Plant-based energy drink maker Yerbae announced this month the addition of Brian Neumann as its new CMO.
This is the first c-suite level position for Neumann, a former brand manager and associate director for The Kraft Heinz Company, where he oversaw national advertising campaigns for the Heinz ketchup brand. Now, as he makes the transition from a major food conglomerate to a growing startup, Neumann is poised to lead Yerbae’s messaging and help define its brand identity as it targets growing its footprint to over 12,000 doors nationwide by next year.
In this video interview with BevNET, Neumann discusses his experience, his vision for the brand, and how he’s now at work establishing the marketing fundamentals to set Yerbae up for long term success.
Neumann joins Yerbae as the brand aims to scale significantly in 2022. According to co-founder and CEO Todd Gibson, Neumann’s hiring comes as Yerbae has grown 34% year-over-year and recently closed a $1.06 million equity crowdfunding round on StartEngine.
“We couldn’t be more excited to have Brian,” Gibson said. “He brings with him not only a proven track record of experience that really moved the needle for a company as large as Kraft Heinz, but also he brings incredible thought leadership into the organization and increases the brainpower that’s sitting around the table.”
According to Gibson, Yerbae plans to hire staff for 22 additional field positions and is continuing to build out its DSD network nationwide. Having entered a distribution partnership with Pepsi-Cola Bottling of New York in 2020, the brand is also now launching with The Honickman Companies in the Northeast to expand its presence in mainstream retail channels.
Yerbae also recently brought on Icelandic Crossfit athlete Annie Thorisdottir as an investor and board member. Thorisdottir, who commands an Instagram following of over 1.5 million, will act as an ambassador for the brand while also helping guide strategy, Gibson said.
“Alongside Brian, we’re going to continue to bring in very strong thought leaders into the organization to continue to elevate the strength of our views beyond just being this entrepreneurial brand,” Gibson said. “We want to be entrepreneurial with strategy.”