EVENT COVERAGE BY BEVNET MAGAZINE STAFF
BevNET Live Summer 2022 BevNET Live Summer 2022 returned to New York City in June for the first time in three years at a “precipitous time,” according to Jeff Klineman, BevNET Editor-in-Chief, during his opening remarks. Beverage industry leaders and professionals convened eagerly for the two-day industry conference, which opened with a state-of-the-industry discussion featuring insights from retailers, brands, investors and distributors.
While the pandemic may be waning, brands remain vulnerable to looming disruptions, the panelists cautioned, including an uncertain economic climate and continued unexpected supply chain disruptions. In the midst of the chaos, there was an aura of positivity, however. Despite the existential threats ahead panelists and presenters spread sentiments of “we are all in this together” in a variety of ways throughout the event. The audience heard from a number of founders and CEOs, including Orgain’s Dr. Andrew Abraham, who said he built the organic nutrition shake brand by focusing on heart over ego. Sharing the story that led to the brand’s creation, Abraham said a childhood battle with cancer sparked an unerring drive to know more and do better, leading him to devour books on nutritional science and how quality ingredients impact the body’s recovery from disease.
As the brand grew and Orgain took on the nutrition category, Abraham fought to maintain focus on its original mission. That mission has also been shaped by the way he operates as a leader, through an approach that encourages feedback on the brand’s performance from team members at all levels of operations. By establishing an open door policy and holding monthly town halls, Abraham said he has created a work environment in which employees are free to voice their concerns about the company and ways it can improve. Following Abraham, David Klavsons – who in 2017 took the helm at Milwaukee-based King Juice, the parent company of lemonade brand Calypso – talked about how when he assumed the role, the brand was in disarray. “We didn’t even have sales reports, we didn’t even know where this stuff was being sold,” he said. But within the past four years, Klavsons and his team have executed a turnaround, putting Calypso on an upward trajectory and claiming the spot of the top-selling single-serve lemonade brand. Although he’s structured the company’s long term growth with sustainable, actionable goals and mapped out a clear direction on what Calypso can become, Klavsons said the work is not over. Kathy Galloway, founder of kgalloway consulting, meanwhile, said that “purpose” is a company’s reason for being beyond financial success and said that every founder should strive to infuse a draft of their mission, purpose and vision into the brand upon its creation. She recommended starting with defining its “why” and using that as its north star. On day two of the show, Liquid Death VP of marketing Dan Murphy took the stage to break down how the complicated world of web3, blockchain and NFTs has been used to market the company’s products.
The canned mountain water brand has gone all-in on what Murphy called “the most revolutionary tech out there” by selling NFTs through its Murder Head Death Club platform, leveraging its direct link to the brand’s community through Discord channels and turning Gen Z consumers into “superfans” by creating a lifestyle brand for the web3 community. “We don’t talk about users or customers,” he said. “It’s people, fans…we don’t make ads, we make content because people don’t like ads.” 38 BEVNET MAGAZINE – JULY/AUGUST 2022
