Road 2 Retail

EPISODE #75 Interview with Rob Clemons On today's show we visit with Rob Clemons of the rapidly growing emerging brand: Wonderbelly (VP - Supply Chain & Operations). Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast at Apple podcasts, Spotify or our YouTube channel. Plus- give us a follow on LinkedIn. On today's podcast we discuss some of the learnings and actions this fast-growing brand has taken on their journey to date. These include: - The importance of having a meaningful point of difference with your product versus your competition - Using Wonderbelly's "birth" as an online brand initially to identify and prove out their core consumer - Even when successful as a DTC brand, a strategic presence at brick & mortar retail is still vital to growing - The importance of helpful, value-added investors to a growing brand Enjoy the show! Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on LinkedIn. Please share the show with a colleague and leave us a review. Krista Anderson Maya French Matt Matros Christopher Hunter Dawn Kelley Jim McGuiness Bruce Montgomery Andrew Weiss Brian McCue Beryl Stafford Laura Meemken Nigel Smith Ryan Springer Robert S. Maxwell Le'Spencer Walker Jamie Grace Genevieve G. Gilbreath Wade Yenny Corey Scholibo Alexis Neal Erin Wojtysiak Tad Kornegay Gregory Esslinger Rebecca A. Styn, Ph.D. P. Brandon Pogue https://lnkd.in/gWprpkqp

How best to launch your DTC brand and when to consider brick & mortar retail distribution? Check out this week's Road 2 Retail podcast. Episode # 74. This week veteran advertising executive Neil Foster (CEO of Agency Habitat) joins us on the Road 2 Retail podcast to share his thoughts and experiences with growing emerging brands. Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast at Apple podcasts, Spotify or our YouTube channel. Plus- give us a follow on LinkedIn. On today's show Neil shares with us his views on the following topics: - The importance of executing a 'soft launch' for a period of time to work out the bugs in your business model - Understanding the need to drive awareness and trial early in a brand's lifecycle to build momentum - The importance of demographic match with a retailer's shopper profile when an emerging brand starts to consider the move to brick & mortar retail. Fit must be excellent. - The risk of shooting to "scale" an emerging brand too fast too soon Enjoy the show! Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on LinkedIn. Please share the show with a colleague and leave us a review. Krista Anderson Maya French Matt Matros Bruce Montgomery Andrew Weiss Nigel Smith Laura Meemken Le'Spencer Walker Jim McGuiness Christopher Hunter Beryl Stafford Wade Yenny Dawn Kelley Gregory Esslinger Tanay Kothari Brian McCue Corey Scholibo Genevieve G. Gilbreath Ryan Springer Robert S. Maxwell Afif Ghannoum Jamie Grace Roberta Townes Brody Burk Madison Robertson https://lnkd.in/gXGAsM9i

So great to attend Founders Innovation Day. It was great having Wayne on the Road 2 Retail podcast.

Episode # 73 A Recap of the Founder's Innovation Day Program Focused on Emerging Brands and Their Role in Retail On December 4, 2024 the Road 2 Retail attended The Founder's Innovation Day program in NYC put on by ECRM and Retail Media IQ. Today we recap the program with Wayne Bennett, SVP Retail for ECRM/RangeMe. Wayne and his team organized this fantastic event bringing together emerging brand founder's and leading retailers where the day focused on the role emerging brands play in their categories. Other speakers included experts in various functional areas such as finance, investment banking and contract manufacturing- all offering counsel on how to help emerging brands grow. Give a listen to hear what founders and leading retailers shared with the audience. Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast at Apple podcasts, Spotify or our YouTube channel. Plus- give us a follow on LinkedIn. Among the topics recapped on today's show include: - What retailers are looking for in an emerging brand? - What are emerging brands looking for in a retail partner? - How to screen a contract manufacturer - Understanding the difference between "new" and "innovation" - Learn about the resources leading retailers offer to help emerging brands get noticed by their buying teams Enjoy the show! Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on LinkedIn. Please share the show with a colleague and leave us a review. 2025 Program Schedule https://lnkd.in/gRWtiNp3 Krista Anderson Matt Matros Maya French Nigel Smith Laura Meemken Jim McGuiness Brian McCue Bruce Montgomery Christopher Hunter Wade Yenny Shawn Berg Beryl Stafford https://lnkd.in/gKMQSQAM

What fundamental research does an emerging brand need to execute in order to increase the odds of success?? Give this a listen! Episode #72. A very informative visit with The Connell Group's Patty Klingbiel.  Subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast at Apple podcasts, Spotify or our YouTube channel. Plus- give us a follow-on LinkedIn.     On today's show we spend time with Patty Klingbiel - The President at the market research firm - The Connell Group. Patty and the team at The Connell Group have been helping consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands of all sizes, and at all stages of their lifecycle, plot a growth path forward successfully for many years. On today's show some of the topics we cover in depth include:  1) The need for absolute clarity in who your target audience is- not who you think they are (or hope they are!)- but knowing who they are. 2) The importance of understanding where your brand fits into the category you participate in and why the retailer should believe you can help grow their category. 3) The baseline research an emerging brand should execute to understand their brand, their category, and their consumer prior to embarking on the expense of retail expansion and A&P commitment. 4) She also covers how to write and test product concepts with consumers so that you understand the potential positionings and product benefits that the consumer will spark to. Hint: it is often not what you initially think! To hear views on these points and others, please give the episode a listen. Your odds of success may very well improve! Enjoy the show! Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on LinkedIn. Please share the show with a colleague and leave us a review. Maya French Bruce Montgomery Krista Anderson Matt Matros Jim McGuiness Brian McCue Dawn Kelley Beryl Stafford Tanay Kothari Gregory Esslinger Nigel Smith Laura Meemken Christopher Hunter Robert S. Maxwell Corey Scholibo Ryan Springer Genevieve G. Gilbreath Wade Yenny https://lnkd.in/g62hrZ5a

How is the holiday shopping season shaping up? Episode #71. Big Chalk's Rick Miller is back to share some new data about the state of the consumer as we head into the holiday shopping season. Rick Miller, Head of Sales & Marketing Effectiveness at Big Chalk, returns to share with us new data about the state of the consumer from their Tradeoff Consumer work. According to the National Retail Federation, approximately 19% of annual retail sales take place during the holiday shopping season. Among the points Rick covers are: 1) Even with wages trending up and inflation calming down, the Tradeoff Consumer is still not feeling great and being very discerning with their spending 2) The recent contrast in financial performance between Walmart and Target and some potential reasons for the difference 3) What actions can brands take now to optimize their marketing plans and increase their odds of a successful holiday shopping season? You can dig into The Tradeoff Consumer research at their website: www.bigchalk.co (no 'm'!). Enjoy the show! Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on LinkedIn. Please share the show with a colleague and leave us a review. Bruce Montgomery Andrew Weiss Krista Anderson Maya French Matt Matros Beryl Stafford Dawn Kelley Ryan Springer Richard Palmer Christopher Hunter Genevieve G. Gilbreath Jamie Grace Robert S. Maxwell Wade Yenny Corey Scholibo Nigel Smith Laura Meemken Tanay Kothari Gregory Esslinger Holiday Report Link: https://lnkd.in/gZexc-Sj https://lnkd.in/gZph8y6M

How to understand the effectiveness of your Retailer Media Network Ad Spend Episode # 70 An overview of these emerging platforms with Incremental's Executive Vice President - Skye Frontier. Subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify, our YouTube channel and follow us on LinkedIn. On today's show we speak with Skye Frontier - Executive Vice President at Incremental. Skye's firm offers a very interesting service where they help consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands evaluate, measure and deploy their advertising investments with the Retailer Media Networks (RMNs). Specific points we cover include: • Even if retail media spend is committed, there are still ways to optimize that spend to generate more revenue growth from it. • Be skeptical of ad-attributed sales and ROAS and pay close attention to attribution windows. These terms don't mean advertising caused those sales to happen just that someone exposed to ads happened to purchase. • There is a lot of juice to squeeze out of retail media with better measurement. Incremental sees brands that adopt 'incrementality based measurement' typically generate 30-40% more sales from the same level of investment in advertising. Enjoy the show! Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on LinkedIn. Please share the show with a colleague and leave us a review. https://lnkd.in/gEavZd34 Jamie Grace Christopher Hunter Krista Anderson Maya French Matt Matros Robert S. Maxwell Richard Palmer Bruce Montgomery Jim McGuiness Brian McCue Ryan Springer Genevieve G. Gilbreath Andrew Weiss Wade Yenny Corey Scholibo Dawn Kelley Tanay Kothari Gregory Esslinger Nigel Smith Laura Meemken Beryl Stafford

Road 2 Retail is looking forward to learning more about the emerging brands attending the Founder's Day event in NYC on Dec 4. It will also be very informative to learn how these leading retailers are utilizing emerging brands in their assortments to best serve consumers. Great line up of speakers! Hope to see you there! #emergingbrands #CPG #retailselling #founders #categorygrowth

Episode # 69 Big Chalk's Rick Miller talks to the Road 2 Retail audience about current research tools and the state of the consumer  Understanding Your Consumer and Utilizing Research to Drive Your Brand Performance On the show today we spend time with Rick Miller, Head of Sales & Marketing Effectiveness at Big Chalk. Rick takes us through a detailed discussion covering: 1) What research tools should a brand utilize to ensure they understand their consumer and their brand's role in the category 2) The three key pieces of data driven research you need in order to improve your odds of success in getting a retailer to take your brand into their assortment 3) Big Chalk's proprietary research detailing The Tradeoff Consumer. Who are these people? What decisions are they making right now? How do these consumer actions impact both brands and retailers? You can dig into The Tradeoff Consumer research at their website: www.bigchalk.co (no 'm'!). Rick also goes into detail on marketing mix models and the importance of understanding the impact of your promotional spend and how to use this data to make spending allocation decisions going forward. These tools not only can help a brand grow, but also helps to remove uncertainty in the mind of your investors that the team knows what they are doing with their funds. Enjoy the show! Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on LinkedIn. Please share the show with a colleague and leave us a review. Krista Anderson Maya French Matt Matros Jim McGuiness Jamie Grace Robert S. Maxwell Matt Matros Ryan Springer Genevieve G. Gilbreath Wade Yenny Andrew Weiss Corey Scholibo Dawn Kelley Nigel Smith Beryl Stafford Gregory Esslinger Laura Meemken https://lnkd.in/gYSjwtKc

EPISODE #68 Interview with Rusty Ray- Managing Director with Investment Banking firm Alantra. What you need to know when buying or selling an emerging brand. On today's show we spent time with Rusty Ray of Alantra. Rusty has spent his career buying and selling brands (with a focus on healthcare) - offering counsel to both buyers and sellers regarding the best approach to executing a winning transaction. Among the key discussion points, Rusty offers his views on: 1) What a buyer should be aware of when buying tail brands (non strategic brands) out of a large CPG company's portfolio. 2) How a potential buyer should assess the brands they are considering buying. 3) How should a brand thinking of selling prepare for a potential sale, what will the process look like, how to manage internal expectations and what buyers are looking for in a brand. Our thanks to Rusty for a great conversation and for joining us today on the Road 2 Retail podcast. Enjoy the show! Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on LinkedIn. Please share the show with a colleague and leave us a review. Matt Matros Krista Anderson Dawn Kelley Beryl Stafford Jim McGuiness Brian McCue Maya French Nigel Smith Laura Meemken Tanay Kothari Gregory Esslinger Erin Wojtysiak Corey Scholibo Wade Yenny Genevieve G. Gilbreath Ryan Springer Andrew Weiss Robert S. Maxwell https://lnkd.in/g8GRjDS7