the Joshua Schall Audio Experience

Joshua Schall
  • 4.8 (17)
  • Business
  • Updated Semiweekly

Welcome to the Joshua Schall Audio Experience On my podcast, you’ll hear episodes of my popular short-form Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) news segment "Consumed", a long-form CPG entrepreneurship interview segment "Formula For:", deeper dive segments "Deep Dish CPG", public speaking engagements, and any of my new and current thoughts that I record specifically for this audio experience! Leave a review on iTunes and let me know what you think!

  1. 2d ago

    What 32K Convenience Stores Just Revealed About Energy Drinks

    Roughly 32,000 convenience store locations have spoken, and they shared some interesting opinions about the growing energy drinks category. And even if you aren’t familiar with every insight regarding this beverage category, I’m sure you intuitively recognize that convenience is the most important sales channel (by sales dollars) for energy drinks in the U.S. market. But here are my top “categorical” takeaways from the most recent Goldman Sachs Beverage Bytes survey. Firstly, 69% of c-stores stated promotional activity has increased…noting stronger consumer response to multi-buy offers as shoppers seek greater value. However, categorical price increases aren’t disappearing, as almost all c-stores expect energy drinks to raise prices once again before the end of the year. Finally, the biggest expected categorical beneficiaries of additional shelf allocations are Monster Energy, Alani Nu, and Bloom.

  2. 4d ago

    Quiet Consumer Rebellion Rebranding Kombucha | SenseMaxxing Trend

    Kombucha is at a crossroads. U.S. retail sales are stalling, yet the “sense-maxxing” revolution could be powerful enough to change everything! For years, kombucha was the king of gut health beverages. But now? Those trendier, cheaper prebiotic sodas (like Olipop) are stealing the crown…and kombucha household penetration is stuck at around 20 percent. Enter “sense-maxxing,” the quiet consumer rebellion against muted minimalism. It’s all about sharper sours, louder crunches, brighter packaging, and aromas that demand attention. With cold-filtration keeping probiotics alive and flavors getting wilder, kombucha is making a comeback…ditching the health tonic vibe to become the ultimate non-alcoholic social drink. So, what do you think…is the “sour brew” finally ready for the mainstream?

  3. 5d ago

    Tech War Rewriting MLM Supplements | Why Herbalife Acquired Bioniq

    Multi-level marketing (MLM) supplement companies are facing a massive double-threat: the rise of GLP-1 weight loss medications like Ozempic and an existential trust crisis caused by Generative AI. In this episode, I'm breaking down the secret playbooks legacy giants like Herbalife, Amway, and USANA are using to survive, along with how smaller brands can fight back.For decades, MLM wellness CPG brands held a massive competitive advantage over traditional e-commerce: a trusted, authentic human conversation. That high-touch connection historically justified premium pricing for ordinary products. But as distributors increasingly turn to "synthetic social selling," using AI to auto-generate direct messages, social captions, and check-ins, consumers are detecting the algorithmic insincerity, causing trust to collapse. This is happening right as GLP-1s force a massive shift toward clinical-grade companion supplements for lean muscle preservation and gut health. If untrained reps use generic AI to pitch medical advice, it creates a regulatory minefield with the FTC. So, I'll analyze the corporate infrastructure plays trying to solve this problem: Herbalife’s Aggressive Pivot: The strategic rationale behind acquiring Pro2col, Link BioSciences, and Bioniq to build a predictive health ecosystem and turn reps into data-backed "wellness coaches".Amway’s Personalization Moat: How Amway Korea is leveraging over 110,000 cases in their "my LAB" microbiome database and "my WellnessLab" algorithm.USANA’s Business Intelligence: Using automated dashboards to track real-time customer data.Challenger Survival Guide: How mid-tier MLMs can use B2B ecosystems like TSI Group’s Tailored Script platform to achieve true N-of-1 precision granule personalization through an asset-light model without financial suicide. The ultimate future of direct selling doesn't belong to the brand that automates the most relationships, it belongs to the company that turns AI inward, while fiercely protecting the messy, empathetic, human conversations on the ground.

  4. 6d ago

    [MONDAY MINUTE] Truth About Sustainable Packaging in Food & Beverage CPG

    Here’s what CPG industry leaders won’t tell you about sustainability. While many food and beverage brands dream of fully compostable packaging solutions, the reality is often stalled by these massive hurdles…a lack of vendors meeting precise technical specifications, prohibitive costs during the scaling phase, and/or maintaining product shelf life without traditional plastics. Although instead of waiting for a perfect solution that doesn't exist, I’d argue real sustainability improvements can be achieved if (especially) Big CPG placed earlier calculated bets on more viable, scalable alternatives…helping prove concepts that the rest of the industry can follow.

  5. Sep 25

    Pepsi Supreme Court Battle You Haven’t Heard About

    Why is Pepsi fighting a Supreme Court battle over an energy drink brand they already discontinued? Well, because this is no longer just about Mountain Dew Rise Energy. In 2021, a relatively small, canned nitro cold brew coffee brand (Rise Brewing) sued PepsiCo for copying their trademarked name. PepsiCo fought back, calling the word "Rise" too weak for protection. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court is stepping in…and their ruling could change the CPG landscape forever. Should a trademark's "inherent strength" be decided by a judge as a matter of law, or by a jury as a question of fact? If Rise Brewing wins, trademark lawsuits would automatically become much harder to dismiss early in the legal process. If PepsiCo wins, judges can dismiss trademark lawsuits early if a brand name uses a common or "suggestive" word. Essentially, Big CPG could more easily launch copycat names…knowing startups likely couldn’t afford to fight back. The case is scheduled for the October 2026 session.

  6. Sep 24

    Inside the $1B+ Adult Non-Alcoholic Movement | Kaleigh Theriault (NielsenIQ)

    The Adult Non-Alcoholic (ANA) Market & Evolving Consumer Behavior Shifts. Today, we are cracking open the data behind one of the most explosive shifts in modern beverage history…the meteoric rise of the adult non-alcoholic market. No longer a niche corner of the grocery store, adult non-alcoholic beer, wine, and spirits have officially crossed the staggering milestone of $1 billion in U.S. retail sales. But if you think this boom is being driven entirely by a sudden wave of absolute sobriety, think again. The real story is far more fascinating. In fact, 94% of non-alcoholic beverage buyers are still actively purchasing alcohol. We are living in the era of the "both-and" consumer…where a generation of drinkers are rewriting the rules of brand loyalty, focusing on mindful moderation, and anchoring consumption to intentional, occasion-based choices. Joining me to dissect these underlying behavioral shifts is Kaleigh Theriault, the Director of Beverage Alcohol Thought Leadership at NielsenIQ. Kaleigh is the BevAlc industry’s premier guide on how cultural and category signals translate into business reality. And she’ll help us unpack concepts like "zebra striping," along with how Gen Z’s social rituals (and wellness habits) are reshaping the total beverage economy.

  7. Sep 23

    Netflix & Ferrero Stole the MrBeast Playbook | Wonka's The Golden Ticket

    Are Netflix and Ferrero about to dethrone MrBeast and Feastables? 🍫✨ In this episode, I'm breaking down the hyper-gamified strategic partnership between streaming giant Netflix and the fiercely private CPG conglomerate Ferrero Group. Together, they are resurrecting the dormant Willy Wonka candy brand using a modern business playbook directly lifted from the internet's biggest creator: MrBeast. More than 50 years ago, The Quaker Oats Company tried a similar strategy with the 1971 film...and fumbled it beautifully. But today, Netflix and Ferrero are utilizing modern technology and candy innovation to capture Gen Z and Gen Alpha. I'm covering subject matter like... MrBeast Playbook: How Feastables disrupted traditional marketing and why Netflix is duplicating it.New Netflix Willy Wonka Mega-Series: A look inside Wonka’s The Golden Ticket, complete with real hidden golden tickets, high-stakes cash prizes, and a controversial AI Gene Wilder voice clone.Texture-Maxxing: How Ferrero is using the same R&D strategy that made Nerds Gummy Clusters a billion-dollar brand to engineer mind-bending new candies.Corporate Secrecy Paradox: Why Ferrero Group (one of the most secretive companies in the world) is the ultimate real-life version of Willy Wonka. Can Netflix's entertainment reach combined with Ferrero's candy dominance create an "everlasting" retail masterpiece?

  8. Sep 21

    [MONDAY MINUTE] How Grocery Stores Trick You (And Make Millions Doing It)

    Welcome to the American grocery store, where “Reduced Fat” is just code for “I’ve replaced your nutrients with a science experiment.” Shoppers want to eat healthier but are flying blind. And while more than half expect retailers to support their wellness journey, existing tools often oversimplify nutrition, leaving shoppers confused at the point of purchase. Nutrition transparency is quickly becoming no longer optional. However, I’m certain no one will feel bad for food retailers after hearing how this “new cost of doing business" will inevitably be transformed into its “new revenue growth engine.” Retailers don't need to stock thousands of new products each year…especially when focus is prioritized towards helping shoppers navigate the 100K food items already carried. And a recent case study confirmed significant financial impact can come from shifting consumer behavior within existing categories. 27% of shoppers swapped to a healthier product once they had a clear “nutrition” score. Shoppers were 125% more likely to choose the highest-scoring option, even though it was one of the most expensive. Thus, if a large food retailer scales just one product swap to 10 million shoppers annually…it projects a revenue increase of around $14 million. But I’m left wondering, is “growth through nutrition transparency” all that terrible sounding if it ultimately leads to measurable public health improvements?

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About

Welcome to the Joshua Schall Audio Experience On my podcast, you’ll hear episodes of my popular short-form Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) news segment "Consumed", a long-form CPG entrepreneurship interview segment "Formula For:", deeper dive segments "Deep Dish CPG", public speaking engagements, and any of my new and current thoughts that I record specifically for this audio experience! Leave a review on iTunes and let me know what you think!

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