“We also wanted to make sure that our packaging was prescriptive, so we took a really direct approach... Our products do so much; we are very intentional with how we formulate. We formulate for specific results. We formulate for specific opportunities, and what we wanted to do is to make sure that we really highlighted what the key functionality of those products were going to be right on the front of the pack.”
A focus on occasions and conveying benefits
With the rebrand, Rebbl 12 oz. bottles will now be labeled for function and occasion, which include Revive, Focus, Protein, Balance, Awake, and Wellness. When it came to starting the rebranding process, Rebbl took a step back to see how it was communicating to consumers, and if it was actually conveying the brand's mission, Quinones said.
“We pride ourselves on empowerment...that's really what our product and platform is meant to do. It's meant to be a small part of people's days to help them in their daily empowerment,” Quinones said. “It was important for us to understand what that meant today, and we knew what it meant five years ago, or we think we knew what it meant five years ago and 10 years ago, but we paused, and we started there.”
After doing consumer research for the rebrand, Rebbl came to several conclusions about their messaging and packaging, Quinones said. For one, consumers didn’t understand what an elixir was and whether it was a soda, hydration beverage, caffeinated beverage, or something else, he added.
Rebbl was “really leaving some ambiguity in our previous branding to build this occasion-based kind of strategy,” Quinones said. By changing the naming of the products to different occasions, Rebbl has “a really easily shoppable portfolio of products now,” where consumers and retailers understand the benefit of the products.
“If we're presenting something that is intended to [promote] balance, we wanted to show what's the ingredient that's helping this product be balanced versus we can tell you it's balanced. But if you know that we're supporting it with a multitude of ingredients, we wanted to call that out right on the front, so that shoppers can begin to understand that there's a direct correlation between occasion, empowerment, and the actual ingredients that fill up and complete that triangle.”
Releasing its first pumpkin spice flavor, looking to more flavor innovation
In addition to rebranding its portfolio, Rebbl is also in the midst of its seasonal rotation of flavors, which includes the addition of a Pumpkin Pie flavor for its Protein beverage this year, followed by Peppermint Dark Chocolate in the winter.
"We saw an opportunity to bring a pumpkin-spice product to market that was its definition of better-for-you than what else is out there. So, we've taken our same ingredient standards, we've taken our same commitment to quality, our same commitment to organic, and we've put together a pumpkin-spice product that can be indulgent without ... what you might expect to experience in a seasonal pumpkin spice flavor."
The response to the Pumpkin Pie flavor has outperformed Rebbl’s expectations, and it’s ”scrambling to make more to meet the incredible demand and sell through,” Quinones said. And as Rebbl looks to expand its brand, it “[spends] a lot of time on the bench,” looking for innovative flavors while addressing the need for functional beverages at specific moments, he added.
“[LTO flavors are] a great trial. Obviously from a retail perspective it's awesome to be a part of those end caps when they become available, and we really like the incrementality of these seasonal flavors. And we love being able to be a part of people's lives when they're sharing an experience like a season pumpkin spice or peppermint dark chocolate ... those are a specific part of someone's life, whether it's a holiday or whether it's summer vacation.”
