Insider Ep. 75: When Building A Brand Means Creating A New Category

In this episode, we're joined by William Siff, founder and CEO of Goldthread, an innovative brand of plant-based tonics formulated with herbs, spices and adaptogens. A clinical herbalist, ethnobotanist and licensed acupuncturist, Siff launched the company in 2016 as an extension of his apothecary and herb farm in Western Massachusetts.  A pioneer in the emerging category of adaptogenic beverages, Goldthread's products are designed to  "restore, refresh and invigorate our mind, body and soul." The brand is distributed at natural and conventional retailers nationwide, including Target which recently added Goldthread to 970 of its locations.  In an interview included in this episode, Siff spoke about his background as a natural health practitioner and how his experience led to the creation of Goldthread. He also discussed why building the brand was akin to "inventing the category,"  effective methods for driving consumer education and brand awareness, defining metrics for success and how the company incorporates ingredient trends into its innovation strategy. Show notes:  0:50: Thoughts On An Expo-Less Week (At Least We Have Churro Ice Cream) -- The hosts reflected on the postponement of Natural Products Expo West 2020 and how exhibitors that planned to feature new products and brand updates at the annual event can share the news with BevNET and NOSH. They also chatted about how texting has become a useful tool for communicating with the editorial team, chomped on plant-based ice cream and reiterated that sharing snacks is always welcome. 10:25: William Siff, Founder/CEO, Goldthread -- Siff spoke with Taste Radio editor Ray Latif about his foray into the beverage industry and why he viewed packaged drinks as "a model that could scale our overall efforts" to "get as many herbs, spices and adaptogens into as many people's bodies as possible." He also discussed key benchmarks that the company has reached, why demos and its "Plant Venture" events have been essential to the brand's development and how he works with retailers to add more adaptogenic drinks to their shelves. Later, he explained why refreshment is a key selling point for Goldthread and why he believes that schizandra berry will emerge as the next "big" functional ingredient. Brands in this episode: Goldthread, Fuze, Nos, BodyArmor, Core, Adrenaline Shoc, Cali'flour Foods, Ripple Foods, Van Leeuwen, Halo Top, UnReal, From The Ground Up