Samir Balwani 0:03

Hi. I'm Samir Balwani, host of Chief Advertiser and founder of QRY, join me as I talk to industry leaders about their strategies, challenges and successes in managing their advertising and marketing. I'm so excited about our episode today. I have Tyler Milakis, the head of brand and marketing from Charlotte's Web. He is so smart, so passionate, and just brings so much about storytelling, and I can't wait to dig in with him. Thank you for coming on today, Tyler.

Tyler Milakis 0:34

Yeah. Super excited to be here, yeah. Oh, well. So, I

Samir Balwani 0:37

mean, I've kind of already teased it a little bit. I know we're gonna be talking about stories, and we're gonna talk about brand strategy and all of the things that get me really excited. But even before we get there, let's kind of start with the basics. So who are you? What's Charlotte's Web for anyone that doesn't know about it?

Tyler Milakis 0:55

Yeah, yeah. So I'm Tyler Milakis, as you said, I'm the head of brand and marketing for Charlotte's Web. Charlotte's Web was originally founded as a CBD company. We are kind of in this phase of gradually evolving into a more holistic botanical wellness company. Nature is such this cool, powerful entity, that CBD is always going to be a part of our story. But there's so much more that nature offers, and so we're super excited to start stepping into some of this other botanical wellness space and offering so so yes, that's kind of what Charlotte's Web is. I've been with the company for about two and a half years, but I've been in the industry for much longer,

Samir Balwani 1:40

isn't I love that. I do love that we are getting a chance to talk kind of at this point in the brand's journey. And I always talk about it as, like a brand journey, because no one's like, if you look back on where it was when you first started to where it is now, and the kind of the evolution and growth that it has. Everyone always says that, right? Like a brand is continuing to grow, continue and needs to grow and evolve, but it needs to do that without losing what made it the brand itself, right? And so one of the things I wanted to kick off with is, how do you even figure out what that origin story is? How do you get a sense of, like, what's that message? What's How do you identify that that you know is going to resonate with people?

Tyler Milakis 2:28

Yeah, and, you know, like, with our origin story, you know, it obviously started with a little girl name Charlotte, and it wasn't about selling product. It wasn't about, you know, pushing, pushing a product, or pushing, you know, revenue dollars. It was really to help save a little girl's life and help meet her where she was at and all the need. And I think great stories start with that. It's like this tension point where human conflict needs something, you know, needs that hero, needs that solve. You know, there was a lot of distrust around just traditional health care and a need for real alternatives that worked and met people with where they were at. And it's, it's a trust signal. I think that's the biggest thing. An origin story is always going to be this trust signal, and if a brand can find a way to modernize it and make it approachable, the little thread that I always allude to in our brand, that's something that I think we get to not only live in, but play and and interact in that little red thread space of, how do we meet a consumer where they're at? How do we make sure the message is unified, regardless of where they're seeing it, and always coming back to that trust, which is always going to be a big piece of our origin story?

Samir Balwani 3:54

Yeah, that's fascinating. And it's interesting too, because I think the an origin story helps personalize a brand too. It doesn't feel like a corporate entity anymore. It feels like something more amorphous and something larger than that, which is, I think the goal of a good brand is something that you connect with, right? And stories help do that.

Tyler Milakis 4:15

Yeah, yeah. And, you know, with this, with this next generation, like they don't just want to be part of someone that sells a product. They want to be part of something that's bigger, that stands for something bigger, that has a story, that has that gumption, that grittiness, to the origin of where they started, and not lose that as they grow as a brand.

Samir Balwani 4:39

Yeah. And so the business has this amazing origin story, and we talked about it just a few minutes ago, around how it's evolving and how it needs to grow. And I would almost say sometimes when you have a really strong origin story, the evolution becomes even harder, right? Because you don't want to lose your soul. You don't want to feel like you're discarding something. So. How do you How are you guys walking through this evolution? What are you thinking about? What are the things that you know keep you up at night, but then, what are the things that you're most excited

Tyler Milakis 5:11

about? So many things keep me up at night. I think around evolving a brand is it shouldn't feel like abandonment, like that's the last thing you want. Is a brand evolution, to feel like you're abandoning the people that have been with you for the entire time. And so we've done a lot of work of, how do we bring our loyalists, the ones that have been our ride or dies, along for the ride? So everything that we do, all of our conversations, is, how are we bringing our consumers along for the ride. You know, we transition from the hero of the consumer story to the guide, and that's like a big piece of the Stella exploring that I always look for and kind of advocate for, is we have enough brands trying to be the hero and tell you what to do. We're just here to say, Listen, we've got products that we believe in. They're science backed, they're efficacious, we become the guide versus the hero. And I think that's something that's a big pivot for a lot of brands that we're seeing right now. I think legacy brands and brands that have been around for a while and have this deep, rich origin story have earned the right to evolve, but it has to feel intentional, like, what's the why? And it's really a short answer for us, is it's what the consumers deserve. Like our consumers deserve a brand that's going to evolve to meet their needs, because my needs 10 years ago are very different as I approach my late 30s, on what my needs are going to be in three years, right? Yeah. So positioning our growth as this continuation, it's not a pivot, it's not a departure, our values are still the same. We're just approaching it with a little bit of progress, not whiplash, I think, is the best way to our team.

Samir Balwani 6:56

Yeah. I think the best part about this because you and I spoke ahead of time, obviously. And I think one of the most interesting things that you said to me in that was the brand story is not just evolving. To evolve a brand story, there's a reason to evolve it, and there is a there's product support and product innovation behind it to actually help that. You know, we talk about it in the brand world, the reasons to believe, right? And so if you don't have really good reasons to believe, there's no real reason for anyone to trust your brand story, right? And so I love that I tactically. I also know that evolving a brand story and evolving a brand altogether is a nightmare, everything from packaging to you know how site experience, the tone and voice. How do you look at this brand story, this evolution? And luckily, it's not like a rebrand, right? Like it's a true evolution. How do you then refine all of your marketing and messaging? How do you think about how that brand story needs to appear in your marketing and messaging. You know, through that evolution?

Tyler Milakis 8:04

Yeah, I think the biggest thing is realizing that our story is is much more than a headline. I think a lot of brands are like, Okay, we're going to pivot. We're going to have a new tone of voice, catchy headlines, a fun tagline, and it's, it's realizing that a brand is not what you say. It is. It's what other people feel and say about you. And so realizing that this brand story touches everything, it's in everything. It's not just in a mission statement, it's not just in a headline, it's not just in a social post. It is in everything, the tone that we use, the visuals that we pick, the science that we choose to share, the culture that we align with. Every touch point is either reinforcing or diluting that original, you know, original story. And so I think the thing is, come back to intention. What's the intention? What's the why of every little decision that you make, it's going to feel mundane and kind of very simplistic that you know because you're doing it 1000s of times, it allows you to embed and not just talk about the brand story of this becomes a part of your fabric and how you show up.

Samir Balwani 9:17

Yeah, I think that that it's really interesting that you say that, and it's I think that one of the pieces that people miss in in bringing a brand story to life is they don't do a great job of getting their team on board with the brand story and, like really getting everyone excited about the story itself, because it's easy to get excited about products. It's exceeded. It's easy to get excited about a brand name because that you kind of have, like, jumped over. It's tangible. It's tangible. It's tangible. Yeah, the story, though, is harder, but if your team isn't excited about the story, they can, they're not going to be able to get everyone else excited about the brand. Brand itself, too. So I know one of the things that we love to do is, like workshops and brand books, making sure you got a great brand book to get everyone excited about it. What have you seen work for you guys, like, internally, of trying to get people excited? Is there something that you guys do?

Tyler Milakis 10:19

Yeah, so we actually had a brand day, is what we called it, to where we had all of our internal team, people from our warehouse to leadership, like everyone, came into the office, and we walk through the brand guide. We walk through our new tone of voice, we walk through the new visuals. And so if you're, I think, to your point, if your team can't say it clearly, your customers aren't going to feel it your team isn't excited about internally, your customers are going to feel it like our customers are really an extension of how we cultivate this brand essence within the organization. And a Brand Book, great way to do that. You know, it is like this tangible piece that it's no longer this ethereal message of a rebrand evolution. It's like, oh, this is what it looks like. This is what it sounds like. And I think when you do that, it leaves room for this creative flexibility to where the story stays. The expression evolves. How we talk about it internally starts to evolve. And it's just consistency, you know, it's, I think the more that you continue to rally around it as an internal team, the more that we're going to want to share and talk about it to friends and family. You know, word of mouth will always be one of the biggest, powerful tactics within marketing and so, yeah, rallying around that excitement internally and making sure that it's consistent and compelling on how not only we're talking about it, but then that'll translate into how we're talking to consumers about it. Ultimately,

Samir Balwani 11:57

yeah, I love that. I think a brand day is such a great idea, and getting everyone on board all at once, and because you need to get it so that way everyone else doesn't go, oh, the marketing team's just doing this again. It's like, you got to get everyone really excited about it. And it's these like tactical things that no one thinks about that actually has these, like, huge impacts, free food. Of course, I love it. I think one of the questions that I want to pose to you on this is, I know we talked about, like, the brand story and this evolution, and you said the word, and I think that this is one of the most important ones that people forget. So I think there are three pillars. When building a great brand, it's time. It just takes time, and you got to give it time. It's process, making sure you've got great processes, but then consistency and making sure you are saying the same thing over and over again in the same way, with the same colors and design, and you show up the same wake How do you make sure you know as a team grows as more people are interpreting the brand and showing different expressions of the brand? How do you ensure that the story is still consistent and that the story is still compelling and tied to the initial concept, not you know the evolution as it continues to evolve on its own.

Tyler Milakis 13:24

Absolutely, yeah, and I think this is where, you know, once the team is obviously bought in and like, we're speaking the same language internally, I think the Brand Book, onboarding, tools, creative guidelines, like all of these, become crucial, because that is now your north star on how your brand is going to show up. I think there's this misconception of consistency is sameness. I view consistency as like clarity with room to play. And so I think having you know our one tagline or one key selling point around this one product, how do you then say that same thing 25,000 different ways, and so you're not losing the essence of what you're saying, but you're lengthening the reach on how you're approaching it, and saying, yeah,

Samir Balwani 14:11

yeah. I think that that's a valuable perspective, because it's true. It's like the the seed needs to still be the same, but everything else doesn't need to be exactly because that would get boring, right? Like you would be bored of a brand that only said the same tagline over and over again. Got it? Yeah? It's like, okay, great. I've seen eight TikToks that say the same thing. I'm good. Yeah? I mean, I think that one of the things I hope our listeners, you take away, though, is that a brand story is such an unlock for growth, because it helps you refine who your customer is, why they care, what they should get excited about. It just, it's a forcing mechanism for a lot of that. Yeah. Yeah, I do want to pivot slightly into we talked about it earlier on around innovation and consumer, specifically product. And I think one of the things that I would always be wary of is, and it's interesting, I just did a webinar with the team at tracksuit which is a brand health tracking tool, and they asked the question of, how is something how do you differentiate when something is on brand or experimental, like, when does experimenting go off brand? And I think that that you start to see that in innovation too. And so I guess my question to you, is when you're innovating, when you are thinking about this evolution and just innovation at the product level, all around. How do you help make sure that it still stays on brand and consistent, versus kind of going out of left field? How do you think about that?

Tyler Milakis 15:56

Yeah, I think with innovation, you know, like so many, so many people have a different definition of innovation, because we're all approaching it a little bit differently, depending on, like the department that you're in. You know, for us as a brand, innovation is this solving problems better, not just launching new shiny things. So how are we solving a need better. How are we taking a everyday need state, like sleep? And how are we meeting the consumer where they're at, whether that's through ingredients, whether that's through formulation, like rooted in nature, proven by science, like that's that's our essence. That's kind of our sweet spot that we look at innovation through kind of this one little lens, but then we take that and broaden it. So if you can't prove efficacy or meet that real world need, then we're like, this isn't ready for launch. We're like, is this the right product? And so it allows us to have conversations as an organization, versus it just coming from R and D saying, like, this is your product. Go launch it. We have, like, a lot of really cool conversations around this. You know, it has to add value at the end of the day. If what you're doing isn't adding value or making something better for a consumer, it's just noise at that point. Yeah, I think within innovation, renovation is something I always like to tease up. There's not a rationale to launch something new. How do we take what's already in our portfolio or ecosystem and even make it better? How do we renovate it, versus always trying to think of innovation?

Samir Balwani 17:39

Yeah, that's really fascinating. I i love that concept because it's, it's true, like, we make the assumption that everybody knows everything about us, and sometimes, just, you're bringing up something that we've done before, that we're proud of, still, like, it shouldn't, like, obviously, don't dredge up stuff that you're not super excited about, but like, it should be something like, super valuable, and still, you know, relevant. I think that there's that is a great idea and and something that super valuable. I love that idea of also like having to tie to kind of the business and then the brand itself, because I do think that that is key. But I can imagine that as you're innovating, there is this element of, how do I make sure I don't lose my legacy, right? Like you guys going through this brand evolution, how do you make sure you don't lose because the story is very particular about the beginning of the business. So how do you refine that story, or how do you even innovate to this next stage without losing that initial crux of the business?

Tyler Milakis 18:49

Yeah, I think short answer is we don't like we adjust our tactics. We don't adjust our North Star. Like our North Star will always be Charlotte and her legacy, our North Star will always be helping people own their wellness journey like those two things will never change. How we're thinking about it, how we're talking about it, how we're creating new visuals or a catchy tagline or a headline, like those things can change, but our North Star, in the essence of those things, and are why we show up as a as a business and as a team. That never changes. I think when you have a true north star like that, it gives you room to explore, as long as it serves the mission like or, you know, everything is going to ladder up to, is this serving our mission? Is this serving our purpose and even getting started or joining this organization to begin with. Innovation with purpose is brand growth. Innovation without it becomes distraction.

Samir Balwani 19:54

Yeah, yeah, that is I love. I might steal that. I hope you don't mind. Tyler. Because I think that is, there's so many people that need to hear that the idea that just innovating for innovating sake is just, it's a waste of time at that point. Because if you don't know where you're going or why you're doing it, I mean, that's a great place to just get started with. You know, stop doing this. I know we're coming up on time, so I want to, I want to be respectful, and I want you, I'd love to ask you my last question, because I think this is really important as we kind of enter into a world where everything changes so fast, right? And so how, as you guys are thinking about this brand and the story that you have and the evolution with culture and perspective, changing what feels like every day, but also fragmenting where it's becoming more difficult to I think the ability to have so many options means that we can have so many different cohorts of people. How do you create a brand? Or how do you stay culturally relevant as you evolve this brand, as the ecosystem continues to shift?

Tyler Milakis 21:10

Yeah, I think my bold answer is, shut up and listen. If you listen, the audience will tell you exactly what matters to them. We see more more consumers and trends and fads starting and ending within Tiktok and Instagram, and everyone has an opinion. So it's like, quiet your your voice and listen, because consumers are going to tell you exactly what they care about and what they don't and I think when we show up in ways that still feel true to our brand, so for Charlotte's Web sustainability transparency advocacy, we get to step into this concept or this notion of relevance. Doesn't mean always chasing a trend or a fad. It means being part of something bigger, and like to your point, this cultural conversation that is evolving and changing on a daily basis, but if you're constantly chasing the fad, you're gonna have nothing to talk about in two weeks, because the fads gonna be done over no one cares. And I think boil it down like we don't just stand for wellness, or we don't just sell wellness like we stand for it. And I think that's through all of the noise and all of the shifting of fads. We're not someone that's just going to sell it and like, oh, push this product and Oh, buy this and like, oh, you know, here's a promo. It's we stand for something bigger. And I feel like that does help us cut through the noise and attract consumers in this very organic, genuine way. And so, yeah, I mean, shut up and listen,

Samir Balwani 22:49

shut up and listen. I love it. Let's that's a great play to end. So, Tyler, thank you so much for joining us. I really loved it. If someone wants to find you, learn more about you working to go,

Tyler Milakis 23:02

yeah. So I'm on LinkedIn. Tyler Milakis. I also have my website, www.tylermilakis.com. Track me down. I would love to continue the conversation.

Samir Balwani 23:13

I love it. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Tyler Milakis 23:17

Awesome. Thanks so much.

Outro 23:21

Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Chief Advertiser. If you enjoyed today's conversation, please subscribe at chiefadvertiser.com, share the episode with others who might find it valuable and consider leaving us a review. Your support helps us bring more insights with each episode. See you next time.