Building Brand Lore for Resilient Brands

If you get the core right, you don’t need to reinvent the brand. That’s exactly what comes through in Alta Dena’s feature in Dairy Processing (thank you Kristen Putch for capturing it so well). Alta Dena’s strength has always been clear: fresh, local milk from family farms in Southern California. Our entry into high-protein milk is a good example. Not a departure from what Alta Dena is known for, but a focused extension of it, delivering more of what milk already does well in a format that meets how people shop today. No unnecessary complexity. No brand stretch. Just making the core more relevant. That’s what keeps legacy brands growing. And importantly, none of this works without the operational strength behind it. The consistency, scale, and daily execution across Dairy Farmers of America ensure the product delivers on that promise every single day. Proud to be part of the team shaping what’s next for Alta Dena, and to work alongside leaders like Andre Stewart who make that consistency real where it matters most. 🙌🏼 You can read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/g5gCbBxv

Wrote a little piece for The Drum on the Oatly ruling and why it’s not just one for the legal teams. While regulators might set the rules, it’s culture - and comms - that decide what actually sticks. The interesting bit? Brands don’t win by inventing new language, they win by tapping into the words people already use...even if that makes things a little complicated. https://lnkd.in/etKMAKyv

Twenty years in beverage alcohol taught me the same lesson, in a hundred different forms: The brands that scale aren't the ones with the best product. They're the ones with the operator who reads a distributor's portfolio at month four — and acts on it before month nine. That's the gap I built Destino to close. Most founders have the vision. What they're missing is a partner who's already lived the next eighteen months — who's watched the same brand die in the same way three times. Destino is what that looks like as a firm. We work with founders and investors building enduring brands across spirits, wine, and beer. Five lines: fractional CEO/CFO leadership, strategy and market expansion, finance and analytics, sales and distribution optimization, and brand positioning and storytelling. Headquartered in Old San Juan, working globally. 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁: 𝗜'𝗺 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗜 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 — 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝘄𝗲𝗯 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗲𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻. 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀. The work, in three places: The site — https://lnkd.in/eetxa_2n The LinkedIn page — https://lnkd.in/epQfRfe9 @destinobeverage on Instagram — https://lnkd.in/e9a9Bybp If you've been quietly stuck somewhere between the first 50 cases and the first 50 markets — that's the conversation.

Tom Orbach queued 2 hours for a hat with one embroidered word at Anthropic's "Keep Thinking" popup in New York. His intricate breakdown of the campaign got us thinking (and discussing at length) about something nobody's really asking: does bold brand positioning actually travel internationally? The answer: it depends. Mostly on where you're going. Because most brands entering a new market do the opposite and play it completely safe. Which, when you're already competing against brands with local trust, can be the worst place to start. Safe messaging is invisible messaging. We got into it in this week's Next Market Beat, our Substack publication, including why Oatly's China playbook is one of the best examples of international brand adaptation out there. Free to subscribe, link in comments 👇

HOW TO SHAPE A CLIMATE OF INNOVATION... HAVE A FOUNDER LIKE THIS! I lived in New Zealand. I saw many creative food ideas. Dick Hubbard created a breakfast cereal company. He added newsletters in each box meant for adults, not kids. I interviewed him. I rediscovered this 1990s newsletter and read this opening. He epitomized how a CEO should lead for a creative culture that innovates product concepts: "I have always been fascinated with the power of ideas – ideas can excite us, inspire us, motivate us, occasionally repel us and generally interfere with our emotions. "I enjoy nothing more than a good old-fashioned creative session at Hubbards, where the creative juices flow to either solve a problem or create a brand-new breakfast cereal. It is fun and hugely rewarding when a truly original idea gets off the ground! "It seems to me that good ideas do not necessarily come from brilliant people. All of us can come up with a good idea if we put our minds to it. Creativity is more about a way of thinking rather than the speed of thinking or the amount of high-tech knowledge we have. Furthermore, good ideas do not have to be complicated. Sometimes the cleverest of ideas have been the most simple." This is a version of the original article I wrote: https://lnkd.in/e24dZUmG #hubbardscereal Hubbards #kiwi #NZTE #breakfastcereal #innovation #creativity

In her latest piece for The Drum, our very own Chloe Amsden unpacks the implications of the recent ruling against Oatly’s use of “milk” in its slogan - and why it matters far beyond food and drink. Key takeaways for PRs: This isn’t just about compliance - it’s about how language, culture and regulation collide. The ruling confirms that branding and slogans are now firmly in regulatory scope, not just product labels. Challenger brands rely on familiar category language to scale - but that comes with increasing legal scrutiny. PR’s role is evolving: from storytelling to anticipating risk and shaping cultural narratives. Perhaps the biggest takeaway? While courts define categories, consumers define culture - and that’s where PR has real influence. 👉 Read the full piece here and let us know your thoughts: https://lnkd.in/exvp-UeY

Most progress in environmental sustainability doesn’t start with a breakthrough; it starts with better questions. 🔹 What are we measuring? 🔹What’s actually working? 🔹Where are we seeing real change? And where are we not? Across BIER, member companies bring forward data, experience, and hard-earned lessons from operating in very different regions, regulatory environments, and production systems. When that information is shared, it becomes something more useful than insight alone. It becomes direction. Through benchmarking, technical workstreams, and ongoing exchange, that collective knowledge is shaped into practical guidance, tools, and approaches that beverage companies can actually use to improve performance and move work forward. That same technical foundation is what allows BIER to show up in broader conversations, contributing to policy discussions and global standards with input grounded in real operational experience. As the industry looks ahead, BIER's collaborative model will continue to matter. Because the challenges are evolving, and so is the work required to address them. Explore how BIER’s workstreams support this approach: https://bit.ly/3OsH7Ia #EnvironmentalSustainability #CollectiveAction #ClimateAction #WaterStewardship #BeverageIndustry

Stoked to be featured on FrontFundr's 'From FUNDING to FAME Podcast' ... getting a chance to share a bit more about our origins at Field House and now GoodLife brands and how we're moving forward, raising capital using this Canadian fundraising platform. If you're mowing the lawn or going for a long drive, here's a chance to plug in a here a bit more detail about our mission of 'Crafting Goodness', our take on what's happening in the industry/economy, our growing portfolio of beverages and how we're adapting our business to continue to grow despite the headwinds. We appreciate how FrontFundr support businesses with helping sharing their stories and enabling investment into Canadian businesses, which is more important now, more than ever 🤙🏼

Just wrapped up an exciting collaboration here in El Gouna, and I couldn’t be more thrilled about what we’ve built together. 🔥 Partnering with Weber and seven leading consumer financing providers, we’ve created something that truly elevates the outdoor cooking experience. At Zouni Beach, we activated a tasting experience that let guests explore the full potential of Weber grills—and the feedback was incredible. The flavor, the consistency, the premium quality… it really speaks for itself. What makes this even more powerful is the accessibility. Through our exclusive financing offer—triple zero up to 17 months—we’re making it easier than ever for more people to bring that premium grilling experience into their own homes. Great collaborations are about more than just business—they’re about creating memorable experiences and delivering real value. This one did both. Looking forward to what’s next. 🚀

Great destinations are shaped early. The Bowl’s trajectory was defined by the partners who showed up first. As the original anchor, The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery brought immediate authority and local credibility to the project. Founder John Marrino was one of the first great Charlotte voices to put his stamp on The Bowl, helping establish a food‑driven vision rooted in quality, tradition, and community. Revisit this Backstory & Beyond conversation with John and Ward A. Kampf to hear how authenticity and intentional growth create places that last. Listen again: backstorybeyond.com/