Marketing Innovative Health & Wellness Products

Our guest today is Eric Le, who has a diverse background in sales and marketing for consumer product companies. Currently, Eric is the Vice President of Marketing for O2 Natural Recovery, which is the world’s first oxygenated recovery drink for athletes. Prior to O2 he worked at Epic Provisions, a company which crafted high-protein meat snacks.

During his time at Epic, Eric was instrumental in creating and launching the Meatcast podcast. This podcast focused on the brand’s activities, so Eric tells us what inspired him to go behind the mic. The podcast still continues today, and even though Eric is no longer involved, it’s one of his proudest accomplishments from his time at epic.

As smaller brands, both Epic and O2 have had to persuade retailers such as convenience stores to carry their products. Eric tells us how the changing demographics of convenience store customers has made this task easier, even with a limited amount of shelf space available. He then speaks to how the Epic product was marketed from a place of empathy.

Michael asks how O2 Natural Recovery goes about marketing their product so that it will become a staple on shopping lists, and Eric answers that it’s about forming a relationship. He describes various channels that O2 uses to foster this connection, including social media and retail promotions.

Eric shares the stories behind a last-minute product launch at Epic and why O2 had to switch product processors when they wanted to launch their own new product. We hear about how unexpected issues could derail launches at larger companies, and how Eric turned these misadventures into opportunities.