Is This the Next Billion Dollar Bottled Water Brand? | Sara Hendershot, Loonen

On this episode, we're joined by Sara Hendershot, VP of Marketing at Loonen - the glass bottled water brand that starts with a spring source, purifies it, remineralizes it, and tests every batch for over 350 contaminants. Sara was previously Director of Marketing at Momentous, and before that a two time world champion and 2012 Olympic rower for Team USA.Sara breaks down how Loonen pairs a high quality spring source with purification, remineralization using Celtic sea salt, glass only bottling, and third party testing for 350+ contaminants printed on every bottle.We get into the brand build: designing for heritage instead of trend (Levi's and L.L.Bean were the references), choosing yellow and blue to cut through a shelf of clear glass and white labels, and engineering a six pack box that can actually ship glass, and which storytelling hooks landed once they hit market.A big part of the conversation focuses on go to market: pricing at $3.79 at Sprouts versus the Amazon six pack, consolidating still and sparkling under one parent listing, growing almost entirely organic with zero paid influencers, and landing a first national account six months after launch. ---------------Episode Highlights:🐦 The loon: monogamous to one lake until it gets contaminated💧 The first water that is both spring sourced and purified🧪 Testing for 350+ contaminants when the FDA requires almost none🍼 Clara's IVF story and the water lab on her kitchen counter🏭 Ripping out PVC pipes and replacing them with stainless steel🎨 Building a heritage brand (Levi's, L.L.Bean, yellow and blue)📦 Engineering a six pack box that ships glass without breaking💸 $3.79 at Sprouts vs the Amazon six pack sticker shock📈 The storytelling hooks that landed and the ones that didn't🛒 Landing Sprouts off cycle six months after launch🛻 Route rides, field blitzes, and why every new hire sells📊 The Amazon playbook: parent listings and organic traffic🔮 Raising the standard for the entire bottled water category---------------Table of Contents:00:00 – Intro00:37 – Loonen origin story and what the brand actually is03:20 – Clara and David: IVF, endocrine disruptors, and Spindrift05:15 – Why an Olympian started paying attention to her water06:35 – The bottled water category and why nobody fixed it09:30 – Sourcing springs and the story behind the loon12:05 – Educating consumers without fear mongering14:00 – Competing inside the glass bottled water set16:20 – Building a heritage brand and standing out on shelf18:15 – Pricing at Sprouts vs pricing on Amazon20:15 – The storytelling hooks that actually landed22:35 – Channel sequencing and the Sprouts launch25:15 – Route rides and selling in the field29:20 – The Amazon playbook32:45 – Demos, field blitzes, and organic social36:45 – Distributors and brokers39:15 – Lessons from David Kimmell on scaling beverage41:45 – Success, standards, and what keeps her up at night---------------Links:Loonen – https://loonen.com/Follow Sara on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahendershot/Loonen on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/loonen/Follow me on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-martin-steinberg/For help with CPG production design - packaging and label design, product renders, POS assets, retail media assets, quick-turn sales and marketing assets and all the other work that bogs down creative teams - check out KitPrint.Shout out to my friends over at Glimpse, the go-to partner for automating retail-related back-office operations and unlocking margin trapped in invalid fees and manual processes.Are you in the market for a new flexible packaging partner? Check out HD Packaging. Third-generation, family-owned and built for the needs of category leaders like Newman’s Own and A Dozen Cousins. Faster launches, lower costs, and no artwork fees.