Future Commerce
“Bigger Than the Plant-Based Revolution” feat. Kevin Rutherford, CEO of Nuun Energy
Episode Summary
“Innovation is renovation” says Kevin Rutherford, CEO of Nuun Energy. After creating the category of functional hydration, and being ruthlessly copied, Nuun Energy has found its way into the Nestlé Health Science family. Today we sit down with Kevin to talk about the acquisition, product innovation, category maturation, and evolving purchasing behaviors. Listen now!
Episode Notes
The 16-Year Old CPG Startup
- Kevin shares his incredible work at Nuun Energy and their growth of being acquired by Nestlé Health Science.
- Sustainability and ESG are at the forefront of product innovation for Nuun, but category innovation and form factor are top of mind in fast moving consumer goods and CPG, as well.
- When it comes to health and creating new connections, information is right at our fingertips. Having information right when we want it is evolving our purchasing behaviors. This evolution means that we can make better decisions around health.
- “I'm less worried about competitors coming in at this moment because I think it's going to continue to expand functional hydration — because it's a universal need that is bigger than the plant based revolution that's happening within food. I truly believe that.” -Kevin
- “Think about plant based milk alternatives, where it started. It was soy milk and a tetra pack in the center of a store. Commerce wasn't even really a factor then. Today, it's sold and surging within eCommerce, but also now positioned in the dairy case right beside the milk alternatives. What I foresee happening is it's going to be looked at less as functional hydration as an alternative; [instead] it's going to be toe to toe, side by side with the way people look at beverages now... It's going to be a substitute, much like you're seeing in dairy alternatives [versus] dairy itself.” - Kevin
- “We have the toolset to capture new data points that we can optimize for our personal bodies.” - Brian
- “Innovation is renovation. It's innovation for new need states” - Kevin
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