Saturday, Dec. 5th:
Damn, it was a cold Colorado morning. My business partner Reed and I were out before sunrise. We trekked to our co-packer’s facility, needing 100 tea bottles wrapped with new product labels. The BevNet ‘New Beverage Showdown’ was in two days and these samples were for the judges.
By 10am the samples were finished. We packed the cases into Reed’s Subaru and embarked on our epic 16-hour voyage from Denver to Santa Monica. Through blizzards in the mountains of Colorado, sandstone national parks of Utah, and casinos of Las Vegas, we traveled. Nothing was going to stand between us and the grand prize at our first beverage showdown.
After what seemed like a never-ending journey, we saw it: Santa Monica beach, the site of the Winter 2015 BevNet Conference. We checked into the hotel conference center, and delivered our cases of finished product. But it wasn’t time to relax, yet; tomorrow was the competition and we’d be pitching in front of industry giants, such as Coca-Cola’s head of marketing.
We rehearsed until midnight, perfecting our points of differentiation, dreaming of the $10K grand prize and marketing package that came with it. At 8am the next day the showdown began.
It happened so quick. Like in the blink of an eye, our 2 min. brand pitch was over. I just remember the sea of people and their vague faces in the audience as I spoke at the podium. Before I knew it, the judge’s were set to give their feedback. Reed and I waited eagerly, ready to hear praises of joy for our packaging completed by a renowned design firm, and rave reviews for our tea flavors, costing a small fortune with recipe consultants.
The judges began:
“For a name like 8th Wonder, you’d think the packaging would pop a bit more” one of the marketing experts expressed.
“There’s too much going on with your marketing message, it needs to be simpler for consumers to understand,” the head of Coca-Cola’s advertising unit said.
“I wouldn’t know what this is standing 5-feet away, looking at it on a shelf. The brand category is not clear” opined another judge.
And then a small glimpse of hope:
“You’re doing some interesting things in terms of flavor profiles, the likes of which I haven’t seen in the tea industry before,” Kevin Klock, Talking Rain and Sparking Ice CEO, positively remarked.
It was a mixed, negatively lop-sided, bag of responses. Reed and I couldn’t help but feel a stinging sense of doubt about our brand concept.
Upset, I left the conference center and hurried down to the beach. “What a waste of time, energy, and money,” I thought. I gazed out into the waves, and plunged my feet into the warm sand, questioning, “How can we make this work?”
Reed found me by the shore. He sat and reminded me of the positives that occurred. A hugely successful beverage CEO had lauded our flavor profiles. Our actual product, the superfood tea beverage itself, he thought was a hit. Yes, our packaging needed rework, and our marketing message could be simplified, but that wasn’t the end of the world. We could make those tweaks without any serious setbacks, and still hit the market in early 2016.
It took some time, but I started to realize Reed was right. A small change in course could lead to drastically more positive results. First, we agreed we would boost shelf visibility by adding eye-catching metallic label effects. Then, we would make it clear on our label with bold writing our beverage category, ‘Superfood Teas,’ to avoid any consumer confusion. Finally, as founders, we would consolidate our marketing message, and instead of trying to appease all athletes, creatives, and millennials, we would narrow our focus: Superfood Teas for Adventure Seekers. Clear as day.
Ultimately, the judges’ feedback — although hard to swallow — was invaluable. It made us reexamine our brand identity and clarify who we are as a company. Most likely, it would have taken months for us to reach the same conclusions on our own, in the market. In retrospect, as a young company less than a year old, we achieved semi-finalist status at BevNet which was a major accomplishment. We may have been a bit proud expecting to win our first showdown, but our high-hopes led to a healthy reality check. Now, following the event, we are excited to hit shelves strong in early 2016, with packaging design that pops, clear company values, and resolve in our hearts.
Entrepreneur’s Takeaway: Doubt can be a positive force in reevaluating and strengthening one’s brand. Always take criticism in stride.
Link to 8th Wonder’s semi-finals BevNet pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGlW9o_Yzic
Bottoms up!
Dan Moore
Co-founder 8th Wonder