It’s been fascinating to witness the rapid acceleration of products serving the on-demand market here in the US and around the world – even if we look back over the past few decades. A perfect example is how Apple introduced the iPod and then iPhone, quickly revolutionizing the way we listen to music and communicate with each other.
However, many products for this particular market will struggle, and even fail to deliver, for the multiple facets of our life, especially when it comes to quality and improving our physical health.
One industry that has been interesting to watch when it comes to delivering speed and improving our well-being is the caffeine and energy industry. That’s because, in order for us to do things at rapid speed, we need the energy for it, and for years caffeine products have been our go-to source for powering up.
There is Bulletproof Coffee, Fit Tea, Red bull, Five Hour Energy, and even the dangerous yet popular stint that the alcoholic beverage Four Loko had; energy products have had their share of innovative concepts aiming to energize just about anyone!
But what’s faster than consuming a caffeinated beverage? How about a piece of gum!
Robert Croak, serial entrepreneur and founder of Silly Bandz, believes he’s found a solution for our on-demand market. As the CEO of Blast Power Gum. Robert believes their product could “disrupt the market in the same sense 5 Hour Energy did when they took market share from Red Bull and Monster.”
He shared some of his key strategies about how he achieves this with Blast Power Gum including five ways you can dominate the on-demand market.
1. Focus on Quality
Robert shared that “most of the energy gums are gone from the market and those that remain simply do not taste good.” That seems necessary with a product that you chew. Without a quality product, there is not much to enjoy.
Others have also tried it, even Wrigley (and failed). Croak believes “they just couldn’t get the taste and delivery system right.” Blast focused on providing a solution without all of the calories and sugars related with Coffee and Energy Drinks so that consumers could simply pop in a Blast for a few minutes and be “good to go.”
2. Build an All-Star Team to Market Your Product
Robert made sure his team includes people who truly understand the different demographics they target. “We have put together an all-star team for Blast to really help us make this into a Lifestyle brand among millennials, athletes, busy moms and just about anyone who needs a boost and wants to try a cool product that actually works,” stated Croak during our interview.
Without a team who understands the goals of your product, you’re likely to struggle when it comes to marketing and selling your solution effectively across the board.
3. Be Different From the Rest
Robert shared that for Blast Power Gum to be different from both current competitors and previous companies who have unsuccessfully tried to do something similar, they needed to create a product that was “both “good tasting” and an “effective” energy gum.” Something he feels previous companies couldn’t achieve.
Distinguishing themselves gives his product the opportunity to succeed rather than be categorized with those who are struggling or have failed.
4. Save People Time and Energy
Speed wins. It’s a phrase we hear a lot. Especially now with almost everyone living off of instant gratification. Whether it’s fast food, fast service, fast workouts, fast money, even fast fashion, people want results almost instantaneously so they can be on their way.
Croak shared that he doesn’t look to replace coffee, but he does want to offer athletes and professionals a quick way to boost their energy. He elaborated on this subject stating, “I’m not sure about people dropping their bad coffee habits as the world seems to love coffee. But I do know that convenience and price will play a huge part in our growth.
With gum, you can put it in your pocket or purse, as opposed to lugging around drinks so it makes sense that this would be appealing to the on-the-go market.
5. Have an Accessible and Inexpensive Product
We live in a world dominated by people who want to achieve more with less…as well as one that’s drowning in debt.
Whether it’s student loans, funds we’ve put into starting a business, or the economy itself, we like to make our dollar stretch. So if your product is over-priced, it will be difficult to share it with the masses.
Robert shared how accessible his product is: “You can get a 6 pack of Blast Gum for the same price of one 5 hour energy shot.”He’s confident that having an inexpensive product helps get it in the hands of just about anyone.
While Croak may not be “reinventing the caffeine wheel,” he certainly hopes to make it better, and with the the On-Demand Economy, that should be the ultimate goal.
Ultimately, humans are always looking to evolve and develop better and faster ways to solve their common problems. If we can have quality, speed, and accessibility become a priority, we’ll likely see more products succeed than fail when it comes to this market.
And who knows, maybe Blast Power Gum will become the next Five Hour Energy.
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