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One brand at Lunch! show changed how I view FMCG forever

One brand at Lunch! show changed how I view FMCG forever

Dan Pope
October 06, 2023

The Excel and grey weather go together like siamese twins

Eating bread and butter

Watching Ant and Dec

On double bed.

A sordid, bleak, shit ole of a place like a pregnant haemorrhoid bolted onto the arsehole of London.

I never stray there.

Except every September when all changes.

Lunch! trade show.

Inside the bleak Berlin-nightclub-cum-air-plane hanger is a gorgeous sanctuary.

Obvs, one has to navigate the land-mines of Next suits-and-Next-meeting, tepid coffee and turgid chat.

A bold, bountiful, beautiful solace, a eye-goggly gorgeous, a kaleidoscope of crazy colours.

Lunch! trade show is amazing.

I love mooching around like a Hoover quaffing samples with rabid-joy.

Literally every founder to every founder at Lunch!

“How’s it all going?”

Every founder to every founder at Lunch externally:

“Great mate, TESCO’s is FLYING, increasing our Disty in Novemby, Shoreditch office is LIVEEEEEEEEEE and we’ve just hired some absolute KILLER in Field sales. You?”

Every founder to every founder at Lunch internally:

“My arsehole feels like a donner kebab, my feet are burning… I feel like an alien who hasn’t seen day light in day hours, I’ve forked out £10 bags for a stand to hopefully bump into my Tesco buyer… and I’ve fended off about 10 PR agencies from Lemington Spa”

Despite all this.

I love our industry.

One brand changed the way I view the world….

I was at Islands stands, scoffing-my-face-off with chocolate and using the #Incremental #LeadSheets #What’sYourMOQ to wipe my chocolate swathed face.

Over the road.

A brand I J’adore.

MOJU.

MOJU’s brand refresh is UTTER GENIUS.

Refreshing as their zingy-lightning shots that polish and alchemise my brain like a Vitamin-C Shoe shiner.

what a team sheet.

MOJU’s refresh: solves problems + unlocks opportunities.

Solves problems:

MOJU’s serving is 60ml.

But a standard shot glass is 30 ml.

Consumers at home were using shot glasses = pouring out half the amount they actually needed = consuming half than necessary = slow rate of sale.

7 dosages (60ml) marked down the side of the bottle is GENIUS.

hope this image does it justice!!!

Bigger serving = better health benefits for customers = happier, healthier customer.
Bigger serving = more consumption = finish product quickly = higher rate of sale

Genius.

Unlocks opportunities:

MOJU decided to own functional shots. And lean into their strengths.

So many brands, like me, let new shiny toy syndrome kick in.

It’s courageous to DO ONE THING. WELL. VERY WELL.

MOJU boldly canned their original juice product to double down on shots.

MOJU own shots.

Some lessons from seeing MOJU

The answers are usually hidden in plain sight. You just need to look for them.
Simplicity is sophistication.
Do One Thing, Well.
When your competition look at new shiny toys, simply just lean into your strengths.

BUT.

MOJU taught me ONE lesson that’s changed the way I view challenger brands.

Good brands ask this question:

How can we get consumers to buy our product on shelf?

Great brands ask this question:

How can we get consumers to buy our product AND consume our product as quickly as possible?

MOJU are absolutely smashing-the-grannie-out-of-it as they focus relentlessly on the second part of the question.

Be the Great brand.

Ask the Second Question.

Once you find Oil. Dig Deeper. Don’t go looking for Gold.

Channel strategy is insanely incongruous beast.

Confusing.

Hard.

Perplexing.

BUT… if you find a channel no one else see’s. You’re on the money.

Hidden channels are the slipstream. The passport to easy.

A question I love: Which channel is absolutely no one playing in?

Every brand has the ability to unlock a channel NO ONE ELSE IS SEEING.

The obvious example I badger on about is Pipers Crisps in Speciality.

Simple Roasted is another example in OOH.

When most think of OOH - they go for the obvious offices: Spotify, JP Morgan, Facebook.

NEW’S FLASH MATE

Incredibly crowded.
It’s a total fucking nightmare as you’ve got to pick off each site individually.
About a gazillion decision makers to sway.

Simply Roasted found oil in a sub-niche of OOH: Schools.

Simple Roasted are doing MORE with MORE SCHOOLS.

Simple Roasted found Oil. Simple Roasted are digging deeper. Simple Roasted are NOT looking for Gold.

It’s tempting, once you find your unique-slipstream channel (OIL) to go looking for the next channel (GOLD).

Nope. Instead go deeper.

Go deeper.

Go deeper

deeper

Once you find oil. Dig deeper. Don’t go looking for Gold.

I’ll hold my Frodo hands up. Drink my own medicine.

I’ve just done the same at Islands.

We found a unique slip-stream channel no one is REALLY playing in.

Most coffee shops have a banging coffee offering but still use Cadbury’s for their Hot Chocolate.

Cocoa Powder for Premium Coffee shops.

Islands Cocoa Powder for Coffee Shops is PERFECT: speed of service + great price + insane taste of product + ethics.

We’ve found our oil.

Our slipstream.

Our passport to easy.

Lazy growth with minimal effort.

Instead, Captain Doughnut reporting for Duty (aka Moiiiii) decided to go and unleash the convoluted cats.

“Oi Wilfy mate, let’s go for Waitrose, Whole Foods Market and Planet Organic”

“C’mon bud, let’s distract ourselves… it’ll be a bloody great old laugh… let’s make things, so unnecessarily complicated”

The focus now and questions we’re relentlessly asking ourselves:

How can we DO MORE in this CHANNEL?
How can we OWN this weird niche sub channel?
How can we turn our existing success stories into gorgeous one pagers and send to new potential clients?

Once you find Oil.

Keep digging.

Don’t look for Gold.

The journey is the destination.

Before Lunch! I interviewed, Jeremy Torz founder of UNION Roasted Coffee.

Jeremy and his partner Stephen brought coffee and cafe culture to the UK.

You probably owe Jeremy a thank you, for the cup of coffee you’re probably drinking as you read this.

Jeremy has been in business since 1986. UNION Coffee have been playing this game for a long, long, long time.

After speaking to many founders at Lunch - I realised EVERYONE is rushing the journey.

“hopefully Waitrose will land soon”
“praying for more NPD to go into TESCO asap”
“fingers crossed we get this next”

NEWS FLASH

You wouldn’t watch Succession on 2 x speed?

You wouldn’t watch Brave Heart of 3 x speed? (maybe you would if you were at an afters in Glasgow)

Do think Manchester City fans would want to watch their Treble Winning Season in one weekend?

Do you think Mum’s and Dad’s would love to watch their kids toddlers year into 1 year.

Why rush the journey?

So many brands want to achieve too much too quickly.

SLOWWW DOWN.

The journey is the destination.

The brand that takes 4 years to win a Waitrose listing will have 10x the enjoyment vs. the brand that gets the Waitrose listing in Year 1.

I promise you.

For the love of God, don’t rush the journey.

The journeys all you’ve got.

The Journey is the destination.

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