Marketing Happy Hour - Brand Marketing + Positioning 101 | Deven Machette of Betty Buzz

Starting point is 00:00:00 you're listening to the marketing happy hour podcast where we discuss career and industry insights with our peers in marketing we're here to talk about it all like the ups and downs of working in social media how to build authentic relationships in the influencer and pr space managing a nine-to-five and a side hustle at the same time, how to be productive in your life and career without losing your sanity, and more. Ultimately, we're here to build a community with you because we're all trying to navigate the world of marketing together. Are you ready? Grab your favorite drink and join your hosts, Cassie and Erica, for this week's episode. This week's guest is Devin

Starting point is 00:00:53 Machette, senior brand strategist for Betty Buzz, a line of non-alcoholic sparkling mixers made from clean ingredients founded by the Blake Lively. Devin shares her experience shifting from corporate to self-employment and back to corporate, her team's multi-channel strategies for launching new products, and her fantastic career and marketing advice like, don't be afraid to pivot if you're seeing traction elsewhere, and why careers are non-linear and the importance of trusting the process. I know you're going to love this conversation, so let's get into it. Grab a drink and listen in with us.

Starting point is 00:01:35 Hey, Devin, how are you? I'm good. How are you guys? Well, I know Cassie is out for the count today. Yeah, doing so well. Cassie is down for the count. She does not doing so well. Cassie is down for the count. She does not have a voice, but she is still listening in with us today. But we're just going to have an awesome conversation about all things Betty Buzz.

Starting point is 00:01:53 And we love that brand. So, so very excited that you're here. But before we get started, I do have an important question for you that we ask all of our guests. And that is, what is in your glass this morning? It is marketing happy hour after all even though we're recording at like noon almost yeah um I've got it I've got it all I have like a really sad almost finished Starbucks but I also have obviously like I have Betty Buzz and controversial opinion no one in the office agrees with me but ginger beer I think is the best they'll all tell you

Starting point is 00:02:25 it's Meyer lemon club soda but I am I am the lemon one I'm like that girly it is but it is like I think most people are that girly because it feels not appropriate to have like a few ginger beers during the day but it does feel like I don't know like a little like Friday treat so yeah I put it in like a cute little glass and we're good to go. Yeah. That's awesome. That's awesome. I am pretty boring this morning. I just have water. I am planning on though. I got a new bottle of wine yesterday and I'm super excited to try it. So I will be digging into that later. But anyway, like I said, huge fans of Betty Buzz and everything that you're doing. I follow you on LinkedIn and have like seen all

Starting point is 00:03:06 the amazing things that you're posting always. So I'd love to just hear a little bit about your background, how you found yourself working with the team at Betty Buzz. Sure. Yeah, the Betty Buzz journey, I think almost has is more of a testament to the things that I do like outside of work obviously like my my resume helps but um yeah I started in really traditional like a really traditional marketing um environment kind of like an in-house like agency type feel where there's like 38 marketers, all women, like working for very little money from like, I swear the two years I worked there, it was like 8am to 11pm, like every night traveling to Vegas for trade shows. Like it was, it was like as classic agency feel as you can get. And also I would say like pretty toxic. I think a lot of marketers have really

Starting point is 00:04:06 toxic first jobs. Like I feel like that's just a pretty common thing across the board. Like yeah, just, it was, it was good because you learn every so much about so many different areas of marketing all at one time. And you really figure out what you like and don't like, but it was just a lot. So I left because I was dying to do something more creative. I was dying to have more impact. And that led to like a series of kind of odd jobs working more in not really startups, but I was working for like restaurants, gyms. I worked in e-sports, but I was dying to get back into something a little

Starting point is 00:04:46 bit more traditional and sought out sort of a classic digital marketing job in California. When I was 24, I lost my, lost sounds aggressive, I was broken up with, and I was laid off all in the same week. And I was like, feels like a fun time for me to move across the country as one does. So I did and I applied for jobs. And in that time, I also was like pulling together income by branding, like logo, creative design, like full graphic design, branding startups and small businesses. And I just like fell in love with that universe and that environment. I think there's nothing really like the startup environment. It's not for everyone. It is. I've learned that it's not for me

Starting point is 00:05:38 in terms of starting my own thing. In the pandemic, I left all that the classic marketing background, and I launched my own agency, working for startups and a few bigger clients. And all of those clients were from Twitter, like, pandemic, I just leaned into Twitter, and LinkedIn. And I talked a lot about what I did and all of my ideas that honestly, I think I was too afraid to voice in rooms full of people I felt were smarter than me. But I was comfortable doing that on the internet. Yeah. Which like, I think is probably a pretty common experience. Like I have a lot of friends who find the imposter syndrome in person in their jobs is really, really high, but on the internet, they can just talk and feel comfortable. And so that's what I did. And I got a lot of client traffic from that. But I hated working for myself.

Starting point is 00:06:30 I, I think that there was a lot of ego involved because when you launch your own thing and you're so public about it on social media, you want to be like, I'm crushing it. And this, and I was doing well, but my mental health was like all time terrible. Yeah. And I started to drop the ball for a few clients and that was really hard. So I panic left. And at the same time, I started to like kind of dial back my workload. And at the same time, someone who I had been networking with on Twitter had reached out and was like, Blake Lively is starting her own company, much like Ryan did. He was the brand director at Aviation. So he was like, I think you'd be a good fit, but you'd have to only do this. You'd have to stop doing your agency. And I was like, oh, shoot. So I immediately stopped and interviews were quick. It went really well. And I just ended

Starting point is 00:07:23 up at Betty Buzz. So that's the very long-winded answer to how I am here now. Oh my gosh. I love that story. And it's so funny. How did you, did you, you know, blatantly look for clients on Twitter and LinkedIn? Or was it more of just like you posting what's going on, your thoughts and things like that? And it was very organic, like intake. Yeah, it was honestly, am really really lucky I'd like to say

Starting point is 00:07:46 that there was times where I was like like oh no like where's my next paycheck coming from but it was never like that from the minute I started um I had a lot of people in my corner I had a lot of like professional advocates who were bigwigs and like other um companies who were very helpful. But I also think, you know, I was talking about what I was doing and I talked about launching my agency and I had a specific at that time, a specific success rate in the TikTok realm. And that was when everyone was trying to figure out TikTok.

Starting point is 00:08:21 So I had all these big companies being like, help us with this. And I can't say no to anything. So I was like, sure. And I was just kind of taking them on and really what I should have done is hired. But the idea of hiring someone, like I didn't want someone's paycheck to be reliant on what I was doing. So yeah. So it was sort of like Catch-22, but no, I always had really organic traffic from Twitter, honestly, in a way that I was like, never, ever afraid that I wasn't going to have clientele. I was more afraid that about how people land their clients because it can be tough. You know, if you don't have an experience, you know, starting your own agency or whatever, you have to really rely on connections. I know we had someone on here who was talking about make a list of literally every single

Starting point is 00:09:17 person that you've ever met and just reach out to them and see what's going on and just kind of put out there what you're doing currently. And things just seem to fall into place, but that's, that's super interesting to me. But now that you're back on the brand side, what is your day-to-day like as a senior brand strategist? Yeah. So day-to-day it's interesting because you would imagine like a celebrity owned brand is a little bit, not bigger, but I think that everyone thinks that your job is a little bit more, um, specialized and why I am a senior brand strategist. Like my day-to-day varies quite a bit because I also run social. Um, and

Starting point is 00:10:00 do you have a team or is it just you? Uh, so we have a team. We, um, we just newly onboarded a CMO. We have a CMO. We have a VP of trade marketing. We have myself on the brand side, and then we have an associate. So like true marketing. Oh, I guess. Yeah. True marketing is like four to five. There's an hour right now. But, but four to five, I would say. But it's the associate is on or she, I think she's now a brand manager. It's a small team. And realistically, we all kind of have our projects or our like areas of expertise. And I sort of do copy, social, PR, anything consumer facing, media, content, all of those things, creative. So I sort of sit on the axle of all of those different wheels and functions. But I would say like this week we had a photo shoot for a new product. And for two days, like I'm doing that and I'm really, really bad at like, if I'm doing that, I have to also pull myself out and make sure like social and community management is happening. And now we're at a point where all of those things functioning are feeling like a lot, but in a good way. But I just, I just want to, the point of emphasis really is the team is small.

Starting point is 00:11:40 We all do a lot. And I think that in startups, like you find, like even with a celebrity founder, like you push your resources as much as you can. So yeah, that's the day to day. It's, it is a healthy, crazy mix of strategy and execution. Yeah. Yeah. I had a similar experience at a haircare brand. It was a pretty large national distribution for this hair care brand but the marketing team was so slim and like no one would have ever known that you know the the brand managers were also doing social and also doing PR and also doing influencer but you think about it and you think there's like all of these different people fulfilling these specialized roles and and it really isn't even anyone I talk to that as even at like a larger brand same story it's crazy well it's like you know when you're in restaurants and like someone's like can I talk to

Starting point is 00:12:36 the manager and you're like I'm like that's how people on social would be like, be like, who do I reach out to for, for this? And I'm like, Devin at Betty Buzz. Yeah. Oh my gosh. So funny. Definitely have had that experience. That's funny. What is your strategy? You mentioned that you were at a photo shoot this week for a new product launch. What is the strategy behind launching a new product and how do you kind of maintain buzz around that while also lifting up your existing products? Yeah, I think it's interesting, especially given, I'm trying to think just because our products, like if it's a new flavor, it's, it's sort of, it's not like it's no problem. But I think you do kind of like healthy teasers. You ramp up, like you use social, you can use influencers.

Starting point is 00:13:31 We happen to have a very large influencer as our owner and founder. So the strategy is like a little bit different, I think, for us. I think what's really important is to not cannibalize your current products with new products, but to just continue using the halo effect that that like buzzy new product gets to sort of translate into the rest of the line. We are early enough, like I think in year one, we, in year one for us to have a few new products that we're launching. Um, I mean, we're just out of year one, like the buzz hasn't really faded. Like we hardly have even, I would, I would honestly say, and I'm probably a harsh critic, but like, we haven't even gotten the level of buzz for Betty

Starting point is 00:14:16 buzz as the line of five that we launched that I want. So I think right now, um um and I can probably say this but like a year in revamping we to your point earlier where you talked about like distribution but a really slim marketing set the first year was all distribution focused for us so that once we told people we had a product they could find it places um so now we're focusing heavily on brand awareness in a way that we haven't before. So introducing new products is just an interesting topic because it feels like, honestly, the strategy that I've got in my brain is really reintroducing Betty buzz as a whole. Um, we'll have new products that will like help bolster that message, but like realistically, it's an exercise for us in branding and positioning our product.

Starting point is 00:15:09 Now that we've done about a year and a half of research and we see the response. Originally we were hardcore a mixer because that's what our products were. And it made sense because aviation existed, but actually consumer data shows that people drink it on its own, um, more and are drinking it on its own more than they're using it as a mixer. So, um, sort of halting on

Starting point is 00:15:32 like how we launch a new product and actually like relooking at how we talk about our product find in general. I know that doesn't really answer the question, but I think it's, it's just a good point of note that even like a year in, like if you're looking at data and data is telling you something to listen, like it's never too late to sort of rebrand and reposition, you know? Oh, totally. And it does make sense for it to be a mixer with Ryan's brand. And I love aviation too.

Starting point is 00:15:58 It's my favorite brand of gin. So if anyone's out there, go get that. Um, but it also makes sense with the huge boom of non-alc um and just that being so popularized now and um there was even like a non-alc booth at Coachella I'm pretty sure so like that is what did you say we were there oh my goodness can you talk about that can we talk about it yeah you know what it's interesting because um I think it was it was a it was poosh sponsored right um but buisson which is a um non-alcoholic retailer they were just New York and now they're California um and they they peddle a lot of our products for lack of a

Starting point is 00:16:42 better term yeah they were heavily involved and they got us involved. And, you know, it's interesting because as a brand, do we think Coachella necessarily is in line with like our brand ethos? No, I would say that it's probably not. We try to avoid anything that feels flash in the pan trendy. And while Coachella is a big influencer moment, like is the boom we get from those influencers talking about us, like where we're trying to go as a brand? I don't know. However, it's really hard to say no to an opportunity like Coachella when you are new. So we were at Coachella. There is a high demand for non-alcoholic everywhere right now. It almost feels like if you walk into a restaurant and you can't order something non-alcoholic, it feels like

Starting point is 00:17:33 you're just not with the times. Yeah. So we managed to have a product that is really fitting nicely into culture at this juncture in time. But, but yeah, Coachella was sort of something that we aligned on as a team. Like we'll have our products at Coachella, but are we going to talk a ton about being at Coachella? Not really, even though that might get eyeballs on the product, Coachella does still feel like a bit off brand. So it's one of those weird places where I'm like dying to talk about it because you know, it moves the needle a bit, but does it move the needle the right way? Not really. So we stay a little bit more silent, you know? Yeah. And it can be more of a play too, of like, you know, all of the people who are at Coachella trying it and

Starting point is 00:18:15 saying, oh my gosh, I tried this amazing brand and like then going off and getting it on their own, like just brand awareness wise, I would say that's, that's a great opportunity to be a part of, but I can see what you're saying about like, maybe it's not totally aligned with the brand moving forward. And no hate to Coachella people. I'm like, I like, if I could have gone to Coachella, like I certainly would have. I don't know if my fashion would have held up, but I certainly would have. I just, I think one thing that we can look at though, is instead of talking about Coachella and making Coachella the moment we take the influencers that posted about us while they're

Starting point is 00:18:49 there and send a follow-up package, just like a gift thanking them for like trying our product. And we see more movement that way. Yep. Just reposting Coachella content, you know? Totally, totally. And I work with some clients on my own and we talk a lot about brand partnerships and experiential marketing and being a part of those big moments as well. And I think that is a really good point of just like, even if it's not 100% where you want to be, the people who are there will, you know, continue to love you and continue to support you. I just think that's really cool. Cause I was talking with a brand the other day about New York fashion week. And they were like, well, I don't know if our products really align with that. Or could we like partner with a

Starting point is 00:19:34 different brand that kind of like white labels, our product to then whatever. I was like, honestly, just if you have the opportunity to go be a part of it, be a part of the moment. And people will be talking about you, buzzing about you, all of that. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. You want to be in the space, but like, but like, we don't want to be Coachella sponsors. And I think that's a fine place to be, you know, like you can, you can like straddle that line. Totally. Totally. What would you say is the difference between this celebrity owned brand versus like maybe some other brands that you've worked with in the past? Like, is there a difference because it's celebrity owned or is it just kind of the same? Yeah, I think it's, I think there's a lot more to consider.

Starting point is 00:20:16 Like there's like the startup world can be really cowboy. Like you can kind of get away with doing whatever you want. The difference here is, is all experimentation, whether it's tonal, creative, the influencers you use, they like ladder up to an actual person. So I think like there's a level of tact and consideration in everything that we do. Blake is fantastic. She is like no joke, a founder that actually tries every product has worked on like the Pantone colors for the label. Like she's involved in a really fun way, but like, she's not just a celebrity figurehead, but at the same time, she is a celebrity. So it's just like, you have to, there's, there's, I think the permission structure that you see typically in startups is really fast. Like you can pretty much move and you can kind of break shit as you

Starting point is 00:21:16 go, like move fast and break shit has been my motto forever, but like not here. Like now it's like move fast, but like, make sure you don't touch anything. And like, yeah. So it's just like a little bit of a different dynamic at the same time you, you walk into something that already has some level of clout to it. So I would say like, and don't get me wrong, it's a really fun challenge. So I don't want to say it's more challenging than a startup because I know some startup founder with very little money out there in obscurity

Starting point is 00:21:49 is going to be like, it is not harder than what I'm trying to do right now. But I think what's harder is you have a brand that feels very much like celebrity merch until you give it a greater purpose. Yeah. So like Betty Buzz, people just buy Betty Buzz because they like want to tag Blake in their story

Starting point is 00:22:04 and be like, look, I'm buying your product and maybe they get a retweet. Like it's very much fan behavior, but it's not fan of the brand behavior and a way to take all of that excitement around the product and have people buy in, in a way that creates longevity more than just the, the moment of almost interaction between them and Blake yeah oh that's a good point and I think it's interesting too how you mentioned like you kind of have to be mindful of the reputation of the the leader of the brand knowing that anything that you do and anything that your team does is a reflection of them because they are that figure I think that's interesting right well and J-Lo just came out with that, that alcohol, like

Starting point is 00:22:45 JLo doesn't drink Ben Affleck. And she's like sipping from the, the drink, the whole commercial and like, people are just in the comments, like what is happening here? Like, yeah. So like, yeah. Doesn't feel authentic, like at all. That's, that's tough. Okay. We noticed on LinkedIn that you wrote that you quote unquote get startups. And we've been talking about that, you know, back and forth here. Could you share maybe your top two or three marketing brand strategy tips for startup marketing teams who might be listening? I know that's like really hard to just narrow down two or three, but let us know what you're thinking. I have a few, cause you want to go like sort of the largest, like, like you want to say something like positioning your brand is so important,

Starting point is 00:23:35 but I actually think this is like, this is something that people on Twitter always yell at me about, but I think that things are lower stakes than you think. So like when you launch a product and obviously you have investors, like there's so much pressure on a founder because if they didn't fund it themselves, they've got a whole host of people who have opinions that actually do need to be heard because they can't just be like, but I think that things are lower stakes than you think. So like when you start and I'll talk specifically about social and content, like your audience is pretty small. Your brand awareness is pretty low,

Starting point is 00:24:18 unless you're someone like a Blake, you know, like then it's like everyone knows and they're kind of waiting for you to do something cool. But like, if you're just, if you're just launching on social, like try everything, try everything, but measure it. Don't just try everything and, and, and shoot from the hip constantly. But like, if you fail, no one's really watching you on the grand scheme of things. Like liquid death five years ago could have tried anything. Now, obviously people like expect something from them, but I think trying everything is important. Um, specifically as it relates to social, whether that's format tone, like walk into it with a strategy, do your data

Starting point is 00:24:55 research, your due diligence, um, keep your target market in mind, but don't be afraid to try a trend. Don't be afraid. Don't do just trends. That drives me freaking nuts. But try a trend, like try serious content, try something educational, like walk the person through your product, like just have the product and use it the way it's supposed to be used. Like, like I think the, there's this fear of format, this fear of channel. And I think like, it's really low stakes, just post something. It's fine. So I, and I know that that feels like not probably the most

Starting point is 00:25:34 are like thoughtful advice, but I think that everyone really is fearful. Like the amount of people that wait forever to get on TikTok, like Betty Buzz's TikTok, I'm really proud of. That's fine. When I have the time, that will be a much more fleshed out platform. But I think having it is important because people know you exist somewhere. Like people are using your product and they're using TikTok. So to go on TikTok and have you not be there is just like a weird hole in the abyss. So I think that's important. The other thing is, is when you're creating content, I would say like, it always depends on your goal. I think growing slowly and growing intentionally is important, but I also think that no one's going to buy your product if they don't know it exists. So for Quinn, Quinn was an audio erotica app that I worked on probably a year ago now, which is one of my more

Starting point is 00:26:34 interesting clients. And they are absolutely killing it now. Yeah. I've seen their PR package. I think they sent people like headphones, right? Yeah. Yeah. They have like great headphones. I think Talia Lichtenstein or whatever always wears. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But originally, you know, we were like, okay, so the goal is we need to get eyeballs and people using the product. Like we needed to drive trial in some way. So we needed to leverage social with very little funding to get as many eyeballs as possible so we did that by casting the net content wide as wide as possible content wise as wide as possible so if you think about the product it's audio erotica for females but if you just talk about that on the internet you are talking to a very small group of people who aren't even sure they're

Starting point is 00:27:23 bought in but if you ladder up to the greatest common denominator, what we're really talking about is like sex. So like you talk about sex and not like a weird, creepy male gazey way, but you talk in a, a, an idea sort of way. And then you can sort of niche down and sure you'll have a period where your followers plateau or the eyeballs sort of like decrease as people figure out whether or not the platform's for you, but they know you exist.

Starting point is 00:27:53 So I think for founders and startups, a lot of times, like we try to say the most meaningful shit up front. And that's important. You can put that stuff on a website. You can put that stuff intermittently, like a healthy mix on your social platforms. And this is why I get yelled at a lot, but I'm like, you might as well cast the net as big as possible and then niche is your best friend. Like while you're, while you're experimenting, while you're casting your net as wide as possible, when it comes to content for me, it always feels like post consistently, like keep that consistent measure everything and like do, do little shit and do it with intent and just do it over and over. So yeah, like the goal is not just virality for virality sake, but I am a big fan of putting your biggest foot forward to see

Starting point is 00:28:54 what moves the needle and what doesn't. And you can only do that with data and eyeballs. And if you don't have data and eyeballs, you can't actually adjust the strategy to anything. So, yep. I totally agree with that. I love that so much. And I think it's something that seems simple, you know, but everyone, I don't know, like every startup founder that I've worked with and I've worked with several, they just have no idea where to start and they think that they need to get perfect first. And I love what you're saying about just kind of like figuring it out along the way, doing these series, doing these, you know, consistent things, but then also,

Starting point is 00:29:30 you know, talking to people that maybe won't ever use your product, but will know who you are. And maybe we'll tell someone the next time they hear somebody looking for that kind of product. It makes me think too of vacation, the sun screen brand they are also the same way like they're they can do anything with their brand too because of that because they just like focus on the big picture and then these little sunscreens sell out so fast because they have a huge brand fan following um just don't as long as you don't get married to your original idea I think like it's important to have vision, like Caroline, who's the founder of Quinn always had a vision and I, I didn't agree

Starting point is 00:30:11 with it a lot of the time, but, and she's now in a place where like, they basically feel like the Spotify podcast, um, Instagram, like they play to their creators, they play to their fans, they do a fantastic job and she always wanted to go there, but I wanted to go somewhere else first in order to get to that moment. And I think like for founders, like, A, trust your people. Caroline always let me do my thing. And B, I would say, like, don't be afraid to pivot. Like if you're seeing traction elsewhere, just like, I'm like, again, don't be afraid to pivot. Like if, if you're seeing traction elsewhere,

Starting point is 00:30:45 just like, I'm like, again, I'll always say it, but like data, like check the data and adjust. It's fine. No one cares. No one's like watching. It's like, Hmm, that's a weird pivot for them. Like really no one's. Yeah, totally. Totally. I love it. Um, question you are talking about, you know, trying all these different things. How do you feel about Lemonade? It's that new social media platform that like, I think, I don't even know if brands can be on it. So with Lemonade, like Blue Sky, with all of these things, I think that if you're in the social and marketing world, it's good to be a part of them. There is, I know, and I, if I eat my words, fine, but

Starting point is 00:31:28 I think that if those startups work, great. I think, you know, you see something like Be Real, which was like kind of crazy, had its moment. I had it for about four weeks and then, um, and then bailed out just cause it wasn't really that special. And it was really just me and my computer doing stuff. Um, but I think, I think it's good to be a part of, I just don't see, there is so much funding and like, like the payment structures that Twitter has put in place that the advertising payment structures, like the business end that, uh, that meta has put in place. Um, it, it feels hard to Trump with anything new granted. TikTok didn't exist really up until like a few years ago. So fine, but none of them really excite me yet. Like I don't see the value yet

Starting point is 00:32:26 over anything that we have currently. Yeah. I'm always curious just to hear from other people who are, you know, in the day-to-day of social media, of like new emerging platforms. And I haven't even been on Lemonade yet. I downloaded it to my phone thinking, oh, I'll look at it. I'll explore it. I just like, it overwhelms me because I'm not really in, you know, I'm not really on my own personal social every day either. So I'm just curious to hear from people. So thanks so much for sharing that. Yeah. Okay. So what are some of your favorite projects that you've been able to work on in your career, whether that's with Buddy Buzz or elsewhere? I think the, there's probably a few Quinn by far, like is one of my favorite of all time. I think, um, a, we had a lot of success

Starting point is 00:33:15 there, but B, um, it was the first time that I feel like I was able to trust my brain and see like my actual strategy come to life and work and gave me a lot of confidence in what I do now. But it also is really fun to work. One thing that Quinn provided that I think a lot of other jobs haven't is we were doing something bigger than it was an audio erotica app. And I understand that, but we were, we were providing a platform for a conversation that women felt like they didn't have, like the amount of women who in the community men community discourse were just like, I feel seen. I feel like I never had anything. I thought something was wrong with me. Like eventually I think that working exclusively in a like purpose driven.

Starting point is 00:34:17 And I don't want to say that Betty buzz isn't purpose driven because we do a lot of wonderful things and we do a lot of giving back, but that felt like we were revolutionizing a conversation that needed to be had. Um, so love that project also just loved, like, that was the time that was the most cowboy, like talking about sex on the internet. We were getting taken down. We were constantly TikTok, um, TikTok was telling us to like stitch Trojan if we didn't want to get taken down. And like, there was just this constant tension between what women were allowed to say and what Trojan was allowed to say. So it was really like, it was just like, it felt like all the things I give a shit

Starting point is 00:34:56 about in one little capsule. Um, and then with Betty buzz, I would say right now we are currently in the midst of a massive repositioning, rebranding project, which will probably hit in about a month and like start to be slowly rolled out. we thought we were one thing and data overwhelmingly told us something else. And it's hard because we do have eyes on us and people are paying attention. And so you do feel like you can't totally move the way that you want to, but you actually can. Like I said, stakes are pretty low everywhere. No one cares that much. So I think that this has been really fun because it's been really challenging to drive a narrative for a year and a half that you kind of believed in. Like you really like you were like, this is the right narrative. Like this is. And then once once the brand positioning changes, everything has to change. Content strategy, the types of content you're producing, what you're saying on social, like our whole website has to change.

Starting point is 00:36:03 So it's been really interesting to watch the domino effect of strategy, like all of it's important and all of it works together. But this feels like the greatest exercise for me in brand strategy that I've ever done. So it's very fun. That's awesome. That's so cool to hear. I love people who are like passionate about the things that they do every day. And it sounds like you totally are. So congrats because also not a lot of people get there. So they can, I'm like, listen, I talk about marketing. Um, I don't drink anymore, but when I used to drink, like I'd have like a few drinks at a bar and someone would be like, Oh, like I'm, I'm thinking about being a content creator. I'm like, so what are you thinking?

Starting point is 00:36:41 Like I look down your launch, but like, I love to talk about this stuff. Um, and I think that over time, um, you know, you start to question like how important is it actually, because you're like, I'm just a marketer and we're just selling bubbles essentially. Um, but I think everyone has sort of their thing that they geek out about and this just happens to be mine. So fine. It seems kind of like yours too. So yeah, I would, I was just going to say that's, that's pretty much why we have this podcast. Cause Cassie and I would literally just talk about marketing with our friends all the time. And we were like, well, why don't we just like talk about it on some sort of platform? We started on Clubhouse when that was big

Starting point is 00:37:22 and now we're here. So super fun. Are you guys launching and without giving anything away, cause I'm sure you can't, you're probably under wraps. Are you going into new categories beyond the mixer with this new rebrand or is it just kind of that? Or can you say anything like that? I like it's it's interesting because I kind of can and I can't um I think that even not kind of says something but I think um uh what we're looking to do with Betty Buzz is create a place where people who love flavor more than like food, like this, like our brand is realistically a brand for foodies. Like Blake is a foodie. It's she's a flavor person. It's not really about like, if you look at the beverage category, it is all divided by occasion. So like,

Starting point is 00:38:20 if you're celebrating, you drink this, if you're at a baseball game, you drink this. And then like, if it's breakfast time, you drink this. And we are trying to transcend those occasions a little bit by just being like, this is just fucking delicious and you can have it whenever you want, however you want. So I think anything new that we come out with is going to cater to this idea that some people are drinkers as much as some people are foodies. We're going to have a product that you can have no matter how you drink, what you drink or where you drink it. Um, I think new flavors are on the horizon for sure. Um, how they look, what their functionality is, is TBD. Um, but definitely have some exciting things coming up. That's

Starting point is 00:39:06 awesome. I always love hearing behind the scenes and then like the new vision for everything moving forward. So thank you for sharing that. Okay. We're getting to the end of the interview here, which this has been awesome. And I'm just like thrilled for everyone to hear it. But we love to ask this question on the show. What do you know now that you wish you knew early on in your career? I think that careers are non-linear. I think I had a really hard time figuring out, especially like once we started dabbling into the Twitterverse where everyone had like some cool brand they worked with. And I felt like I was kind of toiling in obscurity a little bit because my career has been really nonlinear. I've been in a bunch of different industries. I've moved a ton, classic millennial in the way that I literally would have

Starting point is 00:40:03 a job for a year and I would move on. But I didn't feel like I found these right fits and I am aggressively dedicated to not settling professionally. You spend so much of your time working. The idea of working in a place where someone makes you feel uncomfortable or you're not fired up about it feels like a silly waste of time. Um, so I think that had I known that, like I had such trouble once I launched my agency coming back into a nine to five type set, like it, it was something I thought about literally since I jumped into having my own company and I was miserable about it. Um, like worst mental health episodes ever. And for no reason, like no one cares really what you do. And I don't mean to make it seem like no one cares and nothing

Starting point is 00:40:58 matters. Like we're floating on a blue pebble or whatever, like, but, but it's okay to take a step back. Like if you knew all of the suffering is in the not knowing. So if you knew that you took a step back or didn't work for two months or move back in with your parents or whatever that looks like, if you knew that that would only last for 12 weeks before you got your dream job or a year before you were launched in a completely different direction, you would never worry about that step back. If it like even calling it a step back seems silly. So I would just say like life and your career is nonlinear. Go where the energy goes. And if it feels like the right move for you,

Starting point is 00:41:40 if you feel more peace doing something than not just do it. We live in a world where everything has to be packaged and everything is so forward-facing, but we used to not, people could change careers and no one would know until you told them. Right. So I just think like, give yourself grace and try as much as possible because just like everyone's like, do everything you can personally, um, do as much as you can professionally, like, and, and if being in the same place for 10 years feels right for you do that. The only person whose life effects is, is you. So, yeah, no, I couldn't agree more.

Starting point is 00:42:18 I love that you said that I literally earlier this week had a conversation very similar with the ex head of experiential at Magnolia down in Waco, Texas. And she said the exact same thing. And she's like, like so far up in her career. And she said the exact same thing. She's no longer there. And she did that on her own. Like that is just a number one lesson that even I would share with people is don't worry about it. It's going to all work out the way that it's supposed to, even if that doesn't look like in your mind, how you think it should. Um, that's so important for people. And it sounds so corny because everyone likes to be like, everything works out and you're exactly where you're supposed to be. But like, like, I think one thing I would just add is like, I stress a lot. Like I have high

Starting point is 00:43:12 anxiety. I'm constantly stressed. Um, so I want to make it seem like that journey, like just knowing that you ended up in a good place, like that journey was incredibly painful, a lot of stress, a lot of tears, um, and a lot of feeling like I didn't know what I was doing and I didn't, but even all of the like feelings aren't facts and you can feel all of those things and still be just fine, you know? Yeah. A hundred percent. Couldn't agree more. Um, okay. Well, where can everyone follow you find what you're doing? Follow along with Betty Buzz and all the goodies there. Where are you guys online? Sure. Betty Buzz is easy. It's just Betty Buzz spelled exactly like you think on all platforms. All of our updates are there. LinkedIn

Starting point is 00:43:59 is really where we talk like more businessy. You'll see a lot of us interacting with Maximum Effort, which is Ryan's creative agency over there on LinkedIn. So that feels like business wise, where you'll see a lot for more of the fun stuff, Twitter and Instagram, TikTok. You can go hang out over there. I'd love to be followed, but not a ton going on at the present moment. And then for me personally, I'm dev machete machete with two T's everywhere, except for Twitter. And then I'm underscore because for some reason someone has dev machete, which feels insane, but. That's funny. Okay. We'll link everything out in the show notes too. So people don't have to like, remember that they'll just click it in the show notes. Honestly, bypass that whole moment and just click.

Starting point is 00:44:47 Love it. Well, thanks again for joining us. This is awesome. I'm really excited for people to hear this conversation, especially that last piece about, you know, the just relaxing and everything's going to be okay. Because I think that's a lot of place or that's a place that a lot of people are in right now trying to figure that out. And yeah, so thanks again for joining us. Super excited. You guys are so awesome. Cassie, I'm sure you're fantastic too. But yeah, this was so great. So easy. So chill. So thank you guys so much. Thanks for joining us, Devin. What a fantastic conversation. If you love this episode just as much as I did, don't forget to rate and subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform.

Starting point is 00:45:32 We really appreciate your feedback. Thanks for listening in with us today. We'll see you next week for another episode of Marketing Happy Hour. we are so excited to share that our first ever free marketing happy hour digital resource is now available download the dream career game plan today at marketinghappyhr.com forward slash freebie that's marketinghappyhr.com forward slash freebie this five's marketing happy hr.com forward slash freebie. This five-step workbook will guide you through defining your goals, building your network, diversifying your skills, influencing where you're at and investing in your growth. Cassie and I created this resource

Starting point is 00:46:18 with marketing careers in mind, but the framework can be applied to any industry. Our hope is that this workbook will help you truly elevate your career, whether you're in the market for a new position or just looking to make your mark in your current organization. No matter where this resource finds you, we are cheering you on every step of the way. So go check it out at marketinghappyhr.com forward slash freebie to download and make your career dreams come true.

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Marketing Happy Hour - Brand Marketing + Positioning 101 | Deven Machette of Betty Buzz

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Marketing Happy Hour - Brand Marketing + Positioning 101 | Deven Machette of Betty Buzz

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.