- We failed out of Whole Foods.
There were a ton of people who told us to quit.
Like just, you know, "Crash land this, and it's okay.
Attaboy, you did your best."
And I desperately did not want to fail.
(calm music)
We took the time to understand our customer
and it changed everything.
(gentle music)
While in college, I was a subcontractor for
a United States Agency for International Development firm,
and while there I was on a lot of water sanitation projects
but this hygiene component
just really wasn't being thought about.
So I called up my best friend,
I said, "Hey I'm going to start a soap company
and for each and every item that we sell,
we're going to donate a bar of soap to someone in need
at local homeless shelters and food pantries."
(spirited music)
The early days of our company
was me making soap in my college house
that I lived with six other guys.
We didn't know what we were doing with anything.
We had zero experience.
And we started going to farmer's markets
and small little mom-and-pop shops and selling online.
After begging, pleading, calling,
waiting in their lobby until we saw them.
we got into Whole Foods,
we got picked up by Target, by Walmart.
(mellow music)
We had gotten into all these major retailers
but the product just wasn't performing.
I don't think it took a rocket scientist
to look at our packaging
and say, "I think I know what the problem is."
In the early days of the company
we just took multiple shots on goal with the branding.
That we would always be really cost conscientious
in trying to do things ourselves
and not understanding that we did not know,
nor did we have the insights,
to really create a compelling packaging
that could really authentically talk
about how much we cared
about the clean ingredients inside that bottle.
There was a moment in 2016
where I was standing at a shelf in Target
watching people buy products, and I had to go over
and explain how we didn't have any sulfates
or parabens or EDTA or phthalates in our shampoo
to this lady who was holding it
and she goes, "Oh, I had no idea."
And light bulb clicks off,
that, well, if it takes me to walk over and tell her that,
then she's not understanding this.
Nor is any consumer understanding this.
Our branding was not good.
And (chuckles) it doesn't take an expert in packaging design
to be like, "Is this automotive cleaner?"
It wasn't just ugly, it was the ugliest.
It was bad. It was very bad.
The hardest part about designing something
with your fingerprints all over it
and realizing very quickly
that the data shows it's not working
is that it's your fingerprint.
Like you're the person who caused this mistake.
The emotional toll that that takes on you
when you're the creator and you're the entrepreneur,
you know, in the jockey's seat like, that, that hurts.
(mellow music)
We had started the whole brand remake process
with this amazing design agency in New York City
and we had started getting these incredibly
out-of-this-world positive consumer focus group results
but we just kept on getting discontinued
from all these major retailers that had to cut us
because we weren't hitting their thresholds.
We failed out of Whole Foods.
We were approached with an acquisition offer
that was absolutely awful
and we had went back to our investors
and said, "Look there's this soft landing
with this potential acquirer, or you know,
we double down and we launch this new branding."
Our investors said, "What do you guys want to do
and what do you believe is best?"
It was incredibly difficult
to continue to be in front of the band, you know,
holding the baton, saying,
"Guys, this brand's going to make it."
When there was so much data showing that
that was not the case,
but we fervently believed that the right thing to do
was to launch this new branding.
(bright upbeat music)
Once we launched that new branding in 2018
we saw over 375% lift.
We saw such massive sales increase because our brand
was finally being effectively communicated on the shelf.
I mean, this is old and this is new.
(David laughs)
(light music)
Nothing would've changed if we hadn't rebranded.
One of the biggest things we learned
is truly understanding your customer
is critically important.
We kept on chasing what we thought our customer was
and that was Target and Walmart
and Walgreens and Rite Aid and Wegmans,
and we made a critical mistake
because that's really not the most important customer.
The shopper who actually goes into those stores
and picks one of our products off the shelf,
that's the most important customer.
Not understanding her and not understanding
why she was making the decisions she was making
was a critical fail point.
We need to win first and foremost with her
and that requires research, research, and more research
to really understand that consumer.
The reason I grew out my hair
is because I wanted to know.
Understanding the slip of our conditioner
and being able to like wear fragrance
around you all day long, all those things,
without long hair, weren't immediately relevant to me.
(upbeat music)
We are now one of the fastest-growing hair care brands
in the United States.
We've been able to donate over 34 million bars
to local homeless shelters and food pantries,
women and children abuse centers,
as well as working hand-in-hand
with 65 countries around the world
with various different NGO partners.
I'm so glad that we stuck with it to be where we are now.
- [Dave Simnick] (laughs)
- [Camera Operator] (laughs) Is that what you meant to do?
- Sure.