This week on Earned, Brit Starr sits down with Paulie Dery, the CMO of AG1—the clinically-backed daily health drink.
Explore AG1's mission in the wellness industry and its strategic growth initiatives. Plus learn how Uber evolved from a 'gangly adolescent' to a professional powerhouse and how Yeti became a beloved American brand through storytelling and community focus.
To start, we dive into Paulie’s transformative journeys of renowned brands such as Uber, Yeti, and AG1. Paulie shares his unique approach to crafting iconic brands, emphasizing the importance of avoiding mediocrity and embracing inflection points that fuel creativity and innovation. With insights drawn from his pivotal roles at these companies, he highlights how they navigated industry challenges by reinforcing their core identities and building strong community connections. Paulie recounts Uber's evolution from a 'gangly adolescent' to a professional entity, achieved through a focus on driver satisfaction and operational excellence. He also discusses Yeti's transition from a niche product to a beloved American brand, underscoring the power of storytelling and community engagement. Looking to the future, Paulie introduces AG1 as a rising star in the wellness industry, poised to connect with high-performance optimizers and redefine morning rituals. To close the episode, Paulie underscores the importance of aligning professional roles with personal values to create lasting impacts in brand building and marketing innovation.
Check out highlights from the episode below, or or tune into the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen!
The following interview has been lightly edited for concision.
Paulie Dery on crafting a powerful community: “The key is don't chase. Really protect the core of the community, focus on them.”
Brit Starr: One of the things that I've seen and appreciated about [AG1] is the ability to scale, to identify new communities and tap in and really fuel growth through communities that appreciate the product, and appreciate the differentiators. Again, to help to not just adopt an identity that the brand has but to shape it as it goes. Was that intentional?
Paulie Dery: Yeah, 100%, I mean easier said than done, but if I boil it down, I think it's who are your people? Who are your people that love you, that represent you, that would promote you? Put all your attention on them. We call that community. It's so tempting to broaden the scope quickly. ‘Oh man, you guys would be awesome, you guys should open in New York, Brooklyn would love it. You know, you guys could chase, chase, chase, chase’. The key is don't chase. Really protect the core of the community, focus on them. It actually drives people crazy, because more people want in. They want into the nightclub they can't get into, and so you see that effect, you see people wanting actually in to the community.
The other thing is it keeps the brand very strong. If this ad doesn't appeal to our core community or is making some concessions, that's bad. You are trying to be everything to everyone and that means you're nothing to anyone. It keeps you very focused, which is good. The truth is there's a lot of mothers of three who use their Yeti sideline at the weekend soccer match right, and it's probably a large demographic of customers and that's awesome, we love her. But she's not going to appear on a print ad or Yeti TV ad right, and that's okay. She gets it. Consumers are smart, they understand the world you represent and the people that are core to you and they understand that that's the brand and they want in and they want to experience it and they love the product. So you don't have to pander to a larger mass audience and that's community.
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