We’ve never been more interested in Dry January than this year. To be clear, personally and professionally, we are 100% in support of Dry January and everything it represents; our participation, however, is more of an opt-out situation. Some of us might be dry-er...ish, but to be fair, we also (1) come from the beer world, (2) have a roster of clients in the alcohol game with incredibly tasty products, and (3) love playoff football (lest we forget après ski drinks too). So why our peaked interest in Dry January? Enter Oh Hi Beverages.
PHASE I
QUICK TO MARKET STRATEGY
Oh Hi was founded by a Durango trio who represent the old-school cannabis (Durango Organics) and craft beer (Ska Brewing) industries. This past fall they added a major distributor and launched their CBD seltzers in nearly a dozen states. To support this rapid growth, they reached out to us to draw on our years of beverage experience with an ask for a go-to-market strategy, some distributor-friendly brand pitch decks, complimentary quick-turn sales materials, and PR support to present the Oh Hi brand professionally and turn key in each market.
We knew we would crush the the quick to market materials (see samples below); but what got us most excited was the opportunity to grow our relationship with some rad people and a truly authentic, yet underdeveloped brand, in the Cannabis beverage space.
After quickly delivering the first project everyone involved seemed to convey an attitude of, “Sweet, that was fun. What else can we work on together?” From there we agreed to dig in, and give the burgeoning brand the consideration and organization it deserved via a brand development project.
PHASE II
BRAND ARCHITECTURE
We took a trip down to Durango for a couple days to get to know the team, check out the operation, and dive deep into the brand. Using the results of our previously delivered questionnaire as our guide, we talked through every aspect of the business. In what’s been described as marriage-counseling-meets-stakeholder-mediation, we developed a collective vision for the foundation of the brand. Here is an introduction to our brand development process.
From there we outlined, defined, and refined a thorough and succinct brand architecture that gives the Oh Hi folks the confidence in, and understanding of, what their brand is, and how to capitalize on this succinct and unified vision.
With the brand defined and team aligned, Oh Hi was ready to move forward with purpose on additional projects. As much as we enjoy and value these mental and emotional endeavors, we recognize they can be challenging, but we love being able to showcase their critical nature and value as we move into the more visual stages in our process and impacting their audience and sales. Here’s a look at the projects where we are currently, and will soon be, deploying their Brand Architecture.
CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
As skiers, bikers, anglers, and campers who enjoy drinking, cannabis, and live music, and who chose to make products that support, and a brand that represents, their passions, we were fired up to get outside and take some lifestyle pics – and let’s not kid ourselves, the studio shoot with cocktails (both loaded and unloaded) was pretty enticing too. The ongoing project has been a blast (see gallery below), and as the upcoming seasons change we’re excited to grab all the different gear from our garage to get out and mix business with pleasure...and tasty drinks.
MEDIA RELATIONS
With the Cannabis industry in general, and CBD beverage space specifically, being so young and emerging, garnering quality coverage can be tricky. With credit equally due to our long-standing relationships with reporters who trust us, our willingness to play the role of educator, and some good old finesse and hustle, we’ve been able to secure some great placements for Oh Hi. And with the skyrocketing interest in functional beverages, Cannabis beverages as well as non-alcoholic drinks, we’re bullish on where things will go from here.
DIGITAL/SOCIAL OVERSIGHT, ENHANCEMENT + EXECUTION
We’re big preachers of the inbox. Especially in the cannabis space where the mere existence of social accounts can be wiped from cyberspace based on the subjective opinion by an anonymous Zuckerberg employee and their interpretation of ever-shifting policies. With a tactical mindset, and kid-gloves, we’ve embarked on a path to (1) simplify and unify the Oh Hi social channels in a way the represents the fundamentals we created in their brand architecture, (2) incorporates recently shot photography, and (3) pushes the audience to Oh Hi’s owned digital assets (web site and newsletter list).
The initial feedback has been great. The social channels are, most importantly, still alive and well, but they’re also more unified than ever before. The site has fresh content. And with revised messaging and promotional codes, recently sent newsletters are generating sales. We encourage everyone to sign up HERE and see for yourself.
RETAIL PROGRAMMING
Between the brand architecture, sales materials, and pitch decks there’s some solid momentum behind Oh Hi as they continue to launch new markets. To feed that fire, and in response to sales team feedback from the marketplace, we’ve been pushing out revised POS tools. The feedback has been great and has us stoked to roll out the retail and incentive programs we’re building for the critical summer selling season. We’re putting together retail programming that aligns distributor incentives, retail sales tools and unique POS and drives consumer engagement though an awesome enter-to-win sweepstakes campaign that we’re excited to share in the coming weeks.
So back to Dry January. It wasn’t exactly sober, but it was a great learning experience. For anyone who sought some kind of inspiration or improvement, we hope you found it; successful endeavor or not, we applaud your efforts. For us, as we continue to move forward with Oh Hi, we’re excited to push the conversation beyond a socially-driven sober(ish) month, and on to examining the role their drinks can play in enhancing lives, providing healthy and delicious alternatives to alcohol, and supporting anyone seeking to make any kind of longer-term lifestyle pivot. And as reward for your Dry January participation, or just as applause for reading all the way through this post, Oh Hi has graciously offered us 20% off your next purchase. Just go HERE and use code TIUBLOG. Cheers.