sit on the shelves of couch potatoes and slackers. Ask the next teenager you see what they snacked on the last time they played a marathon session of their favorite first-person shooter game. Pretty sure Brad’s Kale Chips isn’t on the list.

The following brands make active lives fun, easy, and approachable. They don’t make you feel like you need to be scaling the Alps or running ultra-marathons to be healthy. They’re not just cool products, no. Each one addresses an unmet need in the market and has the potential to make it big. With private equity and the right strategic help, these brands can really shake up the outdoor and fitness industry.

Kammok

I was immediately fascinated with this brand when I first saw them in the back tents of Outdoor Retailer a few years back. Their Kangaroo logo grabbed my attention and differentiated them in the category. Their products easily stuff into a pouch-like pocket – making a memorable brand association. Their hammocks are made from lightweight stuffable material and python straps – but that’s not what makes them stand out to me as a leader in the industry.

Growing up, my family lugged around a heavy, military-grade canvas hammock when we camped. It required a degree in engineering to figure out where to hang it and the strength of an ox to actually tie those 100-ton ropes in a way that not only held us in the tree but didn’t destroy the tree in the process. But during my first camping trip using the Kammok hammock, I noticed a fascination by the adults at not only the ease of use, but also the joy and glee of this “cool swingy thing” that the kids could nap and relax in. It’s now a necessity for every future outdoor trip. If we go too long without an adventure, I end up strapping it up on our porch for an extended weekend of relaxing, where it brings the memories of camping home in the few short minutes it takes to set up.

This brand has what it takes to grow so much bigger then it currently is. The versatility and portability of their products meet a gaping need in the marketplace. The ease-of-use makes them approachable to the average Joe and high-tech aspects make it desirable to the avid adventurer. The brand’s rock-solid mission, money-back guarantee, and superior quality make it prime for take off.

Tentsile

This brand takes camping to a new level – literally. When I look at these suspended tents, I immediately think tree forts. If you look at their website, you see amazing images of multiple tents stacked like apartments in the trees, allowing groups of people to share sleeping quarters in the sky, sort of like Ewoks or the creatures in Avatar.

So, let’s talk comfort. Back in my backpacking days (pre-kids), I would have loved this option mostly because no matter how amazing the pad, sleeping on the hard ground after a long hike sometimes just didn’t cut it. I imagine the feeling of being suspended in the trees without the rocks and bumps as near nirvana. I could see my kids finding these fun sleeping quarters incentive to go camping and hiking with great frequency as well.

Again, this brand looks really cool, but it also solves one of the biggest issues with camping: sleeping on the cold, hard ground. It eliminates the need to find a flat surface, opening the world up to all sorts of adventures and possibilities. When you’re no longer confined to a flat space on the ground, the options are virtually limitless. If this brand gets a bit of strategic help, it can easily become a household name.

Tiger Tail

Every active person I know has been to a physical therapist, massage therapist, or chiropractor to either fix an injury or correct a problem. Sometimes they just need general relief from their activities or life stress. This use-at-home, complete set of massage tools is easy to understand and not terribly expensive. It enables people to self-treat in the comfort of their own homes and on their own schedules.

As I’ve been watching this brand navigate a very convoluted market, it reminds me lot of compression socks and how those have become the go-to product for athletes and exercise fans. It fills a hole by bringing affordability and convenience into the marketplace. Physical therapy becomes less daunting and scary. Athletes and busy-bodies alike enjoy feeling empowered and independent (especially when something is out of their control) – Tiger Tail provides just that. It won’t be too long before everyone and their sister needs to have a set of these tools to help with body recovery when they can’t get to a therapist.

Oiselle

I’ve been following this Northwest brand since I met the founder on the floor of Outdoor Retailer a few years back. This brand has much stronger positioning than the others I’ve mentioned. They anchor themselves in sisterhood first, then a running brand second. The brand focuses on the needs of women athletes – but not in a dainty, “this is the ‘girls’ version of a masculine brand” way. However, despite their strong positioning, they fail to actively leverage it in their communication. This brand has the legs to compete heavily against the lululemons of the world. It’s almost there – it just needs that extra push.

Outdoor and fitness brands often suffer with brand positioning. They want to be coolest, hard-core-est, intense-est, or planet-loving-est brand in the market. Everybody looks, feels, and sounds the same in this industry and newer, smaller brands all default to the same positioning. But this strategy feels easy, safe, and ultimately, not ownable. Not every brand can be an Arcteryx or Leatherman, nor should they be. In order to truly stand out, brands need to not only make category-defining products – they need to stand out from the crowd in a meaningful way.

All of the brands highlighted here have fallen into the trap of buying into the default position – and they don’t need to. Their products are awesome and unique. The brands should take a stand and own it. To be clear, I’m not saying they shouldn’t feel like an outdoor or fitness brand and go completely off-track. But I am saying those are table stakes. Look to brands like Patagonia who started with table stakes and then went one step further to create something that people want to be a part of (or don’t). From there, with a little brand adjustment and maybe additional capital infusion, I see significant growth potential for these brands.

Diana Fryc

For Diana, a fierce determination to pursue what’s right is rooted in her DNA. The daughter of parents who endured unimaginable hardship before emigrating from Eastern Europe to the U.S., she is built for a higher purpose. Starting with an experience working with Jane Goodall to source sustainably made paper, she went on to a career helping Corporate America normalize the use of environmentally responsible products and materials before coming to Retail Voodoo.

Connect with Diana

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