Role: Co-Founder, Advisor
In May 2020, in the heart of the pandemic, Betera was launched. A year in the making, we sold out within 48-hours.
I served as the company's brand and marketing lead until February 2022. I stepped away from the active role after the arrival of our first child and after being promoted at LinkedIn.
I now advise the company and support larger brand and marketing efforts.
This is a collection of just some of the work that's gone into the company and brand.
BRAND
The brand was created by a global team of award-winning creatives, consisting of two art directors, one illustrator, and our team at Betera. The first round of branding was completed with a $7,000 budget.
The Betera brand is inspired by European fragrance and beauty product design, with a modern California finish.
That we were able to partner with all of these artists and collaborators is amazing.
APPROACH
The company was started by a veteran of wine industry and a former executive chef (who happens to have a couple of Michelin stars). The two founders, along with me, had a long history of drinking. We were getting older, starting families, and recognized that we needed to take a step back.
Our company's mission is to grow and support a community of like-minded people who are re-evaluating their relationship with alcoholic beverages. We support people across the entire sobriety spectrum, with optimism, hope, and light-hearted looks at going alcohol free. We're fighting a stigma that's been created over decades. To do so, we've got to make it a little fun.
MARKETING
Due to the pandemic, our restaurant and bar channel was unavailable at launch. The team quickly pivoted to an increased effort on direct-to-consumer sales. Betera is a unique beverage - it's bitter, a bit like a cocktail - and it helps to have someone describing what the experience is like. To date, we've gone through three website redesigns.
To market Betera with trusted, yet remote voices, we partnered with tastemakers, streamers, and social media content creators to taste the product and comment in an authentic way.
One partner was Grammy-winning producer and musician, RAC. He had created a passionate and dedicated community by streaming live concerts on Twitch in the early stages of the pandemic. We sponsored his stream beginning in September and again in January. The sponsorship had immediate returns, and also helped to find customers we've since retained.
To celebrate RAC's 100th stream, we partnered with him to create a limited-run show print. People who purchased two cases of Betera were given the print. The prints sold out and helped us to our best day of sales yet.
We also partnered with our advisor, Gregory Gourdet, on a livestream. Gourdet is the chef-owner of Kann in Portland and is an alum of the tv show Top Chef. The stream featured his signature Betera mixed drink. The VIP audience all received a Betera sampling ahead of the show.
Betera ships nationally from our website. We are also available at select retailers in New York, LA, San Diego, and San Francisco.
I've written about the startup experience, first about the launch and then about lessons learned as an advertising veteran. I'll continue to write, create content, and lose sleep so long as we're still working on this thing. I probably won't be updating this site too much though. I'm a little too busy with everything else.
