Marketing Happy Hour - Inside the Mind of a Creative Director | Leah Palmquist of Caribou Coffee

Episode Date: May 2, 2024

This week, Erica's chatting with Leah Palmquist, Creative Director at Caribou Coffee. In this episode, Leah gives us a peek inside her mind when hiring creative talent for her team, how she works ...with marketing team members to craft effective creative briefs, and how Caribou Coffee stands out in a saturated market by having a strong brand identity, product innovation schedule, and curated customer experience. Here's a peek at what we cover in this episode: [00:03:19] - Leah describes her career journey thus far, from obtaining a graphic design degree from the University of Minnesota to her current role as Creative Director at Caribou Coffee. She also reveals how she leads her creative team and what she looks for when hiring creative talent (hint: the more you narrow your niche, the more marketable you are as a creative)! [00:08:37] - Leah explains how to craft an effective creative brief, including relevant information and context. [00:14:04] - Leah walks us through the strategy Caribou Coffee implements to stand out in a heavily saturated space like coffee, including their strong brand identity, product innovation schedule, and unique curated customer experience. She also explains the creative team's role in communicating this differentiation, and the subliminal messaging that comes through creative work. [00:20:23] - Leah shares how brands with limited resources can ensure they're optimizing their creative processes, and reveals two new Caribou Coffee launches live TODAY! Grab a drink and listen in to this week's Marketing Happy Hour conversation! ____ Other episodes you'll enjoy if you enjoyed Leah's episode: Developing Story-Driven Video Content (+ A Mini Breathwork Session) | Chris Keener of MUD/WTR Should You Hire a Creative Agency? | Jesse Green of Handcar Creating Fresh and Innovative Social-First Content | Jacynth Serrano Rodriguez of Our Place ____ Say hi! DM us on Instagram and let us know which episodes you're loving - we can't wait to hear from you!  Please also consider rating the show and leaving a review, as that helps us tremendously as we move forward in this Marketing Happy Hour journey and create more content for all of you. ⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our FREE MHH Insiders online community to connect with Millennial and Gen Z marketing professionals around the world!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get the latest from MHH, straight to your inbox: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our email list!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out Caribou Coffee: TikTok | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook | cariboucoffee.com Connect with Co-Host Erica: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with Co-Host Cassie: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow MHH on Social: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ New to Marketing Happy Hour (or just want more)? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Download our Marketing Happy Hour Starter Kit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ This podcast is an MHH Media production. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more about MHH Media!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Interested in starting your own podcast? Grab our Podcast Launch Strategy Guide here.⁠

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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. Hey, Marketing Happy Hour listeners,
Starting point is 00:00:53 welcome back to another episode of the Marketing Happy Hour podcast. This week, we are chatting with Leah Palmquist, Creative Director at Caribou Coffee. In this episode, Leah gives us a sneak peek inside her mind when hiring creative talent for her team, how she works with marketing team members to craft effective creative briefs, and how Caribou Coffee stands out in a saturated market by having a strong brand identity, product innovation schedule, and curated customer experience. You know what to do. Go grab your favorite drink, maybe a coffee in the spirit of today's episode, and let's dive in together. Hi, Leah. How are you? I'm doing great. How are you? I'm doing so well, and I'm so excited to
Starting point is 00:01:39 chat with you today. We were just talking a little bit off record. When I lived in Michigan, caribou coffee was like one of my go-tos. And so it's just so fun to like finally talk to someone at the brand and get the behind the scenes of how the, you know, the coffee industry is doing in marketing and, you know, your unique perspective on the creative industry. And I'm very excited to get to the bottom of it. 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 afternoon? This afternoon, I have an iced oat milk maple crafted press, which I don't
Starting point is 00:02:18 know if you ever tried when you're in Michigan, it is a caribou coffee exclusive. So it is one of my favorite go tos. So I've got that today. Oh my gosh, that sounds incredible. I do not have coffee because we're recording this in the afternoon or like later kind of in the evening. And if I have coffee at this time, I will be up all night. So I don't have coffee right now, but I do have a glass of it's called whiny baby wine. Have you heard of this brand?
Starting point is 00:02:52 I haven't. Oh my gosh. It's so cool. You'll have to look up the label because it's just adorable and they're geniuses at branding. So I just have their white blend and it's pretty good. I was indulging with that. I have a friend in town and we were playing Monopoly deal last night with this wine and it was like the best little evening. So I love it. Oh, that sounds incredible. Sounds right up my alley. Yes, it's so good. Well, okay, let's get into it. Let's talk all things Caribou coffee. To kick us off, could you just share a bit about your career journey thus far and how you came into your role at Carrivu? Yeah, absolutely. So I started out, I graduated from the University of Minnesota with a graphic design degree. And I found graphic design a little bit by accident. When I was in middle school, I wanted to be a pastry chef. When I was in high school, I wanted to be a history teacher. So I've kind of bounced around a little bit there. But within that, I kind of realized once I got to Turing Colleges and I was put a four-year plan for history education in front of me, I was like, oh, I don't know that that's necessarily what I, what I want to be doing. And so, um, I kind of really took some time to do a little bit of major shopping. And, um, when I saw the four-year plan for graphic design, I was like, okay, that feels so right. It does not even feel like work. I'm so
Starting point is 00:04:14 excited to, um, give that a try. So, um, once I was in school, um, I started, you know, doing some, uh, career shopping as well. Um, a lot of shopping. And with that, I got into design because I love the creative aspect of it and the art and the creation. But I also, you know, there's that piece of me that still likes the education piece and the developments. So what I really love about creative direction is I get a good balance of both of those. I get that, you know, hands-on creative design. And then I also get to work on managing a team and additional mentoring and education there too.
Starting point is 00:04:52 So it's really been a fun way to get to where I'm at today. Oh my gosh, that is awesome. And one thing we like to talk about when we are talking to anyone in a creative department is about building the team and making sure that you have the right team members in your creative department. So let's talk a little bit about that. What do you kind of look for when you're hiring creatives and how can you ensure that you're creating a stand-up viable creative department? Yeah, absolutely. I think creative is such a fun position to hire for. We get so many different people coming in from all different areas and expertise and niches. And so I think, you know, first starting with what
Starting point is 00:05:40 exactly the business I'm working on currently needs. So that can vary so greatly. But I think within that, what that kind of means is, you know, we're looking for people with specific niches. So I think the more that you can really figure out what it is about you that makes you unique, I think that will really help, you know, what is it? Jack of all trades are great, right? But, you know, it is nice to, you know, really get in deep in one area. And so I would say there's that piece, you know, is it, do you specialize in social media? Do you specialize in digital design? Do you specialize in video illustration? You know, there's so many different ways creative can take you. And I think it's such a fun career path because of that. But I would also say on the other side of that, something that's super important to me is that my creatives have a
Starting point is 00:06:34 really strong like marketing and business background actually. Because at the end of the day, we're trying to sell a product and creative is just one avenue of doing that. I think oftentimes creative can be seen as, you know, that final like paint layer or, you know, the icing on the cake, but it really goes a lot deeper than that. And I would say, you know, solid, stunning aesthetics are kind of table stakes, you know. Yes, it's super important and, you know, you want things to look polished and on brand, but I think a lot of it is about how you can, you know, sell what you are doing in a really compelling way and something that's going to, you know, break through the noise.
Starting point is 00:07:11 So I would say that's something that's super important as well. And I think with that, you know, being able to talk about your work and walk through your process, you're going to be selling your work, whether you're, you end up at an agency or brand side or freelance, you're either pitching to a client, you're pitching to leadership, pitching to the board at every step of your career. So really being able to talk through your work is a really great way to show how you will be able to then sell your product. If you can sell yourself, I can see you selling our product. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And it really does help to have those like smart, brilliant marketing minds behind the creative because that way it's a, it's always a well-rounded, whether it's a campaign or just like brand images or things like that. That really does help. And a
Starting point is 00:08:00 lot of people don't think about that when they're thinking of hiring on their creative team. They're just like, oh my gosh, we got to get the people with the best aesthetics and things like that. But it really does help to have both of those sides. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, creative and marketing are so intertwined. It's so important to have a good balance of both.
Starting point is 00:08:20 Absolutely. Well, all of the brand creative department members who are listening here are going to be really excited that we're going to dive into this because some points of tension sometimes can come when we're talking about creative briefs. So I'm curious to hear your thoughts on what makes a creative or great and effective creative brief? Yeah, absolutely. Creative briefs are so important. And, you know, again, based on where you're at, brand, agency, etc., it can really differ. And everyone kind of has their own way of doing it. So it really is kind of, you know, making it work for you. So I can speak from my experience, I think the biggest thing that is, is probably hard for, for both sides is, um, marketers aren't necessarily always creative, so they don't think through the creative process and I wouldn't expect them to either, by the way. Um, they don't
Starting point is 00:09:14 always think through the creative process. So, um, I think the way we can kind of help with that is like, okay, these are the questions we ask ourselves when we're creating, well, creative, I suppose. And so really starting from there. So making sure we're really clear on our goals and being really specific around those and making them really kind of smart goals, right? So making sure that they're specific, they're measurable, they're actionable, they're realistic. And then also it makes sense from a timing perspective. So I think oftentimes we can see things like, oh, we want to increase traffic, right? Not quite specific enough. So when we go to evaluate creative against the brief, if we are just saying, oh, yeah, we'll increase 0.1%, it's like, was that successful or was it not?
Starting point is 00:09:57 So I think as you think about what you want the creative team to come up with, being really specific around some of those things, even getting into even tactic by tactic, what you want the creative team to, you know, come up with being really specific around some of those things, even getting into even tactic by tactic. If you're working through a campaign, you know, is this brand awareness? Is it in the consideration stage? Is it, you know, conversion, like where in the journey, the, the, the guest will be as well as super important brand awareness messaging will be super different than, you know, conversion messaging. They'll have different CTAs. So being really clear about those things up front will save a lot of time on the back end if there needs to be rework. But yeah, I would say the main thing is that really we use that brief and everything in that brief should be relevant to the ask.
Starting point is 00:10:41 So if you're including market information, super, that's super helpful, right? But if it isn't something you want to see show up in the creative, either call that out as it just being context or, or the creative team will, will think that they would need to action on that. And the campaign should focus, that should be a focus of the campaign. It's like, okay, we're talking to people who are concerned about the economy. So I would say that's a couple of pieces. And then final piece I would say is really being clear on who your audience is. And I would say going even beyond demographics. So gender, age, you know, household income, super important. But I think even getting deeper to that and, you know, what's the need state? what are we solving for?
Starting point is 00:11:25 Um, you know, what, what do they, what do they want? What do they believe in? What are their values? And really getting into that will help really tailor the creative and make it really successful. Yeah, absolutely. And then are there any sections that would be helpful to a creator team or a creative team? Like, I'm just thinking off the top of my head, like a do's and don'ts section or like what we like and what we don't like with like
Starting point is 00:11:48 creative examples from maybe it's other brands or like other creative that's been done in the past or anything like that. Is that helpful? Or is that like, does that hinder the creative process at all? No, I think it's super helpful. Competitive analysis is something that, you know, creative teams can do as well. I think it's really helpful if it's coming from the marketing team. You always know how you want to be positioning and you're messaging hierarchy. So if you have an idea of something that's good, that you really like, please share it. If there isn't something that you're like, absolutely not, that just gives us a good place to start. It's like, great, we don't even need to go down that road. It's not something that we're looking for. I'm assuming most marketers in their mind have kind of an idea of what they're expecting to get. So I think by helping provide that extra context, it's a consideration and it's an input for us. So I think those are all really helpful data points to have. Yeah, absolutely. And again, I think people will be very happy that we're talking about this for just the marketing side, because it can be tricky. You know,
Starting point is 00:12:51 a lot of I have a few friends that are on creative teams, and they'll get briefs. And they're like, I don't even know what to do with this. This doesn't give me much information. I'm just going to do what whatever I can with this information. So it's good to know that the more information you can provide, the better, basically. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. It's, you know, it's something that's come up in every role I've been in. So it's kind of this age old, like, man, what should a creative brief be? And everyone has a different philosophy. So it really is just about having really open communication with your team and being like, this works, this doesn't, trial and error. So you kind of narrow in what works for you and your team. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, that's so funny. Well, I want to hear from you, especially in your roles at a coffee company. I alluded to this earlier, but I just want to hear a little more behind the scenes with
Starting point is 00:13:39 the coffee industry because I actually ran a coffee blog for like seven years and I was like super obsessed with coffee. So it'll be interesting to chat with you, but I'm sure that you're tasked with, you know, how to best differentiate your brand in a somewhat saturated industry like coffee. Could you just chat through how you think about creative strategy and differentiation at Caribou Coffee? Yeah, absolutely. So I guess kind of going off of where we started the creative brief, you know, I think what's, you know, most important, a really great place to start is just getting really clear on who your target market and your demo is. So really digging in, having those personas will be super helpful with that because that's really who you want to tailor your content around. So I would say that's definitely the first place to start.
Starting point is 00:14:30 I think the second place is having a really strong brand identity as well. So, you know, trying to determine what your one thing is, something that's only ownable to you. We don't want to actually try to be all the things to everyone because then you just really end up being nothing to no one. Right. So, and I would say even going beyond outside of specific products and or service benefits, you know, think more about the experience piece. So, and like how you want people to feel after they interact with your brand, whether that's at any touch point, you know, social, they see a banner ad, you know, when they're in store, just really creating this really cohesive brand identity. So people know what they can expect from you, but then using those, you know, points as like a filter or a like guiding light will help, you know, drive more of that differentiation. The coffee space is super saturated right like there's a lot of a lot of sameness um and uh we
Starting point is 00:15:27 joke a lot internally with our with our social team um that you know we all have have an idea uh for a post and then right before we're about to post it we see what our competitors do it we're like oh man they're in our roles and uh you know great minds think alike, right? But I think with that, it's like, okay, so then what makes us different, right? So going back to the whole idea of experience, you know, if you think about, you know, Caribou versus some of our other competitors, you know, where we want to be the really trendy place where people go to see and be seen, you know, something super Instagrammable, right? Like that's totally one avenue. Or do we want to be somewhere that's just like quick in, you know, get out. I just want something super functional, right? So that's totally a different experience. Or do you want to be someplace where people can go in, they feel comfortable, they feel like they can sit down and relax. They almost feel like they're at home, right? So I think that's where you can start to see some of that differentiation coming through versus like, oh, well, all three of these places have, you know, their version of just a latte. Right. So like what makes our latte better than,
Starting point is 00:16:34 you know, any of our competitors lattes. And yes, there are functional benefits there, but those are easy to match. Right. Because it's like, oh, great, you know. So product innovation, super important. It is a differentiator, but it's an easy one to keep track of and copy where I think when you get to the experience piece, I think that's something that's harder to replicate. Yeah. And then I'm curious how you on the creative team kind of communicate that experience, you know, through your creative that you're putting out into the world. Yeah, absolutely. So that goes back to having that really strong brand identity, right? So getting really clear on, okay, now we know who our target guest is, we know what experience they're looking for. So now how do we apply that? So thinking through, okay, what tone,
Starting point is 00:17:24 you know, are we looking to show, you know, we can use the example of wanting it to feel like home, right? So wanting to, you know, create like really cozy, comfortable experiences. So you can do that with messaging. So the way that you talk, whether it's a little bit more casual, it's a little bit friendly, it's more approachable. Contrary to that, you know, if you want it to be more of that trendy upscale, you know, you might have more of this like cool factor within it. So I think there's different ways you can approach messaging and that, again, can come through in ads, come through in like the greater script. It can come through in so many different areas. So I would say messaging is one place,
Starting point is 00:18:06 visuals is another. So really looking at color palettes and photography. And again, there's so many different ways you can take that. So as you're looking at, you know, how can I really visually communicate that experience? You know, is it softer colors? Is it, or is it more vibrant colors? You know, is it super, you know, stark photography or is it softer? You know, so I think there's some of those things you can start to play with to really start to bring that experience and then really prime people for what they can expect and then follow that through with the in-store experience, making sure, you know, either the design is super sleek if we were looking for something trendy or, you know, there's a lot of soft surfaces if we're looking for something a little bit more
Starting point is 00:18:47 comfortable. So that's kind of a few different ways you can start bringing those elements through to really make that experience come together. Yeah, that's excellent. And it reminds me of like all of the subliminal messaging that comes through in creative. Like you don't even know the work that it goes, like when you're a consumer, you're like, Oh, you know, this is just my everyday coffee place, but there's so much like work that goes into communicating, you know, you can feel at home here, you know, you can, you know, get your favorite beverage here every day if you want to. And it's a friendly place and all sorts of things. So there's so many different things that you can communicate through creative work that
Starting point is 00:19:26 as a consumer, you don't even think about. Absolutely. Yeah, it's super fun. I think it's honestly probably one of my favorite parts of my job is just that challenge. It's such a puzzle and it's fun to solve. And I think, you know, as we talked about earlier, the whole idea of it, creative doesn't just end at aesthetics, right? Like that's where I think we get a little bit deeper. It's like, how can you our listeners, they'll typically work at like smaller
Starting point is 00:20:06 brands or they're just like starting out in their careers. So they're taking some freelance gigs and they're always asking us questions about, you know, how can I maximize the budget that I have? So how can brands with limited resources evaluate their opportunities to kind of make sure that they're working on scalable, repeatable processes in creative and evaluating and testing and learning to optimize those processes? Yeah, absolutely. Super important, challenging, you know, aspect of it for sure. And, you know, I think especially from creative, there's so much you can do and the more money you have, sometimes it feels like the more freedom and luxury you have, but it's definitely, I think, a fun creative challenge to be like, okay, I have a very limited set of resources. What, how can I make this work? And I actually
Starting point is 00:20:59 think more constraints can actually breed, you know, sometimes even better creativity. So, you know, yes, it's some kind of limitation, but I think it can force us to think about things in a different way. So I think that's a really cool aspect of it. Otherwise, yeah, I mean, to your point, as we, you know, are evaluating opportunities, really getting into that, you know, ROI of it, right? So sometimes you have to pick and choose between one tactic or the other. So it's really, you know, taking that time to examine, okay, what is going to be the most impactful way to get this message across? So maybe you only do, you know, a billboard instead of a print ad, or you are focusing really in on Instagram or TikTok instead of, you know, X or Facebook for that
Starting point is 00:21:47 matter. So I think it's really about thinking through back to your target market again, where are they and what do they care about? So I think you have to be really choosy around what's going to make the biggest impact and where. while yes, we would love to be able to execute on all of the things all the time, it just isn't realistic. So I think that's one piece of it. The other piece of it too is, okay, so we have, you know, you, you created one tactic once, is there a way you can create a template out of that so that next time around it's easier. If you have something that you're doing, you know, regularly, that makes sense. You know, as you think about, you know, from a content perspective and like serializing things, it's like, oh, every Thursday we post this kind of post. And it's like, great. That just takes some of the, you know, brain power out of that and
Starting point is 00:22:36 kind of starts to automate and create a process around that. So the next time you do it, it's just that much faster. So I would say taking time to really figure out how you can, you know, scale things up, make them repeatable. The concept of self-service is something that's something that's super important to us internally. And I think it can apply from the brand side. I can think it can apply from agency and freelance where you're, it's a whole concept of like teaching someone how to fish versus doing it for themselves, being a little bit more of the facilitator versus the executing partner. So, you know, and I think especially with freelancers and working through brand, for example, you know,
Starting point is 00:23:16 creating a brand toolkit for them to then be able to take it over. So really, you know, getting clear on how you can transfer, you know, knowledge and all of that to folks who may not normally be a part of the creative process. Yeah, absolutely. Those are like brilliant tactics. And I think you spoke to it when you said, like creating templates or like FAQs or things like that, that people can go back to and draw on when they're trying to create future campaigns or creative content and things like that is always super helpful, especially if they're going to be creating some creative briefs, then you'll have like everything you need and you'll be able to pass that off to a creative team someday if you do end up coming into
Starting point is 00:24:02 some additional resources there. So I love that. Yeah, exactly. No need to reinvent the wheel every time. Right. Absolutely not. Okay. Well, we're approaching the end of the interview here, which I feel like we could talk all day about creative, but I do want to hear if there's anything exciting coming up for Caribou Coffee that you can speak to. What should we be looking out for? I know that you might have some fun launches soon. Yes. Today, actually, it's very exciting. We are launching two huge, new, permanent platforms that we are just thrilled about. We always joke, you know, it's, oh, it's such an exciting time at Caribou. And I, you know, it is all the time, right? We're constantly
Starting point is 00:24:43 working on fun things, but really, truly this time, it is an especially exciting time for us. So today we are dropping our new fruit shakers. So we have three flavors of those. So you can get it in strawberry, peach, and berry punch. And what's something we're really excited about is it's made with real fruit and it's shaken with coconut milk. So it is delicious. We're really excited. It is caffeine free too, which is great. We get a lot of asks for that. Yes, we're a coffee company, but as people go throughout their days, as you mentioned earlier in our chat that it's
Starting point is 00:25:23 four o'clock, you're not quite ready for a coffee. So this is a great, you know, option for those folks and even just folks who aren't as into caffeine. So being able to have that option and kids too, you know, they're always looking for them. They're super pretty as well. So we're just super excited about them. And then our second launch is another new platform for us. So we are introducing energy drinks, which we are also very excited about. And those come in four flavors. So we've got blue raspberry, pomegranate acai, peach mango, and strawberry pineapple. And contrary to the fruit shakers, all of those do contain caffeine.
Starting point is 00:26:04 So if you are looking for that added bump to your day, this is a great way to do that. They're also very delicious. The blue raspberry one tastes kind of like a bomb pop. So if you want to relive your childhood there, I highly recommend that one. And the other really kind of cool thing about this is you can get it just as they are in their original form, but it also comes as a lemonade. So you can really, you know, customize to however your taste preferences. So it's really exciting and it's really fun. And we're just so excited to get these in the hands of you all and can't wait to hear
Starting point is 00:26:40 what you all think. Oh, my gosh, that is incredible. And I love that we were able to kind of break the news today with our listeners. So that's really exciting. And I hope everyone gets to go and try those. And if you are listening and you do go try them, please report back. Cause I would love to hear how you enjoy them. And I'm sure Leah would too. Yes, please. Well, another question that we like to ask on this show before we close out is, is there anything that you know now that resources. We talked about quite a lot of things that go into, you know, building great creative. And I think something that's super important is I would start your career with stronger work-life balance habits very early on.
Starting point is 00:27:37 The further along you get in your career, the more responsibilities you're going to get. So being able to scale those habits up and really feel really solid in them would be super helpful. It's really hard to, you know, work through creative if you're exhausted. So I think really making sure you're taking, you know, really good care of yourself and just the whole idea of, you know, self-care isn't selfish, right? Yeah. Oh my gosh, absolutely. And I think the past couple of years we've had a lot of friends in the industry just kind of go through those seasons of burnout. And I think the past couple of years we've had a lot of friends in the industry just kind of go through those seasons of burnout. And it's so important to go back and remember that
Starting point is 00:28:10 like you are so much more than your job and so much more than your creative output. And you can't actually have amazing creative output without some input there. So definitely, yeah, definitely having like hobbies or like things that you do outside of work that are not something that you monetize is something that I love to talk about because it's like everyone says, you know, oh, I love doing like photography or oh, I love doing this thing where I'm making goods somehow. And then people are always like, oh, you should go to the farmer's market and sell that or oh, you should like market your services and things like that. And there's an element to that where it's like oh great get get your bag like get your
Starting point is 00:28:48 side hustle going but at the same time it's like then you kind of lose that like hobby and then you can spiral into burnout so I always recommend having something that you can kind of do as a little break from work and just like a brain break in general. And mine is actually walking. So that's what I love to do. I usually go on like an hour long walk for my lunch break. So that's really, really good. But yeah, I love that. I always recommend that. Love that. Yeah. 100%. I do a lot of walking as well. It's a good way to get the energy out and, you know, get out and get yourself away from a screen too. I feel like I spend so much time in front of screens. So it's nice to really
Starting point is 00:29:30 kind of change your headspace there. Totally, totally agree. Okay. Well, we have to know where we can find you, follow along with what you're up to and what Caribou has coming down the pipeline. On the theme of a lot of exciting things happening at Caribou, to help support this launch, we have something really exciting that we are going to be dropping on our social channels coming up mid-June. So keep an eye out on our TikTok for that. That will be dropping, I think, we'll get a little bit of a teaser on June 20th. So really excited to be able to have you all experience that as well. So you'll get, you know, your beverages and you'll get some new entertainment. We're very excited. This is the first time we've done something like this. So
Starting point is 00:30:16 we're pretty thrilled about it. Oh my gosh, I love the cliffhanger. I'm like, what could it possibly be? Just stay tuned and tune into our TikTok on June 20th. And if you want to throw us a follow in the meantime, then you'll be alerted. You'll be one of the first ones to know. Incredible. And what's the handle on TikTok that people can stay up to date with? It is at cariboucoffee. Just very, very straightforward and easy. And we are the same on all of our channels. I do believe it'll be on YouTube and Instagram as well. So whatever your preferred social platform is, you can definitely find us there. Awesome. And we'll link everything in the show notes so people know where to go to view that content in June. I'm very excited. I'm like, I'm so curious. I'm wondering what it could
Starting point is 00:31:00 possibly be, but I guess we will find out later in June. And Leah, it was so great to chat with you today. I know this conversation is really going to help a lot of people and I appreciate you joining me. So thank you again for just being here and sharing all of your wisdom with us. It's been really great. Of course. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Marketing Happy Hour podcast.
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