With no small measure of pride, Robert Macias refers to his merchandisers as sharks.
And in the hyper-competitive world of retail merchandising, that metaphor translates to a constant striving for in-store growth on behalf of brand clients.
“Most merchandisers are gatherers, right?” said Macias, director of retail execution for Relentless Advantage. “You’re going to gather the product, put it on the shelf. I want our sharks to be hunters.”
That merchandising and marketing ethos is now manifest on a national stage through Relentless Advantage, a collaboration between brand incubator L.A. Libations and Advantage Solutions that’s designed to scale emerging brands in retail.
In the first few months of its existence, Relentless Advantage already has notched some notable wins for its clients, including growing distribution of the non-alcoholic beer Bero to more than 1,200 Target stores, inking a new agreement with Molson Coors Beverage Company to fuel growth for three of its brands, and amassing a robust portfolio of emerging brands poised for takeoff.
Macias, a former longtime Coca-Cola executive, grew Relentless Trade Solutions, a subsidiary of L.A. Libations, to operate in four western states. Now, he’s national.
Combined with Advantage’s scale, Relentless Advantage is a powerhouse partner for emerging brands — a one-stop-shop that can provide a vast array of solutions including supply chain, headquarter sales, retail merchandising, demo and experiential support, and more.
“The beauty of it for emerging brands is that as your brand grows, we have the scale and scope to expand your coverage as you graduate to large retailers across the country,” said Michael Kuchman, director of retail execution for Advantage Solutions, and Macias’s close partner in growing the business.
Success stories already are stacking up. Earlier this year, Relentless Advantage helped dramatically expand the distribution of Bero, perhaps the hottest new non-alcoholic beer on the market.
More recently, Relentless Advantage began work this month supporting a trio of non-alcoholic brands from Molson Coors Beverage Company in select retailers nationally. Under terms of the agreement, Relentless Advantage is providing a range of merchandising services, including data and insights, retail activations, shelf stocking, auditing and more for Fever-Tree, ZOA and Naked Life, complementing its network of distributors.
Relentless Advantage “has the scale and relationships across retail that will help us get the extra activity, insights and data we need to continue building momentum behind our non-alc portfolio,” says Kevin Nitz, vice president, non-alcoholic beverages at Molson Coors. “We’ll be counting on the team to ensure our brands get the attention and exposure necessary to accelerate in the market.”
Relentless Advantage is also poised to drive success for much smaller, independent emerging brands, Macias said, pointing to start-ups like Fresh Fizz, Happy Wolf and Better Sour. Backed by the considerable resources and expertise of Relentless Advantage, brands can gain distribution in national retailers, scale quickly and earn shopper loyalty.
“Relentless is the A-team at retail execution across channels,” said Bella Hughes, co-founder of Better Sour, in a statement. “They understand what it takes to win, whether you’re launching a new account and have a reset, or you’re working to increase velocity in established accounts. Their deep expertise and level of integrity makes them a natural partner for where we’re growing.”
Ultimately, helping an emerging brand to grow requires understanding the founder’s unique vision and goals, Macias said. From there, he said, Relentless Advantage can help fill in the gaps.
That could be handling logistical concerns like managing supply chain and warehousing, or designing and executing sampling programs to introduce more shoppers to a brand. Or, it could be developing cost-of-goods marketing programs or arming founders with data, insights and analytics to help shape their strategic decisions.
As brands earn their way to expansion, they can tap into the power and scale of Advantage, which has the ability to open doors in large national retailers and ensure their product is merchandised correctly, on shelf, priced right and positioned to sell.
Look no further than the “modern soda” set in Walmart. Advantage’s retail merchandising team partnered with Walmart and four emerging soda brands to create a unified shelf set that serves as a leading example of retail execution.
With promising early returns, the strategy — developed in collaboration with Advantage — is paying dividends for the brands and the retailer, said Dwayne Drummonds, executive vice president of Advantage’s Walmart team.
“Because of our strong scale, relationships and flexibility, we’ve got a true collaboration with Walmart and the suppliers of modern soda brands to grow overall sales and meet consumer needs,” Drummonds said.
Relentless Advantage is unique in its ability to nurture emerging brands and guide them to such opportunities, Kuchman said.
“Brands are realizing the value of having one organization that can provide them with scale and support all along the way,” Kuchman said. “Relentless Advantage is a one-stop shop for emerging brands. They can grow with us and we can take them anywhere.”
