(upbeat music)
- Pins and needles.
- Yo.
- It’s AWSM Sauce. - It’s nice to see you.
- Hey, man.
- What’s up Carl?
- Which one of you guys wanna go over there to the bar?
- I do.
- This guy.
- [Ben] Carl, head to the bar.
You’re staying in The Basement.
- Were you sweating in there, what was, yeah.
- Yeah, now it’s like real.
- It’s been real.
It just got realer.
- I’m playing very nervous.
It’s down to three.
And Carl and Jordan, although I throw
a lot of shade sometime,
I have really grown very close
to these entrepreneurs.
- So what do you think tomorrow brings?
- I’m tired of guessing.
I’m always wrong with guessing what Ben has planned
for us next, so I’m gonna go ahead
and just wait and see.
- Another day in The Basement
at the bar with me.
- Good place to be. - Great place to be.
- You gotta love it.
- At the beginning of this journey,
I started with 15 entrepreneurs
and now only only three remain.
Jordan of Dooeys, Nadia, creator of the PillowSheets
and Carl, who owns AWSM Sauce.
But ultimately I’m looking
for that entrepreneur, that jockey
that has the greatest potential
to grow their brand into a "Billion Dollar Idea."
(upbeat music)
Here we are Boos, the final three.
So many entrepreneurs become stubborn
when it comes to changing the name of their brand
or the look of their logo.
I’m about to find out who is open to change
and who may be afraid to go in a new direction.
You guys excited?
- Yeah. - Very, very excited.
- Well, listen, one of these three is gonna walk
out with an investment from me.
For the first of their final two challenges,
I wanna find out if these three entrepreneurs have
a command over their brand and logo.
I made this basement as an incubator for entrepreneurs.
Partnering with me,
it means more than just cashing a check.
Making your product stand out
and exciting to customers is key
and if there’s one person that I trust
with my branding, it’s this guy, Mike Boos.
- Hey, Mike.
- Nice to meet you guys.
- [Jordan] Nice to meet you.
- Mike was the lead designer at Bai brands
and he’s my current director of design here.
- Branding is of the utmost importance.
You can have a perfect product,
but if it doesn’t come across right
to a customer, they’re not gonna buy it.
- I asked him to meet with each of you
to discuss your brand identities.
You’re gonna have 15 minutes with him each,
you’re gonna tap into emotion with him.
Inspire him to unearth the brand
that maybe you don’t see today in there.
- Branding’s really high on our list right now.
It cost a (bleep) ton of money
and so we’ve been limping it along
and this experience is super invaluable.
- Listen, I can look at everything in detail,
tell you where I think it can improve on.
Sometimes I can be harsh,
but there’s a reality to this, as well.
This is the face of your brand.
It’s the first thing people are seeing, right?
- You might not recognize your brands
when he’s done.
You might just see small little tweaks.
- I love branding, so I’m super excited
about today’s brand review with Boos.
- Whether I invest in you or not,
you can keep his work.
How’s that sound to you guys?
- Sounds wonderful. - Sounds like a plan.
(upbeat music)
- Nice to meet you, man.
- Nice to meet you, as well.
- Tell me like what are some challenges
that you’re facing right now?
What are some hurdles that you guys feel like
you’re maybe meandering around.
- When we were thinking about AWSM,
we thought taking the vows out like
we’re taking out plastic,
like we’re taking out the water.
- That’s a great story, I like that.
Build a story around that.
Is there something in there
that can help articulate that a little bit?
- Like right now, like on the packaging side,
this is what I’ve been demoing with.
Ultimately our brand is about sustainability.
We wanna remove single use plastic
from this whole ecosystem
and so some of the things that we want
our customers to feel that this brand is trustworthy.
They’re purchasing this for a reason.
This is fun and it’s disruptive.
The one question I had about color,
green is attached to sustainability,
but we’re not using that
and it’s seeming to be challenging to get that into-
- Listen, you don’t have to crowbar these things in there.
It’s not something that is absolutely necessary.
- All right.
- You know, people will respond to color,
but they’re mostly respond to imagery.
My only challenge was initial legibility of AWSM.
I didn’t read it at that. - Gotcha.
- I read it as A-W-S-M.
I wanna take a look at maybe conveying
the fact that it says awesome.
That’s my first challenge
that I’m gonna try to achieve with this.
All right. - All right, thanks.
- Have you tried the sauce?
- I did, very good, yeah. - Thanks.
- Talk to me a little about things
you really want me to dive deep into.
- I’ve really created the brand
and the messaging and the kind
of aesthetic of it all.
- [Mike] Yourself, have you had any help?
- I’ve had a little bit of help
with some illustrations.
- [Mike] I saw those by the way.
I really like that aesthetic
and I think- - Okay.
- [Mike] One critique is there’s not enough of it.
- Yes, that was gonna be one
of my challenges.
I want more illustrations,
more videos, more things that really make it clear
to the customer what we’re all about.
- I know packaging can be very challenging
because generally making a lot of it is cheaper
than making smaller quantities,
but find a way how you can fuse
this illustrative story telling.
Think about the unpacking experience.
Think about how like somebody would feel
when they open this up.
It would be cool if the consumer had maybe
a tote that came with it.
Not only is it this bag that you allow for shipping,
but it’s also a carry bag.
- That’s a great idea.
What did you think of like topography?
- I like the fact that your D has
this very iconic approach to it.
- [Jordan] Yeah.
- But I would say the additional letter forms
don’t marry up with it.
- Don’t, okay.
- It was a pleasure talking to you.
- Thank you so much for your time.
This is amazing.
- So, how’s it going?
- It’s going, I mean, three more standings.
It’s super exciting.
- Yeah.
- I have yet to really get another perspective.
I kind of have been able to envision
what I see, a pillow and a sheet coming together
that’s where the PS is and they’re joining,
so it’s like a union between the two.
- So that’s your monogram, right?
- [Nadia] Yes, exactly.
- Well, I took a critical look at your brand
and how everything’s put together
and it’s very thought out.
Love the aspect that you’re using
this caliber ethic style.
It has some bounce in it,
which gives it some character.
Bedding, sleep, this playfulness in it.
That’s really nice.
What you currently have right now is very playful
and I’m wondering if we can maybe make it
a little bit more professional, as well.
What I hope to do is give you some options
on how that lettering can kind of breathe
a little bit.
You’ve got less than three seconds
for that person to be like I know exactly what
that is, this is PillowSheets.
If I’m being very critical,
my only concern is legibility.
From a distance, it can be
a little bit hard to read.
- Gotcha.
- So one thing I would probably do is let
that lettering breathe a little bit.
- Okay.
- Is there an aspect where
a pillow and sheet can be separated?
Or is it more of like you’re seeing it
as one word?
- Well, I created the word PillowSheets.
In addition to that, now if we separate
the P from the S,
they wouldn’t be the perfect dreamer in my eyes.
You know, I love my PillowSheets logo.
Why, because I created it.
I’m supposed to love everything about PillowSheets.
It’s almost like someone with a different mindset
would have to come dismantle my head
to think that they belong apart
because I know together
they’ve been able to do a lot of things.
I am still in love with my logo.
I don’t wanna change it up.