Jordan Narducci

3 in-the-trenches lessons scaling a CPG drink brand 300% (so far). from $47k in June to $167k last 30 days (steal it or AMA) 1. Biz model or bust CPG is one of the hardest niches to scale IMO. We’ve done many over the years and it rides or dies by the biz model. This particular brand was selling a single pack + running ads. Their contribution profit per order was 2% No ad or strategy will fix a broken model No one can scale that profitably. Something has to change So naturally the only thing to do is either sell more per order raise prices bundle In this case we did price increase and then changed th default first order from a 1pack to 2pack. That increased contribution profit 10x to 22%. Now that we scaled. 2. Throw the brand book out the window for ads Having worked with 15 CPG brands I can confidently say in many cases branding guidelines gets in the way more than helps. I know. I know. Sue me. My team is hired to scale brands and make them money. THE MOMENT we were able to say “let’s ease up on the branding just for ads and see what happens” things starting working better + the increase in CM. It worked so well they were 100% cool with making any ad we wanted because they saw it working better. 9/10 when a founder sees it making more money they never go back. lol The less on brand the better. I think everyone should consider keeping branding loose for advertising. It usually works better in my experience. 3. Positioning In CPG land, this is so hard to land. Unless you have a truly uniqueness to the product you’re kinda just in a shouting match with the next CPG brand like yours. In this case, the thing that is working for them is Positioning less on what’s in it Positioning less on branding Positioning more on who it’s for Positioning more on ideal outcome desire i.e. drink with Dandelion root, ginger, chicory, etc vs i.e. This slimming drink took me (a plus size girl) from a 16 to 11. Feeling proud they are up 300% and it’s not ever Black Friday yet. Christmas is coming early!!!

22

8 Comments

Most marketing agencies don't understand CPG brands.  ​ Why?  ​ Because they've never been in the trenches like you have. ​ But I have. I've worn those shoes out. ​ Years ago, I ran e-commerce businesses, importing yoga mats and fitness gear from China.  ​ I private labeled them, crafted marketing strategies, and sold those products.  ​ It wasn't glamorous – it was late nights, early mornings, and a whole lot of trial and error. ​ That experience taught me more than any textbook ever could. ​ So when a CPG brand comes to us with social media marketing woes, we don't just nod and pretend to understand.  ​ We've lived it.  ​ We've felt the pressure of unsold inventory, the thrill of a successful campaign, and the frustration of algorithms changing overnight. ​ Our solutions are battle-tested strategies from people who know the industry inside out— ​ Not because we read about it, but because we've been there and done that. ​ There's book smarts, and then there's been-there-done-that smarts.  ​ Make sure you choose the team that's walked in your shoes and knows exactly where they pinch.  ​ It'll make all the difference in growing your brand.

167

15 Comments

Love the article and fully agree with everything said about Liquid Death hype (with all mandatory kudos for distinctiveness and especially for a lovely ad with Deep from The Boys: https://lnkd.in/e37ebP3Q). One other thought that resonated with me was about 'product-market fit' concept which I only discovered for myself when I started working with tech startups. For someone who have worked on some of the most iconic CPG brands for the last two decades, and who inherited the classic P&G's belief that marketing should own all 4Ps, the idea sounded completely unnecessary. Why would you try to match the product with the consumer need when you actually should have understood that consumer need in the first place, and designed the product to address it? Sadly, I think this is where the current organisational 'wisdom' is moving — with marketing not owning, or at least co-owning the product, unless it's 'product marketing'. On the other hand, when the marketing is done properly, and the product (and comms of course!) are built on a deep consumer understanding, it still allows the brands to stand out — and ultimately win in the long run. Read this post and more stories on my website: https://lnkd.in/exwcYZQ7

5

The average American sees 100-350 ads a day. Yeesh. So, here’s how we help CMOs at CPG Food & Bev shops get more clicks against the competition. The #STANDOUT ! Process. We: 𝗦tart with objections → Define clear goals, perform audits, and prepare briefs. 𝗧arget the right people → Identify ICPs using lazer-targeted avatars 𝗔nalyze what's unique about you → Conduct competitor analysis to carve out a USP 𝗡ail your brand → Craft its voice and identity across all touchpoints 𝗗etermine the right channels. → Map out the customer journey on each channel 𝗢pen up to your audience. → Distribute content and ramp the reach up on social 𝗨nleash the power of data. → Go deep on the stats to optimize your strategy 𝗧ake everything to the next level. → Scale up marketing efforts with continual testing The result? hashtag #FreshExpress went from: — 18k Youtube views — 6k Pinterest Followers — & a 36 hour consumer response time in 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟵, to: — 2.2 Million Pinterest users — 1.3 Million Youtube views — & Less than 12 hour consumer response time in 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰. PS: If you're a CMO or VP of marketing in CPG Food and Bev. And you're looking to become the only option for your ICP Just DM 'STANDOUT' And we can explore how we could bring you higher quality marketing at scale.

9

1 Comment

How did we 2x ROAS on our SBV videos in 1 month? Ad Placement: 🔸 Updated our SBV brand goal to target the top of search placement only (Goal = "Grow brand impression share"). 🔸 SBV is more expensive; however, given the strategic TOS page placement, SBV can drive more sales, especially if you are targeting the right audiences and keywords due to it's high visibility on the search page. 🔸 You can feature 3 ASINs on the TOS placement versus 1 ASIN on the traditional SBV ad increasing opportunities to click to more product PDPs. Ad Creative: 🔸 Feature engaging content that drives awareness (i.e. seasonal or limited time products) 🔸 Rotate creative quarterly to keep consumers engaged (option to split test video creative to test performance) 🔸 Consider incorporating lifestyle creative to tell your brand story (Amazon has less restrictions when it comes to SBV creative versus SB creative) Seasonal Content + Sponsored Brand Videos TOS placement = A Winning Ad Strategy Leave a comment on how you've used SBV ads to grow your sales on Amazon? #amazon #PPC #amazonadvertising #marketingstrategy #amazonads

107

11 Comments

Instacart not having negative keywords as an option is the best example of what "machine learning" actually costs brands to support. The best solution I've found? Take their auto applied keywords and make their bid the lowest possible (30 cents). I built a really solid ads structure supporting each of our Target sku's and woke up to us bidding on "Ben and Jerry's" as a "optimized auto applied suggesition" for our Vanilla Ice Cream Whey. Gee, I wonder what sophisticated dev team decided "auto bid on product title". Yeah, in the world of CPG there could neeevvverrr be issues with that. Who leads this team and how much do you make. (Hint: too much). Happy Friday to everyone except overpaid leadership that don't actually understand what they're building and get paid boat loads of money for it.

11

4 Comments

The more performance marketing creatives get templatized, the more memory structure building creatives with a story telling approach should stand out when done well.

9

1 Comment

Best new shopper marketing platform of 2024. Wakefern Foods rolled out its Retail Media this year, and it is slick. I didn’t say it will give you the best ROI. (There are a lot of factors that go into that.) But it’s a retail marketer’s dream. Intuitive UI. Keyword bidding. Display campaigns. Targeting by banner (retailer). 🤌 Exact, phrase, and broad match types. If you’re in the following banners… -ShopRite -Price Rite -Di Bruno Bros -Fairway Market -Gourmet Garage -Dearborn Market -The Fresh Grocer …Wakefern Media Exchange does not disappoint. ——— 🔹 We drive velocity in Sprouts, Whole Foods, Walmart, Target, Walgreens, CVS, Kroger, Sam's, COSTCO, and lots of other cool retailers. 🔹 We grow brands on Amazon. #cpg #cpggrowth #retailgrowth #retailvelocity #omnichannel #retail #amazonagency #retailmedia #shoppermarketing #instacart

26

19 Comments

We took a supplement brand’s CVR from 1.25% to 3.10%. Also boosting AOV from £31 to £48. We used this exact strategy to get them these results: → Stopped pushing single SKUs only as ads. → Created a “Welcome Kit” bundle SKU to boost AOV and NC-ROAS. → Treated this as a new customer only offer. → Moved away from standard product pages. → Helped them build out a high-converting landing page to drive traffic to instead. Great seeing just how big of a difference one pivot can make.

45

31 Comments

CPG LINKEDIN IS REAL MAD AT LUNCHLY Two things are probably true: 1. Some influencers can bring brand large distribution fast with their reach and bring a ton of attention to a new product. 2. But that product has to sell once it has distribution and thats mainly a function of does it fill the promise to customers. Customers will of course try it once but whether they keep buying is up for debate (remember one bite pizza?). The product has to fulfill a promise and this product is filling the promise of cheap convenient tasty snack. So hopefully it lives up to that or noone will keep buying it. BUT…. They wont stop buying it because its “unhealthy.” Being healthy is not a promise the product has made.

18

9 Comments

Real growth in DTC is rare. Here’s how 50+ $100M brands achieve it. 1. Know their category     - who they're competing against     - what competitors are getting wrong     - how they can do it differently In positioning the product/brand it needs to be different.  In CPG "better/cheaper/fast" isn't enough. 2. Closed loop on creative feedback    - a system to analyze top creative    - reflexively circulate those back into the editing process    - avoid over-optimizing a "local maximum" in their testing landscape Your team is lost if they don't have a process to measure creative results towards inputs into their editing process... same for teams that don't have a cadence for retesting styles that previously failed but have not been tested in { X } days (𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥). 3. Margins on specific customers    - AOV per offer per channel    - 60-180 LTV per offer per channel    - how those 👆 translate to gross margin None of these marketing numbers matter if it doesn't translate into gross margin.  Too many times we see affiliate commissions and discount codes crush cohort values to the point where were companies are loosing money on their "best performing" campaigns.  If you don't have someone internally tracking these numbers find someone who can. 4. Strategic plan for retail expansion     - their "ideal" ordering for account expansion     - plan to support new locations with DTC advertising     - try before you buy (in-store) offers so customers recognize you on shelves No point in getting into a big retailer if you are going to get bounced right out.  Retail expansion requires a strategic plan to use DTC channels and other retail locations to build up your word-of-mouth marketing in specific geographic areas in service of those all important "sell through" metrics. What else? ... If you like this, make sure to share and repost for your DTC/CPG friends!

24

19 Comments

Talk about a sweet (and salty) deal! 👆Continues the trend of focusing on strengths for growth in CPG M&A. It's official: Mars will be acquiring Kellanova for $35.9B per the statement on Mars.com. The combined brand portfolios will give Mars substantially greater presence in snacking and confectionary as well as granola/cereal bars. They are building on a solid foundation with equally strong addition: This is less than a year after Kellogg Co. split and only a few months since Kellanova ramped up their commercial activities from merchandising to pack size to a feature movies to forecast an organic 3% lift in sales this year. Brands have been optimizing their portfolios, adding brands to their focus categories while ditching those that aren't delivering: The J.M. Smucker Co. sold Crisco (B&G Foods) and several pet brands to Post Consumer Brands along with other sales while acquiring Hostess Brands. B&G Foods Inc. picked up Crisco from is considering divesting Green Giant after sales dropped 16.9% Post has also acquired some cereal brands, combined with their pet purchases contributed a 23% sales lift in Q2. Having a greater presence in their target categories helps brands hold and/or gain their share, especially private label. The consolidated power and budgets make it more difficult for emerging brands to compete. Makes it especially important that: 1) use social & in-store to build brand/community and inspire/add value 2) ensure packaging both pops on shelf AND is easy for consumers to read 3) leverage retailer programs for increased discovery & trial via secondary locations, flyers, loyalty program points etc 4) use discounts and rebates to drive sales ------------------------------------------------------------- Get more product off shelves and into baskets with the latest in CPG, retail & consumer trends at 10:30am M, T, H & Sat by following Jared Kligerman! Launch new products with confidence & gain market share with Caddle - DM me to learn more. Sources: Food Business News, Food Dive, Mars, Refrigerated & Frozen Foods Magazine, Strategy Online #CPG #foodandbeverage #confectionary #petfood #snacks #acquisition

44

4 Comments

Sweet Top Tip #3 £500M! That's the jaw-dropping revenue achieved by a brand whose ecom director I had the pleasure of speaking with. He revealed that throughout their journey, they never even discussed attribution! His advice? Prioritize the BASICS before attribution: 1️⃣ Master your product-market fit before diving into complex analytics. 2️⃣ Focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences at every touchpoint. 3️⃣ Prioritize building a strong brand and customer loyalty. 📌 Remember: ✔️ Solid business fundamentals are the foundation of sustainable growth. ✔️ Complex attribution models aren't always necessary for significant success. Focus on the fundamentals. Create a business that thrives regardless of marketing trends or attribution models! 🚀 Which of these three basics are you focusing on right now? Let me know in the comments!

14

1 Comment

We don’t just run Google ads for clients—we run them for our own ecom stores, too. Last week, one of our stores got slapped with a merchant center ban. We resolved it, and we're instantly back to $10k days. here's why that's a big deal: ✅ first-hand experience with Google’s policies (we know the risks *and* how to bounce back fast) ✅ constant testing ground for new strategies (we scale what works for us first, so you get tried and tested tactics) ✅ insights into the latest ad trends (the same trends that keep our stores profitable fuel our clients’ growth) it’s one thing to manage ads—it’s another to have skin in the game.

3

DTC brands: Fed up with overspending on Email?👇 That's the hottest topic on most people's lips nowadays. I know Jordan West moved over to Sendlane for this exact reason. I also know that Yotpo is hitting hard on the cost savings you can get when migrating over to their platform. Heck, even Intuit Mailchimp is beating that drum. And for good reason... Here is me doing some calculations using Yotpo's email ROI calculator to determine if we are overspending on emails.

55

18 Comments

Great and provocative read on Liquid Deaths’s success story. So many insights and examples which are relevant for FMCG challenger brands as well. Mark Ritson claims that “… if you step back and look at the original ‘four Ps’, it is almost impossible not to acknowledge that while the promotional P has its place, the product P is invariably the most important tactical consideration. Shitty marketing can surely kill a great product, but without a successful, product even the best marketing does little other than speed its own demise.” And I fully agree (see my earlier post for details) - so if you’re not yet following Mark, do it asap. It’s worth it (and entertaining). #challengerbrands #productlaunches #offlineretail

3

eCommerce: Ad Dollar Growth and The Elephant in the Room ✨ Great data from the EMARKETER forecast highlights ad dollar investments across major platforms. Core Question: (1) How can brands optimize ad spend on leading platforms for maximum ROI? By the numbers: (5) 🎉 $29 billion <> Total ad $ growth (AMZ + other) 🎉 $22 billion <> Amazon ad $ growth 🎉 $14 billion <> Alphabet Inc. ad $ growth 🎉 $13 billion <> Meta ad $ growth 🎉 $5 billion <> TikTok ad $ growth Now What? (2) 1️⃣ Prioritize Amazon for retail-focused ad campaigns. 2️⃣ Expand into emerging platforms like TikTok to capture newer audiences. Roger Dunn — great share from you. #ecommerce #digital #omnichannel #strategy #cmo #cdo #ceo #cro #leadership #retailecommerceclub #cpg #privateequity #playtowin

106

3 Comments