Welcome to the first episode of our interview series, Brand’s Biggest Fan—featuring Ben Goodwin, CEO, Co-founder, and formulator of one of our favorite brands of all time: OLIPOP!
The premise: We sit down with a self-proclaimed “biggest fan” of some of our favorite buzzy CPG brands—not influencers or famous ambassadors, just regular people who happen to be a little obsessed with a brand.
Then, we go back to the founders of these brands to learn how this fandom aligns with—or departs from—the story they’ve told themselves about their own brand's success.
There are countless fantastic learnings and insights in this episode—from how Ben thinks about nostalgia when formulating OLIPOP, to soda’s wild history, to how OLIPOP reaches a mass audience of soda lovers + health freaks alike, and so much more.
If you give it a listen, be sure to let us know what you think in the comments! And if you just so happen to know (or be) a buzzy brand’s biggest fan, let us know—maybe we’ll feature you in our next episode.
The Breakdown
00:00 Welcome
00:49 Meet Ben Goodwin, CEO of OLIPOP
02:25 OLIPOP's "biggest fan" story
09:12 What Ben thinks about Amy's story
14:00 The art and science of product formulation
25:10 How OLIPOP appeals to a mass market
28:34 The history of soda (and why that matters to OLIPOP)
31:32 Competing with Big Soda
40:56 How OLIPOP stays consumer-focused
44:45 Closing thoughts
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