Launching entrepreneurial brands often means more than just building a new beverage — it also means helping create a whole new category and introducing it to new retail channels as well. That’s a challenge entrepreneurs understand, but they can only carry things forward a certain distance on their own — beyond that, they must rely on other links in the retailing chain.

Distributors and retailers have their own specific responsibilities when it comes to getting categories built, and doing it right requires trust, communication, and an understanding of which jobs and expenses are the responsibility of a single party and which can be shared among all the stakeholders.

As part of the BevNET Live program on Tuesday, June 5, four experts who have had first-hand roles in establishing entrepreneurial beverage products will discuss the roles and responsibilities of brand-building.

Wearing the hats of entrepreneur, distributor, category management expert, and retailer, respectively, will be Mark Rampolla, the founder and CEO of ZICO coconut water; Gerry Martin, the VP of Marketing at Polar Beverages; Tom Fox, a partner at CM Profit Group; and Andy Steele, the founder of Anonymous consulting. Their discussion will each outline the breadth of the job at hand for each member of the team.

For entrepreneurs — and distributors and retailers as well — the notion of teamwork is hard to imagine when looked at from the lens of sales contracts and delivery invoices. Nevertheless, at its best, in an environment in which each of the stakeholders handles their responsibilities reliably, it can allow for a feedback loop of shared ideas and careful timing that can quickly accelerate product and category growth.

By showing the margins that each party must observe, then, this panel will help show entrepreneurs how to get there.

There is only limited seating remaining for BevNET Live’s 2012 New York event. Secure your spot by registering now.