Social Media Content for Food Products [Food and Beverage Marketing, Part 8]

The CEO of Movetic, Josh Roush, comes on to help guide food and beverage brands to use social media to grow. Not only does Josh break down concepts like ethos, storytelling, visuals, and influencers, his Tractor Beverages case study highlights messaging success in a clear way. It’s all about experimentation and support for a strong social media strategy for food and beverage marketing success.

Want more niche marketing insights on Food and Beverage Marketing?

This episode is Part 8 in a multi-part series on food product marketing and sales. To continue learning on this niche, visit:

• Marketing to Retailers in the Food Industry With Jean-Marc Demers [Food and Beverage Marketing – Part 1]
• Expert Food Packaging Design With DePersico Creative [Food and Beverage Marketing – Part 2]
• Retail Promotion for Food and Beverage Products With Angela Rakis [Food and Beverage Marketing – Part 3]
• Leveraging Influencer Marketing and PR With Bill Southard [Food and Beverage Marketing – Part 4]
• Mastering Storytelling and Video Production With Ted Passon [Food and Beverage Marketing – Part 5]
• Scaling a Food Brand: Case Study on Tahini With Amy Zitelman [Food and Beverage Marketing, Part 6]
• Food Product Packaging Design Case Study With Jenn David [Food and Beverage Marketing, Part 7]
• Amazon Marketing with Aalap Shah [Food and Beverage marketing, Part 9]

And for a detailed resource guide on how to market a food or beverage brand, bookmark this step-by-step expert advice here:

• How to Market a Food Product | The Ultimate Resource Guide (coming soon!)

Watch the Podcast Interview on Social Media Content for Food and Beverage Products (Part 8 in the Series):

Timestamps for this Episode on Social Media Content for Food and Beverage Brands

Note: These timestamps correspond to the video version of the episode

0:00 Ethos in Branding
1:52 Interview Introduction
3:21 Background of Josh Roush
5:22 Importance of Social Media in Food & Beverage
5:59 Standing Out: Be Bold
7:53 Understanding Consumer Psychology
10:38 Aspirational Branding
13:12 Influencers in Marketing
15:34 Building Brand Loyalty
17:46 Defining Brand Vibe
20:33 Collaboration and Brand Partnerships
24:42 The Power of Motion in Branding
26:31 Brand Collabs for Creative Content
30:49 Trends in Non-Alcoholic Beverages
35:29 Conclusion

Key Takeaways from Josh Roush and John Bertino

1. Ethos and Authenticity:
Josh emphasizes the importance of ethos in branding, highlighting that effective social media content for food and beverage brands needs to reflect the true character and guiding beliefs of the brand. This authenticity helps create a genuine connection with the audience.

2. Importance of Aesthetics:
In the food and beverage industry, aesthetics play a crucial role. Josh points out that the visual appeal of food and drink on social media is a significant factor in attracting consumers. High-quality, visually appealing content can drive engagement and interest.

3. Boldness and Differentiation:
Being bold is essential for standing out in a crowded market. Josh talks about the importance of taking a unique stance and being different. Authenticity and boldness in branding can help differentiate a brand from its competitors.

4. Cultural Relevance and Values:
Understanding and aligning with cultural values and relevance is critical. Josh explains that creating content that resonates with the cultural and personal values of the target audience can significantly enhance engagement and loyalty.

5. Purpose-Driven Branding:
Brands that have a clear purpose and align with the values of their consumers are more successful. Josh highlights that purpose-driven brands, which add value to their customers’ lives and stand for something meaningful, are winning in today’s market.

6. Influencer Marketing:
Utilizing influencers, especially niche-specific ones like foodies and bartenders, can be highly effective in the food and beverage sector. Influencers can help activate and increase brand awareness by leveraging their reach and authenticity.

7. Brand Loyalty and Community Building:
Building brand loyalty is crucial, and it often involves creating a community around shared values and experiences. Josh discusses strategies like loyalty programs and personalized experiences that help retain existing customers and foster a loyal customer base.

This Episode is Brought to You by The Agency Guide (TAG)

• TAG helps matchmake brands with proven, vetted marketing professionals.
• Consulting is pro bono!
• Visit TheAgencyGuide.com to learn more.

Take Action Now!

• Read the detailed Resource Guide on How to Market a Food Product (link coming soon)
• Find the perfect Food and Beverage Marketing Consultant for your goals

Check Out Our Other Seasons

• Season 1: Mortgage Industry Marketing Series
• Season 2: Marketing Mavericks Series
• Season 3: Industrial Product Marketing Series

About Host John Bertino and TAG:

A decade spent working for marketing agencies was more than enough to know that there are too many bad agencies and not enough objective marketers within them. John launched TAG in 2014 with the mission to provide brands unbiased guidance from seasoned marketing professionals at little or no cost.

TAG advises brands on marketing channel selection, resource allocation, and agency selection to ensure brands invest in the right marketing strategies, with the right expectations, and (ultimately) with the right partners.

TAG represents 200+ well-vetted agencies and consultants across the United States and Europe.

John’s professional background and areas of expertise include: Marketing Planning, Earned Media, SEO, Content Marketing, Link Acquisition, Digital PR, Thought Leadership, and B2B Lead Generation.

TAG Testimonials

About Our Guest Expert: Josh Roush and Movetic

Through leveraging the power of design, storytelling, and technology Josh helps brands stand out in the modern marketplace. Josh has spoken at the following places: Art Institute, Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, AD 2 SD, & Life on Fire Ignite.

Josh is the CEO and Co-Founder of Movetic, an award-winning Brand Consultancy specializing in Moving Brands Forwards in the modern age.

• 60 + Awards (FWA, CSS Design Awards, One Club for Creativity, ADDYs, Ad Club, Sandie’s by AMA)
• 150 + Clients
• 30 + Industries
• Featured Publications: Communication Arts, Branders Magazine, Glossy, Social Media Today

Professional Experience:

Josh has an experience working with brands such as HP, Lyft, Reef, Crocs, Celsius, Oakley, The Dew Tour, YMCA, Verizon, Hilton, FSC Paper, SunBum, Skrewball Whiskey agencies such as OMG, Gyro, Porter Novelli and several start-ups to Enterprise businesses.

Industries worked in:

• B2C: CPG, Food & Beverage, Spirits, Technology, Music, Fashion, Action Sports, Restaurants
• B2B: Real Estate, Media, Attorneys/Law Firms, Engineering and Construction, Education, Non-Profit

Passionate Skills:

• Brand Strategy (Positioning, Differentiation, GTM Plan)
• Brand Creation & Evolution (Identity, Voice, Touch points)
• Brand Ignition (Website Design & Development, Content: Photo, Video, & Campaign)

Connect Socially with Us:

John Bertino
Email: John@TheAgencyGuide.com

The Agency Guide
Email: info@TheAgencyGuide.com

 

Niche Marketing Podcast

Connect Socially with Our Guest Expert:

Josh Roush

Movetic

Transcripts of  Social Media Content for Food and Beverage Products (Part 8 in the Series) with Josh Roush

Note:

This transcript (of the video version of this episode) has been provided to assist you in finding extra information specific to your needs and goals. We have not edited it line by line for grammar, spelling, punctuation, or spacing. Please forgive errors. Feedback welcomed at social@theagencyguide.com.

Chapters

0:0:00 Ethos in Branding
0:1:52 Interview Introduction
0:3:21 Background of Josh Roush
0:5:22 Importance of Social Media in Food & Beverage
0:5:59 Standing Out: Be Bold
0:7:53 Understanding Consumer Psychology
0:10:38 Aspirational Branding
0:13:12 Influencers in Marketing
0:15:34 Building Brand Loyalty
0:17:46 Defining Brand Vibe
0:20:33 Collaboration and Brand Partnerships
0:24:42 The Power of Motion in Branding
0:26:31 Brand Collabs for Creative Content
0:30:49 Trends in Non-Alcoholic Beverages
0:35:29 Conclusion and Key Takeaways

Long Summary

Josh Roush, CEO and co-founder of Movetic, shares insights on effective social media content for food and beverage brands. Movetic’s expertise includes working with brands like Crocs, Lyft, Oakley, and Tractor Beverages, a soda company featured at Chipotle. Josh emphasizes the importance of understanding the ethos of a brand to connect with target consumers authentically.

He highlights the significance of storytelling, branding, and creating a unique vibe to resonate with consumers. Josh delves into the role of influencers in food and beverage marketing, emphasizing the value of niche-specific influencers in creating brand loyalty. He discusses strategies for collaborating with other brands to reach a wider audience and elevate brand visibility. Texture, typography, colors, and visual elements play a crucial role in sub-communicating a brand’s message and creating brand loyalty. In a detailed case study, Josh showcases Movetic’s collaboration with Tractor Beverages, focusing on a Purpose-Infused Mixology Program.

By tailoring messaging for sales partners, consumers, and restaurants, Movetic developed unique cocktail recipes and engaged in program guidelines to enhance brand positioning and consumer engagement. Josh emphasizes the importance of experimentation, authenticity, and seeking support to build a robust social media strategy for food and beverage brands.

Brief Summary

Josh Roush, CEO of Movetic, discusses effective social media content for food and beverage brands, emphasizing the need to understand a brand’s ethos to connect with consumers authentically. He highlights the role of storytelling, branding, and creating a unique vibe in resonating with target audiences.

Josh explores the benefits of working with niche-specific influencers, collaborating with other brands, and utilizing visual elements to communicate a brand’s message effectively.

A case study with Tractor Beverages illustrates Movetic’s successful Purpose-Infused Mixology Program, showcasing the importance of tailored messaging and engagement for brand positioning and consumer loyalty.

Josh underlines the significance of experimentation and seeking support to develop a strong social media strategy for food and beverage brands.

Tags

Josh Roush, Movetic, branding, social media design, foods, food brands, food brand strategy

Transcript

Ethos in Branding

[0:00] Ethos, it’s a Greek word meaning character, and it’s used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or an ideology.

[0:07] And according to my next guest, ethos has everything to do with effective social media content for food and beverage brands and all brands in general. And by the way, he’s not our first food and beverage guest expert to mention this. Check out the Di Persico episode on packaging. But today’s episode is all about Josh Roush, a longtime colleague and friend of mine who happens to be CEO and co-founder of Movetic, a kick-ass, always-in-motion creative agency rooted in San Diego. Some of you might be thinking, John, do you just invite your friends to be guests on these shows? It’s a debatable point, I suppose. Well, duh. No. Well, definitely not. Just kidding. Look, Movetic’s credentials are serious. They include the likes of Crocs, Lyft, Oakley. And what about food and beverage? How about Screwball Whiskey, Celsius, the Mountain Dew Tour? In fact, in this episode, Josh is going to walk us through the actual playbook they developed for Tractor Beverages. a new soda company that you’ve probably seen at Chipotle. But that’s not all. Josh is going to help us understand how to truly get into the hearts and minds of our target consumers. Like really, really do it from a branding expert. Why and how to story tell like a branding rock star and how branding is about a vibe.

[1:14] Vibe being something that Josh and I are going to do our best to systematically dissect into actual branding deliverables. It’s going to be a good one, folks. In fact, they’re all really good ones. And that’s why I hope you’ll subscribe to our channel. Check out the other episodes in our food and beverage product marketing series and show us a little love by hitting the like button. Like right now, please hit the button. It only takes a minute. And now it’s time for the main man, my homie, Josh Rouse, CEO and co-founder of Movetic.

Interview Introduction

[1:42] Music.

[1:52] And we’re back with another episode of the niche marketing podcast today I’m here in sunny San Diego at ola studios in mission valley San Diego representing my favorite Mexican restaurant pounces made sure to break out the San Diego gear for this ultra special interview with my main man, Josh Roush from Movetic. Josh, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah. And you know, it’s funny.

[2:19] Whenever we’re going to a new market, we always do a little preliminary research on, okay, what niches obviously are we covering at that time? And then who are the best agencies in that niche that we want to interview? And obviously, we knew we were headed here. We knew we wanted to collect some content on food and beverage, and our research team was looking up the best food and beverage agencies in San Diego. And you rose to the top of the list among the very best in the area. And that’s funny or ironic because I’ve known you forever. And I guess full transparency, I should have thought of you right away. But we try to keep it, I guess, unbiased essentially is what I’m saying. And so, despite the fact that we’ve been buddies for a long time, despite the fact that you’re one of our favorite branding and creative agencies that we represent at the Agency Guide, regardless of all that, you were just purely among the very best food and beverage marketers in this market. And that is one of the many reasons we’re so excited to have you on the show today. So again, thanks for being here. Appreciate it. So, before we get into the core of the content, I always like to get a little

Background of Josh Roush

[3:20] background on my guests for those that don’t know you. So, if you could give us a little bit of background on yourself personally, Josh, where are you from, wife, kids, interests, anything like that, and then we’ll take it from there. Perfect. Well, thank you. Yeah, for context, my name is Josh Roush. I’m actually born and raised here in San Diego, specifically a little surf town up north, Encinitas.

[3:40] A little bit about me, love to surf, skate, snowboard, have always loved photography design and aesthetics and that’s actually what kind of led me to start Movetic a brand new agency here up in Leucadia California so really excited about that and just thankful to be here with you nice surf skate and snow you do it all absolutely yep i didn’t know you were a skater yeah oh and skating’s my main that’s your main thing that’s my main thing you got your moves yeah i still try nice i don’t do like i used to but i still try absolutely yes it’s awesome uh I’d love to see that sometime and then give us a little bit more I know you touched on it, but a little bit more on Movetic. That would be great. Yeah, so, you know, started the agency coming up on 10 years ago, which is pretty wild because I think that’s actually when our relationship formed. That’s great. We started at the same time. Both have a 10-year anniversary. What’s your formal… Do you know your formal 10-year? You know…

[4:28] April, May-ish. Coming right up. Coming on up. We might be releasing this episode almost right on the heels of your day. Hey, isn’t there a thing called LinkedIn for that? No, I’m just kidding. Yeah. Maybe we’ll find that one out. That’s awesome. Yeah. So, yeah, started the agency when I was 24, kind of back on the skate heritage, kind of back. That’s kind of actually what led me to do this is just the creativity and the arts of it was something I always wanted to do. Prior to that, actually, you and I, I believe we met at HP. That’s right. Yeah. Yeah. When I was at HP, prior to that, I was at Reef. and then just kind of saw a hole in the marketplace to be a little bit more bespoke, a little bit more personalized and work one-on-one with clients. And so, at Movetic, we do brand strategy, brand ID, visual, verbal communication, and then we do websites and content. So, yeah. You know, knowing firsthand, you guys are quite good at it. Thank you, appreciate that. It’s a delight to get your input on food and beverage content marketing.

Importance of Social Media in Food & Beverage

[5:22] Particularly through the lens of social media, which is what we’ll be discussing here today. So let’s start with the very basics, Josh. What makes social media marketing important for the food and beverage sector? Perfect. I’d say just, you know, kind of starting to take a step back. I think just the beautiful part about social is the one-on-one relationship that you have with it. You know, I think innately when you are looking at food and beverage particular, it’s all about aesthetics, right?

When something that you want to be appealed to that, you know, the food or the drink or the beverage, it’s really a multifaceted approach when it comes to that. And so we’ve seen just the likes of a lot of value-driven content that’s actually hitting that kind of trend.

Standing Out: Be Bold

[6:00] Yeah, fantastic. And something that’s come up in our other episodes in the food and beverage series is just this idea of being bold as a way to stand out, separate yourself from the pack. And yet at the same time, the challenges with getting like stakeholder buy-in to be bold. What’s your initial take on, you know, again, being bold when creating social media content? Yeah, I think everything comes back to your true north of your brand, right? So, for us, you know, we came out with the tagline of igniting the ambitiously bold, which ignition comes to launching a new idea, new philosophy, kind of where you want to take it. And then the ambitious part is being bold, right? Taking a stance in that. I think when it comes to bold, I think over the years, it’s been a little bit kind of misused in a way that, you know, everybody that is their framework. But to me, being bold just means being different, being authentic and being yourself.

[6:52] Yeah. And have you found that some of the brands you work with struggle to do just that, that you have to kind of coax it out of them? Or what’s your experience in kind of getting brands to push the envelope a little bit? How many yeses can I say? As many as you want, as many as you feel are helpful. Yeah. I mean, I think nowadays, whenever you start an agency, we’re seeing a lot more lifestyle-driven companies, right? So, for us, we’re really trying to find the right clientele who shares the same values or belief systems, right? So, when we worked with, for instance, with Crocs, right? That was kind of already part of their DNA. So, for us to sell through that idea, it wasn’t that hard, right? I think the problem is, you know, how far can you kind of swing it depends on the largeness of a company, right? The size of it.

[7:35] Yeah. And it’s like, you know, if you don’t stand for something, then you stand for nothing. Right. So, it’s cliche, but so important, especially since we’re all kind of bombarded with so much noise, you’ve really got to find a way to stand out,

Understanding Consumer Psychology

[7:48] which brings us to something else I want to talk about, which is the psychology of it all. Right. So again, you guys operate an agency that specializes in creative, creative output and all things branding. And then you’re helping your clients take that message, take that visual, create content that goes out on social. But what are some of the psychological factors that you consider or try to get into, or how do you get into the minds of a brand’s potential customers? Can you talk through that a little bit for us? Yeah. I think the biggest thing right now that we’re seeing is that, and even when I started the company, I think it’s, you know, you can go down on the route of research, data, insight, you name it, but there’s a huge element of cultural relevance, right? So creating content that actually matters to people, being authentic and true to that is actually where things should start, right? So most companies do have the target demo, their buyer personas of where they’re looking to go, but everybody also is very, I’d say, fluid in the level of they have a lot of likes and interests, right? I think back in the day, we used to single out people, hey, you are 15, you love to do this, X, Y, and Z, right?

[8:52] You People are so fascinated these days that I think you have to look more to the ethos or the values of them when you’re creating content. Ooh, I love that. So I’m gonna make you unpack that a little bit more, right? So, putting some, hopefully I’m not putting some words in your mouth here, right, but when we’re talking about essentially persona creation.

[9:09] Identifying those audience segments of those personas, how we’re gonna speak to them. And so you’re saying, really secondary. The age, maybe the gender, maybe in parts of the country or world they’re in is almost secondary, if not equally valuable to their psychological ethos. What matters to them? Expand on that a little bit, if you could. Oh, everything. Purpose-driven brands are the ones that are winning today, right? And so, we’re starting to see whether it is in this space, which we’ll chat a little bit about later, the better for you point of view. So, people nowadays are wanting to align with brands and that’s really what they’re looking to do. So, when you look at the interest, the base, all that stuff, right? Whether you’re on meta, IG, or all the different kinds of advertising levels, I think it’s more innately about how you can add value in their life cycle with where they’re at too. I mean, you look at post COVID and it’s really interesting, right? Because everybody used to have a very linear lifestyle that has changed, right? So, I feel like now you have to create these little mini stories within people’s lives to kind of make their lives better in a nutshell, right? And you’re seeing companies like Viore or you’re seeing other companies that are kind of emerging that are based off aspirations, which is nothing brand new or nothing revolutionary in my eyes, but I just think that’s what people want to do is they want to stand for something more. And aspirations, could you define that? Yeah, aspiration to me has always been, you know, something that you’re working towards or something that you’re looking up to, right? Yeah.

Aspirational Branding

[10:38] It comes back to that idea of finding your tribe or wanting to connect with or being drawn to a certain brand because you feel as though they’re either part of your tribe or you want to be a part of their tribe, right? Yeah. Okay. And can you think of some specific maybe examples of times where you’ve helped coax that out of a brand or work that you’ve done at Movetic that was very central to this aspirational connection?

[11:08] Yeah. So, I think as of late, there’s a brand that we worked with that has gotten a lot of steam at Celsius, right? And that was a brand that we worked together to kind of centralize who they were, what they stood for.

[11:19] Specifically, the aspiration was around the mantra of live ft, right? And so, you know, when you’re looking in an overcrowded, saturated point of view, you do have to do something different. You have to be unique; you have to be creative, and you have to find ways to matter in culture. And so, we essentially went on a whole tour for a year. We shot content with micro, macro, nano influencers all across the US in eight different major cities, all around that concept. And our whole goal was like, how can we activate different people in different markets to help with the lift, right? And so when you talk about aspirations or when you look at that, it really comes down to how can this product encourage that life cycle, right? And to me, what has to happen now is it used to be, oh, you just have a product and there wasn’t a lifestyle, right? Now it has to be a quality product and a quality lifestyle. So, I think the brands are getting it right or actually looking at both points of views. Yeah, yeah. So live ft ultimately is what you guys cited on, which speaks to this idea of, you don’t go to the gym and drink this drink, you live for fitness, and this is part of your routine. Is that right? Yeah, and actually even taking a step further, how do you, instead of just leaning in on just fitness as a core demo or point of view, it’s more of a lifestyle, right? It’s more of an aspiration.

[12:37] You know, fitness does not have to be inside the walls of a gym, right? Fitness can be outside. Fitness can be skating. Fitness can be another element that I think people innately used to look at things in a box, but now we don’t have to, right? Our lives are very multifaceted and ft to a lot of people is a lifestyle of actually getting better of themselves.

[12:57] Yeah. Stay moving. Absolutely. Stay moving. That’s one of your taglines, isn’t it? That is our tagline, yeah. Yeah, that’s probably why they were like, you’re the agency for us, Josh, right? Yep. Yeah, stay moving. Okay, very good.

Influencers in Marketing

[13:09] You know, you touched on influencers, so we might as well go there. Just talk in, I guess, at a broad level first, the role you see of influencers when it comes to the marketing of a food and beverage product, and then to the degree that you are comfortable giving some specific examples, that would be great.

[13:27] Yeah, I think what’s cool about influencers in this space particular is that there are kind of back to your podcast, like niche specific influencers in an arena, right? So, when you look at influence, I think generally speaking, right, you have your nano, micro and macro influencers, right? All the different scales, reach levels, you name it.

[13:46] In this particular sector, I think what’s really nice about it you is can actually find really cool bartenders. You can find really cool foodies. You can find people that can help activate your brand and then increase awareness of who you are. So, I think, you know, for me in this particular space, we’ve found success with a handful of different brands, whether it is Better Buzz, it’s a coffee spot in town or other, you know, other restaurants. We’re actually working on a really cool project coming up here soon called Fox Point Farms. that’s an Agri-hood, which is super cool. Yeah, what? An Agri-hood. An Agri-hood. Have you heard of that concept? No. Okay, so essentially an Agri-hood, right, is a place where there’s a multitude of different businesses that all operate and all work together, right? It’s essentially all working under the same roof to kind of have the same output, right? So, they have a farm in the back. They use the farm in the back to essentially supply the restaurant. The restaurant supplies the people. So, it’s really cool. Okay, there’s a lot to unpack there, but I didn’t mean to throw you off. Hey, it’s all good. We’ll save that for maybe a whole other episode on agri-foods, but you were talking about in the context of influencer marketing, the clients you’re working with there. Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, that’s, I think the beauty of it, right, is that we are seeing success, and a lot of our clients are seeing a lot of success with it. Kind of back to food and beverage, you know, we’re seeing a lot of trends where actually people really, really want to try a bunch of different things. People are also looking for a better lifestyle that I kind of alluded to earlier. So, we’re starting to see a lot of people unpack a recipe of their favorite or, hey, hey, check out this new place. And it’s just very, very effective in town.

[15:15] Brilliant. One of the things about influencer marketing and again, the way it helps create tribe, helps people connect with certain other individuals because they aspire to be like or to ft in or be synonymous with those influencers

Building Brand Loyalty

[15:29] is it also spills right into the concept of brand loyalty. And certainly, when it comes to food and beverage marketing, brand loyalty is mission critical. And as a branding brand strategy firm, you must have a lot of thoughts on just brand loyalty in general. I’d love to hear those. Yeah. So, I mean, right now, especially I think just in today’s day and age, brand loyalty is everything, right? So, I mean, the stats have always come out saying it costs a lot more to acquire new than retain existing, right? So, how can you essentially to kind of unpack what you were saying is brand loyalty is building that tribe, which I love that you use that word. For us, it’s always been community, right? And I think my theory back to when I started kind of branding to kind of segue a little bit into that, that’s what attracted me to it, right? It was all about pulling people in on shared values and how can you develop a community of like-minded people around that as well, right? And so, when you have brand loyalty, what I’ve seen from my success with a lot of people is how can you create loyalty programs, right? How can you add value to their life? You know whether it is a punch card or whether it is something that, hey, you come back in, you have some BOGO deals, right? So, for us, you know, we’ve worked with BetterBuzz. I was kind of alluding to that earlier. It’s a coffee company in town.

[16:44] And that was a core focus of us, right? Was just how can we retain existing people and how can we increase revenue with them? Which I think is very fascinating when you look at the landscape of building out your MRR or depending on your kind of business model as well.

[16:57] Yeah, those that aren’t from the area in SoCal or have never been here, Better Buzz is such a kick-ass local coffee chain. They’ve got, to use a French phrase, the je ne sais quoi, right? That certain something that is hard to put into words that just makes it special. And you’re in such a crowded space, that’s precisely it, right? You need that je ne sais quoi to separate from the pack and be like, hey, we’re not Starbucks, we’re not Pete’s, we’re not any of the number of other coffee shops here in town. There’s certainly plenty of them. them, we’ve got our own thing going. And like, you know, they try to get, I don’t know if they try as much as they

Defining Brand Vibe

[17:42] just naturally are good at establishing a certain audience, a certain vibe. It’s really vibe, isn’t it? Man, how do you put a vibe into words? I guess a lot of your career and work is like, how do you put a vibe into words? And so, putting you on the spot a little bit, Josh, how do you put a vibe into words? Yeah. Well, boy, that’s a good one. I think, you know, it kind of comes back to my work, right? And kind of going back to, you know, my skate roots, right? Kind of going back there a little bit.

[18:12] You know, the anti-culture is actually what created skate culture, right? So a lot of stuff that we were doing then heavily branded, you know, graffiti or even doing design was really a key thing or even like fish islands, right? Right. And so, when you say, how do you put a vibe in something?

Right. To me, it’s all about that counterculture. Right. And I think that’s something that we’ve really kind of leaned into, you know, from working with Celsius, Screwball Whiskey, Crocs, Lyft, Oakley. Right. Like all these cultures driven kind of brands is really where we’ve started to see and even so much to Sun bum as well.

[18:48] You know, you talk about vibe and how do you communicate a vibe? A lot of its sub-communication, right? I mean, so much of conveying what a brand is about needs to be sub-communicated, right? It’s not just what you say overtly, but what you say covertly, I suppose. And then at the same time, you’re trying to break through the noise, break through the clutter. So, you’re trying to communicate as much as you can in a short amount of time, not just through actual text, but again, through the brand aesthetic. So, putting you on the spot once again, what are your general thoughts on how to sub communicate a brand’s message or vibe?

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Collaboration and Brand Partnerships

[20:29] To learn more, visit www.theagencyguide.com today. And guess what? I’m gonna riff on you too. I got a really cool example for you. Okay, I love it. Okay, so I guess when we look at sub-communication, right, and I’m sharing my screen here, Mm-hmm.

[20:45] You know, for me innately, you know, a brand is much more than a logo. Right. And so, I think when you say, how do you sell a vibe? Right. You know, you look at, you know, a brand as an accumulation to me, what I love about sub communication, or you name it is that there’s other elements that you can have to it. Right. So, you do have, you know, your voice, right. Which is effectively communicate in the marketplace. What you say matters. Right. But the problem is you need more than that today. You also need typography, right? How you feel, material what do you want to be polished do you want to be more grid oriented like what does that actually feel for you or do you want to evoke emotion right to me colors everything right and you’ll see in the spectrum of colors kind of where we’re going right and then there’s to me the most important one which is texture and this is how you actually take advantage of it because a lot of brands are not at this level but this is truly it brings you back to a state of nostalgia kind of back to what you’re trying to do, right? And then there’s the other likes of, obviously photography paints a huge picture of emotion of where you’re going, iconography, kind of the same kind of spirit to kind of delve out. But most importantly, it’s the experiences that come together and then it’s what makes you feel, right? There it is. So hopefully that’s a subculture for you of communication. I think it just broke that down way more and way better than I actually expected.

[22:07] How convenient you had this website ready to go. You know, the texture one, you know, it’s my podcast, so I can curse on it. That’s so fucking cool. And I’ve seen that in your work, actually, you know, we’ve worked on a few projects together.

[22:20] And I remember that when you would reveal the initial brand direction for some of these projects, again, you brought in texture and it’s such a, it’s, it’s branding is all these like small things where like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Logo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Font. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Texture, I guess. But like they’re fucking huge when you put them all together. Like the impact is massive, right?

[22:45] So texture, what else can you tell us about texture or the process you might go through when working on brand development like figuring out that piece or what goes into that? I don’t even, I wouldn’t even know where to begin. Yeah. Well, I think it comes back to, you know, you said at the beginning, the buyer personas in your tribe, right? So, what are elements for you to be unique. And I think That’s the other reason why I love branding is I’m very detailed, right? It’s every little moment to me matters. So, what can we do to separate ourselves? And so, you look at, you know, we’re whoever you’re working with. So, say, you know, I’ll give an example of Fox Point Farms right now that we’re working with them. What we went down to the level of detail was there are eight different businesses that are under that one roof, right? So, what we figured out was, okay, each one of those. So, say there’s a restaurant, there’s a woodworking space, there’s a brewery, you name it. What we did is to make themselves unique compared to the other competitors in town, whether it’s direct or indirect, we actually went down to the molecule level, right? So, what we were doing is we were looking at, okay, what’s a wood texture? Okay. That correlates back to the actual workmanship of that. Okay. What about beer? Let’s get it down to an actual bubble, right? So, we were trying to figure out what are elements to be unique compared to other people as a way to separate ourselves, because you said it yourself, right? There’s a Starbucks on every corner. There’s Pete’s coffee.

[24:04] There’s better buzz, right? There are all these other options, but how can you find a way to be unique and be bold? Kind of what you said. So, I think that’s for us always been the biggest element. And the other element that I didn’t touch on is mixed media, right? We live hyper fast, you know, moments these days, right? Like we’re on a podcast right now, but we’re going to be later. We’re going to be IG scrolling. We’re going to see a video. We’re going to see something else happen. We’re going to go down. I don’t know, say downtown. town. We’re going to see cars going by fast, right? That’s emotion.

[24:33] And that’s truly what a brand is. So how can we identify the people that resonate with that feeling, create elements or textures based off of that to

The Power of Motion in Branding

[24:41] make us stand out? Yeah. We talked about, we touched on your tagline or slogan or tell me the best way particular of state moving earlier. I’ve noticed you incorporate a lot of motion into your work. Yeah. Why is that? Or does it go beyond what you just mentioned? So, when we started Movetic, Movetic stands for the Unison of Movement and Aesthetics. So, I identified something in the marketplace was that brands in today’s day and age, there’s heightened expectations from consumers. There are a lot of competitors that are constantly shifting. The barrier to entry is continually decreasing. Right. And so, the only way to continually stay at the forefront is you have to stay moving. Right. And so that’s always been a core mantra for that. So, it’s equally as external as it is internal. For our team, it’s all about the idea for me to stay up. What’s the latest trends? How can I make certain that you are unique? So that’s why when we worked with Celsius, it was very bespoke when you asked, you know, hey, what do you guys do in that level? It was a very custom-tailored approach because at the end of the day, that’s the only way to make mountains in regard to that.

[25:45] Love it. All right, shifting gears a little bit, something that’s come up across several episodes covering the food and beverage sector from the branding agency we spoke with, a videography agency we spoke with, I think a PR agency we spoke with, collaboration, collaboration, collaboration.

[26:03] One reason that I know that this is important is, you know, again, we talk about sub-communication. Well, you can sub-communicate it a lot by, for lack of better phrasing, hitching your wagon to another brand that speaks to a similar tribe or carries similar values or what have you. So I know that’s one take on brand collabs, but what’s your take, Josh Roush, on, you know, brand collabs for brand creative,

Brand Collabs for Creative Content

[26:30] brand content and social media? Perfect. Yeah. So traditionally we’re seeing it on a B2C level or D2C. So, for example, when we were working with Better Buzz, right, we were working with local influencers, we were working with local organizations as a way to increase awareness, right? So now as kind of things go, and I’m really excited to kind of share a little bit of work here, we’re working with Tractor, right? So, Tractor, nobody doesn’t know. I’m not familiar. Tell me about them. Okay. Yeah. So, they’re essentially the soda that actually sits inside Chipotle. That’s one of their cases. They work with a whole multitude of different QSRs, right? And so that’s kind of what a big thing that got them famous. Very big on the organic side, the better for you that we’re starting to see.

[27:11] So when we were working with them, really excited to kind of go into this in a little bit detail, but for context, everybody knows when you’re asking that question, right? There’s also the B2B side of things, right? And I think that’s really important as we kind of move into the future because what’s now starting to happen is it’s not just about influencers, but how can you activate the QSRs at a level that will actually be a one plus one equals three effect. So how can we market the actual restaurant themselves and then also with Tractor as well to make it very successful? So, for us, we were taking a lot of the philosophies that we’ve actually created for branding and actually put it into a program book. So, I’m going to kind of go a little bit into why, what we did. Love it. So yeah, so this is for further context, right?

[27:56] Came to us and we came up with the Purpose-Infused Mixology Program. Essentially, what we’re doing is we’re leveraging their, you know, thoughtfully crafted recipes of what they have and kind of pairing it with favor-forward cocktails. So, that’s kind of the idea, right? So, we’re working with different restaurants of all different levels. And our whole concept is this idea of stirring up a new era. And really what that to us kind of meant was, you know, why are we even doing this now, right? You know, for us, it’s we’re reinventing refreshment to solve your current business challenges and enable you to satisfy your evolving consumer demand. The reason why that’s so important is that things are changing, right? Expectations are shifting. We’re kind of seeing on one side, right? The pouring partners, we’re seeing on-premises experience is seeing an uptick, which is very timely for this. Again, you talk about sub-communication, right? That on-prem experience, we haven’t even gotten into that. Oh yeah, that’s a whole another point of view. Save that for when we bring you back for restaurants. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Sure. But for anybody who doesn’t know, that’s essentially just kind of going inside a dining experience.

[28:57] The second one that we’re seeing is competition is heating up from last year, right? So now that everybody is actually going outside, there’s a lot more competition out there. And then most importantly for the pouring partner level, you got to adapt, right? We’re talking about that. You got to be bold. You have got to be different. You name it. And then on the other side of the consumers, right? For us, it’s all about sustainable brands leaning the pact, right? And so, whether that’s the ingredients that they choose, whether that’s the farm that they’re working with, right? There’s a level of heightened point of view on that, which kind of brings me to the second one, which is just conscious cocktails are actually taking the charge. I’m sure you’re familiar with the whole NA craze that’s kind of going on right now. I was going to ask you about that. I mean, you can tell me, I don’t know if they’re trying to position for that, but boy, this non-alcoholic beverage thing is blowing up.

[29:45] Yeah. Well, I think just kind of back to the live ft and that I just think people are just innately taking, you know, a lot more care of themselves at that level. Right. And they value that type of stuff. Yeah, for sure. And I think, you know, kind of going back to liquid death and, you know, that company, um, you know, to me, you know, liquid, liquid death is more of a device, right. A device to actually show people, hey, I’m still hanging out in culture. Right. So, you have something that’s cool. And traditionally people are like, oh, do you have a beer? Do you not? And it kind of acts as a device to kind of still ft it. right? And it’s water, right? But I think it’s brilliant, right? It’s a prop. It’s a prop. It’s a prop to hang out and chill, right? But if you think about it in that lens, that’s what it’s doing, right? And so, you’re seeing a lot of people that still want to ft in, right? Which is why you’re actually seeing it. And the other interesting fact that I saw is that around 60% of people that actually drink NAs are technically, they still like to drink alcohol too, but it’s just something they like to have. Or less. I know for me, it’s less, you know, it’s like less alcohol, give me something to supplement or cut down. I’m trying to cut it out. I just need something else. Yeah, exactly.

Trends in Non-Alcoholic Beverages

[30:49] And then, yeah, the last one is just like the favor and the RTD innovation, the cut waters of the world. We’re seeing a lot of that kind of happen. So, that’s just to kind of set a little bit of context. And so, for this whole thing, right, that we were working on, it’s like, how do we position the brand to not only be a one plus one equals three effect, but how do we work with people? Right. So what does that actually look like so for us we had to come up with what’s our promise what’s our position of this we had to come up with the architecture we had to come up with the program you know the actual segments the reasons to believe right and then we have to come up with the ethos I’m going to interject yeah because that reasons to believe I think is um it’s critical right so.

[31:32] Defne that if you could, and or to the degree that you can talk about how it was executed here or on a different brand. Yeah. Reasons to believe in me, you have two different subsets, right? You have the tangibles and then the intangibles, right? So, whenever I break it down, you know, reasons to believe are always your unique value propositions, the things that you can kind of hang your hat on that make you different than other people. So, when we look at it, you know, that was kind of the, in the lens of this context, we were trying to identify what are just a couple of things that make you different with the program holistically.

[32:06] Okay. All right. Very good. And that brings you to the ethos then. Yeah. Then the ethos is going back to storytelling, right? What’s the heart? What’s the pulse of this actual story? What are we looking to do? And this is something, if you look in here too, you can kind of see you have sales partners and consumers. And I think to me, when we’re talking about how do you build loyalty and how do you do that? Every single one of these people needs to be communicated with individually. Right we can’t just blanket statement to all three so what we did was we put together tailored messaging for what’s the value for sales what’s the value for the partners and what are the end consumer what are they going to get out of this program and then we actually worked with them on some really cool recipes that I cannot wait to try um in regards to that and then we put together program guidelines as they rolled out throughout the US dope and I noticed the program guidelines that’s where you’re going next but you got the imagery of the uh essentially a mixologist. And again, this is a non-alcoholic cocktail, right? So, we’re, we’re saying, hey, look, you know, you can mixologist can use our stuff too, right? Absolutely. And actually, there’s in it, right? And there’s, well, there’s three. So that’s the cool part, right? So, there’s three different ones that we’re working on and I’ll kind of go down to the bottom of it. Um, let’s see. Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. Let me get here. Um.

[33:23] Just kind of going through this real quick. So yeah, so this is literally what we’re doing, right? The different recipes for it. And then the three different elements are unique cocktails. So that’s your traditional stuff that you’re working on, the spirit-free cocktails, and then the frozen cocktails. So, depending on the restaurant or the viability of it, whether it’s an event space, you name it, we can actually serve these unique cocktails to every single market, which is really unique and fascinating from a diverse standpoint. I love it. So yeah it was cool i mean it was so fun just kind of putting together the thoughtfulness of not only the campaign and the care of the team um attractor of what they’ve been doing behind the scenes to work on this but also equally it’s just so unique to kind of see you know bringing a concept to reality which is what i love to do so much josh the visuals in this deck um.

[34:14] Did these stems from brand refresh work you did with them? Yeah. So the way that we wanted to kind of attack it and I’ll kind of sit here for a second was, you know, tractor has a really solid brand and they’ve done a phenomenal job, you know, getting the aesthetics at a level for our job was kind of how can we take their existing and then kind of elevate it in a level that we’re being true to who they are, but then find a little bit of our own uniqueness and quirkiness for this actual program. So that logo type that we did at the beginning a lot of the design elements we worked with them on the photography we actually took all the photography and we actually kind of worked on a whole set we actually have a whole video that’s coming out so there’s a whole turnkey 360 program that they’re actually working with their salespeople to then activate that and then bring it out to the market it’s classy man it’s classy I’m loving it yep so yeah i mean these are They’re all just different. You know, it comes down to ammo, right? When you’re talking about what you can do and what you can sell, but essentially, it’s just all, you talk about sub-community, and you talk about that. You know, you gotta think about what’s a small little living line that will effectively communicate to your audience. And so, we worked with them on that as well, on how to differentiate all of it too.

Conclusion and Key Takeaways

[35:30] Awesome. With the couple minutes we have left, anything else on Tractor. Nope, that’s it.

Great.

[35:38] And any other visuals you wanted to share or that’s… I think that’s perfect. With the time we have left, I mean, what would be your, perhaps you could give a few key nuggets of information that if all you had to communicate with a food and beverage CPG product was a few minutes of communication to say the key things they should be thinking about when cultivating a social media strategy, even if it’s redundant, Josh Roush, what would those few nuggets be? Yeah. So high level, just figure out who you are, right? What are you as a brand? What makes you unique? Based off of that, I would create a series of different pillars that kind of align to that. Keep them at a high enough level where you can actually create content underneath them. The other thing is explored. At the beginning phases, if you are starting a company from scratch, there’s a lot of things to try. TikTok’s algorithm is crazy. It’s moving and grooving in different ways.

[36:35] Instagram’s algorithm is changing rapidly all the time. So, I think for that is just get out and create. I think a lot of times with owners and a lot of people, the hardest part is just starting, right? So, for anybody who’s actually looking to start, just do it, just try, see what works, see what sticks. And then on the other side is really don’t be afraid to reach out for help and try to find people that can actually be a part of your tribe in the beginning. Because a lot of people do actually want to help with content, with creation of that level. I just think a lot of people kind of just stop there. Yeah. It really creates that win, win, win. Absolutely.

[37:08] Fantastic. Josh. So glad to have you on the show. It’s been a long time coming. Thank you. I appreciate you having me. Can’t wait to have you back. Thanks for sharing. And that does it for another episode.

[37:17] Music.