Based on Snaxshot founder Andrea Hernández, the e-newsletter subscription platform Substack was like handmade sourdough bread in 2020; everybody was doing it.
So when she shouted into the web void, she by no means anticipated it will shout again. However her tweets throughout the pandemic in regards to the new children within the pantry aisle, resembling non-alcoholic drinks, attracted a “cult” of CPG lovers; tens of hundreds of subscribers tune into Hernández’s Substack for her candid, straight-shooter tackle the meals and beverage business. And though she comes from 10+ years of selling expertise, her progress technique is the whole lot that will make CPG bigwigs cringe; she has dedicated to no promoting and no PR pitches whereas remaining neighborhood funded.
The self-titled “cult leader” of Snaxshot sat down with ADWEEK to speak the early beginnings of the now globally acknowledged Substack; the recipe for fulfillment behind her activations, like a séance to revive nostalgic snacks; and the current and way forward for the meals and beverage business.
Her phrases have been edited for size and readability.
Curiosity began the Substack
[Snaxshot] is sort of me making an attempt to undo my entire indoctrination into advertising and marketing and promoting. I used to be sitting in one in all my promoting courses and I keep in mind saying, “Wow, this kind of feels a villain origin story.” Like we’re making an attempt to trick folks into doing issues. Which, in all equity, that’s what [advertising] is. Even with numbers and knowledge. Every little thing may be skewed and rotated. I used to work in PR, so I exploit my expertise to turn out to be that filter.
The repositioning of non-alcoholic drinks was one of many issues that made me go, “Oh. Why?” It was the very first thing that I wrote about [for Snaxshot]. There’s nothing new about non-alcoholic drinks; they exist inside a spectrum. These manufacturers are beginning to choose up on what made the alcohol business so profitable, which is making issues attractive to the purpose the place you may actually flip a depressant and affiliate it with joyful hour. That’s all accomplished via advertising and marketing. I used to be fascinated by the commodification of wellness, the “goopification” of all these items that looks like inherent human information. One thing that claims “ginger is great for your immune system” however being slapped with fairly packaging and resold to you at a premium.
