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It’s not set it and forget
it. We continue to work at it.

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We continue to try different things
and really push the envelope.

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I think that’s one of the reasons why
we’ve been successful on the performance

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marketing side.

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Well, hello and welcome to another edition
of the E-Commerce Evolution podcast.

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I’m your host, Brett
Curry, CEO of OMG Commerce,

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and today we are talking to a
really remarkable founder of an

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amazing brand with an amazing story.

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Talking to Russell Breuer from
Spot and Tango. Listen to this,

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a hundred million in revenue, profitable,

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almost exclusively DTC subscription only.

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Amazing value prop in the marketplace
are doing some amazing things.

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They’re vertically integrated,

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which in a world of tariffs and no
tariffs or uncertainty and all that

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craziness, that is a brilliant
play. And so lots to unpack,

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lots to discuss, lots to learn from. So
excited that you’re here. And with that,

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welcome to the show,
Russell. How’s it going man?

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And thanks for taking the time.

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Awesome, thanks Brett. You
hit some key highlights.

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We’re excited to be here
seven years into the journey.

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Still a lot of wood to chop,

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but it’s been very rewarding and happy
to share some of my experiences today.

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Love that. A lot of wood to chop,
man, that is the game, right?

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The game is always,

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I’m going to do this thing and then I’m
going to go build this mode and then

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competitors catch up. I got to
keep going. Things like that.

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It’s a never ending game, but hey,

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that’s what we signed up
for as entrepreneurs and
so we just got to enjoy it.

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What I’d love to do, Russell first,
because as with any great product,

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any profitable company,

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it starts with meeting and
need and being different.

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And so how did you kind of come to the
value prop and explain it to people,

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what you sell and why it’s
so special in the market?

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Sure. So Spot and Tango is a pet
health and wellness brand. In short,

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we make incredible food for dogs.
It’s a mission-driven brand.

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All of our products use fresh
human grade, whole ingredients.

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We exclude anything artificial,
no synthetics, no food colognes,

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no fillers. Really.

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The founding story hearkens back to
a studio apartment in New York City,

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which is cliche but true.

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My wife was cooking fresh meals
for our Golden doodle jack.

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In fact, her mother was cooking fresh
human grade meals for her dog, George.

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So there’s a family history here
and of course aspirations to be an

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operator and entrepreneur.

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I was head scratching why and
explored the space and looked into the

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category and our belief is that
health and wellness as a right,

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not a luxury. And what started
as really a bootstrapped,

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incubated concept,

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we found vets and nutritionists to
develop recipes that meet the nutritional

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needs of dogs for all life stages.
And it’s really

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studio to incubate our kitchen to a
hundred million dollars plus business

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in seven. It’s amazing. It’s
amazing. It’s been a big wave,

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but the mission remains true.
Again, everything that we produce,

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all products, all ancillaries, treats,
supplements, our fresh line Unkibble,

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which we can talk about,

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it’s all whole fresh human grade
ingredients and that’s what we do.

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It’s all delivered online. So
we are a subscription model.

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It’s all personalized. We learn a
lot about your dogs age, weight,

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and activity level to really inform the
portion, the caloric portion per meal,

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per day per dog. So personalization’s
a big point, but we’re digital junkies.

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It’s what we do. It’s all online.
The value prop, it’s convenience.

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Skip the trip to the pet
store and Pon Tango shows up.

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That’s the high level.

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That, dude, you’re speaking my
language. And as we were prepping,

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you were talking about performance
driven, conversion focused marketing,

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which that’s been my world since
the beginning of my career,

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and so love hearing that as well.

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But let’s talk about Unkibble just a
little bit because you and I we’re also

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talking before we hit record.

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There’s some other food products
on the market that are fresh food,

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but they come cold and you got to put
’em in your refrigerator next to your

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food, which I love Our dogs, my
family, especially my wife and my kids,

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huge animal lovers. So
we take care of our pets.

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I don’t really want my food next to my
dog’s food, just my personal opinion.

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But what is Unkibble and how are
you differentiated in that regard?

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Yeah, so Unkibble offers the benefits of
fresh and the convenience of Unkibble.

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Back in 2019, again, the original
recipes were fresh, fresh,

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frozen. And to your point, it’s
expensive and it’s inconvenient.

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For an example, urban City Center,
the freezer, Aviva German Shepherd,

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you’re choosing either dog’s, food
and freezer or your own, okay,

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park the Bengal Bites on the counter.

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So really is in response to customer
feedback. And the question was,

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is there another way of the mountain?

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Is there a version mission-driven that’s
shelf stable that delivers pound for

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pound the same ingredient integrity?
And the answer is un Unkibble.

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We call it fresh dry again.

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So we use all the same fresh
she in grade ingredients,

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but we take out the water through
a very novel, fresh, dry process.

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No water removes the need to
freeze, it removes the dry ice,

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it removes the installation in the box.

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Those savings get passed
along to the consumer.

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So what we’re offering is
affordable health and wellness.

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And from a pricing perspective,
on average we’re 30 to 40% less.

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It’s amazing.

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And other fresh brands
you may have heard about.

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And so we’re occupying a unique white
space from a pricing perspective where

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we’re attracting a lot of
aspirational consumers,

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Unkibble consumers who want to
feed their health and wellness,

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but they want the convenience, it’s scoop
and serve in the pantry personalized.

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And they don’t want to deal
with the headache of, oops,

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I forgot to defrost my
frozen food overnight. Right?

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Right now my dog’s eating ice cubes.

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So we’re in a very different business
and we’ve been doing that since we

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launched Unkibble in April of 2020.

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It’s brilliant. I think it
strikes the perfect cord,

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kind of threads the needle
of exactly what people want.

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We don’t want to feed our dogs
junk, and that’s become very,

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very clear that most of what
we’d be feeding our dogs is junk,

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but we also don’t want the inconvenience
sharing freezer or fridge space or

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whatever. And so love what
you guys have done there.

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I know a big part of that is your vertical
integration and your manufacturing

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facility in Allentown, pa. And
as we talked about in the intro,

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in a world of tariffs on and
off and all kinds of craziness,

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you guys look like absolute geniuses
having your own facilities here.

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So talk about that decision.

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Why did you do that and what does that
unlock for you and for your customers?

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Great question.

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It’s been an incredible journey for
the vertical integration build your own

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factory piece. Yes. In hindsight, it looks
like we had the perfect crystal ball.

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I can assure you at the time we
were focused on the supply side,

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we launched Unkibble in April, 2020.

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We tell this story that our first purchase
order we thought would last six plus

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months. We sold out in four days

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in very short order,

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one co manufacturer turned into six
co-manufacturers and they couldn’t keep up

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with demand.

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There’s questions on
costs of goods margin.

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You’re shipping freight all over the
country between comans to logistics

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centers, product consistency,
there’s a number of.

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Questions. Quality control. Yeah,
consistency. When you got six different.

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All over the co, if you asked six
people to make a chocolate chip cookie,

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the cookie is going to look
a little bit different.

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We took that to heart and we
decided shortly after launch,

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having Unkibble that building our own
factory and owning our own supply chain

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was very important.

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We have now constructed a 70,000
square foot facility in Allentown,

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Pennsylvania. It’s about
two hours west of New York.

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We have a hundred people on site. It’s
been a huge win for us. It’s amazing.

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We push all the volume through
that facility. It’s unlocked,

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tremendous margin wins,
it’s boosted inventory,

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it’s hedged against stockouts.
We we’re rapid innovators.

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And I think the most
important point for us,

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when you think about the food
landscape within the pet category,

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most brands don’t manufacture
their own products.

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They.

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Don’t know where the ingredients come
from. They’re not involved procurements,

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they don’t understand food safety plans.
They don’t understand quality control.

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They don’t understand packaging,
shipping or logistics.

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They are marketeers selling somebody
else’s product as their own,

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which is a reality that’s existed
since the beginning of time.

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Sure.

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Which is fine for us.

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We take ingredient integrity very
seriously and delivering an exceptional

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customer experience. And our
Allentown facility has been the tool,

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the enabler of that since we
own every facet of supply chain,

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that for us has been an incredible
differentiator in this space as we are the

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leaders in fresh dry,

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in a fantastic moat and something frankly
that most people just aren’t doing.

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And then to your point, yes,
the phone rings now and gosh,

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you guys tariff proof, resilient. You
know what the answer to that question is?

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Yes. Did we know? So at the time, no.

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It was a bit of a false send and here
we are and we’re reaping the rewards.

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I love it, man. I love it.

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I know this isn’t the path for
everybody for a variety of reasons,

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but what did you learn in that
process of going vertically integrated

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and what advice would you give?

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When do you think other
DTC brands might consider

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taking the path that you took?

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Sure.

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I think the business case
needs to be very strong

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product market fit firstly,
and depending on growth rate.

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And look,

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ultimately there are thousands and tens
of thousands of brands that outsource

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production A okay, my point
was more within the pet space,

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and so that’s fine, but for us, demand,
outstripped supply significantly.

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So there was a need. So rapid
product market fits is one two,

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unity economics is the
second consideration.

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Are you better outsourcing or
insourcing? And in many cases,

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depending on the category, it’s
better to have someone else.

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If it’s a commoditized trade, it’s
better to have someone else do it.

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And you focused on what you do
best, whether that’s marketing or.

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Marketing, sales, whatever. Yeah.

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00:10:46,960 –> 00:10:50,580
Exactly. And then ultimately when it
comes to actually building a facility,

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give yourself a long lead time.
Like two years. Okay. This.

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Is not overnight notes. We’re not
spinning this up in six months.

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This is not our tariff for leaf plan.
This is like I’d say thoughtful,

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intentional, strategic. Yeah.

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00:11:04,200 –> 00:11:08,670
Exactly right. Brett, I think at a
sprint it’s 18 months if not two years.

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Identifying a site, obviously
there’s a bill design firm involved,

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there’s CapEx, there’s equipment,
there’s staging capital, there’s equity,

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there’s debt,

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there’s a lot of pieces involved
and team to bring that to

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life. And of course operating a facility
brings a number of other challenges

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that we’ve managed and
managed well. But nonetheless,

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there’s an early consideration set.

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But I would say that having your own
assets, having your own manufacturing

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unlocks significant intrinsic
value for any company in any more.

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I think a lot of brands that are winning
do own those types of assets and the

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00:11:48,390 –> 00:11:51,210
strategic landscape looks at
and says, these are different.

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00:11:51,510 –> 00:11:52,590
Haven’t seen that playbook.

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00:11:54,070 –> 00:11:56,740
Yeah, love that. Totally
agree with that for sure.

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So you guys are subscription only.

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00:11:59,410 –> 00:12:03,250
Was that the plan from the beginning
or was that a pivot over time?

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00:12:03,760 –> 00:12:07,930
Why did you guys land on that and what
have been the pros and cons of going that

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00:12:07,930 –> 00:12:08,763
route?

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00:12:09,280 –> 00:12:13,600
Great question. So day one, yes. At the
person personalized product firstly.

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So we have kind of an
onboarding questionnaire.

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We learn about your dog’s weight activity
level to really inform portion or

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00:12:20,290 –> 00:12:25,240
calories consumed per
day subscription is fit

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for the pet category. Why is that dogs
need, it’s not a want, it’s a need.

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Subscription is a convenience,
it’s a value prop.

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You don’t need to go to the pet food
store. It shows up on a regular cadence.

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On average, for us it’s every
four weeks. Customers love it.

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We’re building out broader product
platform with treats and supplements and

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other food products as well. Dental
care, which we’re launching soon,

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00:12:46,630 –> 00:12:50,950
which we can talk about. But
because that need exists,

217
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people need the box every
four weeks. And so for us,

218
00:12:55,000 –> 00:12:58,750
it’s always been that way from a
reoccurring revenue perspective,

219
00:12:58,750 –> 00:13:02,320
commercially speaking, that’s certainly
a way to scale business. Brilliant.

220
00:13:02,800 –> 00:13:06,070
And I think the other point here
is within the pet landscape,

221
00:13:06,370 –> 00:13:08,770
dogs do need consistency of diet.

222
00:13:09,190 –> 00:13:11,920
We don’t advocate the dogs
to change proteins every day.

223
00:13:12,100 –> 00:13:16,690
This is not Turkey on a Monday, beef
on a Tuesday, lamb on a Wednesday.

224
00:13:16,930 –> 00:13:21,820
That can be a disaster for the
Persian rug digestion important.

225
00:13:22,180 –> 00:13:26,980
So consistency of diet is also very
important and that also leans towards a

226
00:13:26,980 –> 00:13:30,280
subscription model. So it’s very
fit for purpose for the category.

227
00:13:31,390 –> 00:13:32,170
Totally makes sense.

228
00:13:32,170 –> 00:13:36,970
It fits the value prop for
the consumer in terms of the

229
00:13:36,970 –> 00:13:39,310
pet owner, but also for the
pet and also for you guys.

230
00:13:39,580 –> 00:13:44,020
So perfect alignment there
across the board. Curious,

231
00:13:44,350 –> 00:13:49,150
what have you guys learned? What
have you done to make that Yes,

232
00:13:49,210 –> 00:13:51,700
easier for shoppers?

233
00:13:51,700 –> 00:13:55,090
Because I know a lot of people will
probably hear the story and hear the value

234
00:13:55,090 –> 00:13:57,880
prop and think, I want that for
my dog, but what if they hate it?

235
00:13:57,910 –> 00:13:59,980
What if I hate it? What
if something like that.

236
00:13:59,980 –> 00:14:03,160
So how do you get someone
to take that initial leap?

237
00:14:03,160 –> 00:14:05,440
They’ve never seen the food,
they’ve never held the bag,

238
00:14:05,440 –> 00:14:09,040
they haven’t seen it in store. To
immediately go yes to a subscription.

239
00:14:09,310 –> 00:14:10,750
How have you made that an easier yes.

240
00:14:11,260 –> 00:14:13,840
Right. So firstly, it’s
a considered purchase.

241
00:14:14,260 –> 00:14:17,920
So we’re not selling tennis
shoes or to your point,

242
00:14:18,220 –> 00:14:19,300
what is this thing?

243
00:14:19,630 –> 00:14:22,390
I’ve been feeding my dog Unkibble
since the beginning of time.

244
00:14:22,990 –> 00:14:25,660
Why are you using fresh human grid
ingredients? There’s a lot of education.

245
00:14:25,900 –> 00:14:26,733
Firstly,

246
00:14:27,640 –> 00:14:32,560
I’d say we use a lot of email marketing
and funnels on SMS to continue

247
00:14:32,560 –> 00:14:34,690
that education. The pros,

248
00:14:34,690 –> 00:14:37,930
the benefits of these types of recipes.

249
00:14:38,920 –> 00:14:43,330
We use a trial also, so there’s a 14 day
trial, there’s a happy pup guarantee.

250
00:14:43,330 –> 00:14:47,290
These are our tools to give
consumers comfort, that.

251
00:14:48,070 –> 00:14:49,900
Risk reversal guarantees type of thing.

252
00:14:50,110 –> 00:14:52,190
All of the above. And I
think it gives people, look,

253
00:14:52,190 –> 00:14:54,500
I think the landscape’s changed.

254
00:14:54,500 –> 00:14:57,950
I think obviously e-commerce is playing
a greater role in purchase decisions and

255
00:14:57,950 –> 00:15:01,310
people have greater comfort online
disclosing their credit card details,

256
00:15:01,310 –> 00:15:04,190
receiving a box in the mail when they
haven’t maybe heard of these brands

257
00:15:04,190 –> 00:15:07,010
previously. Our job is to educate,

258
00:15:07,250 –> 00:15:09,560
give people comfort that
we’re here to support them.

259
00:15:09,920 –> 00:15:14,240
And then we have an incredible customer
service team. We’re available on SMS,

260
00:15:14,300 –> 00:15:17,360
email chat, voice messages,

261
00:15:17,360 –> 00:15:21,140
don’t go unnoticed for
days. They are responding.

262
00:15:21,320 –> 00:15:22,430
It’s amazing lesson.

263
00:15:22,430 –> 00:15:27,110
So it’s those multiple touch points
that I think builds a relationship and

264
00:15:27,110 –> 00:15:28,370
that’s unique to direct to consumer.

265
00:15:28,370 –> 00:15:31,940
We have a direct relationship
with our customers.

266
00:15:32,360 –> 00:15:33,620
They tell us what’s working well,

267
00:15:33,620 –> 00:15:36,020
they tell us things that
we can fix or improve upon.

268
00:15:36,380 –> 00:15:40,580
They inform new product innovation
and it’s an amazing first party.

269
00:15:40,580 –> 00:15:44,240
Data is an amazing dynamic and
again, our job to serve the customer,

270
00:15:45,080 –> 00:15:49,490
but those are some of the tools that we
use initially to help give people the

271
00:15:49,490 –> 00:15:51,890
idea that we’re here for them, give ’em
comfort to make that purchase decision.

272
00:15:53,120 –> 00:15:55,250
It’s amazing. As with most things,

273
00:15:55,250 –> 00:15:58,190
when you’re building a great business
and running great marketing or building

274
00:15:58,190 –> 00:15:58,940
great offers,

275
00:15:58,940 –> 00:16:02,210
it’s not just one thing that you
do that kind of creates the unlock.

276
00:16:02,210 –> 00:16:03,680
It’s lots of little things,

277
00:16:03,690 –> 00:16:07,430
stacking lots of little things to
create a delightful experience.

278
00:16:07,430 –> 00:16:09,770
But what would you say
are the biggest levers,

279
00:16:09,770 –> 00:16:14,660
the biggest levers or the biggest
lessons in increasing conversion

280
00:16:14,660 –> 00:16:18,200
rate? Increasing the number of people
that take you up on subscriptions.

281
00:16:18,560 –> 00:16:20,810
Yeah, I think when you think
about the marketing funnel,

282
00:16:20,990 –> 00:16:24,410
and we’re very much focused on
direct response, lower funnel,

283
00:16:24,410 –> 00:16:27,230
I’d say consistency of call to action.

284
00:16:28,580 –> 00:16:31,700
What you’re advertising in
terms of product image and copy,

285
00:16:32,210 –> 00:16:34,370
is that experience replicated on site,

286
00:16:34,430 –> 00:16:39,050
on homepage or landing page is
the consistent checkout Is pricing

287
00:16:39,050 –> 00:16:41,660
consistent? It’s the no surprise rule.

288
00:16:41,900 –> 00:16:45,950
What we promise we deliver through
the funnel through checkouts following

289
00:16:45,950 –> 00:16:50,570
through post conversion
as far as onboarding with

290
00:16:50,570 –> 00:16:55,430
email or otherwise. So I think that’s
really important. Supply chains.

291
00:16:55,430 –> 00:16:58,460
Also, one thing I’ll kind of interject
there because it’s such a great point,

292
00:16:58,460 –> 00:16:58,850
Russell,

293
00:16:58,850 –> 00:17:03,650
is we talk about you don’t want to create
whiplash where it’s like I see an ad,

294
00:17:03,650 –> 00:17:06,890
I see an offer that looks great, I click
on it and then I’m like, wait a minute,

295
00:17:07,910 –> 00:17:10,130
where am I now? And what is this.

296
00:17:10,400 –> 00:17:10,790
Exactly?

297
00:17:10,790 –> 00:17:14,570
And if it creates a disconnect
or whiplash almost, man,

298
00:17:15,680 –> 00:17:19,280
it’s hard to overstate how
impactful that is negatively. So.

299
00:17:19,550 –> 00:17:20,060
That’s right.

300
00:17:20,060 –> 00:17:20,893
Really let call that up.

301
00:17:21,740 –> 00:17:22,550
I completely agree.

302
00:17:22,550 –> 00:17:26,930
I think rapid AB testing informs that
consumer feedback informs that. And look,

303
00:17:27,650 –> 00:17:30,290
everyone’s busy. There’s
many distractions online.

304
00:17:32,000 –> 00:17:35,450
People always ask who are your
competitors? And look, e-commerce,

305
00:17:35,450 –> 00:17:37,430
we’re all competing for clicks, right?

306
00:17:37,430 –> 00:17:39,740
We’re all competing for
your attention online.

307
00:17:39,740 –> 00:17:43,430
And so totally in terms of the
marketing funnel, that’s one point.

308
00:17:43,910 –> 00:17:47,180
And then look on the supply chain
side, maybe Amazon ruined the party,

309
00:17:47,180 –> 00:17:51,360
but people expect product to
be delivered soon thereafter.

310
00:17:52,470 –> 00:17:56,190
Once you check out, they want
that box within one, two days max.

311
00:17:56,190 –> 00:17:59,910
And so we’ve spent a great deal of
time ensuring that we can do that.

312
00:18:00,690 –> 00:18:04,530
We work with four distribution centrals
across the country for business.

313
00:18:04,530 –> 00:18:09,030
And so monitoring that
one to two day shipping,

314
00:18:09,030 –> 00:18:13,230
radius delivery accuracy, all of
the above, that’s really important.

315
00:18:13,560 –> 00:18:15,390
That’s important for retention. And again,

316
00:18:15,390 –> 00:18:18,990
to my point about food
being a need versus a want,

317
00:18:19,590 –> 00:18:24,120
food can’t be late, right? And
it’s late three or four days.

318
00:18:24,360 –> 00:18:25,020
Again, maybe you can.

319
00:18:25,020 –> 00:18:28,830
Wait, looks like you’re fasting for the
next couple of days. Fido doesn’t work,

320
00:18:28,830 –> 00:18:29,370
doesn’t work, yeah.

321
00:18:29,370 –> 00:18:33,120
It doesn’t work. Maybe your tennis
shoes can be delayed but not your food.

322
00:18:33,330 –> 00:18:35,550
And so that’s another
really important point here.

323
00:18:36,780 –> 00:18:41,280
And then expectation management with
our customer service folks have a lot of

324
00:18:41,280 –> 00:18:43,260
questions about, again,
back to the benefits.

325
00:18:43,530 –> 00:18:46,920
How do I transition to this new
diet? How often should I expect this?

326
00:18:47,340 –> 00:18:51,150
I want to try a new recipe. I have
multiple dogs, all of the above.

327
00:18:51,210 –> 00:18:52,860
There’s a lot of education handholding.

328
00:18:52,860 –> 00:18:57,660
And so we’ve invested
significant resources in our
customer service team and our

329
00:18:57,660 –> 00:19:02,390
kind of customer data tech to ensure
that we are in rapid response mode in

330
00:19:02,580 –> 00:19:03,870
education mode at all times.

331
00:19:04,740 –> 00:19:07,140
That’s amazing. Let’s talk a little
bit about the education piece.

332
00:19:07,140 –> 00:19:09,090
So you’ve kind of broken it down.

333
00:19:09,090 –> 00:19:11,190
It sounds like there’s definitely
an education piece upfront.

334
00:19:11,370 –> 00:19:13,740
So you’re competing for that click,
getting someone to the website,

335
00:19:13,740 –> 00:19:16,350
maybe they’re signing for your email list,

336
00:19:16,560 –> 00:19:20,880
you’re educating them on why
Unkibble, why this process?

337
00:19:20,880 –> 00:19:23,100
How is this going to work? So
there’s some upfront education,

338
00:19:23,550 –> 00:19:26,250
there’s then education after
someone becomes a customer.

339
00:19:26,760 –> 00:19:27,990
Can you talk through that?

340
00:19:27,990 –> 00:19:31,740
What have been some of the big lessons
you’ve learned there and some unique

341
00:19:31,740 –> 00:19:33,210
things you do in terms of education?

342
00:19:33,930 –> 00:19:38,040
The most important consideration
upon purchase is ingredients.

343
00:19:38,610 –> 00:19:43,290
And we’ve learned that through
Hotjar. Heat maps on websites,

344
00:19:43,620 –> 00:19:46,680
iterate surveys, talking
to our customers directly,

345
00:19:46,680 –> 00:19:51,510
voice of customer people have
always said the first consideration

346
00:19:51,510 –> 00:19:56,220
when considering a new diet or
new food is what’s in it, right?

347
00:19:56,220 –> 00:19:59,220
And I think ultimately the consumer is
much more educated than maybe they used

348
00:19:59,220 –> 00:20:03,480
to be. We have very simple
ingredients. It’s very straightforward.

349
00:20:03,660 –> 00:20:08,010
There’s no confusion. If you look at
a pet food label, if you have a dog,

350
00:20:08,070 –> 00:20:11,490
it’s confusing. We’re that.

351
00:20:12,360 –> 00:20:17,070
That’s one point. And so that education
piece is like, here’s what it is.

352
00:20:17,220 –> 00:20:21,780
I think two reinforcing vertical supply
chain story about this is where it’s

353
00:20:21,780 –> 00:20:26,070
made, this is how it’s made. Again,
that builds confidence in our brand.

354
00:20:26,070 –> 00:20:30,960
And then Ultimately there’s a lot of touch
points after purchase in terms of the

355
00:20:30,960 –> 00:20:34,470
inbox experience with
feeding guides or brochures,

356
00:20:35,040 –> 00:20:36,450
continual education,

357
00:20:37,050 –> 00:20:41,880
whether it’s in regards to new product
launches or breed specific data.

358
00:20:41,880 –> 00:20:46,560
We have content marketing, a blog
if you will, called what the Pup,

359
00:20:47,140 –> 00:20:50,710
which is really talking about love
that parenting and pet issues.

360
00:20:51,280 –> 00:20:53,560
Is it okay for your dog
to sleep in the bed?

361
00:20:55,360 –> 00:20:59,680
I’d rather spend more time with my
dog than my spouse talking about

362
00:21:00,130 –> 00:21:04,570
breed specific information or what
diets would work or what to do with your

363
00:21:04,810 –> 00:21:07,720
dog’s paws in the winter
or in the summer. So again,

364
00:21:07,810 –> 00:21:10,840
it’s this kind of ongoing
relationship. And honestly,

365
00:21:10,900 –> 00:21:14,410
it’s not all about selling product,
it’s about building a relationship.

366
00:21:15,250 –> 00:21:16,083
Pet parents too.

367
00:21:16,810 –> 00:21:21,340
And I still have a ton of questions and
I’ve been doing this for a long while.

368
00:21:21,340 –> 00:21:25,530
I’ve 80 pound English golden retriever
named Sully who takes up half

369
00:21:25,880 –> 00:21:29,830
house’s, my fourth child, and I ask
her that questions often. So again,

370
00:21:29,830 –> 00:21:32,170
we want to be a resource. So
it’s not only providing food,

371
00:21:33,040 –> 00:21:35,110
it’s being a resource and
supporting the pet parent too.

372
00:21:37,030 –> 00:21:40,180
It’s so important and that
education piece upfront,

373
00:21:40,180 –> 00:21:42,430
but also understanding the
education doesn’t really stop.

374
00:21:42,640 –> 00:21:46,870
I had a great experience recently with
these amino acids that I purchased for

375
00:21:46,870 –> 00:21:50,470
myself, trying to follow a pretty strict
workout program and have for years,

376
00:21:50,470 –> 00:21:54,010
but I’m 45 now. It’s like building
and keeping muscle masses hard.

377
00:21:54,010 –> 00:21:57,700
So I bought these amino acids based
on an influencer’s recommendation,

378
00:21:58,960 –> 00:22:03,910
but then I got this great guide to
amino acids in email after the purchase.

379
00:22:04,510 –> 00:22:07,570
It was talking about, Hey, how you should
use this 30 minutes before workout,

380
00:22:07,810 –> 00:22:10,540
take it immediately after workout.
Here’s how you can take it,

381
00:22:10,540 –> 00:22:13,630
how it differs from protein and
creatine and all these other things.

382
00:22:13,630 –> 00:22:15,490
And I’m like super helpful.

383
00:22:15,880 –> 00:22:18,670
I feel like I understand
fitness decently well.

384
00:22:19,150 –> 00:22:19,390
But.

385
00:22:19,390 –> 00:22:22,900
I felt more empowered. I’m
taking more of the product,

386
00:22:22,900 –> 00:22:25,960
I feel better as well.
I started ordering more.

387
00:22:26,230 –> 00:22:30,940
And so it’s just one of those things where
I think we underestimate the value of

388
00:22:30,940 –> 00:22:35,440
education post-purchase because that’s
going to create sticky relationships,

389
00:22:35,470 –> 00:22:38,950
more referrals, more
all the things we want,

390
00:22:38,950 –> 00:22:41,110
plus happier pets and happier pet owners.

391
00:22:41,530 –> 00:22:44,080
That’s it. And that speaks to
channel as well, right? Yeah,

392
00:22:44,080 –> 00:22:48,280
so any direct to consumer brand,
whether you’re in pet wallet,

393
00:22:48,550 –> 00:22:51,400
razors meal kit or otherwise,

394
00:22:51,670 –> 00:22:55,690
there’s an opportunity to
educate versus on shelf.

395
00:22:55,990 –> 00:23:00,250
So on shelf it’s unpacked, but once
that purchase decisions takes place,

396
00:23:00,250 –> 00:23:03,130
a person leaves store, that
relationship doesn’t exist.

397
00:23:03,130 –> 00:23:07,060
And so that’s part of the power we
have from this channel of acquisition.

398
00:23:07,840 –> 00:23:10,060
It’s amazing. Yep, totally,
totally agree. Okay,

399
00:23:10,060 –> 00:23:12,880
so you’d said something when
we were prepping very unique.

400
00:23:13,420 –> 00:23:16,390
I’ve been in this m and a space and I
have some friends in private equity and

401
00:23:16,390 –> 00:23:19,120
we’re looking at acquiring a couple
agencies and things like that.

402
00:23:19,120 –> 00:23:21,130
So you mentioned return
on invested capital.

403
00:23:21,490 –> 00:23:25,000
That is not a term that I hear
marketers use a whole lot.

404
00:23:25,360 –> 00:23:27,460
Not a term that’s really come
up on this podcast a whole lot.

405
00:23:27,460 –> 00:23:32,260
So how do you guys look at
return on invested capital to

406
00:23:32,260 –> 00:23:35,830
measure and manage your growth
and related to marketing?

407
00:23:35,830 –> 00:23:38,380
And I will say just
another bit of context,

408
00:23:38,380 –> 00:23:43,270
I think I’m really delighted that
there’s this trend towards marketing

409
00:23:43,270 –> 00:23:45,470
and finance becoming friends and how,

410
00:23:46,730 –> 00:23:48,950
and I know you’re a direct
response guy, I’ve been doing,

411
00:23:48,950 –> 00:23:53,030
I started doing DRT V in the early two
thousands and so direct response tv.

412
00:23:53,450 –> 00:23:55,370
And so I’ve always lived in this world,

413
00:23:55,370 –> 00:23:57,920
but it’s really a trend
in e-commerce of hey,

414
00:23:57,920 –> 00:24:01,610
let’s get finance and
marketing communicating and
let’s make sure we’re getting

415
00:24:01,610 –> 00:24:03,740
good return on our marketing
dollars. But even then,

416
00:24:03,740 –> 00:24:06,500
I don’t hear people talk about
return on invested capital.

417
00:24:06,500 –> 00:24:10,940
So why is that a metric for you? What
kind of insights does that unlock?

418
00:24:11,180 –> 00:24:12,380
Unpack that a bit for us.

419
00:24:13,370 –> 00:24:17,720
It’s our north star, our ops,
our finance, our marketing,

420
00:24:17,720 –> 00:24:21,920
the entire organization speaks this
language. A lot of direct to consumer.

421
00:24:21,920 –> 00:24:23,930
Brands have learned hard lessons.

422
00:24:24,410 –> 00:24:29,300
Growing top line and hypergrowth
with product market fit is possible

423
00:24:29,300 –> 00:24:32,900
for many businesses. If you understand
performance marketing, meta search,

424
00:24:32,900 –> 00:24:34,010
TikTok, direct mail,

425
00:24:35,120 –> 00:24:38,390
you can generate outsized
returns on the growth side.

426
00:24:38,390 –> 00:24:40,700
But oftentimes brands forget
about the unique economics.

427
00:24:40,700 –> 00:24:44,900
They forget about things like
net income, cashflow, ebitda,

428
00:24:45,830 –> 00:24:49,880
and they’ve learned hard lessons years
later when they look to exit or go public

429
00:24:49,880 –> 00:24:54,020
and third parties deeply
discount valuation or otherwise.

430
00:24:54,050 –> 00:24:55,100
Totally, totally.

431
00:24:55,550 –> 00:25:00,500
So I think that’s a starting point
for a mind shift in terms of how we’ve

432
00:25:00,500 –> 00:25:03,230
operated this business. We
are very prudent operators.

433
00:25:03,590 –> 00:25:05,570
And what I mean by that is prudent growth.

434
00:25:05,990 –> 00:25:10,400
So return on invested capital really
is a measure of our marketing spend

435
00:25:10,910 –> 00:25:14,690
and it combines three key
metrics, lifetime value,

436
00:25:16,070 –> 00:25:20,240
contribution, margin, and customer
acquisition cost. Okay, it’s beautiful.

437
00:25:20,290 –> 00:25:24,320
It’s beautiful. When we spend our dollars
on any channel, let’s say we spend,

438
00:25:24,320 –> 00:25:26,030
I’ll give you a very rough example.

439
00:25:27,290 –> 00:25:29,570
Let’s say we spend a million
dollars on marketing today.

440
00:25:30,020 –> 00:25:31,850
I’m now minus a million dollars.

441
00:25:32,840 –> 00:25:37,790
The question is how soon do I repay
that a million dollars and get to zero?

442
00:25:38,150 –> 00:25:40,430
That’s one x return on invested capital.

443
00:25:40,850 –> 00:25:44,810
And then how long does it take to
generate a million dollars of profit?

444
00:25:46,790 –> 00:25:50,540
And so we look at the lifetime value
of our customers. In other words,

445
00:25:50,750 –> 00:25:54,830
how much do our customers spend on
average per year? That’s my numerator.

446
00:25:55,850 –> 00:25:59,660
Multiply that by the fully loaded
contribution margin in the business.

447
00:25:59,660 –> 00:26:02,750
So what is my average profit
per customer per year?

448
00:26:03,290 –> 00:26:07,550
And then I divide that by the customer
acquisition cost and that informs the

449
00:26:07,550 –> 00:26:11,270
timeline to repay my
investment in marketing.

450
00:26:13,010 –> 00:26:16,070
We use that paradigm to
inform everything that we do,

451
00:26:16,070 –> 00:26:20,180
such that there are caps in terms of
how much we are willing to invest in

452
00:26:20,180 –> 00:26:22,010
marketing in terms of
customer acquisition cost.

453
00:26:22,460 –> 00:26:27,110
Of course if our LTV or our average
revenue per customer increases over

454
00:26:27,110 –> 00:26:29,420
time and our margin increases,

455
00:26:29,810 –> 00:26:32,930
we can spend more dollars at
a higher acquisition cost.

456
00:26:33,500 –> 00:26:37,280
But we use that framework
and route everything we do
in that framework and that

457
00:26:37,280 –> 00:26:41,540
ensures that our operations team, our
customer service team, product innovation,

458
00:26:41,900 –> 00:26:46,260
they’re thinking about we need to boost
retention, we need to find margin wins,

459
00:26:46,560 –> 00:26:48,480
we need to figure out higher LTV,

460
00:26:49,290 –> 00:26:51,780
we need to figure out channels of
acquisition that are more efficient.

461
00:26:52,050 –> 00:26:55,470
We need to rapidly AB test. Is
our creative strategy working?

462
00:26:55,470 –> 00:26:58,650
How do we actually get CAC
lower on that or search?

463
00:26:58,650 –> 00:27:00,480
And so when you combine those elements,

464
00:27:01,110 –> 00:27:05,610
that has enabled us to be a nine
figure business and be profitable.

465
00:27:05,610 –> 00:27:08,550
And we’ve had that mentality
really since inception.

466
00:27:09,990 –> 00:27:12,810
And I think ultimately that
the other reality is data.

467
00:27:12,810 –> 00:27:15,360
You’ve got to understand
From day one,

468
00:27:15,360 –> 00:27:18,330
if you’re spending a dollar on market
and you’ve got to know attribution,

469
00:27:19,710 –> 00:27:22,260
how do you allocate your money
and does that dollar go far?

470
00:27:22,770 –> 00:27:25,170
Are you acquiring a customer
in a subscription business?

471
00:27:25,170 –> 00:27:28,380
If you acquire a customer
and they churn 10 days later,

472
00:27:28,440 –> 00:27:29,550
that’s not good for business.

473
00:27:30,150 –> 00:27:32,640
What percent of your customers are
churning in second order or third order?

474
00:27:32,640 –> 00:27:37,530
So the sooner you are aware and
understand the data that will inform and

475
00:27:37,530 –> 00:27:42,390
can lead to this type of ROYC equation
and that really drives decision

476
00:27:42,390 –> 00:27:43,223
making.

477
00:27:44,010 –> 00:27:46,260
Yeah, it’s so good man. And it’s
one of those things where, yeah,

478
00:27:46,260 –> 00:27:48,990
looking at lifetime value,
looking at contribution margin,

479
00:27:49,440 –> 00:27:51,270
looking at customer acquisition cost,

480
00:27:51,660 –> 00:27:56,280
creating these KPIs where your
entire team is seeing it and

481
00:27:56,280 –> 00:27:59,730
managing against it, it’s what
matters. It’s what matters most.

482
00:28:00,240 –> 00:28:03,210
And so you’ve got alignment
across the team on it.

483
00:28:03,210 –> 00:28:05,280
And I’m going through the
book right now, Moneyball,

484
00:28:05,670 –> 00:28:07,980
I dunno if you’ve seen the movie
or the book, but it’s so good.

485
00:28:07,980 –> 00:28:10,260
And it’s one of those things where
they’re kind unpacking this guy,

486
00:28:10,260 –> 00:28:13,440
bill James who kind of
revolutionized baseball metrics.

487
00:28:13,470 –> 00:28:17,640
He created Saber Metrics is the title
that he gave it. But he’s like, Hey,

488
00:28:17,820 –> 00:28:20,880
looking at rbis and
looking at batting average,

489
00:28:20,880 –> 00:28:23,400
that just tells a really
weird part of the story.

490
00:28:23,400 –> 00:28:28,320
But what matters is on base percentage
and slugging percentage without

491
00:28:28,320 –> 00:28:30,990
getting inside baseball, he
unpacks why that matters.

492
00:28:31,350 –> 00:28:34,980
It’s like that’s how you manufacture
runs and that’s how you manufacture wins.

493
00:28:34,980 –> 00:28:37,230
Those are the numbers that matter and
there’s some other things they measure

494
00:28:37,230 –> 00:28:41,730
too, but getting that kind of clarity
and getting that clarity across the team,

495
00:28:42,480 –> 00:28:45,240
man, it’s valuable. So kudos to
you guys for getting that clear.

496
00:28:45,450 –> 00:28:46,830
It’s part of our onboarding.

497
00:28:46,830 –> 00:28:51,150
We talk about it incessantly
throughout the organization and again,

498
00:28:51,150 –> 00:28:54,570
I would advocate any brand really
uses those types of metrics.

499
00:28:55,410 –> 00:28:58,920
Yeah, yeah, it’s really, really
great. So that’s awesome.

500
00:28:59,580 –> 00:29:01,440
Let’s talk growth levers for a little bit.

501
00:29:01,440 –> 00:29:05,070
So I mean you guys have experienced some
great growth and it’s all within the

502
00:29:05,070 –> 00:29:09,690
constraints or with the guardrails
of your return on invested capital,

503
00:29:10,230 –> 00:29:12,900
but what have been your best
growth levers over the years?

504
00:29:12,900 –> 00:29:14,370
What’s really allowed you to scale?

505
00:29:14,970 –> 00:29:19,710
So we have a balanced playbook
between meta search or Google

506
00:29:20,190 –> 00:29:23,850
TikTok affiliates, influencer direct mail.

507
00:29:24,210 –> 00:29:28,920
We’ve been experimenting with OTT over
the top and also linear television.

508
00:29:30,060 –> 00:29:33,960
You could argue some of these are
very lower direct response channels,

509
00:29:34,050 –> 00:29:36,000
other are more mid funnel.

510
00:29:36,990 –> 00:29:40,980
We haven’t spent and invest as
much in top of funnel things like

511
00:29:41,830 –> 00:29:45,760
billboards or subway cars or
wild pasting or otherwise.

512
00:29:45,760 –> 00:29:50,140
I think that’s intentional
because ultimately our
belief is that in impressions

513
00:29:50,140 –> 00:29:50,770
and an impression,

514
00:29:50,770 –> 00:29:55,390
and you may be spending dollars on
meta and getting a million impressions

515
00:29:56,290 –> 00:29:59,440
and fewer conversions, but nonetheless
you’re still getting brand awareness.

516
00:30:00,040 –> 00:30:04,420
So you could argue that lower funnel
is both lower and top and mid, correct.

517
00:30:05,170 –> 00:30:07,270
There are different both
at the same time. Exactly.

518
00:30:07,270 –> 00:30:11,380
And I think that’s oftentimes it falls
on deaf ears because more traditional

519
00:30:11,380 –> 00:30:15,250
brand marketers think they
need a billboard in Times
Square to justify proper

520
00:30:15,250 –> 00:30:16,480
funnel investment.

521
00:30:17,530 –> 00:30:21,310
We see lower funnels as kind of
serving both purposes. But look,

522
00:30:21,580 –> 00:30:24,940
we’ve got a performance marketing
playbook. I think for us,

523
00:30:26,380 –> 00:30:27,460
two big differentiators.

524
00:30:27,850 –> 00:30:31,960
One we focused on building
on incredible team internally

525
00:30:32,740 –> 00:30:33,280
that focus,

526
00:30:33,280 –> 00:30:37,510
we have channel specific buyers focused
that are pulling lever in-house,

527
00:30:37,660 –> 00:30:40,030
that’s really important.
And then two creative.

528
00:30:40,720 –> 00:30:43,660
We are in the entertainment
Business at the end of the day.

529
00:30:43,900 –> 00:30:44,733
Totally.

530
00:30:45,430 –> 00:30:50,170
Busy on the go parents, they’re
getting solicited for clothing,

531
00:30:50,530 –> 00:30:53,710
food, SaaS services. There’s
a lot of distractions.

532
00:30:53,710 –> 00:30:58,540
And so
Creative is key and it’s all about feeding

533
00:30:58,750 –> 00:31:02,770
all of these channels, whether it’s
meta or otherwise with a lot of options.

534
00:31:02,980 –> 00:31:06,520
AB test created and maybe iteration,
a slight iteration on creative.

535
00:31:06,520 –> 00:31:11,110
It may be woman with dog with then
Unkibble in park and then it’s

536
00:31:11,980 –> 00:31:16,030
copy test A and you can run the same
image, but copy test B, copy test C.

537
00:31:16,030 –> 00:31:18,490
In fact, some of our
best performing creative,

538
00:31:19,390 –> 00:31:24,370
we took a grainy photo of Unkibble
on shelf in our office with a

539
00:31:24,370 –> 00:31:29,170
post-it note sale that we ran
and we tested that versus studio

540
00:31:29,170 –> 00:31:31,900
produced assets, gifs, you name it,

541
00:31:32,110 –> 00:31:35,770
and the grainy photo because
it looked realistic. It is.

542
00:31:35,860 –> 00:31:37,960
Looked authentic. It was authentic. Yeah.

543
00:31:38,740 –> 00:31:39,850
People identify with that.

544
00:31:39,850 –> 00:31:43,990
That’s why GC user generated
content plays quite well,

545
00:31:43,990 –> 00:31:48,700
but ultimately it’s not set it and
forget it. We continue to work at it.

546
00:31:48,760 –> 00:31:51,280
We continue to try different things
and really push the envelope.

547
00:31:51,280 –> 00:31:53,950
I think that’s one of the reasons why
we’ve been successful on the performance

548
00:31:53,950 –> 00:31:54,783
marketing side.

549
00:31:55,420 –> 00:31:56,080
I love it, man.

550
00:31:56,080 –> 00:32:00,610
And one of the best pieces of advice I
ever heard was any business should view

551
00:32:00,610 –> 00:32:04,960
themselves as in the business
they’re in plus their media company.

552
00:32:05,350 –> 00:32:09,850
Plus you’re in the business
of getting, keeping attention,

553
00:32:10,150 –> 00:32:12,310
driving some sort of action.

554
00:32:12,850 –> 00:32:15,610
And at the core of that
really is creative testing.

555
00:32:16,390 –> 00:32:18,790
I’ve always been a media guy and
a strategy guy. I love that stuff,

556
00:32:18,790 –> 00:32:20,590
but I love creative too.

557
00:32:20,590 –> 00:32:25,360
And really creative is the biggest lever
that we have now and into the future.

558
00:32:25,360 –> 00:32:29,110
And certainly AI and other things are
going to enable more rapid testing and

559
00:32:29,110 –> 00:32:31,840
more rapid expansion, things like
that. While we’re on the topic,

560
00:32:31,840 –> 00:32:32,590
we didn’t really plan on this,

561
00:32:32,590 –> 00:32:37,210
but any insights or any
perspectives on how AI is going to

562
00:32:37,870 –> 00:32:42,680
change performance marketing or
e-commerce in general or your

563
00:32:42,680 –> 00:32:45,500
business? Any POVs on ai?

564
00:32:45,770 –> 00:32:49,910
Absolutely. No, we are all exposed to it.

565
00:32:50,240 –> 00:32:53,690
It’s topical innovations here.
I think it’s a wonderful,

566
00:32:54,200 –> 00:32:58,670
we’re looking at AI from both
workflow automation on the ops

567
00:32:58,670 –> 00:33:03,590
side. We’re working with it
on the performance marketing
side in terms of either

568
00:33:04,550 –> 00:33:09,260
creative ideas or creative
iterations and helping AI to

569
00:33:09,260 –> 00:33:14,210
inform how rapidly creative gets tested
in platform and helping us make some of

570
00:33:14,270 –> 00:33:18,020
those decisions. We’re
using it on the coding side.

571
00:33:18,860 –> 00:33:20,750
I won’t mention all the vendors
we’re working with. But nonetheless,

572
00:33:20,870 –> 00:33:21,740
even on the coding side,

573
00:33:21,740 –> 00:33:26,030
there’s suggestive code to help our
engineers actually iterate faster when

574
00:33:26,030 –> 00:33:29,960
they’re in the development cycle.
And so customer service as well,

575
00:33:30,590 –> 00:33:34,040
there are tons of opportunities where
you can start to not automate everything.

576
00:33:34,280 –> 00:33:36,350
We’re still a very high touch
business, but nonetheless,

577
00:33:36,740 –> 00:33:39,860
there are some very standardized
questions that are better served through

578
00:33:39,860 –> 00:33:44,480
automation, not FAQs,
but where is my order?

579
00:33:44,850 –> 00:33:45,683
Totally, totally.

580
00:33:45,740 –> 00:33:50,600
Necessarily to give a tracking number
or provide guidance to where boxes.

581
00:33:50,600 –> 00:33:55,430
So we’re looking at AI across all
functions of our business really to

582
00:33:55,700 –> 00:34:00,590
improve efficiency and ultimately
compliance in many ways and

583
00:34:00,590 –> 00:34:01,423
push the envelope.

584
00:34:01,670 –> 00:34:05,450
I would argue AI is not going to replace
everybody ultimately in a hightest,

585
00:34:05,720 –> 00:34:06,553
totally.

586
00:34:06,590 –> 00:34:07,130
Totally.

587
00:34:07,130 –> 00:34:08,810
Humanity will rule, right?

588
00:34:08,810 –> 00:34:12,020
People do like having conversations
and asking questions and there’s

589
00:34:13,220 –> 00:34:16,610
TLC that customers expect when we’re
talking about their dogs in particular.

590
00:34:16,610 –> 00:34:17,570
But look,

591
00:34:17,570 –> 00:34:20,510
AI is here and I think there’s a steep
learning curve for a lot of brands,

592
00:34:20,510 –> 00:34:23,030
but there’s a lot of folks out
there having the conversation.

593
00:34:23,030 –> 00:34:24,980
I think ultimately it’s going
to be beneficial for all of us.

594
00:34:25,880 –> 00:34:29,330
Yeah, I 100% agree. That’s what we
view it. And I’ve got a very run,

595
00:34:29,360 –> 00:34:33,500
very people driven business.
Our greatest expense is people.

596
00:34:33,500 –> 00:34:37,580
We can’t scale without people. And
I have the same view where one,

597
00:34:37,580 –> 00:34:38,750
I think at a base level,

598
00:34:38,750 –> 00:34:42,080
AI is allowing us to do the things
we just have not ever had time to do.

599
00:34:42,440 –> 00:34:45,770
So that’s part of it’s allowing us to
do some of these things we would love to

600
00:34:45,770 –> 00:34:48,620
have done but just haven’t been
able to. So that’s one layer,

601
00:34:49,040 –> 00:34:53,480
but then it just supercharges your
best people and becomes personal

602
00:34:53,480 –> 00:34:55,190
assistant, personal strategist,

603
00:34:55,670 –> 00:35:00,320
executioner to make people more
productive and better. And so yeah,

604
00:35:00,320 –> 00:35:04,220
we’re very bullish on ai. We’re testing
it in lots of different ways. So yeah,

605
00:35:04,220 –> 00:35:07,130
I think that’s a great
perspective. As we wrap up,

606
00:35:07,130 –> 00:35:11,210
we’d love to hear what’s
next for Spot and tangle.

607
00:35:11,210 –> 00:35:13,970
It sounds like you got a big
product release coming up,

608
00:35:13,970 –> 00:35:17,270
or actually at the time of this
release, we’ll just come out,

609
00:35:17,270 –> 00:35:20,240
but talk about that product release,
talk about what’s next for the brand.

610
00:35:20,600 –> 00:35:24,440
Great. We are very excited. We
are building product platform.

611
00:35:24,710 –> 00:35:28,490
So we have our food, we have UNC
Unkibble, we have our fresh recipes.

612
00:35:28,580 –> 00:35:31,910
We sell treats and supplements. Again,

613
00:35:31,910 –> 00:35:33,560
addressing all the needs
states of the consumer.

614
00:35:34,580 –> 00:35:37,010
We know a lot of our consumers
feed supplements or treats,

615
00:35:37,020 –> 00:35:38,610
even a third feed supplements.

616
00:35:38,610 –> 00:35:42,510
So there’s ways and we’ve used
that input to launch new products.

617
00:35:42,600 –> 00:35:45,030
The human grid version
of that product for pets,

618
00:35:45,660 –> 00:35:49,080
the dental care solution is the
game change. It comes out next week,

619
00:35:50,010 –> 00:35:51,300
you’ll hear more about it nonetheless.

620
00:35:51,360 –> 00:35:55,020
It is a scientifically
proven two years in r and d.

621
00:35:55,470 –> 00:36:00,240
The big game change here is a lot of
the existing dental care products in the

622
00:36:00,240 –> 00:36:03,450
marketplace are really physical in nature.

623
00:36:03,780 –> 00:36:07,440
There’s a physical mechanic that scrubs
the dog’s teeth, periodontal disease,

624
00:36:07,560 –> 00:36:12,180
it’s a problem for dog penetration with
dental care products within the pet food

625
00:36:12,180 –> 00:36:15,300
landscape or pet category is very low.
I think there’s a lot of education

626
00:36:15,300 –> 00:36:16,020
required.

627
00:36:16,020 –> 00:36:19,290
The worst case scenario is your dog gets
periodontal disease and ends up at the

628
00:36:19,290 –> 00:36:22,680
vet and spends $2,000 for a cleaning
or teeth removal or otherwise.

629
00:36:23,520 –> 00:36:26,460
This product does two things.
There’s a very novel ingredient,

630
00:36:26,460 –> 00:36:30,000
a novel fermentate that
reduces oral biofilms.

631
00:36:30,000 –> 00:36:34,680
What does a biofilm is bacteria that
leads to plaque on a dog’s teeth,

632
00:36:35,220 –> 00:36:40,110
plaque leads to bad odor. This product
actually removes those biofilms.

633
00:36:40,110 –> 00:36:44,580
So there is a scientifically
proven mechanism to do that in

634
00:36:44,580 –> 00:36:48,210
addition to the brushing.
So it’s health and wellness,

635
00:36:48,750 –> 00:36:52,710
it reduces plaque, it reduces bad
odor, it fights periodontal disease.

636
00:36:52,920 –> 00:36:57,600
It’s a big game change. We’re excited.
We think it’s another tiger by the toe,

637
00:36:57,600 –> 00:36:58,110
if you will.

638
00:36:58,110 –> 00:37:00,600
And Unkibble has been a hero product
and we think this product will be one as

639
00:37:00,600 –> 00:37:01,620
well. Yeah.

640
00:37:01,620 –> 00:37:05,460
So we’ve been scaring away behind the
scenes and it goes live next Monday,

641
00:37:05,460 –> 00:37:06,293
June 2nd.

642
00:37:07,350 –> 00:37:08,040
It’s amazing.

643
00:37:08,040 –> 00:37:12,510
And it’s one of those things where I
think that’s so well aligned with who your

644
00:37:12,510 –> 00:37:16,770
target buyer is and what
they care about. And yeah,

645
00:37:16,770 –> 00:37:21,540
just a huge tam there for you to tap into.

646
00:37:21,540 –> 00:37:24,470
And so that’s really exciting. And then
one thing I was curious about there,

647
00:37:24,470 –> 00:37:28,530
I know that there’s been really some
education over the last few years on human

648
00:37:28,530 –> 00:37:33,210
health and how really oral
health for humans impacts

649
00:37:33,450 –> 00:37:35,040
so much of the rest of your health, right?

650
00:37:35,790 –> 00:37:38,040
You could be healthy in a lot of ways,
but don’t take care of your mouth.

651
00:37:38,040 –> 00:37:41,070
And that has an impact on
potentially the rest of your body.

652
00:37:41,070 –> 00:37:44,520
I’m assuming it’s got to be the
same to some degree with pets.

653
00:37:44,820 –> 00:37:46,860
Exactly. It’s all connected.

654
00:37:47,010 –> 00:37:49,920
And this is holistic health and wellness.

655
00:37:49,920 –> 00:37:53,880
It’s not just here’s a single
ingredient treat or here’s a supplement.

656
00:37:54,390 –> 00:37:54,990
It even comes, it.

657
00:37:54,990 –> 00:37:57,900
Sounds a breath mint it
serving a real health purpose.

658
00:37:58,500 –> 00:38:02,400
And to your earlier point about being
really health conscious and focused on

659
00:38:02,490 –> 00:38:06,420
exercise, it’s the same with your dog.
Healthy exercise, going for a walk.

660
00:38:07,380 –> 00:38:08,670
It’s really a mentality.

661
00:38:08,670 –> 00:38:12,330
It’s not just scoop and serve
and it fixes all problems.

662
00:38:12,420 –> 00:38:16,110
You need to really embrace that. An
active lifestyle is really important.

663
00:38:16,110 –> 00:38:17,970
You need to think about all aspects,

664
00:38:18,090 –> 00:38:22,500
all moments of consumption and
dental care is no exception to that.

665
00:38:23,640 –> 00:38:28,140
It’s awesome. It’s awesome. Well, Russell,
this has been an absolute pleasure.

666
00:38:28,350 –> 00:38:31,290
Kudos to you guys on building
a great brand, a great product,

667
00:38:31,290 –> 00:38:33,960
a great offering is loyal
following people love you,

668
00:38:34,320 –> 00:38:36,310
pets and owners alike.

669
00:38:36,310 –> 00:38:40,660
And so I’m excited to see where
you guys go and grow from here.

670
00:38:40,660 –> 00:38:44,980
I’m definitely a fan. And so for those
that are listening, they’re like, man,

671
00:38:44,980 –> 00:38:47,920
I got to get on this Unkibble Train and
I got to check out what Spot and Tango

672
00:38:47,920 –> 00:38:52,540
is up to. How can they learn more? How
can they figure out what their pet needs?

673
00:38:52,930 –> 00:38:55,840
Spot and tango.com, all
information’s there,

674
00:38:55,990 –> 00:38:59,110
whether it’s Un Unkibble or our treats
or supplements in this new dental care

675
00:38:59,110 –> 00:39:03,220
product. Spots and tango.com,
we offer discounts on trial.

676
00:39:03,220 –> 00:39:05,350
It’s a 14 day trial with
a happy pup guarantee.

677
00:39:05,350 –> 00:39:08,980
So there’s no reason not to give us
a try. And Brett, thank you so much.

678
00:39:08,980 –> 00:39:12,940
Amazing, fantastic opportunity. Really
enjoyed the conversation. Again,

679
00:39:12,940 –> 00:39:15,520
thanks for the opportunity here.

680
00:39:15,970 –> 00:39:20,380
Absolutely. Russell Breuer,
ladies and gentlemen, Russell,

681
00:39:20,380 –> 00:39:24,190
good luck to you and Spot and Tango
and look forward to watching the future

682
00:39:24,190 –> 00:39:28,540
success. Super exciting. And as
always, we’d love to hear from you.

683
00:39:28,540 –> 00:39:29,500
So I’d love to hear feedback.

684
00:39:29,500 –> 00:39:31,990
What would you like to hear
more of on the podcast?

685
00:39:31,990 –> 00:39:35,860
If you found this episode inspiring,
please share it with somebody else.

686
00:39:36,280 –> 00:39:38,710
And with that, until next
time, thank you for listening.