Business Advice - Green & Blacks - Story Time

[Prentzz]

Note: This is nothing groundbreaking, but it is cool imo.
Another note: I'm not Oscar Wilde or CCarter so don't talk smack about my writing m8.

I've been quite fortunate (read: proactive) with regards to who I've been able to meet and discuss business with over the past year or so.

Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting Josephine Fairley who founded Green & Blacks chocolate (the coolest food brand, and officially cooler than Chanel), which was sold to Cadbury's (Kraft then Mondelez) for a reported £130 million. I got to talk to her one on one for a while and picked up a bunch of advice that I though I'd share.

Story Time:
Jo told a funny story about how they managed to get G&B's stocked in a top supermarket retailer by an odd turn of luck. Because of their efforts to improve farmer conditions abroad they were the FIRST EVER product to be marked "Fairtrade". This meant that all across the nation local vicars and priests were calling up supermarkets and DEMANDING that G&B's be stocked on their shelves, as to try and promote Fairtrade and better working conditions. It worked, and this was their first major supermarket.

1. "Doing good is good for business" - Filling a need

So for those of you who don't know, G&B was founded under the premise of selling an ethical chocolate that was organic. Jo is pretty much a hippy, in a good way. She made a key point that doing good is good for business, from day 1 and still to this day, they use the same farmers who are paid large sums in comparison to other cocoa farmers.

How can this be related to online business? I guess the key thing is that she provided real value, SHOCK. G&B was started because Jo herself wanted an organic chocolate and saw an opportunity in the market for the product. She gave her customers exactly what they wanted, the feeling that they were doing something good. Make sure that what you're putting out there addresses an ACTUAL issue that your consumers have. eg; SerpWoo has been successful because Jason created a product that he wanted to use, which has real value and actually HELPS it's users to overcome a problem they face.

It's also key to note that a large amount of SUPER successful businesses are ones that people are passionate about, not always the case, but often. Microsoft, Apple, Tesla, G&B... If people are really passionate about something they'll do a lot of promotion for you. Tesla has spent $0 on advertising (as far as I'm aware), but by creating a great product that people are passionate and excited about, they've grown rapidly.

2. Design is crucial

One point which she focused in on was that there is no way she would have been successful had the design not been amazing. This is particularly important in retail because obviously to catch someones eye and have them take it off the shelf, design plays a crucial part. But this is the same online, a good design is #1 for me when i'm purely scrolling the web. If I go onto a site and it doesn't LOOK great then I instantly click back, we are spoiled for choice as consumers, there are plenty of sites which have awesome designs, so we become picky. If you're building a site that you want to keep and build as a real asset then please make it look great. If we look at Buzzfeed, the design is pretty great imo, it's not going to win any awards but it looks attractive. How are you going to try and compete against that with your small viral site when I can clearly see which WP theme your using. That's not to say you can't get loads of visitors and make money with your crappy site, it's just that to build up a momentum and consistent reader base you need to have a great design imo.

3. Know when to ask for help

If you haven't read "Think and grow rich" by Napolean Hill then upgrade your life. What Jo said about getting outside assistance was so reminiscent of Hill's discussion of the 'master-mind group'. Jo was previously a journalist and was able to use her previous experience to get significant exposure in national news. Leverage your assets!

Make sure that you're networking with others and build up your 'master-mind group', if you haven't PM'd anyone on forums to discuss IM and growing your knowledge then what are you doing. Waiting for golden nuggets? Go out there and learn from people who know more than you. @Ryuzaki will attest to me annoying him with PM's, but we have had some conversations that have been extremely beneficial to me. Be proactive but make sure that it's mutually beneficial.


Another Story:
Lady Sainsbury, wife to the founder of Sainsburys (top supermarket), attended a dinner party where the host gave her some G&B's chocolate. She went home and encouraged her husband to stock it in their stores. Shortly after it was stocked nationally. Right place, right time.

No groundbreaking news here, but I thought it was cool and hopefully made for a slightly interesting read.

 

[Ryuzaki]

1. Solving a need and bolstering egos
2. Presenting it better than anyone else
3. Networking, promotion, advertising, visibility

Boom. Of course those three steps oversimplify the process and effort, but from the bird's eye view, it's not all that complicated. The roadmaps are there for us. Josephine Fairley, Napoleon Hill... all these people keep telling us the same stuff over and over again. We just have to apply it, like @Prentzz does!

 

[TacoCat]

@Ryuzaki is right.

I've gotta be honest, I sometimes get really irritated when someone says that they can't do something because they don't know how.

Usually my mind yells something like this: "Jesus Crist man, there is a reason why some call this the Age of Information."

Everything wanted to know about everything is just a few clicks and searches away. You can get access too all the information if you search enough. And if you can't find something. There are always forums like this where people can help you out.

Sometimes I hear this: yeah, but all the business books, and all the business people (from real life not Gurus) keep stating the same thing. (just like @Ryuzaki mentioned). Well duhhh.... maybe there is a reason for that.

I have a friend that just won the a National prize just now for his business, he basically already is a millionaire, we meet up once or twice per month to talk things trough.

The funny thing is that he finished Arts, but found himself loving business that conserves energy, so he started to make his own things, he just hustled, learned everything by just doing. He always says that there is a solution for everything and you can always make something more efficient, faster, better, lighter or whatever.

He always hires new guys, students that has a spark in them and tries to avoid "professionals" because they have a real problem with "thinking inside the box". If he has done something for 20 years the same way, he will probably not look for new ways when he faces an obstacle and will just tell you that it can't be done or the needed materials don't exist.

There are several cases when something like this has happened to him, so my friend just finds a solution himself and if it doesn't exists, he makes it.

SOO back to my point. Nowdays, the problem isn't lack of information it is the lack of will and everybody who is willing to do the work WILL WIN IN THE END. PERIOD.

 

[Samwise89]

everybody who is willing to do the work WILL WIN IN THE END. PERIOD.

That's the hypest thing I've read all year.

We should probably add that willingness isn't the only thing that matters. We all know people grinding very hard at something that will never make them more than a few dollars. That's a flaw I see in people... they think believing it hard enough will make it real. But I really doubt you're going to become a billionaire selling custom painted ninja turtle figurines. People confuse their passion with need and don't grasp the fact that it doesn't scale. Not enough people care about ninja turtle action figures to make you a billionaire.

We have to be willing to work on the RIGHT things, and for sure, we will win!

 

[TacoCat]

That's the hypest thing I've read all year.

We should probably add that willingness isn't the only thing that matters. We all know people grinding very hard at something that will never make them more than a few dollars. That's a flaw I see in people... they think believing it hard enough will make it real. But I really doubt you're going to become a billionaire selling custom painted ninja turtle figurines. People confuse their passion with need and don't grasp the fact that it doesn't scale. Not enough people care about ninja turtle action figures to make you a billionaire.

We have to be willing to work on the RIGHT things, and for sure, we will win!

Naaah bro, even with ninja turtle action figure, you could probably make billions. You would just have to approach it from the right angle.

Get the hype around them again, create marketing campaigns etc.

You can sell anything these days.

For fucks sake.

These assholes (I mean that in a nice way) sold a piece of plastic! A FUCKING PIECE OF PLASTIC. And they got 18'000$ in revenue from kickstarter. And probably sold a shitload of money afterwards.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nophone-usa/the-new-and-unimproved-nophone/description

They sold a funny idea.

Gary Dahl sold PET ROCKS and BECAME A FUCKING MILLIONAIRE!

HE WAS SELLING ROCKS!

It doesn't matter what you sell. The important part is how you sell it. Everything can be sold even literally Bullshit (they have done that as well).

You just need to find the information to make the right battle plan.

 

[Island]

Green and Blacks are delicious. Their marketing is definitely on point, and their chocolate bars are damn well designed.

 

[Andrewkar]

While all what @Prentzz wrote is great and valid there is one important factor that was crucial to G&B's success, and should be mentioned here as well.

Her husband Craig Sams who founded Whole Earth Foods in 67. She wasn't new to this business and industry, they've had years of experience behind their belts plus many priceless connections.
Also, while that story about Sainsbury's looks great and it's kind of viral, I think it should be mentioned that it was well planned introduction of the product (on that party).

This is video from Dragons Den "Reggae Reggae Sauce", there are few things to learn from it...

Experience and connections are GOLD

Great read @Prentzz Cheers man!

P.S Passion, money, experience, connections... 50K/Y vs 150K/D

 

[azswe]

Naaah bro, even with ninja turtle action figure, you could probably make billions. You would just have to approach it from the right angle.

Get the hype around them again, create marketing campaigns etc.

You can sell anything these days.

For fucks sake.
...

You could, but that doesn´t mean your expected value in working on custom painted action figures is positive. ESPECIALLY considering the opportunity cost.

 

[backwoods]

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If we look at Buzzfeed, the design is pretty great imo, it's not going to win any awards but it looks attractive. How are you going to try and compete against that with your small viral site when I can clearly see which WP theme your using. That's not to say you can't get loads of visitors and make money with your crappy site, it's just that to build up a momentum and consistent reader base you need to have a great design imo.

Comparing tangible products and a content based site aren't really the same. With content driven sites like BuzzFeed, I wouldn't get too caught up with the design aspect. Viral Nova was launched on a Wordpress with a $50 theme that was available to anyone. It was already huge and doing millions of dollars before he even tweaked the layout on 99designs. Design importance was far down the totem pole.

Physical products like the chocolate brand you mentioned that compete in the high-end market definitely need a design to set them apart and grab attention.

 

[Andrewkar]

Comparing tangible products and a content based site aren't really the same. With content driven sites like BuzzFeed, I wouldn't get too caught up with the design aspect. Viral Nova was launched on a Wordpress with a $50 theme that was available to anyone. It was already huge and doing millions of dollars before he even tweaked the layout on 99designs. Design importance was far down the totem pole.

Physical products like the chocolate brand you mentioned that compete in the high-end market definitely need a design to set them apart and grab attention.

Well, I would say it's the same (or there is not much of a difference at least). What makes market say "let's go for it" it's a STORY behind the product. So in other words it's more about packaging in terms of marketing, not just design as we understand it here (in those terms design is the least important thing in my opinion). G&B could have much different design (logo etc.), and still be successful because they've built a strong STORY, purpose... Plus they fulfilled NEEDs of new emerging market. It was a great time for them to show up, a good story they've created and a bit of luck probably.