Expanding the pet health market for point-of-care diagnostics

PROBLEM AND OBJECTIVES:

A family office was interested in accelerating their return on an investment in 503 Distilling, a three year old regional ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktail brand. While profitable, 503's year-over-year sales did not match the industy average, prompting the need for a fresh perspective.

The primary question was how to maximize the brand potential and evaluate whether to expand to new markets.

SOLUTION:

Examining the category and competitive landscape indicated strong growth potential, but the brand had areas of weakness requiring immediate attention. Like many startups, 503 Distilling needed to streamline their brand, create a dedicated marketing function, and identify vendors to fill gaps.

Other areas included increasing the depth of understanding of their current customers, identifying drivers of initial purchases, and effective incentives to encourage repeat buying behavior.

OUTCOMES:

1. Role definition and clarity - Advised they concentrate the marketing responsibilities under the head of sales, reducing functional overlap and role redundancy.

2. Brand optimization - Proposed simplifying the product portfolio and brand architecture by eliminating their legacy products and focusing on the core RTD offering.

3. Market research - Co-created a vendor criteria rubric and RFP needs to quickly identify partners and inform and evaluate proposals.