Frank Mertens, Co-founder & Chief Marketing Officer
Go Mate Drinks

Gama spoke to Frank Mertens, Co-founder & Chief Marketing Officer at Go Mate Drinks.

What are the key success factors in creating a new retail drinks brand?

It all starts with an intimate understanding of your consumer and making sure that they love your liquid. There are so many options across all types of drinks categories that it is critical you really know your customer, what they want and ensure that your drink delivers. Then it is important to create desire by developing an aspirational and focused brand strategy and allowing your customer to experience and contribute to it. Equally important is making access to the product easy by thinking omnichannel as early as possible. However, be smart in how you do this so that you cater to your consumer’s purchase behavior and routines. Finally, be as agile as possible so that you can adapt to consumer and market dynamics. This will allow you to pivot where needed and sustain relevance with your consumers.

How is the way food and drinks companies are looking to reach and engage with consumers changing? How can a brand successfully resonate with consumers?

The principles of creating meaningful connections between brands and consumers are similar to how they have been in the past but due to the proliferation of media, a growing appetite for brand switching, and product trend cycles accelerating it is paramount to (a) put a strong emphasis on great creativity, and (b) identify your loyal customer community and build off of them. They will be your best advocates and thus a rich source of referrals. Additionally, they will paint the way to helping you identify the most effective and efficient connection points to reach and engage other like-minded prospects.

Read the full interview in the next issue of Gama News.