Brightland founder Aishwarya Iyer shares her unique approach to building an olive oil company by adopting the marketing and branding strategies of beauty companies. She explains how packaging, product benefits, and aspirational appeal, typically seen in the beauty industry, can elevate a food product. The episode also covers Brightland's navigation of DTC and wholesale channels, highlighting the pivot to digital sales and smaller retail partnerships amidst shifts in the broader retail landscape.
Key takeaways
Emulate beauty brands' sophisticated marketing, packaging, and communication strategies to elevate traditionally utilitarian products like food, focusing on benefits and aspirational appeal.
Diversify sales channels beyond large wholesale, prioritizing digital sales and smaller, curated retail partnerships to mitigate risks and adapt to evolving retail landscapes.
Invest in distinctive packaging and strong brand storytelling to differentiate products in crowded CPG markets and communicate unique selling propositions effectively.
Recognize the shift in consumer purchasing habits towards digital platforms and adjust your channel strategy to capitalize on growing e-commerce opportunities.
Develop a "lifestyle" brand around your product to foster deeper consumer connections and enhance perceived value, even for everyday commodities.
Aishwarya Iyer started Brightland, an olive oil company, in 2018 with the idea of describing the products like wine and marketing it like a beauty brand.
"Beauty leads the way in terms of talking about benefits, packaging -- the shine and glimmer that beauty's able to do, food just isn't able to do that. Maybe there are some standouts!" Iyer said on the Modern Retail Podcast.
What's more, many DTC beauty brands rely on less traditional revenue channels, like big box retailers. Over the last few months, large wholesale sales have gone down for Brightland -- so it's had to focus much more on digital sales and smaller retail partnerships. "Everything's kind of moving back to this quote unquote normal place, save for the larger retailers still because they still probably have inventory on hand," Iyer said.
Growing in wholesale's place are digital sales, according to Iyer, as well as and inbounds from gift box companies.
Emulate beauty brands' sophisticated marketing, packaging, and communication strategies to elevate traditionally utilitarian products like food, focusing on benefits and aspirational appeal.
What does this episode say about brand & content?
Diversify sales channels beyond large wholesale, prioritizing digital sales and smaller, curated retail partnerships to mitigate risks and adapt to evolving retail landscapes.
What does this episode say about retail & omnichannel?
Invest in distinctive packaging and strong brand storytelling to differentiate products in crowded CPG markets and communicate unique selling propositions effectively.
What does this episode say about dtc strategy?
Recognize the shift in consumer purchasing habits towards digital platforms and adjust your channel strategy to capitalize on growing e-commerce opportunities.
What does this episode say about dtc strategy?
Develop a "lifestyle" brand around your product to foster deeper consumer connections and enhance perceived value, even for everyday commodities.
