The Bottom-up Drinks Newsletter
The top 5 reasons why many drinks founders don't focus on their home market. I'll show you my 5-step process to change that and make winning on your home turf your priority. By adopting this process, you’ll fix the basics before scaling abroad.
Commercial proposition
Wanna know the 3 stages to win in the drinks market? 1) Understand your brand: - what’s your core occasion? - what type of bars to approach? - how can sales explain it to bartenders? 2) Understand how to work with importers/distributors: - how can your team support
Commercial proposition
Stop overthinking about your brand positioning. Understand your commercial proposition. Why should bars buy your bottle? 👇 A drinks brand can have the coolest positioning in the world...but it's worthless if that cannot be translated into simple guidelines. Start from there to understand: * what bars are right for your brand
Distributors / RTM (Route to market)
You can convince distributors to sell your brand... ...or show them the bars that already want your brand. Choose your approach wisely: * top-down (you push the brand) * bottom-up (the market pulls the brand) Usually, brands enter a market with a distributor and then ask them to enter cool outlets. (top-down)
Insights
How to gather drinks industry insights: Old way: * Running Focus groups (with wannabe influencers) * Pretending to be customer-centric (and ignoring feedback) * Discussing findings in the echo chamber (of the board room) New Way: * Observing the action in a bar (in person) * Studying drinks menus (reading between the lines) * Talking to
Commercial proposition
Wanna build a drinks brand in a market? You have 2 approaches: Choose wisely: * top down * bottom up Usually brands enter a market with a distributor and then ask them to enter cool outlets. (top down) Think backwards (bottom up) and do your homework instead: * study the market * understand what
Commercial proposition
Imagine your brand as a person. Imagine your brand as a bar or as a restaurant. Who brings them drinks? That's your distributor. Here 5 steps👇🏻 : Start from your ideal consumer to find your best RTM. Translate your brand positioning into a commercial proposition: * Where do “your” types of people
Commercial proposition
Today the same approaches apply to building drinks brands. What's your approach? Here is my advice: The Greek geographer Strabo captured the Greek vs Roman approach in his Geography: "The foresight of the Romans added other elements besides the nature of the location. The Greek cities are thought to have
Sales Force Effectiveness
No silver bullet…but I’m sharing what I've learned in the last 20y: Let's demystify how to win in the market but let's also debunk some myths about how it is done. Always start with a clear objective. Build a solid commercial strategy (marketing+sales), execute against it with
Consumption occasions
Stop thinking that a niche is too niche. By trying to be liked by everyone, drinks brands end up dusty on shelf. If consumers cannot relate it to a clear occasion... 👇🏻 ...they will try your brand and never buy it again. Choose your uniqueness and stick to it: It's like
Portfolio Management
Drinks companies think in categories (i.e. Rum, Gin, etc.). Consumers think in occasions (i.e. lunch, aperitif, after dinner).Are team structures ready for the blurring of categories? Not yet. We are probably never going to see a "Director of after dinner" but there is a clear challenge to
City strategy
Are world's top cities the only places to build 🥃 🍺 brands in? Not anymore. They've lost the oligopoly. We need to go much deeper than picking a cool street on a map: Until 2020, we have only had the illusion that picking a top-class city could have helped us identify our
Commercial proposition
Commercial proposition
Understand what portfolio you require in the target cities. Gap analysis to assess which brand propositions have a potential in each target City (no ”one size fits all”). A lager beer has a different potential than an IPA. At the same time, with lager being 90% of the world beer
Commercial proposition