Real Marketer Profile Neetu Godara I often reflect on my career and think about the journey...

 

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Real Marketer Profile Neetu Godara I often reflect on my career and think about the journey that has led me to this point. From my early experiences as an Assistant Brand Manager working on major multi-national brands at PepsiCo Canada to building a business from the ground up as the Co-Founder of SOCIAL LITE Vodka. Courtesy of Neeta Godara I feel I have a unique perspective on brand building, having played on both teams David and Goliath. Working for a large CPG firm gave me the fundamentals in business analytics, marketing discipline, leadership and teamwork. The skills I took from "big CPG" has helped tremendously as an entrepreneur, but jumping into the world of a start-up has helped me build an entirely new set of tools. As an entrepreneur, you wear many hats. In the beginning, you work across all business functions, working on everything from customer meetings to contracts and payroll to product development. Over the course of my career, I have spent many years bringing new products to market. When we were starting SOCIAL LITE Vodka, we saw that vodka sodas had soared in popularity with our friends and at bars across the country. However, if you wanted a convenient pre-mixed drink, everything on the market was sugar-laden, artificial, and had zero appeal to health-conscious consumers. It felt like nearly every food and beverage category had been disrupted with better-for-you innovation, but the ready-to-drink (RTD) sector was still reminiscent of the '90s when sugar was in its heyday. So, in 2014, we launched the first unsweetened RTD in North America, made with a clean ingredient list of vodka, soda, and natural flavours, clearly laid out on our transparent packaging. SOCIAL LITE Vodka had no sugar, no carbs, and it didn't give you a sugar headache the next day. At its core, this is the secret behind SOCIAL LITE's rapid growth and success. We had a real consumer insight, and a product that filled a gap in the marketplace. Since we brought SOCIAL LITE to market, we have been laser focused on building our fan base. SOCIAL LITE appeals to fit and active people, with varied demographics, who share a common goal of having fun and staying healthy. We leverage in-store, digital, and experiential marketing as our primary ways to build our tribe. A real consumer insight, a focus on building our audience, and a long-term vision that allows for a strong pipeline of innovation are a few key things we focus on as a new brand in the market. Managing complex multi-national brands challenges you to manage large teams and complex operations and uphold global standards of world-class marketing. Taking the chance to build a brand from the ground up gives you the opportunity to control your destiny, drive your vision, and test your perseverance. My path was to learn first, and leap into entrepreneurship second, but I truly believe there is no right path. There is only a path that is right for you. Real Marketer Profile Neetu Godara I often reflect on my career and think about the journey that has led me to this point. From my early experiences as an Assistant Brand Manager working on major multi-national brands at PepsiCo Canada to building a business from the ground up as the Co-Founder of SOCIAL LITE Vodka. Courtesy of Neeta Godara I feel I have a unique perspective on brand building, having played on both teams David and Goliath. Working for a large CPG firm gave me the fundamentals in business analytics, marketing discipline, leadership and teamwork. The skills I took from "big CPG" has helped tremendously as an entrepreneur, but jumping into the world of a start-up has helped me build an entirely new set of tools. As an entrepreneur, you wear many hats. In the beginning, you work across all business functions, working on everything from customer meetings to contracts and payroll to product development. Over the course of my career, I have spent many years bringing new products to market. When we were starting SOCIAL LITE Vodka, we saw that vodka sodas had soared in popularity with our friends and at bars across the country. However, if you wanted a convenient pre-mixed drink, everything on the market was sugar-laden, artificial, and had zero appeal to health-conscious consumers. It felt like nearly every food and beverage category had been disrupted with better-for-you innovation, but the ready-to-drink (RTD) sector was still reminiscent of the '90s when sugar was in its heyday. So, in 2014, we launched the first unsweetened RTD in North America, made with a clean ingredient list of vodka, soda, and natural flavours, clearly laid out on our transparent packaging. SOCIAL LITE Vodka had no sugar, no carbs, and it didn't give you a sugar headache the next day. At its core, this is the secret behind SOCIAL LITE's rapid growth and success. We had a real consumer insight, and a product that filled a gap in the marketplace. Since we brought SOCIAL LITE to market, we have been laser focused on building our fan base. SOCIAL LITE appeals to fit and active people, with varied demographics, who share a common goal of having fun and staying healthy. We leverage in-store, digital, and experiential marketing as our primary ways to build our tribe. A real consumer insight, a focus on building our audience, and a long-term vision that allows for a strong pipeline of innovation are a few key things we focus on as a new brand in the market. Managing complex multi-national brands challenges you to manage large teams and complex operations and uphold global standards of world-class marketing. Taking the chance to build a brand from the ground up gives you the opportunity to control your destiny, drive your vision, and test your perseverance. My path was to learn first, and leap into entrepreneurship second, but I truly believe there is no right path. There is only a path that is right for you.