Liquid Death Brings on 7-Eleven Vet Bertha as SVP of Strategy
As the company plans for significant scaling over the next several years, Liquid Death has hired former Marisa Bertha as Senior Vice President of Strategy to help chart the path forward.
Bertha, who joined the canned water brand last month, spent over eight years overseeing emerging brands at 7-Eleven and its corporate venture arm 7 Ventures, most recently as VP of growth. However, the relationship between her and Liquid Death goes back to around 2019 when the company participated in a 7-Eleven showcase, with the brand having since gone on to expand nationwide in the convenience chain.
The experience of seeing Liquid Death’s rapid ascent up the water set led Bertha to join its team and crossover to the brand side of CPG.
“When I ran brands at 7-Eleven, Liquid Death was an emerging high growth business in many of those innovation sets that we were testing in stores,” Bertha said. “And so I’ve been able to get to know [co-founder and CEO Mike Cessario] over the years from that angle, and we stayed in touch because I was personally a fan of the brand. I knew that branding would resonate with the 7-Eleven customer; they buy products that are called Bang and Rockstar and Monster and they have similar sized cans and we sold a lot of those products. So, you know, the inception of how Mike created Liquid Death and the detail and focus of gravitating to that type of customer was at the core of who the 7-Eleven mass consumer is.”
Bertha’s appointment as SVP of Strategy comes just four months after Liquid Death closed a $75 million Series C funding round intended to support a nationwide expansion. Last year, the company reported around $45 million in topline revenue, up over 300% year-over-year. As of January, the brand was available in around 29,000 retail stores nationwide, including Whole Foods and Publix
According to Cessario, Liquid Death is now expanding even deeper into the conventional channel, with retailers like Albertsons, Kroger, Target and Walmart, alongside various convenience chains.
“One of our advisors told me ‘Until you find a retail channel that your product doesn’t work in, you’re not moving fast enough,’” Cessario said. “So far, knock on wood, we have not found a channel that Liquid Death doesn’t work in yet…. But there’s so much going on that we need some strong strategic thinking on board, as we really think about how we go from where we are now to a $500 million brand or $1 billion dollar brand, and take the smartest path possible in terms of capital and resources and all that good stuff.”
Bertha said that Liquid Death is scaling “much faster than a traditional business,” suggesting that the three-year-old startup is rising to the operational level of a 10-year-old company. She said her experience working at a large Fortune 500 company like 7-Eleven will help her to craft a long term strategy for Liquid Death, noting that in the startup space companies typically plan for six to 18 months in advance, compared to large corporations that need to plot out three to five years.
Cessario added that after the Series C round, Liquid Death is also now in the process of reorganizing its leadership and team structure to better fit a mid-size company. Aside from Bertha, Liquid Death has several more new high level hires coming on board in the near future, he said.
“When you’re a startup, everybody’s wearing ten hats,” Cessario said. “Now, we’re at the spot where people need to focus on what they’re good at and you don’t have to do ten different things anymore. And how does that shape the organization as folks get the opportunity to be a bit more specialized? Because we can hire the proper people that you need to do things versus trying to just squeeze every drop out of every person that you can.”
Looking ahead, Bertha said that although Liquid Death is rising fast, and many retailers have gotten past their initial hesitancy over a brand that puts ‘death’ front and center in its messaging, there’s still a lot of work ahead to reach the level of national consumer recognition the company is targeting. However, as the product brings incremental growth to the bottled water category, there’s plenty of opportunity for the brand to reach new consumers in new channels.
“Liquid Death is good for business and business is what drives retail buyer decisions,” Bertha said. “And the beauty of it is, if you look at brand awareness, we’re still in the early innings. So, when we talk about things like runway and scale and potential, [we want] Liquid Death to be as recognized as some of the other [top U.S. brands] whether it’s a water brand, a soda, a beer, or an energy drink. So, that’s the goal.”
Eternal Water Triples Sales Team
Liquid Death may be a reminder that life is fleeting, but some water never dies.
California-based alkaline water brand Eternal Water announced this week that it has tripled its sales force with more than 30 new hires. According to a release, the expansion comes as the company reports a 24-week growth rate of 31% as of January 23, and year-over-year growth of 52% in the convenience channel. In the natural channel, the brand reported a 7.3% market share with 47% growth in the 24-week period.
“This is our time,” founder and CEO Karim Mashouf said in a statement. “Consumers are more educated than ever before; they want naturally alkaline water. Investing in feet on the street is necessary to make an impact at retail. The timing of various acquisitions within the beverage category allowed us to handpick the top sales talent in the business who can take Eternal Water to the category’s top spot.”
Founded in 2008, Eternal Water produces a line of waters naturally filtered through “ancient rock layers.” Over the past year, the company said it has expanded to over 50,000 nationwide distribution points, including more than 30,000 retail doors.
With the expanded sales team, Eternal Water said it expects to triple that footprint to over 150,000 distribution points within the next three to five years.
“We’ve brought on a mix of talent who thrive on brand-building and making an impact,” VP of sales Craig Miller said in the release. “These are category specialists who have earned the trust of retailers and distributors. Eternal is one of the highest velocity premium waters, and our sales team is creating even more energy for the brand.”
Amid Revitalization Efforts, Lifeway Foods Announces Two Independent Director Nominees
Fermented dairy brand Lifeway Foods has announced its slate of director nominees, including independent director nominees Perfecto Sanchez and JC Dalto, as the company continues to execute on its “Lifeway 2.0” reorganization plan.
Sanchez, a West Point graduate and decorated U.S. Army Veteran, began his corporate career at Kraft Heinz, where he launched MiO Liquid Enhancer before moving to Danone in 2013. At Danone, Sanchez led portfolio strategy and trade finance for over half of the dairy portfolio and ultimately went on to lead the Danone Waters Customer Marketing Team for North America. In 2014, he launched marketing consulting firm Keep the Change, where he currently serves as chief executive officer and head of growth.
Dalto, who boasts over 30 years of experience in the agriculture and food and beverage industries, became CEO of Danone in Portugal in 2000, President and CEO of Danone in Italy in 2002 and chairman, president and CEO of Danone North America in 2004. He then went on to hold various director, country/regional president and CEO positions at several international corporations, including The Pillsbury Company, Kraft Foods and Stonyfield Farm. Most recently, Dalto was named president of Dole Sunshine Company in 2021, where he is working toward zero fruit loss and zero fossil-based plastic packaging by 2025.
“We are thrilled to nominate Perfecto and JC to join the Lifeway board,” said Lifeway CEO Julie Smolyansky in an official release. “They both bring deep industry, brand management and growth experience. As well-respected members of the consumer-packaged goods sector, their business insights are unrivaled and their contributions will provide significant value to the Lifeway brand.”
If elected by shareholders at the 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, Sanchez and Dalto will join existing directors Jody Levy, Dorri McWhorter, Pol Sikar, Jason Scher and Julie Smolyansky. Most recently, Lifeway Foods added Levy and McWhorter as directors in 2020.
“Lifeway is committed to maintaining a board with the right mix of skills and experience. The planned additions of Messrs. Sanchez and Dalto continue the Lifeway board’s ongoing refreshment efforts,” the Illinois-based brand said in the release.