[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hey folks, I'm Ray Latif and you're listening to the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry, Taste Radio. This episode features an interview with John Fieldly, the chairman and CEO of Celsius, who is responsible for spearheading the energy drink brand's reinvention and torrid growth in recent years. For the CEO of a company that is generating $1.5 billion in measured retail sales annually, John Fieldly is remarkably frugal. He insists on flying coach and avoids expensive dinners while on the road. Thriftiness is part of his personality, he says, but it's also about setting an example. Since taking the helm in 2017, John has turned Celsius into one of the fastest growing beverage companies in the world. The brand, whose positioning has evolved from a focus on dieting to that of fitness-oriented energy, has emerged as a viable challenger to legacy brands Red Bull and Monster. Throughout his tenure, John has consistently emphasized traditional business fundamentals and profitability, maintaining that every expense requires a valid reason. Financial discipline, he notes, is embedded in company culture and has helped position Celsius to where it is today. In the following interview, I spoke with John about the progress that Celsius has made since we last featured him on the podcast in 2021, why brand building is about quote, figuring out where you fit in a consumer's life, navigating expectations and challenges with the company's strategic partner, PepsiCo, and how junior level employees impact its innovation strategy. Hey, folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. And right now I'm honored to be sitting down with John Fieldly, who is the chairman and CEO of Celsius. John, so great to see you.
[00:02:04] John Fieldly: Ray, glad to be here again. It's awesome. Great to see you as well.
[00:02:07] Ray Latif: Again, indeed. Although the last time we spoke, which was in early 2021, each of us had been in different places or different studios. Actually, neither of us were in the studio. I was at home in my office, which which isn't really an office. It's actually a sunroom that I used as an office for some time. And you were looking for some open conference room space in your office. And I recall you taking your laptop and kind of going around the place trying to find something that was quiet and had decent lighting. And now you do have a pretty fantastic backdrop there. You've got, as you mentioned, great lighting. You've got your nice screen behind you. You've got logos all over the place. You're even drinking a Celsius, which is fantastic.
[00:02:50] John Fieldly: No, it's still hard to find a conference room around the office these days, but with all the staff we've hired and we continue to hire, but the team worked out here. We got a great little setup to do videos and interviews and even got lights shining down. So it's kind of come a long way here.
[00:03:05] Ray Latif: Yeah. And you've also got a great dry cleaner or at least an iron. Your shirt is just not a wrinkle in sight. Awesome. How many people working for the company now?
[00:03:16] John Fieldly: Yeah, we're up to just over 300 full-time and we just graduated 170 college universities students that will be going to campus or on campus right now, heading off on our CNU college activation program that we have. So yeah, we're over 300. I would say we're, you know, over the last six months, we've probably hired about 65 employees as well. So it's exciting. It's an exciting time. The brand's doing extremely well. We got great innovation working hard and it's all coming together.
[00:03:46] Ray Latif: Yeah, I recall in our last conversation for Taste Radio, you said you had an open-door policy and you pretty much knew everyone in the company. Now, you didn't have 300 employees at the time, but anyone that wanted to walk in and just chat with you, even for a few minutes, could do that from the interns on up. Is that still the case?
[00:04:03] John Fieldly: Absolutely. Always have an open-door policy, spend time in different departments, some hands-on. Gotta learn everyone's name, especially a lot of the new folks that joined on. It's a little bit disturbing. I don't know everyone's name, but it's something to work on, and it's definitely one of my goals.
[00:04:19] Ray Latif: It happens. It happens, especially when you're bringing in new people all the time. Now, I saw you last in person, I think it was in June, here in Boston at a conference that was hosted by Stifel, which is a global investment bank and financial services company. You presented at that conference, I believe, right?
[00:04:39] John Fieldly: Yeah, we did. We did. That was yeah, that was a great, great, great event. We were just actually up in Boston last two days at Barclays Consumer Investor Conference as well. And it was a quick in and out, but it was great. We got to present right after James Quincy. Oh, wow. So that was pretty impressive to be going right after Coca-Cola and the presentation set. So pretty honored to do that. That was great.
[00:05:04] Ray Latif: Any pointers, any learnings, lessons you could take from his presentation style?
[00:05:09] John Fieldly: Yeah, I mean, he's dynamite. It does a great job. And you got to learn something new every day. He's got a great presentation, great way he talks to the audience. And it's definitely got to learn upon that. It takes practice.
[00:05:21] Ray Latif: I hope the folks at Stiefel and Barclays enjoyed your presentation, given that they pretty closely monitor what you guys are doing at Celsius.
[00:05:30] John Fieldly: They are watching every step very closely. But it was good. They're enjoying. And I think you know you talk to a lot of investors and you talk a lot of people on Wall Street and they're just really excited to see what Celsius has done what we've accomplished. There hasn't been a number three brand in the last you know, decade that's exceeded a 10 share in the energy category. And it looks like we're on that trajectory, hopefully in the next few data pools, or at least by the end of the year, we'll be able to get there. So, you know, that's a amazing accomplishment, you know, for the teams out there and for the brand. And it just shows you we're doing something very unique in the category, when you see the Celsius portfolio and kind of how energy is evolving.
[00:06:11] Ray Latif: Yeah, absolutely, and I do want to get into the nuts and bolts of building a unique company and how you do it as quickly as you have. I do want to mention that one of your colleagues at that Stiefel event had told me something kind of funny about you. Even though you're the chairman and CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, when it comes to your travel habits, you're pretty frugal. You fly inexpensively, is what he told me.
[00:06:38] John Fieldly: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I'll go tit for tat on any teeny expense report in the company. I think you got to lead by example. And that is what it is. I work for shareholders. You know, I'm not a founder. I'm an operator. And we're here to run the best efficient company in the world. And that's, I think, to drive shareholder return. I mean, that's what it's all about at the end of the day. Being frugal is really important. It's not only in travel, it's everything we do. How do we be more efficient? Operations, sales, marketing, finance, HR, everything we do. You got to have that mindset. I think it starts from the top and that trickles down. Some people don't think that every dollar is coming out of their pocket and this is our company. You really got to have that mindset, I think is really important. I think that's important how you also build culture. We pride ourselves on being efficient, driving profitable growth, and reinvesting in the business in the right way, in the right manner. And I think if you look at a lot of public companies and private companies out there, a lot of them do $100 million in revenue and lose money doing it. So that's been cognizant. It's in the DNA. I used to be the CFO of the company. It's extremely important. You got to continue to invest where you're seeing returns. You got to continue, even if you're seeing returns, you got to second guess yourself, right? Re-evaluate your initiatives, re-evaluate your strategies. I think one thing we're hyper-paranoid here at Celsius, which is, which I think is important. And yeah, we did something great and it worked, but did it really work the way we wanted it to work? And how do we make it work better? Every investment we make, we have financial statements to have to back it up and playbooks. And when you invest a dollar, you need to get a certain return on that dollar. And I think you got to have that mindset when you look at returns on marketing spend. And you can spend money really quickly. in consumer products? Yeah, I think we all know that it can it can go extremely quickly. So, you know, if you set goals and expectations, did you achieve those goals? Did you exceed those goals? Why? And do we want to make another bet? Right? I think when you look at investments in all parts of the business, and you're really looking at a roulette table, right? There's strategies on roulette on how do you place your right bet? How do you how do you bet so you have a better edge against the house, even though at the end of the day, probably roulette doesn't have the best odds at all against the house and I mean consumer products is really that way as well when you think about that. It's very difficult to get consumers to pick up a product to try a product and then purchase it again. I mean it's very very difficult. And you're you're up against the house. And a lot of times, you know, these large, more established brands have the house advantage, and you're trying to come up against that. And so just re-evaluating your playbook, re-evaluating your bets, really having the opportunity, the initiative to double down when the numbers are hot and they're in your favor, and kind of have that mindset always on making sure you're trying to make calculated bets versus on kind of like making bets from the gut. Individuals, rightfully so, it's just human instinct, will kind of want to do something that's maybe comfortable to them or something they've experienced in the past. And a lot of times when you second guess yourself or you second guess the team, it allows that critical thinking to step in and to make sure it's the right move for the brand, right move for the retailer and the consumer.
[00:09:47] Ray Latif: You use the term hyperparanoid, and I hear from a lot of entrepreneurs and founders that it's important to be cognizant of your competition and cognizant of what could be around the corner. On the flip side of the coin, ambition is such an important part of building a strong and healthy and scalable company. But I wonder which is more important, or at least which, I guess, takes precedent when it comes to how you've gotten to where you are and where you're going in the future?
[00:10:19] John Fieldly: Ambition, I think, is your priority number one. Without ambition, you'll go nowhere. Ambition drives the paranoia to try to drive better. And when I say paranoia, I'm not sure it's really focusing on competition. It's that strive, that's internal drive that you want to get better, you want to do better, you want to continue. There's external forces each and every day. know, summer competition, some aren't, you know, it's a consumer changes, consumer shifts, you got government regulatory, you have supply chain challenges, you have macro economical changes, you have, you know, recession, non recessions, pricing, you know, you got a lot of different things to think about when you're running a business or thinking about go to market strategies and, you know, human resource capabilities and investing in the future. Or maybe, you know, you're not investing and you have to, you know, make some cuts that are hard decisions as well. And how does that impact? What is that impact? And how's that going to affect the overall business as well? And most importantly, the morale of the teams, right? How do you keep teams motivated? You can't do it on your own. You've got to be able to motivate your teams, and that's extremely critical. You can have the best drive, the best strategy, but if you can't convince your team members to come along with you, you're not going to achieve anything.
[00:11:32] Ray Latif: When you're making those bets on the future of the company and evaluating where you could take the brand, how much of the conversation is about risk? How much of the conversation is about, you know, if we do this, how will it affect brand perception and positioning versus what incremental value will it bring to the company?
[00:11:55] John Fieldly: I think that's an equal weight. There's initiatives, there's opportunities, but you need to understand the risk factor. And I think, you know, being a public company like Celsius, you know, we have an even greater risk. You know, we're really running, when you think about it, we run three businesses here at Celsius. You have an amazing energy drink and amazing beverage that we're running, that we're activating and building upon. We're also a B2B sales and marketing organization. that we need to sell our B2B customers. Then we also run another business, which is a public company business and is a whole other animal on different types of needs. Each of those three businesses have different risks associated with them. When you think about risk, you really need to think about risk within those three elements on how each and every single one can be uniquely affected by that. Risk is definitely a priority within those discussions when you're thinking about opportunities and initiatives and pass forward.
[00:12:52] Ray Latif: At the end of the day, however, it really does come back to the consumer and how many consumers you can get to, as you mentioned earlier, pick that can off the shelf and buy it and then buy it again. And going again from a hundred million in revenue to, you know, well over a billion in revenue. Actually, I mean, can you share where you are in terms of revenue at this point?
[00:13:16] John Fieldly: Yeah, I mean, we just did $326 million in the second quarter of this year, 2023. And you are at over a billion dollar run right now in 52 weeks, according to IRI. So we are over a billion dollar brand at retail, which is an amazing accomplishment. I mean, there's so many brands that come to market each year, as you know, and you report on them and work with a lot of founders and entrepreneurs and You know, that's very difficult and it's a rare that a brand is able to become a billion dollar brand at retail.
[00:13:49] Ray Latif: So again, getting more consumers, getting more consumers interested, aware of, and buying Celsius is such an important part of the business. Over the past three years, how have you convinced new consumers to adopt the brand and replace it with others?
[00:14:07] John Fieldly: Yeah, I mean, that's a big question. It's a whole chapter in itself.
[00:14:12] Ray Latif: We've got plenty of time. I mean, we're digital. We're not on film anymore.
[00:14:15] John Fieldly: Yeah, we're not on film, right? We're not on tape here. But, you know, it's, I think, the most important component, and we talk about that with Kyle Watson. We spend a lot of time together. And, you know, it's authenticity, I think, is extremely important with consumers today. You need to be authentic with your brand identity, and that's one thing we really work to be authentic within the communities that we target and the other thing is, you know, we need to come out with great flavors right doesn't matter what you have or consumer products brand and company and, you know, liquid the lips is so critical that a consumer has great experience with that. Without a great product, you know, it's really difficult to convert consumers and get that secondary purchase. Getting trial is one thing, but getting continuity and getting loyalty and brand loyalty is a totally different animal. That's extremely difficult to do. And I think the team's done a great job with that. And it comes down to the product. You know, if you look at Celsius, we've got great flavors. We think some of the best flavors in the energy category, most refreshing flavors. We just launched 11 line at Walmart. That's been super successful. And, you know, the way the product is resonating with a broad consumer set with healthier, better for you brand positioning, the fitness lifestyle position has has really captured an energy drink consumer that really wasn't an energy drink consumer before. I was just at an investor conference, I was talking with a lot of potential investors, and it was interesting to speak with a lot of people that said, I'm not an energy drink consumer, but I drink Celsius in the afternoon, I replaced it with my coffee. So we hear that a lot about the brand is that it's inviting, it's differentiated in the category, but if you don't win with consumers, you don't have a business at all, that's extremely critical.
[00:15:57] Ray Latif: Certainly the flavor is important. Certainly the convenience of being able to grab a can, pop it open and have that be your afternoon pick-me-up is important. But I do want to unpack authenticity for a sec. It is a buzzword. Everyone uses it. And it is, as you mentioned, such an important part of your business. But how do you define authenticity? How does Celsius define it as it relates to its consumers?
[00:16:23] John Fieldly: Yeah, I think when you look at authenticity, listen, we're all creatures of habit, right? We go to the same grocery store, the same gas station, the same gym. A lot of times you go to the same restaurant on a weekly or monthly basis. We really look at our consumers, we're really on a track, right? So you have to be able to get into someone's daily lifestyle. We need to become a daily routine, and that's difficult to do. With the number of ads consumers sees, how distracted we are with our cell phones and ads in the car, radio. It's really about being able to connect with a consumer on an emotional level that you're part of a daily routine, daily lifestyle. And that's what we've been able to do here. The fitness component really helps us with that. Being a fitness lifestyle brand, you know, born in gyms and vitamin shop and GNC, we have that kind of almost purpose in life. as being that pre-workout. And that's where our DNA, that's where we started. But then again, with our flavor profiles and expanded reach and distribution, we've been able to really position the brand as really a great, refreshing, functional energy drink. For a broader consumer set, we're not as aggressive. If you go to like traditional energy, somewhat has an aggressive tone or stance. And we've been really inviting on that. And we've been able to get into those consumers' daily lives. that's the authenticity. It needs to be authenticity to the consumer that you're targeting and really be able to nicely fit into, you know, a lot of marketers, they say day parts and usage occasion and all that. And that's part of it, right? And it's being able to find where you fit in that consumer's life. And I think once you figure that out, you can build marketing strategies, sales strategies around that to build that authenticity that it fits like a glove, right? I mean, it fits perfectly within that person, that consumer's lifestyle.
[00:18:09] Ray Latif: When you were thinking about formulation and thinking about what the customer wants, I think that's authenticity as well, right? I mean, knowing who your customer is and delivering on that value and that flavor that they're expecting is such an important part of meeting expectations.
[00:18:28] John Fieldly: You've got to have an experience right. A new product. I mean consumers are already they don't really think about a consumer doesn't need your product. There's so many products on the market today. Why does the consumer need your product. I think you know you need to have that identified. And then if you don't have a good experience with the product. you're not going to get that trial and reorder that is so important and you're not going to be included in their lifestyle. I mean you know I go back to Expo West when I was there in the early days and we used to be sampling product and you know we got all our early flavors out and we kind of like try to figure out the person walking up to the booth kind of what flavor we're going to give them and because certain flavors had almost like a medicinal aftertaste to it. We spent a lot of time refining the flavors to where we are today. But in the early days, it was a challenge because of that kind of medicinal flavor on the back. And that really only attracted to certain consumers that were really looking for the functional attributes of the brand that fit into their lifestyles versus maybe more of a mainstream consumer that likes the attributes, likes the functionality of the product, likes the features and benefits. But it's not willing to sacrifice flavor. They're not going to tolerate, you know, an aftertaste or some type of medicinal flavor on the end. That's not the experience they want. And it's not what they want in their lifestyle or they want to consume on a daily basis. So I think that's the difference between like a functional product. you know, that specifically for that point of function, people will sacrifice the flavor. But if you're trying to be a daily lifestyle brand or daily usage, you know, and expand to a much broader consumer base, more mainstream consumer, you got to land on the flavor and consumers have to have that great experiential flavor. If you go back to Celsius, you know, I've been here since 2012, you go to the early days, we had a really loyal consumer base. If you go back to 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, even 2019 when we talked, we were doing $100 million in revenue, which was an amazing achievement. We still today have Loyal, but that Loyal consumer base really didn't mind that medicinal flavor because it was used mainly as a pre-workout, as a true functional beverage before their workout routines, before their fitness activity.
[00:20:36] Ray Latif: Well, you know, in the natural channel, there's been that battle for a long time of, you know, can it be functionally good for you or have the kind of functional ingredients that you desire and still Taste Radio? And I think, you know, things are improving, but Celsius at this point is not a natural channel brand. You may be sold in some natural retailers at this point, but I think the future of the brand is very much in conventional inconvenience. And I recall the last time we spoke, you had very little distribution and convenience, and that's changed pretty dramatically over the last three years as well. How have you navigated increased distribution in that channel, and how have you done it in a way that is, again, in line with your goals and priorities?
[00:21:22] John Fieldly: Yeah, I think, you know, if you go back even last year, we were about a 60% ACV in convenience, and we've been working on convenience. It's really the last frontier. That's not how we really built the brand. You know, we built the brand in fitness, we went to grocery, we went to Target, we went to mass, we went to drug, and really club, and then started to expand in convenience as really evolution has changed in energy prior even, you know, two years ago. I go back two years at Naxx, which I know Naxx is coming up now, really excited about it. But if you go back two years ago, you know, Celsius and some of the other fitness performance brands were really seen as a niche within the category, really belonged, according to a lot of buyers, in a subcategory and maybe the gutter, the coolers and those and they weren't going to take much space. They won't allocate much space to it. It was a niche. But now I think as the evolution has evolved, especially in a post-COVID world, and fitness is such a lifestyle nowadays. If you look at clothing apparel and what's happened with athleisure wear, it's a multi-billion dollar category. Gyms and health clubs have expanded. You go to SoulCycle and you ask the CEO, does he run a gym or how does he think of his business? They think of their business as an entertainment company. not as a fitness location. So I think you've really seen fitness evolved. It's a lifestyle and buyers and retailers, you know, move with what consumers want. And that has allowed us to gain distribution and convenience and partnering with 7-Eleven. We just partnered with Circle K. We launched a cosmic vibe. I have that flavor here. It's a sparkling fruit punch flavor, which is just out of this world. Great packaging. And we've been able to build great partnerships. We got a great key accounts team and then the Pepsi partnership. which we're coming up on a one year anniversary, has allowed us now to run to about a 95% ACV. And hopefully you can find us in just about every convenience store in the country these days. If not, you know, send me an email and we'll follow up. We got some work to do.
[00:23:16] Ray Latif: There you go. Listeners, if you don't find Celsius or you can't find Celsius in your local convenience store, just email John.
[00:23:24] John Fieldly: Yeah, please do.
[00:23:27] Ray Latif: You mentioned the Pepsi partnership and I definitely want to talk about that. It has been about a year since that was announced, a humongous deal and a really remarkable one in so many ways. Congratulations again on it. You know, when I think about companies that enter into a strategic partnership with a conglomerate like a PepsiCo or a Coca-Cola, it feels like, it feels like a time to take a victory lap, but it's definitely not. It's definitely a time to say, okay, now we have this great opportunity in front of us. How do we not screw it up in so many ways? And how do we take it to its fullest potential? So, you know, we have seen a lot of times brands enter a strategic partnership or get involved with a conglomerate and not work out so well. I'm not going to mention any names. I think everyone knows what we're talking about. But, you know, what did you see at the outset as being the most important parts of that relationship such that you could maintain it in a really positive and profitable way.
[00:24:35] John Fieldly: Yeah, I think, you know, the Pepsi partnership has been a phenomenal transition for the company. And I think to your point, like, you know, you say, yeah, I could do a victory lap when we got to that point. And, you know, it's almost like you do like a half a lap and you're like, whoa, we got to get like, there's a lot of work to do. We got to perform, we got to transition distributors, transition distribution. We're going to have to bring on more staff. How are we going to support this transition? So there's a, there's a lot of boxes to check as you're, you're going up and then continue to evaluate and optimize and, The partnership has been phenomenal, and when we were looking at it, it's really about best-in-class execution. If you can't execute in trade, you're going to have a really difficult time to win in retail. Distribution is so important. Consumers are one thing, but you can't get consumers if you don't have distribution and execution in retail. You've got to win, as we call it, on the dance floor in retail. That's very, very critical. And when you look at the number of staffing of sales team members that Pepsi has, it's one of the world class. I mean, you look at Monster with Coke, and Red Bull's got an amazing sales organization that's out there. And having cohesive execution is really important as well. So our prior distribution was very fragmented. We had multiple, over 300 different distributors that we were able to piece together to service some of these key accounts. In some accounts, we didn't really even transfer over to DSD. We were missing some stores, and it's like a jigsaw puzzle trying to get these stores covered, and a lot of retailers won't let you go. DSD if you don't have those stores covered so tracking zip codes and everything else in between, you know, just adds a ton of complexity. Also, if you're going to try to execute any retail marketing programs or distribution, you know, that adds a whole other complexity as well. within it that causes a challenge within the execution, which is so important. When you look at Pepsi, you have divisions, about four divisions you're working with, and then you have that national access that you have within programs and wiring, that's important. As well as access to a key accounts team and a lot more efficiency. We saw it as a great upside, but I think to your point, any decision that you make, you got to evaluate the risks. And, you know, we were concerned because you do hear a lot of companies partnering with, you know, large multinational companies. And due to the complexities of their organizations, due to the, you know, their priorities and focus within their organizations, it's difficult to succeed. I think the company has done a really great job and the leadership team has done a great job navigating some of those challenges that you have. Those are things that we looked at. It's gone great. We're coming up on our one-year anniversary of Pepsi selling their first case of Celsius here, and we're excited for what's in store for 2024. We look for further better wiring, better synergies as we're getting into the second year of this great partnership.
[00:27:29] Ray Latif: What happens when priorities aren't aligned? And people might say, oh, well, you know, you're talking about Celsius and PepsiCo. Well, I think I'm also talking about a brand and an investor, right? And I think this is something that's applicable to anyone listening right now. You know, how do you solve those issues when you're not necessarily on the same page?
[00:27:51] John Fieldly: Yeah, and I mean, I think that goes from, you know, a brand new an investor, a brand new distributor brand, and management to other management teams, like you're going to always have inter challenges, you know, internally, you got internal strategies that may be disagreements and I think you gotta, you know, the most important is to have an open mind, right? You need to learn, you know, why, why do they have that priority? Win friends and influence others is extremely important as well, right? I mean, everyone should read that book. I think that's very important. You gotta understand everyone's perspective. Everyone has a different perspective in life. And then you need to be able to digest that and, you know, look at yourself in the mirror and make sure that you have the right strategy and perspective. I think always kind of second guessing yourself is important. And then if you still feel you have that right strategy or the right importance of prioritization that's needed, how do you win them over? You know, you need to win them on your team and work through those challenges. You know, I've had disagreements with investors. We work through those. and disagreements with employees as well, right? And sometimes you're wrong, sometimes you're right. And I'm sure if you, you both have the same passion, the same drive, you want the same outcome, there's multiple paths to get there. And you need to evaluate those accordingly, work through that.
[00:29:06] Ray Latif: I feel like everything that Celsius has launched over the last few years has done really, really well. And then again, is in line with what consumers are asking for. How do you do your research? How do you use data to influence and build an innovation strategy where you know, or at least you have a strong feeling that when this product hits the market, it's going to be a success?
[00:29:31] John Fieldly: I think for a lot of entrepreneurs out there, it's part of the journey. It's part of constantly trying to follow the consumer, trying to understand where you are within the brand cycle, understand who your buyers are, your consumers are, your investors are, and without the early positioning, I don't know if this brand would be here. I probably, it wouldn't be here. You know, we started off as a, many of you may not know, we started off as a diet drink with burning calories and body fat. And, you know, that's very unique. and very unique for investors. They see it as a disruptive technology within food space. And we learned that consumers maybe don't see it as attractive. So the company has evolved from that through different strategies along the way. So I think for entrepreneurs, it would be great if you hit a grand slam. But keep in mind, it's a lot of base hits. And sometimes you strike out and you need to get back in line to get back on the plate and continue to try it. But on the innovation side, I have a cross-functional team that meets every month. We talk about consumer trends. We get a lot of trends from a variety of different areas. Mintel, numerator. We look at shopper data. We look at competition. Most importantly, we look at and listen to our team members. I think that's most important that the team feels their ideas and this is their company. So as an example, you know, we launched a fantasy vibe flavor, which was our first kind of dance into confectionary, which is a Mandarin marshmallow flavor was designed by an employee that came up with, you know, a unique flavor proposition and then You know, we kicked that concept around about fantasy vibe and how the orange in the sunset could be a mandarin and the marshmallows could be roasted on a fire and everything. And that's how that whole concept came together with the team. And, you know, research behind that, not much there. It's more internal creation with the team. And it wasn't created by one person. It was created by a group. And then we tested it with the broader company. And then we tested it with some influencers and some brand ambassadors. got some buy-in for some retailers, what they thought, and then we're off and running. It hasn't been one of our best flavors on launches, but it's done well. It's sold more product than we did back in 19 on some of our best flavor launches when we launched then, and I think you learn from that. But consumer trends are important. We do use the data, but I think we also use the interpersonal minds and strategic thought process and critical thinking of our team members, which is important. We look at adjacent categories. How far could Celsius go? Constantly talking about that. Can Celsius go beyond energy? Could we one day be a functional seltzer or an isotonic? Is there a lower caffeinated product that's warranted? I think that's important to always look beyond where the current portfolio is. Most importantly, always stay disciplined and focused as well. And timing and sequencing in life is so, so important. You know, can Celsius be one day be like Gatorade, which is a global iconic brand, it's in multiple functions, apparel and equipment. And, you know, it's just, it's fascinating to have those aspirations. I think that's important to drive that through the company.
[00:32:51] Ray Latif: Does it ever come up where you're thinking about potentially the future and saying, hey, you know, I'm looking forward to the days where I can, you know, be traveling or not have to worry about flying coach and things like that. And I would think that would come up, but how do you stay grounded?
[00:33:06] John Fieldly: I don't know. I take pride in that. I don't know. I don't think that way. It's in my DNA and you know, it's who I am and it's the way you're wired.
[00:33:19] Ray Latif: Yeah, yeah, well, that's a great answer. And it definitely feels like that, because, you know, John, every time I've spoken with you, you're just a very easy person to speak with. You're always even-keeled. 99% of the time, you have a smile on your face, unless maybe you had a bad board meeting, which I don't think has happened very often.
[00:33:34] John Fieldly: I've been pretty good lately.
[00:33:36] Ray Latif: But even just now, I mean, I'm taking so much pleasure in really learning so much from you, even someone who's not a beverage operator, who's not a brand entrepreneur, and it's been fantastic. I thank you so much for taking this time again with me and for sharing all the amazing things that you're doing with Celsius with our audience.
[00:33:54] John Fieldly: Thanks for having us. Appreciate it. It's an honor to be on. And listen, you guys are critical to the consumer products industry and beverages. And I love listening to the videos and reading and what you guys do for the industry. Thank you.
[00:34:10] Ray Latif: That brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Taste Radio is a production of BevNET.com, Incorporated. Our audio engineer for Taste Radio is Joe Cracci. Our technical director is Joshua Pratt, and our video editor is Ryan Galang. Our social marketing manager is Amanda Smerlinski, and our designer is Amanda Huang. Just a reminder, if you like what you hear on Taste Radio, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. And of course, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Check us out on Instagram. Our handle is bevnettasteradio. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to ask at Taste Radio. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.
[00:35:00] John Fieldly: you
