← DTC Podcast
DTC Podcast
Ep 475: Anatomy of the World's Fastest Growing Beverage Brand with BRĒZ Founder Aaron Nosbisch
00:39:06
Loading summary
Transcript62 lines
- [00:00]
A
This is ten year overnight success. As they say. There's two ways to innovate. One, just throwing out all the rules. The second is actually understanding the rules very precisely and then building new rules on top of them. People gotta get creative. Innovation is net difference. Like you gotta come up with a new way to get there. You know, it's like continuing to try to get through the same small hole that everyone else is trying to get through is never going to lead to like outsized returns. You have to come up with creative ways to do that. People don't realize how big alcohol actually is and how big a product like Breeze can actually become. Think about how many major old school industries were disrupted in the last 20 years. 30 years. Whether it was the phone book or an encyclopedia. Travel, the cab industry. Do you know what's never been disrupted? Alcohol.
- [00:55]
B
If you haven't yet used Motion, the creative analytics platform used by top Ecom and DTC brands like Fiore, True Classic, the Farmer's Dog, hexclad, and hundreds more to ship winning ads, here's why you should try it out. Everyone knows that the right creative is the number one lever for success with paid ads. That's how you make money. But consistently shipping new winning creative you're going to need your media buyers and your creative teams on the same page. Right now, you're probably spending hours tiring away going back and forth between Google sheets and your ad platforms and tools, and then spending even more time plugging it all into different decks for the rest of your team. In a perfect world, you could have an elegant way to combine visual assets and performance data so media buyers can save save time and creative teams can get the details they need to make great ads all in one place. And that's where Motion comes in. In seconds, you can build powerful visual reports using data from your ad accounts. You can monitor your performance metrics and see your visual assets in the same platform. No need to go back and forth across multiple apps. You'll finally have media buyers and creative teams working together to create and scale your next big winner. If you're ready to learn how the best DTC and ecommerce brands use Motion to ship winning Meta, TikTok and YouTube ads, book a demo or start a free trial@motionapp.com DTC Even better, motion offers a monthly subscription plan so you can dodge those annoying annual contracts. Get 50% off your first month when you use the link motionapp.com DTC on signup welcome to the DTC podcast, man. This is a long time Coming. Been following you since my days when I was running a failed newsletter for boomers called Boundless Boomer where we were gonna try to sell them CBD on the back end. It never quite came into fruition. It wasn't the worst idea. It taught me to run a newsletter which has paid dividends. But catch us up for. I think, I think you're one of the most well known D2C entrepreneurs right now. Just because you're building the. Probably the fastest growing beverage company in the world right now. I keep seeing your, you know, this slew of good news that's, that's that, that you're sort of architecting over there. So congrats, first of all.
- [02:58]
A
Thanks, dude. It's been fucking crazy. Like crazy. It's, you know, I'm extremely grateful. I have a really smart team. I've like, you know, it's like it's a lot of preparatory work that you're so you're ready for something great to happen and you. And then it does. You know, I like that quote I think Steve Jobs said. It's like it always surprised him how long instant success takes. You know, it's like, like a lot of people, I think a lot of people hear about me or Breeze for the first, for the first time even. It's like, where did this brand come from? It just popped up out of nowhere. But like, you know, we've been friends for a long time. I've been in the DTC world and my team's been in the D to see world for a really long time. And so like this is, this is a 10 year overnight success as they say.
- [03:38]
B
So talk. So when you were, I know you were sort of working at an agency kind of in the cannabis or CBD space. Walk us through your hero's journey to actually pulling it together to be like, I'm going to put my flag in the ground. I'm going to go and build my own product. You might have been doing that for a while actually though.
- [03:53]
A
Yeah, that's the other thing is I've been building DC brands also for a long time. You know, I. So I started back when I was. Well, way back when I was 10 years old, I got access to a computer for the first time and I started building websites and then I just got into hacking ipods and then somehow I got into designing app icons for hacked ipods or ipod touches. And then I was like, okay, I'm going to design T shirts. And then I started designing T shirts and then I got essentially those printed and then I tried to sell them on the Internet. So I signed up for Big Cartel, which was the early Shopify, before there was ever a Shopify or BigCommerce or any of these guys. Big Cartel was the E commerce website big cartel in MySpace. And I would sponsor endorse bands like Never Shout, Never like very seen kid stuff or the cab. Things like this, send them shirts, they put it on their MySpace and then people would order on our big car. It's like essentially influencer marketing today. Really all influencer marketing is really just endorsements at the end of the day or some level of it. So that's where I really got my start was back then. And then where I really cut my teeth was a brand called Monk. It was a portable aromatherapy diffuser. We essentially took vape pens like Blue E, cigarette type vibes and we took the nicotine tobacco out and we added essential oils. So what that did is it made it comparable to like an aromatherapy diffuser. So where you have your diffuser you put the essential oils and then it's, you know, blows smoke, it vaporizes the essential oils into the air. We did that, but we made it portable so you could just kind of breathe them direct from a pen. So we had like these different mood states. Like you could feel happy, sleepy, sexy, healthy, whatever from these different essential oil pens. And so that brand scaled very quickly from like 0 to 15 million a year in like two years. And back then when, so I was the CMO over there, I thought I co owned it. But at the time I didn't know how to dot my eyes and cross my T's. So I got kind of royally fucked on that deal.
- [05:39]
B
But phantom equity and it ghosted.
- [05:41]
A
Yeah, that's so funny, especially it's Halloween today when we're recording.
- [05:46]
B
That's right.
- [05:48]
A
So. So yeah, so that was, you know, so that's where I cut my teeth and so that was cool. I learned a lot. And back then 15 million a year was like a big DTC brand. Like this is like probably 2014 15. Like there was a few outliers that got massive, but you didn't see $100,200,000,000 D2C brands the same way you do today. Back then a $15 million year DTC brand, that was a big D2C brand. So we were in the top 50 fastest growing companies in the world two years in a row. So that's where I started learning a lot about terpene and aromatherapy and wellness. And that's also where I learned Facebook advertising actually back then, so I caught that first wave of Facebook ads and so really learned a lot there.
- [06:25]
B
So were there any restrictions on that product? Because I know when I caught up with you, you were sort of an expert at these restricted categories. Were there restrict. Did you learn that with the aromatherapy or did you learn that after.
- [06:36]
A
That's exactly right. Actually, I forget to mention that sometimes. So we try to advertise this stuff and we got shut down every which way on the aromatherapy pens. They're like, oh, these are vaporizers. And so I wrote a letter to Zuckerberg and like all these other people and I was like, this is not a vaporizer. This is not an E cigarette. This is an aromatherapy diffuser that uses essential oils and vaporizer technology. And I'm like, this is the definition of innovation. And if you don't like, whoever I wrote this email to, I think it was Zuckerberg. I don't know. I don't know. I sent it to someone. I was like, if you don't see that the corporate machine is ate your soul or something like this. Something like really ridiculous that I probably should have done. That's hilarious. But I sent it because. Because it was like in my head, like I grew up paying attention to these guys like Zuckerberg and Musk, like while I was in the middle of nowhere, Illinois on my MacBook thinking, like, this is what entrepreneurship is. And these guys always embodied this idea of just radical innovation. You know, it's like breaking the systems. And so I'm like, how is this. How is the guy who broke the system Zuckerberg going to tell me is now becomes the system and tells me I can't innovate, you know, and so I. So I think I always took that a little personally to this day. So. So I said that. And then, you know, a couple days later, our ad account got unlocked and we were the first non vaporizer to ever advertise on Meta. And so, like, it worked. Yeah. And I don't know who saw it. I don't know, maybe it just happened.
- [07:51]
B
To be, let's say Zuckerberg.
- [07:52]
A
You know, let's say you really cut him.
- [07:54]
B
You're like, oh, I'm not a sellout.
- [07:56]
A
He's like, I'm not a corporate.
- [07:59]
B
That is the most successful thing I've heard. Working from that level of like, shout out. I actually have a friend, he would hate that I'm mentioning this, but who's actually like orchestrated like press campaigns to pressure Facebook where he's like, worked with journalists and. And tried to get, you know, it's interesting, that dimension of things.
- [08:15]
A
And I don't know if it could have. It could have just randomly been that, like, our ad account just got a review at the same time. But, you know, but it's a cool story, and it kind of worked out. The point is, we became the first non vaporizer, which was really a vaporizer with essential oils in it, to advertise on Facebook and Instagram. That was a major deal. Like, you didn't see ads for vapes on Facebook and Instagram, and all of a sudden you're seeing portable aromatherapy diffusers. People are using these products. So that gave us a lot of opportunities. We scaled the hell out of that company. And then I learned that way that there's two ways. A big revelation I had, there was. There's two ways to innovate. There's one, just throwing out all the rules. The second is actually understanding the rules very precisely and then building new rules on top of them. And that's what we did at Monk. It's like, I knew that the rules said no E cigarettes. I knew the rules said that there's no vaporizers, but we weren't an E cigarette because we didn't have nicotine in our product. We weren't vaporized or as they defined it in their policy, because we didn't have nicotine in our product. So, like, upon an actual close review, we weren't breaking the rules. And I think that was actually the catalyst that facilitated our success. So, you know, I carried that over. I started a CBD brand in 2018 called McCoo. And I tried to advertise it, and I just got shut down every which way possible. And I think you know this. Of course you know this. But for those who don't know this, 2018 is when the farm bill passed which legalized hemp. Hemp is defined as Cannabis Sativa below 0.3% THC by weight. So what that means is essentially like, hemp is just marijuana. That's really low thc. And so we started a CBD brand, and I was really excited, but tried to advertise it on Facebook, and I got shut down every which way. I finally got some ads live, and we drove like, 60k in recurring revenue. I was like, oh, my gosh, this is going to be so cool. Whatever. And then I just got, like, royally shut down. Like, really bad penalty. My whole account was taken down. I'm like, I don't even know if I'M going to be able to advertise ever again. And I think it just like really frustrated me and I just like had a personal vendetta, vendetta of like, I'm going to figure out how to advertise CBD and hemp products. And I just kept working on it and kept working on it, kept working on it. Eventually I found some traction through essentially like a clause in the policy that said that you could educate consumers about CBD and Hemp as long as it wasn't like selling on that page. So I started doing these like compliant CBD and hemp advertising and I partnered up with Nick Shackelford and some of these other guys. So I had more direct support at Meta. Nick, you know, for those who don't know, Nick has like really, he had structured, which is a big agency that had a lot of spend. So we did this partnership deal and then Lucid, like was seen as part of that same company in the eyes of Meta, which gave me like straight line of access to Meta to kind of like point out to them that everything that we're doing is actually compliant and they need to allow it or the corporate machines ate your soul.
- [11:03]
B
That's a smart move. That's a pretty non standard ladder right there, right when you're talking about like building new rules on top of old rules. Like partner with an agency that has, that has that traction with the brand, that's, that's cool dude.
- [11:14]
A
And like people got to get creative. Like, you know, I mean like that's the thing is like, you know, innovation is net difference. Like it's net new different. Like you got to, you got to do something new, you got to come up with a new way to get there. You know, it's like you, if you like continuing to try to get through the same small hole that everyone else is trying to get through is never going to lead to like outsized returns. You have to come up with creative ways to, to do that, you know, and then, and then find other people who have that similar mindset, you know, like the reason me and Nick make good partners is he's kind of like that, you know, it's like we both have kind of like this creative like hackster innovative kind of mindset to us that, to look for that. So anyway, did that partnership that gave me the Meta access I need, I had the compliance strategies and then we started compliantly advertising for some of the biggest brands in hemp and cannabis. And to this day Lucid is running 90% of all cannabis and hemp ads on social media. 80 to 90%, but the majority for sure.
- [12:07]
B
And can you give us just a high level on what that strategy is? I know we have a lot of restricted advertisers in the audience. I know there's a lot of nuance to be careful about, but essentially it's that two clicks away strategy that we've kind of talked about before. Is that right?
- [12:18]
A
Yeah, like the, you know, there's kind of, there's, there's like, levels to it. So there's one which is like, if you advertise educational information about CBD and Hemp that's just compliant, you can, you can do that all day long, but you can't sell on that page. On the page you're driving to. It has to be educational, but then it can lead to additional information which can include sales material. That's 1, 2. It's like, you can advertise hemp products, but you can't advertise CBD and THC products. But the trouble with that is Breeze is a THC and CBD hemp product. So it's like, we can advertise the fact that Breeze is a hemp product, but we can't advertise the fact that Brise is a THC and CBD product. So that's kind of the nuance. Like, don't mention THC and CBD on the landing page and your ads, like, or at least do your best to avoid it until you get really good at it. That's one key. The other key is, like, be a really good advertiser. Like, know how to have a healthy account. Like, don't create conditions where your account is just in poor standing. You know, it's like whether it's rejected ads or whether it's like, there's just a lot of, like, little things that you can do to just, like, keep your ad account in good standing. And the better standing your ad accountant is, the less flags you give, et cetera. So we're kind of like in this, like, weird gray area of almost what I'd say, like a. An activist agency where, like, some of our strategies are compliant, some of them are a little bit more activist. And again, like, you know, think about it, man. Like, Zuck is a innovator and a breaker of things. Like, he's changing the world actively and has been for decades. You know, it's like, I don't really think he's that anti cannabis or hemp or Breeze or any of this stuff. I don't think he even really cares. I think he's just trying to cover his life himself and liability sense to a degree by making these things that are kind of in this regulatory evolution, evolute, evolving place. He's just trying to stay free from it for corporate policy. But I mean, what I mean by that is like I don't think that they actually care about this temp advertising stuff. And like, I think that they, you know, the reality is these products are, are federally legal as well. So anyway, so that's how we do it. And it's, it's, you know, it's taken different variations and evolutions over the years and I'm sure it will years to come. It gets especially challenging during election periods that the policy is tighter for everyone during this period of time. So you gotta be really careful. But I think it's ultimately like advertising cannabis products is only gonna get easier and easier. There's places like X where you can fully advertise THC and CBD however you want. Like there's certain limitations. I think it's like, oh, the states that it's legal in or the states that hemp's legal and you have to focus on those places, but you can do that. And then Snapchat dude just rolled us out as well. Full, full compliance where we can advertise THC and CBD from hemp in places where it's legal. So, so that's been a huge unlock over the last two days. Actually. I think you might have saw some of those revenue numbers we posted, but part of that was Snapchat getting unlocked.
- [15:12]
B
That's wild. Well, take me back just to the beginning of Breeze. Like you've, you'd already launched a CBD product. You had your agency. Edibles. Consumables is such an exciting category for health reasons and for, for growth reasons. Talk to me about like coming up with Breeze and launching it and how long has it been now?
- [15:28]
A
18 months.
- [15:29]
B
18 months?
- [15:30]
A
Yeah. 18. 19. Right. We're about to go into our 19th month, I think. So that's absolutely wild.
- [15:36]
B
And what are your goals for year two? You told me in the pre interview. I don't know if they've evolved in the last little while. But what are your goals in year two of this CPG brand?
- [15:43]
A
That's a great question right now. So like, so we launched it on 4. 20, 20, 23. In that first like eight month period we did like close to $2 million in revenue, I think. So there was that and then in our traction. Yeah, it's crazy. And then our first 12 month period now. So like from 1-1-24 to the end of this year, January 2021, 25, I think we'll do around 25 million, give or take a million or two up or down. So depending on how, you know, Black Friday, Cyber Monday panel and things like that, which is just crazy growth, my hope is to at least double it next year. It depends a lot on how this, like, the regulated regulatory landscape evolves. I think it'd be really cool if we could get to 100 million next year. And I think the weird thing, man, is like, I know it's possible and I think it's likely. And like, I know that like, like in a very like, deep sense now there's, it's the legality side of it. There's a lot of states that are creating frameworks that make this fully legal. There's other states that make it more complicated. You know, there's, there's big alcohol players who want to put this under their system and their distribution system. So that way it stays within there and they want to, some, some of them might want to cut off DTC and make that much more challenging. You have cannabis players who are like, hey, wait, what the heck? What happened? Beverages don't sell in dispensary. So they're kind of freaking out like, because there's this missed opportunity where we're getting mainstream access of THC products on a federal level according to all kinds of mainstream consumers that the dispensary people never had really access to. And their experience selling beverages in dispensaries has been very, it's a very small portion of their sales. It's less than 2% of total sales in dispensaries are beverage. So they didn't even really care about beverage yet. So you have cannabis monopolies that are like, hey, wait, we want a piece of that. And then you have alcohol guys that are like, alcohol is on a little bit of a downtrend. This is a new growth category. They want to put it under theirs. And then you have this hemp category, players like myself that are the ones doing it. So it's, it's crazy, crazy time, man. Like, and because you, I'm sure, know this, but people don't realize how big alcohol actually is and how big a product like breeze can actually become. It's not small. It's, it's not, it's not in the realm of D to C as most traditionally know it. You know, like, we all kind of live in this like 100, $200 million, like the height of success world. That's not actually the case in, like, real CPG business and real beverage. Like Monster Energy, for example. I'm sure you know this is worth $60 billion. $60 billion. They sell green water with caffeine in it, dude. You know, it's funny.
- [18:23]
B
I was. I was. I was thinking about this when I was following the Puff Daddy thing a little bit, and his partnership with Diageo, how he, like, launched and, like, what unbelievably huge company they are. Like, how Ciroc, this one niche booze, niche vodka booze, was, like, skyrocketed through this association with him back in the day. And it is. I think that's a good. Good thing to point out. And what's cool is it's not alcohol, because there is this, like, backlash about alcohol right now a little bit that I think everyone I know is feeling that, like, everyone I know who drinks is, like, questioning why they drink at this point.
- [18:57]
A
Why is that, you think?
- [18:58]
B
Good timing? Because it's a tox? It's a neurotoxin, probably, I would think. And it's just sort of like. It's just people questioning whether the juice is worth the squeeze. I think that's what. Why do you think?
- [19:10]
A
I kind of think the same thing, you know? I mean, like, alcohol is a weird one, man. It's like, it's been part of our culture for such a long time that like. Like, we've almost all kind of, like, fallen into this, like, collective illusion that we're just, like, all, like, enabling each other's use of. It is kind of how I feel about it. Like, it's a. It's. It's a weird thing. It's. It's so big of a thing that it's almost invisible. Like, we don't realize, like, how much of a utility alcohol actually is in our society. Comparable, I think, to coffee, like, doesn't. Like, you go to the grocery store, it's there. You go to the bar, it's there. You go to the. You know, you go to a restaurant, and there's actually an altar built in the middle of the restaurant dedicated to a drug that is called alcohol. What the fuck's that about? Like, I'm not saying it's, like, whether it's a good thing or a bad thing. It's. It's. It's a phenomenal thing, for sure. It's a super. It's a supernatural. Like, it's a. It's an odd thing.
- [20:00]
B
It's a spirit. It's a spiritual thing. It's spirits. Why is it called spirits? What does that mean?
- [20:04]
A
My theory is it's because it influences the way you feel and how you are. And that's like, that's why again, whether it's an energy drink or a breeze or alcohol, these are powerful products that are kind of like outside the traditional category class of cpg. It's like cheese puffs don't make me feel that different. You know what I mean? Like they, you know, maybe that little pleasure from the sugar or the cheese, whatever. But like, it's not like the liquid courage.
- [20:32]
B
It's not liquid. Literally, it's liquid courage. Right? Like you're taking it so that your behavior will change. It's sort of like. And it takes the agency away from you a little bit. It's like, oh, I'll have the courage to kiss her of the courage to do this if. And then it's like, what are you doing with the rest of your life if you're requiring the craziest mindfuck for me was hearing someone talk about happy hour and there's this thing on earth called happy hour and you're allowed to be happy during happy hour and that's when you. That's when your drinks are 10% cheaper and you have these small plates or whatever. But it's like, what, what have they done to us? As I think you should leave has said so.
- [21:07]
A
Well, it's a weird, weird thing. It's a weird, weird thing. I think about it all the time. So much so that I started a brand all about it, you know. But like, honestly, dude, it's been, it's been a little challenging lately because let's like alcohol actually owns the existing infrastructure around distribution of products like Breeze and they own it, they run it. There's a thing called a three tier system, which means that there's the brand, the retailer, the distributor and then the brand. And you can't own all three. You have to own one or the other. And that's to break up the idea of a monopoly, which was really important back at the end of prohibition when these guys were all the same people. It's really not as important these days, but that's how the system has been designed. So I say that because it's like, it's challenging to be in a position like Breeze, because Breeze is an alcohol alternative and there's benefits to drinking Breeze over alcohol. Yet at the same time, for mass distribution, I'm somewhat reliant on alcohol distributors and if I come out here and say fuck alcohol. Then there's a bit of like a well, we're not helping breeze get distributed aspect to it. And this is, I guess like in a grander scheme of it, man. It's like it's really not about the demonization of alcohol or people who drink alcohol. Who cares? The point is, is that there are all kinds of ways to feel better and people shouldn't be have such a limited choice to what is what they're using to feel better. And like my, my real like enemy in all of this is alcohol abuse. Like, alcohol abuse is a serious thing and I think alcohol would completely agree with me that like alcohol abuse is a problem and we're all fighting against alcohol. Ab Breeze is a really great product for someone who has had a past with alcohol abuse. Like, you're going to get a sense of relief and satisfaction and like relaxation and maybe some euphoria and like just positive vibes in a very like not harmful way, you know, like a very generative way, especially compared to abusing alcohol. So maybe I could rant about this stuff for a while. But it's a, it's a funny thing to dance, man. Like, dude, like when like alcohol is a $250 billion industry, think about how many major old school industries were disrupted in the last 20 years. 30 years. Okay. Whether it was the phone book or like an encyclopedia.
- [23:30]
B
Travel agents. Yeah.
- [23:32]
A
What about the cab industry? Do you know what's never been disrupted? Alcohol.
- [23:37]
B
Yeah. Not significantly, no. What an, what an amazing opportunity. Talk to me about bootstrapping this bad boy too. Because it's like CPG brands. Like there is this sense that you really need a war chest to kind of get into this game. Talk to me about, about bootstrapping this bad boy.
- [23:53]
A
So I married really wealthy. No, I'm just kidding.
- [23:56]
B
Easy.
- [23:57]
A
That's. And that's, that's what I recommend. Just kidding. The key is for me, it was like I started Lucid in 2018 and Lucid became a very successful agency. And so like, you know, the nice thing, the, the horrible thing about agencies is it is a what have you done for me lately business where you are just like constantly grinding and working and like trying to, you know, keep things working. And it's a tough business. The great thing about agencies is they're cash cows. Like they spit off cash really effectively and you work your tail off for it. But like if you keep it running, you know, they have good profit margins. They're, they're. There's a service based business and you know Many agencies are in the 20 to 50% of profit range, you know. And so like so over building the years I was able to accrue a little bit of wealth. So I had some capital available also my partners had a little bit of capital available that they were willing to contribute. And so, so we invested like collectively all in to like get the thing going. It was an injection of like 50 and then 100 and then another 50 and then another 50 or something like that all in. It was like 250 to. To get the thing going. And you know like to your point about like CPG products being really expensive, there's two reasons for that. One is the infrastructure or like the, the buildup cost necessary to come up with a product, formulate it, buy enough inventory, go through that iter process. Two is a lot of CPG products, especially in the beverage world like are reliant on distribution, retail distribution. Because it doesn't really make sense to do a direct to consumer model for beverage most of the time. So you have to invest pretty heavily in a sales team and a lot of upfront costs that essentially put you pretty far into the red ever before you get the opportunity to make any money. And so we didn't do it that way. I knew direct to consumer. I've been doing direct to consumer since I was 13 years old and 30. I have a lot of experience in this world. I just get it. I have a lot of friends like you who are masters of this world. I got friends like Nick. I have all these friends that, that know this game. So we just built this company about you know, what we knew, what I knew. And that was D2C. And so there's things that are like embedded into it that are to the aware person from the D2C from the experienced person in D2C they'll see it like there's the unit economics of Breeze are built to be a D2C brand like Breeze is expensive one because it's really quality product. But not only also because to make a D2C beverage brand work it has to cost a certain level to make a high enough AOV so that I can pay for the tax necessary to, you know, which is also part of why the subscription is such a heavy discount. You know, you get 25% off Breeze if you subscribe on a bi weekly basis and 20% off if you subscribe on a monthly basis. So, so that increases, you know and I'm willing to lose a little money on that subscriber to then pick it up on Month two, month three. And I know the LTV numbers and to facilitate that. And so I guess my point that is, is like the company from day one was built to be a direct to consumer business and to have a business model that would support it. So that way I knew that after investing that initial capital that we would have a model that if we could, you know, achieve product market fit quickly and get some strong creatives so you get some strong cacs, it wouldn't take long to achieve profitability. And it didn't, you know, we were profitable within six months if, if not like four months in something like that.
- [27:23]
B
And you're building outside of this liquor owned distribution system. Right. Whereas if you were a liquor thing, you'd be playing their game, trying to get in their stores all the time. I'm sure you're doing that eventually, but I think I understand you're. It's almost all D2C. Like it's all like Breeze's success is driven like 90% with things like Meta, a little bit Snapchat.
- [27:41]
A
It's really not all DTC anymore. Like thankfully we're maturing to becoming more of like a proper beverage brand. But like the majority of our successes is D2C up to this point. The trouble is like it grew so quickly and it got, so it got so big on the D2C side. It's hard to like lift up the retail to the, to the speed that the D2C is that so, you know, on the retail side. So flipping the script for 90% of revenue comes from D2C. 10% coming from retail at the moment getting closer to 15% but like retail went from like 70,000 or from like 20,000 to like 50,000 to like 90,000 to 140,000 to 240. And I think we're probably around 300,000 and targeting 420,000 for November. And where is this selling total wine in Florida and in Texas? Convenience stores, liquor stores, grocery stores, coffee shops, restaurants, bars, a lot of bars. Anywhere you would buy alcohol is kind of like the type of place that Breeze would be sold sometimes.
- [28:40]
B
Big move, like there's non alcoholic options for people. But I haven't been to too many bars yet where they have these. I know a lot of people who do drink cannabis beverages as instead of booze. So I could see that being a huge growth area.
- [28:51]
A
Isn't that crazy how fast that happened, by the way? Like that wasn't a thing two years ago. Like people didn't drink cannabis beverages and now like pretty much anywhere you go in most states, you can find a cannabis beverage pretty and like they're at places now too, like at restaurants and bars. And dude, we're in the first inning of that shit. Like it's going to get. And the thing is, man, it's like cat's out of the bag on this one. I really like this quote, which is the future is obvious but unexpected. A lot of the cannabis guys that invested all this money in cannabis thought, oh, this is going to be just like booze. This is going to be just like booze. Everyone's going to, we're going to buy joints like we buy beers. Dude, if you've ever smoked a joint, you don't smoke joints like you drink a beer. It's not the same cadence, it's not the same strength, it's not the same experience. You also don't rip out a joint with your group or your buddies at the party and be part of the mix. Like it's offensive, it's, it smells. Depends on the party for sure. Like, I mean if everyone's smoking maybe, but like if I'm the one guy who doesn't drink and I rip out a joint, like, yeah, I'm probably going to piss off my butts, you know, or like I was hanging out at a bar with some friends yesterday or not a bar, a taco shop with some friends yesterday and people were drinking. I'm like, I'm like, can you imagine if I ripped out a joint right now? Like, it would be like the most disruptive possible thing in this restaurant yet. We're all drinking alcohol and in fact if I opened a breeze, no one would care nor know any different. Like, and I'd be on the same. So like, so this is the obvious but unexpected cannabis beverage in nano emulsified technology which makes it fast acting and short lasting. Comparable to alcohol is the obvious but unexpected evolution of cannabis that will make it truly a mainstream product comparable to alcohol. And like, now it's just a matter of time. And I'm, I'm really grateful that Breezes has had the opportunity to, to scale and, and lead the cat. It's the biggest cannabis beverage in the world now.
- [30:43]
B
That's unbelievable.
- [30:44]
A
I know.
- [30:45]
B
So back to D2C for a sec. Like, what are you. So the number one thing that you know that determines whether a CPG price is going to work or not is whether it gets picked up, whether, you know, and that's usually on shelf, like, okay, that looks cool. That's something different. That's a new category That's. So how do you describe the success that you've had on a platform like Meadow that's probably driven a good. A good chunk of this growth? What works there for you?
- [31:07]
A
It's a lot of things, but I think probably what works best is I think, dude. Another quote I like is, change happens when the people who need it lead it. My friend told me that one. One time he runs a nonprofit here in West Palm called Inner City Innovators, and he does amazing work. But I really like that quote because it's like, I think what's working is I wanted an alcohol alternative. I wanted something. I used to drink a lot of alcohol. I don't drink alcohol anymore. And it kind of left a spot, a hole where I'm like, dude, I like, I love hanging out with people and having like, a social beverage to like, chill and hang out, but I didn't really like the negative consequences that were coming with alcohol. And like, I know whatever part of myself felt that isn't like, isn't really Aaron. It's the same part of Eric that feels that when he drinks. It's the same part of everyone who feels that when they drink. And like. And so, like, I knew that, like, if I was feeling that way at some level, everyone is feeling that way. And so if I can make a product that solves for that. And I learned from really awesome people, there's beverages like can and Hayo and other Ken Euphorics that did some cool stuff prior that was all, I'm standing on the shoulder of giants, per se. Kind of like we all are with new ideas. But I knew that if there was something uplifting and social and relaxing comparable to that, that actually scratched the itch. This is the thing, actually. Scratch Alcohol is a powerful drug. People should not be fooled. It's not like, like frickin drinking a chamomile tea. It can knock you on your ass if you're not careful. So you have to have something strong enough and effective enough yet safe. And so we built that. And so then the game is just communicating that. Dude, the thing about ads these days, and I've been in E commerce and meta advertising for a long time, everyone's so trying to sell people shit and come up with this new angle of like, hey, you know, like, I'm not really trying to do that. I'm trying to say very clearly and very simply that breeze isn't microdose cannabis and mushrooms in a can. It's a euphoric, uplifting, and exciting alcohol alternative. That's gonna scratch that itch without the downsides traditionally associated with alcohol. It's subtle and it's stackable. It's fast acting and it's short lasting. You can drink it anywhere. You would drink alcohol normally and be clear, conscious and feel good in the process without feeling worse later. You might even sleep better. That's not me really selling it. I'm just like really just expressing it. And I try to do that as sincerely and consciously as I can through creative. That feels like I'm talking to you through FaceTime rather than doing some Hollywood ad campaign. And I think that that resonates with a lot of people. And it's a great product, dude. More important than anything. Like you can sell anything once the question is, is a good enough product that people keep coming back for it and it's a great product. It actually does fulfill those things I just said. And I give a lot of credit to my team for that. Travis Duncan, amazing formulator. Preston Campbell, Ph.D. in pharmacology who has supported us along the way. Great ingredient partners. We made a great product. And so great marketing facilitates. There's two things that matter in business. Innovation and distribution. That innovation was critical because all this great marketing that I know or Nick knows or any of these other guys know, none of that shit matters unless you have a great product to go with it. So I feel like we're just really focused on doing those two things well and then they feed each other.
- [34:27]
B
I feel like you're just really living your truth. There's a phrase that ChatGPT reminded me of when I was pre prepping for this interview. Just sort of faith in abundance. And I feel like that you think you sort of embody that a little. Talk a little bit about your mindset when it comes to business.
- [34:43]
A
I appreciate that my mindset when it comes to business and around abundance.
- [34:48]
B
I think, I think a lot of people have trouble imagining like you're talking about having this opportunity in front of you. This like what? Like, you know, really hard to fathom the scale. But it's like you kind of have to fathom this hundred if you want to get there.
- [35:02]
A
Yeah, you have to. It's about that.
- [35:03]
B
I mean.
- [35:04]
A
Yeah.
- [35:04]
B
And you have but to play in that space. It's like you have to allow your mind to believe that that's possible. In a way.
- [35:10]
A
You have to die to yourself. I think that's how you do it. Like if I've learned anything like, you know, it's like the thing is, man, it's like I didn't, like, make my bones work together like this today. Like, I just woke up, you know? Like, I have no clue if I'm gonna wake up tomorrow, but I probably will because I woke up this morning. Like, I have. I have enough realization that, like, I'm not actually in charge of any of this shit going on. I'm just living it. And I have enough awareness to know that I'm not going to be here forever. And so, like, I, like, I have a lot of faith and trust that, like, I should go out and try to make the world as great of a place as I can and give my best effort for it and dream as big as I. Wildly as I possibly can and try to bring that down to reality in the short amount of time I have. And that. That. That's a. Like, that's a very good thing to do, and there's not much to lose by doing that. And in fact, the real. The real risk is by not doing that. Like, and when you put that in perspective that the real risk is not trying, the real risk is not trying, then trying is the only thing to do. And why not just give it everything you got? And it's like, if it doesn't work, at least you gave it your all in that process oftentimes. Dude. I think there's a Terrence McKinnon quote about this. He's a big psychedelic guy. I think he says, the big secret of all the ages, of all the occult, of all the hidden societies, the big secret is that if you can muster enough courage to jump off the cliff, you realize that it's a bunch of pillows at the bottom and it's really not this scary thing, and that most things are actually very achievable and that a lot of people are out there who want to support you in achieving them. So I live into that.
- [36:53]
B
I love that. I love Terence McKenna. He also says, find the others. And I feel like that's something that's always resonated with me, especially when I do this podcast, when I meet people in person, when I get to, you know, hang out with you for an hour here on the DTC podcast. Really appreciate it. Aaron. You got to go to drinkbreeze.com and check it out if you want. I know you're not in Canada. Soon I will be able to get.
- [37:14]
A
Breeze now Flow Flows available in Canada. Not the THC one yet, but. But okay. You know, we have the. So that's the kind of. The other kind of thing with Breeze is my kind of real bet here is that it's not just infused THC CBD drinks that that are going to be the future. It's functional drinking completely. I think people are going to be looking for drinks that create some level of function in their life. So this is called breeze flow. Flow is that state of effortless momentum. Kind of like what we're doing now. We're kind of just dialed in, we're just flowing, we're feeling good and having a great time, focused, clear. The goal is to create that feeling within this can. And we use cacao, lion's mane, black seed and L theanine to combine those ingredients and at efficacious doses that are safe to create that experience. I think we did it. And so that's the other line and that one is available both in Canada and Europe, UK and a few other places as well now, which is exciting.
- [38:08]
B
Fantastic. Well Aaron, thank you so much for coming on the DTC podcast today. I recommend everyone go follow Aaron on Twitter. I'll throw his handle in the show notes here just because it's fun to follow along. You guys just keep knocking off wins with your momentum.
- [38:21]
A
Thanks man. I'm going to share more of the losses because they happen at scale so got to figure out how to get that. But dude, I really appreciate you you having me on the show. I think what you're doing for the DTC community, what you have been doing for years, is quite the service and I'm grateful for it. So thanks for having me on man.
- [38:38]
B
Thanks brother. We'll do it again soon. I will dive into some of the fuck ups on our next podcast deal. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. If you're not a subscriber to our newsletter, you can do that right now at directtoconsumerall. One word co. I'm Eric Dick and this has been the DTC podcast. We'll see you next time.