[00:00:05] Melissa Traverse: Hello, I am Melissa Traverse, Director of Community here at BevNET & Nosh, welcoming you to the NonBase Podcast, a podcast built to help CPG owners and operators navigate growth challenges and build more profitable businesses. Be sure to check out nonbase.com, BevNET's platform built for the CPG community, where you can find this episode and so much more. As Expo West approaches, brands across food and beverage are preparing for what's often their biggest trade show all year long. Expo is expensive, it's crowded, and full of opportunity, but it's also easy to get overlooked in all of the chaos. Whether this is your first Expo West or it's your 16th, like it is mine, a lot of your success is within your control before the show even starts. Today we are taking a closer look at how exhibitors can shape their Expo West outcomes instead of getting lost in the noise once the show begins. We are going to chat about how media and awareness actually works around the show, what and when brands should be announcing, and how planning ahead affects booth traffic, buyer awareness, and the return on a very significant investment. My guests today are BevNET CPG Media's very own Martín Caballero and Mike Schneider. Marty is BevNET's managing editor. He brings perspective on how stories are submitted, selected, and covered around Expo West. Mike is our CMO and our CRO. He brings the marketing and strategy lens that comes from working very closely with brands on how to turn exposure into awareness, intent, and meaningful outcomes on the show floor. Together, they see where brands consistently miss opportunities and where the smartest exhibitors focus their time, money, and energy. Marty and Mike, thanks so much for joining me on this very prescient topic as we roll towards the beginning of March.
[00:02:05] Martín Caballero: Thanks for having me, Melissa. It's been a while. Always good to see you.
[00:02:08] Melissa Traverse: So before we get into the nitty gritty, I was thinking about what some of my most vivid Expo West memories are. And they're some of the most recent, which makes makes perfect sense. And I realized that there are two very opposite memories. So one was the Goodall's party that was thrown at the House of Blues. And there was so much money thrown into it, so many resources, branding everywhere, celebrities. It was huge. It'd be hard to forget it. But then I also remember the brand Sour Milk. The two co-founders were on the floor. They didn't even have a booth. They were sampling their product to the crowd. And there was just this huge swarm around them. And they managed to get so much buzz and awareness around their product with really not spending any money at all. So I thought it was sort of interesting that you can do it both ways. Are there any outstanding Expo memories that either of you have?
[00:03:07] Mike Schneider: How about Belgian boy bags or Belgian boys purses? I mean, they seem to always do a really good job of getting some attention via some, you know, some way that isn't necessarily their product as related to their product. So they one year had the waffle purses that everybody was carrying around and asking, where did you get that? And then last year they had those puffy, those puffy bags that everybody wanted. And that was like lines around the lines around the show floor.
[00:03:38] Melissa Traverse: The queens of swag.
[00:03:40] Mike Schneider: Yeah.
[00:03:42] Melissa Traverse: Marty, how about you? Does anything jump out into your mind when you think big time Expo West?
[00:03:48] Martín Caballero: Expo West is kind of a blur of memories for me at this point. But I definitely have, you know, a strong sort of sensory image that is burned into my mind is, you know, being on that that first floor, the basement level. just being packed in those aisles, so many different brands and there's so many different people. And I just remember, you know, feeling like I had been there for, you know, a day and a half, and it was about an hour into the show, just considering all the people and the crush that goes on in there. So it's a lot to keep track of. That's why I take notes. So I can sort out my memories later, but definitely just The crush of people also just reflecting the energy and the enthusiasm that people have. You know, it is a big deal and definitely one of the biggest things that we do all year. So some more memories to be made for sure this year.
[00:04:45] Melissa Traverse: Well, we're going to get into the nitty gritty of how you really do cut through the noise so that everyone out there can figure out what their best approach is. Marty, let's start with you. From what you see, what are the most valuable opportunities that brands can actually capture at Expo West? There are so many goals that many brands go into Expo West with, whether that's booth traffic, retailer or investor attention, so many other things. What do you think the most valuable opportunities are?
[00:05:11] Martín Caballero: Probably the value of the opportunity depends on the brand and, you know, um, kind of what stage you're in, as Mike just mentioned, you know, there's going to be everyone from large scale brands that have already secured a lot of investment and they're looking to really sort of maybe push to the next level. And there's going to be startup brands who are going to be sort of really just trying to drive awareness and be sort of the name on people's lips. And they can follow up on afterward and, and sort of create the beginnings of their story. To me, it's about storytelling and sort of presenting the identity and the story that you want your brand to have, whether it's something like, you know, reflected in your booth and sort of what you're wearing, reflecting sort of maybe a personality of the brand, team building, having, you know, founders and sort of prominent executives and managers up front and getting a chance to interact with people. If you're a beverage brand or a food brand that's putting protein in your product, for example, building the story around why that is, telling the story about what makes you different within that context. It's really sort of all the layers of telling the story that really needs to happen. And that's the thing that is going to affect consumers who are going to see the brand in stores, it's going to affect the media who are looking for ways to tell your story, investors, retailers. It's really sort of going back to the core idea of who you are as a brand and how you fit in the market. Why do people need you? This is the chance to build out that story on all levels, from the product to, you know, the booth itself.
[00:06:44] Melissa Traverse: I like that you called out protein. I imagine we'll see protein in just about everything this year. Mike, from a marketing and strategy perspective, understanding that brands do have oftentimes a number of goals going into Expo West. Maybe you have a new product launch. Maybe you've done a rebrand. Maybe you're targeting very specific retailers. How do you recommend brands prioritize their goals so they can really shape a strategy before they show up at Expo?
[00:07:13] Mike Schneider: It's a fair question, Melissa. I think the first thing to remember is that Expo West is the Natural Products Expo. And so the first thing you should remember is that it's about products and experiences are secondary. I mean, I can remember some booths where. They had great products and interesting experiences that they tried to use to bring you there. Like Bad Tea, for instance, had, you know, you could break old plates and cups and stuff at their booth. And Rind had their cool remix booth with a DJ and stuff like that. The thing that I remember most about those booths was the product first. The thing that usually happens when I'm, you know, when I'm at the show is like, people will ask, Oh, what products did you love? And that's what people want the most at Expo West. So remembering that first and foremost, people want to taste new, cool, amazing products and then spot trends and have cool experiences is first. So think to yourself, how do I get people to come to my booth and try my new amazing product? And I think a lot of brands think the strategy is okay. We. We have a new SKU, we wait till Expo West, we launch it and they'll come. It's like a field, the field of dreams model, build it and he will come. For some brands, it makes a lot of sense to get the message out there in advance. If you send your news to. say BevNET or Nosh or any of the trade publications in advance so that they know that you have new innovation. They have time to plan and put you on their list and hear the story in advance. And maybe even, you might even get into like a pre-show guide, for instance, of the things you must see at Expo West. Another way to do that is to advertise on podcasts or on, you know, the websites that we just talked about and advertise your new innovation or, you know, buy an article to showcase your new innovation and a bunch of impressions against that, or, you know, podcast advertising on your favorite podcasts. I mean, and those are just good ways to see the idea that you have something great that everybody's going to want to taste at the event. And then make sure everybody knows where your booth is. So if you do some, you know, do some communication about that and you can get the word out there, of course you should use your social media to do all this stuff. But if you really want to go outside of your follower base or your consumer base, you're going to have to think about some paid advertising. And then also, how are you going to talk to the media?
[00:10:10] Melissa Traverse: We are gonna talk a little bit about how to layer those components in and what the right timing looks like in just a minute. But before we do that, I wanted to help our audience understand how media coverage is actually planned. Marty, why does waiting too long mean that brands oftentimes miss that window for meaningful coverage? What does it look like on your end, on the editorial end, when you're thinking about how you're going to plan coverage for Expo West?
[00:10:39] Martín Caballero: I'm not gonna lie, Melissa, it is daunting to try to plan coverage for Expo West because as anyone who's gone there knows, it's a massive amount of real estate to cover, it's not a whole lot of time to really try to get to everything and try to really discover new products and really just make sure, again, that you're not kind of stuck with horrible FOMO. That being said, I mean, really it's all about planning ahead. If you're a brand and you're gonna be releasing a product or talking about a new product at the show, you're gonna be one of many, many brands doing so. So really the best thing to do is to have a plan and get started early on what you want to be your media strategy. I mean, obviously, I think you should identify the types of publications, whether they be industry publications like DevNet, or maybe social media feeds, other more consumer facing publications, that you want to be aware of your product, because they're going to be one of many that is going to be out there. So planning ahead is key, really revealing as much in terms of the product attributes beforehand. So media has a chance to sort of go a little bit deeper than just saying, hey, we're going to have a product there, come by the booth. You're creating a challenge for yourself in terms of like just finding the time and the ability to sort of go there and do the work. you know, at the booth, it always helps to have a head start and that sort of thing. So really waiting too long means you're just going to get lost in the mix. We try to cover as many products and brands as we can. But clearly, as I tell, you know, people in the industry all the time, the more we communicate, the more we know what it is you brands are working on, the better we can plan in our covers, because we are basically trying to do a lot. We're trying to cover pretty much everything. So the better brands can help us and guide us, that's ideal. The other thing I might mention is for brands to think about, you know, Expo West is certainly a big time for debuting new products. It's certainly the first time we're going to get a chance to taste products and report on them and take pictures. But it's not over once Expo West is over. You should have a plan to continue driving awareness outside of the events, to not sort of drop it on that week and walk away, as it were. Remember, this is really an industry-focused event, and it may take a little bit of time and different levels until consumers and other people who are not at the show may get awareness of this. So have a plan for this to be a long-term thing. Don't just think that we dropped it on Expo West week, we got coverage on BevNET, we're done. It's really part, it should be part of a sustained work that you're doing.
[00:13:27] Melissa Traverse: So if we're thinking exact timing, do folks start now if a brand has a new product launch or they're doing a rebrand? Is it too early? When's the right time to start? Mike is shaking his head, do it now.
[00:13:40] Mike Schneider: Now's the right time, Melissa. If you aren't talking to your marketing team already and you don't have a list, start yesterday. Get your list of companies that you want to submit your news to, get your press releases done and start the communication process because Just like afterwards, uh, it could require a bunch of follow-up to get people to follow through or to get your message across. Um, and I think there are a lot of companies out there that have, you know, the resources to hire a PR firm. Who's probably out ahead of this for you right now, which is a good thing. But even that, um, even that's just one additional channel that I would recommend, uh, I would recommend pursuing.
[00:14:29] Melissa Traverse: Mike, when we think about the storytelling that brands should be doing in order to attract those decision makers to their booths, maybe it's specific retailers, maybe it's investors, maybe it's other people in the industry that they want to gain exposure with. How do they craft those press releases and the exposure they're doing in social media and elsewhere so that they really are drawing that valuable audience to their booth?
[00:14:57] Mike Schneider: Well, there's going to be a sea of messaging out there right now, Melissa. So I think it's important to choose the two to three things that are going to make this new line extension for you or brand new product stand out the most. Know your audience, know what they're looking for.
[00:15:11] Martín Caballero: I would say, as always, we're looking for on trend products. You know, we have sort of a lens, which we view the beverage industry where, okay, these These factors are sort of playing an outsized influence. We're seeing things like protein, prebiotics, these things that we're covering on a regular basis. We're always looking to see sort of how new products fit in with existing trends that are either rising or falling, perhaps, maybe a new one that is starting. So I think when you're crafting a press release, we just need sort of a quick snapshot of how you fit in and how you differentiate yourself, I think is maybe the balance that I would try to pursue. We want to know why this is a product that can go into stores and why you believe this is a product that is ready to go into stores and ready to make an impact. And we also want to know why you think this is not a me too product and why people need this one versus a different one. You know, we've seen some really interesting approaches, even in categories where maybe innovation feels a little limited. There's been a lot of interesting things. I'm thinking about, you know, bottled water, sparkling water. There's a lot of interesting things that can be done in terms of, again, the way it's presented. Tell me why I need this. Tell me why it can start selling tomorrow to the right consumer. I think those are things that you want to highlight for sure. And those are things that are going to attract, you know, retailer and investor attention.
[00:16:38] Mike Schneider: And so you can imagine how many of these Marty must be reading and how important it is to be brief, but also to hit the important high notes. And the tendency is going to be to try to tell the entire story from, you know, the brand story through the science that you're using. And you're going to have to make choices to get the attention of the, uh, of an editorial team, no matter, no matter who it is.
[00:17:03] Melissa Traverse: Marty, what kinds of announcements do you pay attention to and which are the ones that may not necessarily make the cut?
[00:17:12] Martín Caballero: Um, to be honest, we really try to pay attention to most everything when it comes to Expo West. I mean, um, you know, there are, well, you know, bigger news and smaller news, uh, depending on the situation. But I think Expo West is really a time where people are, you know, this is, again, it's the biggest showcase for our industry for the whole year. So we really pay attention to a lot of everything. The thing that, uh, sometimes trips us up and that I think is relevant for these trade shows and Expo West in particular is the, newness of the quote-unquote new products. So again, because we cover products on BevNET regularly on a daily, weekly basis, when it comes to Expo West, there may be a brand that released a product two months ago or you know shortly prior but we have maybe already covered it or maybe already talked about it on bed net so it becomes a little bit different in terms of is this a technically new product well you may have seen this before on bed net so it is new but it is not necessarily new to the show i think we prioritize it and really look for those new products that are being seen for the first time at the show Um, sometimes those are new products that contain a press release and a formal announcement. And other times we'll be at the show, we'll have conversations and brands will want to show us, Hey, this is a new prototype. We just brought one that we're talking about. This isn't something we're making a big deal out of, but we want to show media and sort of give them a little tease. Like those certainly are attractive from a coverage perspective. We're trying to get information that other people don't have based on those conversations. So any of that kind of stuff is certainly going to be really interesting to us. But to get back to your original question, I would say, you know, really, how new is this product? Have we seen it before? You know, and sort of making sure that we're really trying to be as current as possible on that.
[00:19:02] Melissa Traverse: And Marty, how do you plan your Expo West? Do you have a list of booths day by day you want to see? Do you set up meetings just so people out there can kind of get an idea of what a typical show schedule might be for an editorial team? How do you think about that Expo West strategy for yourself?
[00:19:21] Martín Caballero: In some years, we've done sort of a geographical approach where, you know, a couple of reporters will be in Hall A or North Hall or whatever it may be, and sort of just going around to all the beverage or food booths that are relevant in that particular section. Sometimes it's based on categories, so we'll have a reporter sort of hitting up all the, let's say, soda brands, and sort of that helps maybe draw some bigger analysis and trends that are within that mix. For us, it's about trying to cover as much ground as possible, which means mostly a loose kind of schedule. I don't try to book too many appointments that are sort of formalized to a certain time because as people know, it gets really difficult to manage your time in that kind of way, certainly with back-to-backs and moving from point A to point B. And, you know, a lot of conversations happen on the way to the North Hall or outside while you're doing something else. So it's really tough to be really prescriptive about the schedule. So I'd say we definitely try to use most of our time walking the floor and sort of, you know, just covering as much ground as possible. To be honest, with a few exceptions, we try to hit pretty much every beverage brand. Food is maybe a little bit tougher, but we really try to cover every single brand that's exhibiting.
[00:20:48] Melissa Traverse: Mike, how about you? How do you plan out your Expo West?
[00:20:52] Mike Schneider: I just snake through the booths. I mean, for me, it's kind of the, you know, what have we not seen? Who have we not met? And then the thank you tour. So try to get as much exposure to the show as possible. See as many people as I can. find out what they're interested in, find out what they have that's new, if they have something new. And I also get a lot of advice for who else to check out because it is an industry full of a lot of great camaraderie, so people want you to check out their friends' products as well. And I mean, we have a different mission than Marty does on the Taste Radio podcast, as you know, Melissa, because you're on it too. So I think we have kind of similar ways that we cover the show.
[00:21:40] Martín Caballero: BevNET, CBG Media has a bunch of different things going on at once. And so, you know, for on the editorial side with reporters and myself and other reporters that you'll see on the floor, you know, we're really trying to get information. We're really trying to fill up our notebooks and have a lot of things to write about and cover from the show. So ahead of time, if you tell us, hey, you know, so-and-so is going to be at the booth between 2 and 5 p.m., he'd love to show you this product. That gives us some valuable information that's going to save us time, make sure we connect with the right person when we get to the booth, and really enhance our ability to bring that coverage to the table. If we seem like we're moving around fast, Probably because we are, we're trying to get to a lot of people. And then when, you know, you know, Melissa, Mike, other people from the DevNet, CBG Media, come to the show, you may have a different conversation and maybe sort of a little bit more casual, maybe just sort of more, you know, just a different tone. You know, we're all representing the same company. But, you know, we're sort of have different jobs for the for the time on the show.
[00:22:43] Mike Schneider: And one of the things I really enjoy is when we, you know, we connect with somebody in advance, either through LinkedIn or askatasteradio.com or through someone's slide into the BevNET mic DMs or whatever it is. And it's a, hey, I want you to try a product that I'm going to be backpacking because I'd love to hear your advice before we even launch. I mean, so there's just a lot of great ways to, you know, from the Sour Milk way, through the Goodle's way, through, you know, doing some great PR, some advertising in advance or whatever it is to get the attention of the people that you want. But the important thing is to think about, like, how do I scale that to all of the different opportunities that I have? And you can't really take advantage of every single opportunity at Expo West unless you're like a Liquid Death or a Coca-Cola who has the resources to spend at that scale. But if you put together a good plan, you can have a meaningful Expo West And you can also have a meaningful Expo West at any stage of the game. So you can have a meaningful Expo West if you have a booth, you can have a meaningful one if you backpack, you can have a meaningful one if you have a party. So it just depends on what your goals are, like Marty said, what you're trying to achieve at the show and how much industry exposure you think you need to attain the next level. It all depends on the milestones that you have. And then the other thing that's really important is just to, you know, have a quality pitch in your booth. Marty talked a little bit before about who does what role. And, you know, if you're a small brand, you should make sure that everybody in your booth knows, you know, who you're looking for. So if that person comes to the booth and you're in a conversation and it's not with one of the people on your list, they have a method to get you out of that conversation and into the one that you, you know, you came there for, you know, just have your strategy planned out in advance so that you don't miss the opportunity. So, Have everybody know what you're trying to accomplish. Give everyone talking points and, and make sure they understand what their roles are. Cause some people are there to have like long conversations with folks that are, you know, maybe influencers or even the media. And nobody's going to, you know, have their feelings hurt because you had priorities at the event. It's just, it's a time that you have to, you know, use your time and your resources wisely.
[00:25:09] Martín Caballero: I think it's an opportunity to build in redundancies as well that are relevant to your booth staff in the sense maybe only one person is going to have that conversation with the Walmart buyer or with the Target buyer, but there could be multiple people who could have conversations with media or sort of answer some of the basic questions and sort of build that storytelling element. and talk to, you know, a broader range of people. So I think if you have redundancies built in and you have a staff that can go a little bit across roles, you're gonna put down on the possibility that, you know, as Mike said, maybe we come by and there's someone already in a conversation and, you know, sort of, it's very touch and go as we're saying with the amount of time that people have. So if you have someone who can sort of do both and work across places, that would certainly help.
[00:26:02] Mike Schneider: It's a lot easier to get some people to come back than others. Like me, Melissa, for instance, we're pretty easy to get to come back. Marty, less so. Probably a Whole Foods buyer, a lot less so. If those folks are the ones you wanted to meet and they come by, try to figure out a way to get that conversation happening.
[00:26:19] Melissa Traverse: And it's always great to have a safety net for if those folks come by and you don't, you aren't there or someone who knows all of your information isn't there. If you have a cheat sheet, so whoever is at the booth at least knows what DCs you have open, what the high level information you need to be sharing with people are. So you don't miss that point of contact, even if you get the card. And even if you're able to follow up later, it's great to have something so that no matter who's at the booth can share the most important information. Marty, you talked a little bit about how when you're at the show, you know, sometimes folks will send you a press release and let you know exactly what they're launching. Sometimes you stop by and they let you know undercover what they're up to. I think we should talk a little bit about embargoes because there may be folks out there who don't live in the PR world who don't know that they can share information with you. And have you understand that it's not ready for release? Can you explain how exhibitors can use embargoes in a way that actually help you plan and produce better coverage?
[00:27:22] Martín Caballero: A media embargo, pretty simply, is sort of an advance notice that we get shared with various times. There's going to say there's going to be an announcement on Monday. We're alerted the, you know, prior week so we can plan our coverage. And the idea is that, you know, sort of when the embargo lifts, everyone is sort of free to publish their coverage. Someone may have an exclusive that lets them publish, you know, a day before, an hour before, whatever the case may be. So that's a pretty common thing that we deal with in the media on a day-by-day basis here. With respect to Expo West, these things may come up where you clearly may have a product launch that you're timing to that week of Expo West. You want to let us know about it, but you don't want any coverage ahead of time. Certainly, we agree to embargoes all the time and we can sort of hold coverage for that specific date and sort of incorporate it then. The thing to remember with Expo West is that, again, you're going to be releasing this news and sort of making announcements. at a time of great noise where a lot of other people are going to be making similar announcements. I would recommend brands that are considering doing an embargo to think about when is going to be the most valuable time for them to do that. You know, is it the day that Expo West opens the trade show door as well? you're, that's the busiest time. So you're going to be right there with a ton of other news. And even though wait, we may have awareness about it and be interested in covering it. If something else happens that same day, the news cycle, it can sort of be crowded out. Um, we may not get to it in the same timely fashion that we would because other things take precedence. So there's a lot of risk involved in that. Think about perhaps, can you make the announcement a week prior where it's going to be maybe a little bit less, you can, set the tone for people to go check out the product when they're at the show. A few days before, maybe, you know, just really, I think there's, again, if you're looking to stand out and differentiate yourself, it's going to be quite hard if you're going to be jumping right into the fray exactly as Expo West is going on. So just be thoughtful about it. And, you know, certainly, as you mentioned, we work with brands all the time. So we can adhere to dates that are given to us, just be conscious of, you know, the, the new cycle is going to be very high turnover during that time.
[00:29:48] Melissa Traverse: Mike, Marty just explained embargoes and how embargoes really are all about timing. When we think about all of the noise that's at Expo West and all of the tools that are at a brand's disposal, social media, paid advertising, organic coverage, How do you, how do you recommend that brands sequence that coverage so that the layers are bringing them to their goals and not fighting each other? So like, how do you make sure all of those components are cohesively getting you to where you want to go versus fighting with each other?
[00:30:25] Mike Schneider: The way to do that is to start simple and to get a message out there early and then get out there often. It's to basically think of your marketing message as an onion and start with the outermost layer, make that the simplest, and work your way into the most detailed piece of the message so that you're qualifying your message as people are seeing it. So if somebody's interested in the most detail, they can get to it, but you don't start there. just the fact that you're going to be at Expo West and that you're releasing a new product. is a great start for your message. And then you can tease the idea of what it is until you get to a point where you're like, all right, today's the day we're putting that out there. So, you know, I think just having enough exposure in advance is the bigger problem than how to tell the story even, or having channels fight against each other. And a lot of brands will focus on one channel because that's where their budget is, or they'll wait until the last minute to put the story out there because that's what they think they're supposed to do. I just think everybody's trying to do that. And I think if you, you've got to think about, again, the things like buyers are making their lists and you want to be on those lists. Media people are trying to figure out how they're going to cover the event. And then there's just like all kinds of other opportunities in between there too. So investors are going to be at the event and they're trying to make their lists and There isn't one magic way to get that done. It depends on your stage. And it depends on where you have seen signal in the past or where you can get signal. You can always get signal by paying for it. Um, and having a good message. If your creative is not good, you can pay for a message and it won't work, but, but just keep it simple. And it will cause people like, for instance, if you, if you bought advertising at BevNET or Nosh or Taste Radio, or even brew bound. people want to see new products. So anything that says, Hey, this is a new product that's going to be at Expo West is immediately worthy of at least a little bit of attention. And the more you get that out there, the more it sort of works on your psyche. And then when you're at the event, it's like, Oh, I have to go to this booth to try this new, like this new kind of teleportation chocolate or something like that. I mean, obviously that would be something everyone would want to try, but you know, now that's a new product launch.
[00:33:06] Martín Caballero: I would just add in terms of planning and media strategy and how you're gonna be talking about this in storytelling, I think to have a different approach depending on who you're talking to is really just a basic but smart idea. Certainly on the BevNET side, we're gonna be more interested in the industry implications, the business, who else did you hire to make this new product happen? What are the sort of implications on an industry level? that's the kind of stuff that we're certainly interested in talking about. If you're talking to an influencer or a consumer directly, then maybe it's about flavor, maybe it's about packaging, maybe it's about, you know, the thing that you're doing at the booth that is making this fun, rather than, you know, the intricacies of how it's going to be distributed or, you know, cold fill, hot fill, manufacturing, and these kind of things. Knowing, you know, what the things that you want to highlight to the different audiences that you're going to be speaking to, is really going to be key. Again, if you're talking to a distributor, you want to bring a data story rather than, you know, maybe, you know, my kid loves the cherry flavor or whatever it may be, you know, just tailor your message to the audience you're speaking to, and you're going to see that reflected in what comes back.
[00:34:23] Melissa Traverse: Well, for all the listeners out there who are trying to target BevNET CPG media in order to send us a press release, and this is whether you're a CPG brand, service supplier, provider, investor, trade organization, retailer, whoever you are, you can submit a press release or a tip or suggestion. And that includes thought leadership as well by going to the PR tab on BevNET.com, Nosh.com, or Brewbound.com, or you can go to the CPG industry press releases on nonbase.com. In closing, just a couple of final words from you both. Marty, from an editorial perspective, what are the behaviors from brands that build trust with you over time? You know, when you see their email or you see their press release, you immediately take notice because you know the brand and you trust them.
[00:35:14] Martín Caballero: Certainly just relationship building over time. I mean, I think, you know, we deal with so many different brands. I mean, my inbox is on a daily basis just full of inquiries and people getting back to you from a couple of months ago to someone just breaking news that's just happening today. I think just sort of being a consistent partner as we try to be with people who reach out to us with news and stuff like that, I think it's sort of just relationship building over time. And I think being ready with those answers and being ready with being able to take the next step, you know, if If you send me a press release, and it's about your new product, and I say, hey, great. Can we arrange an interview with the founder? We want to move on coverage with that. We kind of need to be able to move quickly, or else other things sort of move into the frame, and they get delayed, and things like that. So I'd say people who are prepared and ready to sort of engage with the platform and sort of move at the speed that we're moving are always going to be great. Again, like people who have built reliable relationships because we've done that in the past is really a key thing. So do what you say, say what you, you know, do what you say, say what you do.
[00:36:35] Melissa Traverse: Mike, everyone's in the middle of making sure their booze are all set, they have enough samples, they've got their team locked down. In a nutshell, what are your final words of wisdom and encouragement for all the brands out there who are getting ready for the most insane trade show of the year?
[00:36:53] Mike Schneider: Be kind to each other. I mean, everybody's going to be really stressed out trying to make sure that they're getting their message across. And, you know, this, this, this event is a lot of fun. Uh, if you see a chance to lend somebody a hand, you know, do it. If you have a chance to, uh, have a conversation with somebody who's, you know, not feeling up for it and you have a chance to sort of pump them up and remind them why they're doing what they're doing, do that. I just, there's a lot of opportunity to connect with people at the event and. I know there's, you know, a lot of people that you need to connect with, but don't forget that the person in front of you is probably the most important one at that moment.
[00:37:32] Melissa Traverse: Mike Schneider, Martín Caballero, thank you so much for all of the words of wisdom and advice today. For everybody else out there in the audience, thanks for listening and we'll see you next time. That concludes another episode of the Nambase podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a review and follow us on your listening platform of choice. You can also watch and listen to past episodes on nambase.com. And don't forget to join our Nambase Slack at slack.BevNET.com for company updates, industry networking, and community discussions. See you next time.
