Marketing Happy Hour

The episode is primarily a brand origin story with only a few tactical tidbits - building community before the product, preferring long-term influencer relationships, and protecting IP early. Most observations are surface-level or already widely understood by marketing professionals, with no frameworks, mechanisms, or non-obvious claims unpacked at depth.

“we started the brand first in 2013 as a social media account and lifestyle brand. Before we ever made Rose”

“The baseline is a little bit more robust because in the alkalization process you do lose a little flavor. So you kind of have to, like, beef it up a little bit to then pull it back”

The 'build lifestyle brand before launching the product' narrative is historically interesting for this brand but has become a well-known playbook; no contrarian angles or counterintuitive frameworks are introduced. Advice on influencer strategy, IRL activation, and Gen Z/Millennial targeting recycles broadly circulated marketing common sense.

“we created this wine brand without the wine, and then we needed to get the wine made”

“we prefer working with people more, you know, multiple times. I think building a relationship speaks more to the um, you know, a stronger, more authentic relationship than one offs”

The co-founders are legitimate practitioners who built a real consumer brand from a $200 combined investment to national retail distribution, giving them genuine operator credibility. However, they are CPG/lifestyle founders rather than B2B operators, and the conversation never draws out the depth of business-building expertise - pricing, distribution negotiations, margin structure - that would reflect their actual experience.

“We started the brand with $100 each to make our tote bags”

“in 2018, the first vintage of Yes, a Rose hit stores, and now we're a national wine brand”

A handful of concrete anchors exist - $100 each to start, the 2013 social launch, the 2018 first wine vintage, named retail partners, and a brief technical note on the dealcoholization process. But there are no campaign metrics, follower counts, revenue figures, sell-through rates, or any quantified outcomes to substantiate the brand-building claims made.

“We started the brand with $100 each to make our tote bags”

“retailers were available obviously in Publix we've talked about a lot, but also Target, Total Wine, Kroger, Heb”

The hosts ask gentle, chronological questions that keep the conversation moving but never push for specifics, challenge vague claims, or follow up on anything substantive - such as actual campaign results or how the non-alk launch was performing commercially. The episode notably derails into the hosts sharing their own Beekman 1802 story for multiple exchanges, and closes with a fantasy dinner party question.

“I'm so curious how much did your backgrounds in those industries kind of help shape what the brand became?”

“if the four of us were hosting the ultimate yes Way Rose Denver party, who's getting an invite and what's on the playlist?”