Podcast appearances and mentions of joe benn

Joe Benn. Founder, advisor, connector, AND FMCG fanatic. He's had over a decade of experience working with fast growth disruptive businesses, including co-founding UGLY drinks back in 2015. UGLY was a truly original challenger brand that won fame and fortune across both the UK and in the US, rebranding sparkling water as the soda drink of choice, before others followed suit.  In 2020, Joe stepped away from the company, and has since gone on to advise a number of FMCG brands like allplants, Tenzing, Graze  in the UK culminating in him recently launching Grwth Club, a platform designed to match startups with the right agencies and investors. Along with co-founder Jake Higgins, they utilise their extensive network and experience to match businesses with the best possible partners for your brand. In this episode we'll talk about Joe's experience in the FMCG industry (past and present), where the market is heading for brands in this space and the need for his latest venture, Grwth Club (Grwth without the O).

Joe is Co-Founder and MD of Ugly Drinks, a fruit flavoured sparkling water brand on a mission to shake up the drinks industry and provide people with a genuinely healthy and exciting alternative to overly sugary and sweetened drinks.

Hugh Thomas and Joe Benn say the best insights and feedback about their brand come from an “Ugly Mob.” It may sound unseemly, but the mob is actually a group of loyal consumers of Ugly Drinks, a flavored sparkling water brand co-founded by Thomas and Benn. Based in the U.K., Ugly made its U.S. debut earlier this year via a direct-to-consumer platform and at independent retailers in metro New York. Despite differences in the British and American beverage markets, Thomas and Benn use a similar playbook for acquiring consumer insights in both countries, one rooted in a constant digital presence and interaction with its fans and customers. “We always have known that this is a digital brand and we think digital first and our consumer does as well,” Thomas said in an interview included in this episode. “In the U.K. we’ve developed a strong social media following with millennials and Gen Z consumers and we knew when we launched in the U.S. that was going to be something that occurred as well; that’s how the brand has developed, that’s how we speak, that’s who we are ultimately as a team.” Listen to our full interview with Thomas and Benn, who discussed growth planning for both the U.S. and U.K. markets and how feedback from the “Ugly Mob” has enabled to company to rapidly iterate and innovate Show notes: 1:33: FOMO? There’s Really No Need For That -- The hosts discussed recent additions to the BevNET Live Winter 2018 agenda, the conference’s list of registered attendees and why you should be wary of waiting to register for the event and the preceding NOSH Live show. They also riffed on Forbes’ annual “30 Under 30” list which includes Taste Radio alums, the DeCicco brothers, founders of Kitu Life, and Eugene Kang, the co-founder of Country Archer. 11:16: Interview: Hugh Thomas & Joe Benn, Co-Founders, Ugly Drinks --  We first featured Thomas and Benn way back in episode 31 of the flagship Taste Radio podcast. That was two years ago, and since then Ugly has undergone a major brand revamp, significantly expanded its retail presence in the U.K., and entered the U.S. market. In an interview with John Craven recorded in London, Thomas and Benn discussed changes in the brand and the U.K. beverage market, how their perspective of Ugly as a “digital brand” has shaped their overall business strategy, and why they are constantly tweaking the brand and products. Brands in this episode: Fiji Water, REBBL, Dry Soda, Ugly Drinks

Disrupting the norm comes from creating something that doesn’t yet exist. In this episode, we talk to Joe Benn about what it takes to turn your passion into a project that truly has wings to spare. Joe is the co-founder and co-CEO of Ugly – a London-based flavoured sparkling water beverage, currently stocked throughout the UK in some of the biggest household name department stores; Selfridges & Co. and Whole Foods. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"Our target consumer is 18-40 year olds who are beginning to read more and more about what they're eating and drinking. And maybe they're tired of what's happening in politics with fake news and alternative facts and not knowing what is true anymore. We have that strong tone of voice and what we're seeing is people get that and feel that. They're reading about nutrition and becoming fans of what we do and the movement we're trying to be a part of." I speak to Hugh Thomas, Co-founder of Ugly Drinks, a range of fruit flavoured sparkling waters with no sugar, sweeter, calories and no artificial ingredients.  Hugh and co-founder Joe Benn launched Ugly as a response to a soft drinks industry that they felt was overly sweetened and frustrated by the deceptive branding of many of them. Now many think sugary and sweetened drinks cause many of the issues associated with diabetes and obesity. Hugh and Joe decided to do something about it and create a healthy, affordable and fun alternative with Ugly Drinks where the beauty is all on the inside." Let's startup.

Want to find out how a rebellious entrepreneur thinks?Hugh Thomas and Joe Benn wanted to reveal the ugly truth behind soda brands' messages and disrupt the industry, by creating an affordable, carbonated drink full of authenticity, rebelliousness and fun! And they've done just that with Ugly Drinks. Within a few short years you can now find Ugly in more than 1500 stores in the UK and soon in America!Hugh and I talk about his rollercoaster journey so far as well as….What it takes to start a businessHow entrepreneurs thinkHow Hugh and his team are changing the world one drink at a timeWhere to start if you want to create a creative brandHow one failure has led to their successWhat being an entrepreneur is all aboutHow to overcome an obstacleHow to stay motivated and focusedAND MORE!Find the show notes here: https://adelaidegoodeve.com/2017/12/07/hugh-thomas/ (https://adelaidegoodeve.com/2017/12/07/hugh-thomas/)

Sue Nelson was MIA this week – we're sure it was nothing to do with the wonderful weather that we've been enjoying this week. Thankfully we had Lucy Ellis to jump into the hotseat to join Guy Routledge. With the nice weather in mind, you may well have been enjoying a few evenings having a couple of beers, but what's your beer snack of choice? If it's not Soffle's Pitta Chips, then perhaps it should be. Sophie Harvey explained to us how the tasty snacks have taken off through visiting festivals and brewery tours – Lucy and Guy can testify to their great taste. Lucy has been busy this week, not only has she been presenting the show, she also caught up with Simon Cannell from the Baker's Bicycle. Together with Brady Last, they tasted some fantastic and fresh bread and puddings from a company cycling in the right direction. Next up, we had an Ugly guy called Joe Benn. Don't worry, we aren't being mean to him and it's no reflection on his appearance. Ugly Drinks are also hitting their busiest time of year with the mercury rising – they are developing completely unsweet flavoured water. Put that flavoured Volvic rubbish down.  

For this week’s episode of the BevNET podcast, we’ve crossed the Atlantic to explore a beverage market that’s outside of our usual coverage area: London. Joining the podcast are Hugh Thomas and Joe Benn of Ugly Drinks, which is a U.K.-based startup that produces unsweetened flavored sparkling water. Thomas and Benn, who met each other while helping to launch Vita Coco in the U.K., discuss, along with BevNET founder & CEO John Craven, their thoughts on a variety of topics, including beverage innovation in the U.K. health and wellness trends impacting their local marketing, and the thought process of going international with an emerging beverage brand. In addition, they give their thoughts on trends in the US from both the perspective of being avid BevNET readers and seeing firsthand the products that are making their way into the U.K. from the U.S.

Fraser Doherty speaks to Entrepreneurs Hugh Thomas and Joe Benn about how they turned their experience at Vita Coco into creating a brand of their own.

Today's show includes readings of two of G.L.'s monologues - one by Joe Benn, the other by local actress Valerie Sodano - and a discussion G.L. had with Larry Stark (of TheaterMirror.com fame) about Political Theater. We'd like to hear your takes on G.L.'s monologues - they can be found at www.StagePage.Info - and you can contact us at glhorton (at) PodOmatic (dot) Com. Larry would also appreciate your Quick Takes on any shows you've seen recently, send your short reviews to Larry (at) TheaterMirror (dot) Com. Thanks for listening.