The DTC and Retail Flywheel with Benjamin White, Founder & CEO @ Recess

The Omnichannel Marketer

In this episode, we meet Benjamin Witte from Recess.

Recess is a relaxation drink. Recess is spearheading the category, like how RedBull started the energy drink category.

Category creation, evolving from digitally native to retail, the DTC & omnichannel flywheel, and the trade-offs with DTC and retail.

Topics covered

• Category creation
• Brand building
• Distribution
• Amazon
• Merchandising

Takeaways

• Adaptogens and CBD are functional ingredients not to be confused with the relaxation category.
• Many brands are focused on the ingredients, whereas Recess is focused on the broader category and, marketing the lifestyle choice and connecting with people emotionally.
• Recess aims to be what Redbull is for energy drinks for the relaxation drink category. Five years ago, it was a bet on relaxation. And now the category is growing rapidly. New entrants are good for business and market the category as a whole.
• The beverage industry is primarily focused on awareness marketing
• New category marketing requires investment in awareness to educate the market
• Recess used Facebook and Instagram to drive awareness and distribution (at a time when that was less common).
• Starting online helps you validate your product before investing further vs. building for retail, failing, and having to retool
• Beverage is unique, and there is no other category that gets as much distribution. It has to be available everywhere.
• The one-two punch is telling the story well online and then being available everywhere. Doing that in a single geography makes a brand seem bigger than it is.
• Recess is one of the top 5 fastest growing beverage brands on Amazon. Ben believes Amazon can be an engine for most consumer brands. If you can make it profitable, there is a massive scale. Any investment there helps grow the larger business
• Amazon’s a flywheel because when people see the product in stores, they want to order it online. In that sense, being in a store is also great marketing.
• This year is Recess’ first big year in retail, and went to all the major chains. On a small scale, they are testing sampling, field marketing, and events.
• Regarding merchandising, Recess has a platform approach. Its beverages are in the functional beverage set, its powders are in the supplements set, and its mocktails are in the alcohol alternative set.
• Recess is able to maintain its online business because of its high price point. It’s $2.99/can vs $.30/can for a La Croix. It also becomes a daily habit for people, and people subscribe to it, so the LTV is very high. Finally ranking high organically on Amazon brings the blended CAC down.
• To Ben, Omnichannel is the combination of online and offline distribution branding and distribution.

Please let us know your thoughts about the episode!

Where to find Benjamin Witte:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminwitte/

​Website: https://takearecess.com/

Where to find Kait Stephens:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kait-margraf-stephens/

Website: www.brij.it

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