ARTICLE / THE MAKING OF... SERIES
The making of...
Nak Drinks.
Be fresh. That’s one of the main prerequisites you need to have when entering a cutthroat market. Looking at things with a fresh perspective will not only open a billion eyes to your idea, it helps differentiate your brand from the competition. When it came to Electrolyte and Vodka RTD, Nak Drinks, Will Hetherington, along with co-founder Bryce Scoullar and ex co-founder, Sharna Lambert, created not only a fresh new category-defining product but also a whole new space within which to play: Sport, Health, Alcohol and No hangover. You can see where this is heading. We caught up with Will to get more of the story. This is The making of… Nak.
Series
The making of... Series
Tags
#nak #electrolytevodka #rtd #hangoverfree #SportsDrinkReimagined #startupstories #startup #growthstrategy #drinkinnovation #coolpackaging #branddesign #entrepreneurlife #founderstory
Hey Will, how the devil are you? So, for clarity sake, at Hunter, we’ve known Nak for a while now as we helped with the original MVB and packaging design. Needless to say, we’re massive fans of Nak Drinks and it’s been great seeing the brand’s growth. But for the benefit of our readers, Will, can you tell how you came up with the concept for Nak?
Hello Hunter! Ok, so Nak is totally a Covid baby. Back in 2020, I found myself and a few football mates nursing a hangover after a rather large Saturday evening. We decided to have a few Sunday drinks to relax, but all we had in the fridge was Gatorade and Vodka. ‘Ingenuity’ kicked in as we mixed the two. The mix tasted delicious. After a few too many, we woke up the following morning and were quite amazed at how we felt. The electrolytes completely took the edge off the Vodka. That was the lightbulb moment for me. Locking that experience in my mind, Nak was up and running.
Will Hetherington & Bryce Scoullar
It’s interesting you mentioned Nak being a Covid Baby. We’re now seeing quite a few ‘Covid Babies’ reaching the next stage in their brand growth and looking to scale. Research wise, how did you arrive are where you are now? How did you evolve from that light-bulb moment and test product-market fit?
At the time, there wasn't a drink on the market that offered the same characteristics as Nak, so we moved quickly to prove the efficacy of our mix, likewise the founding flavours. Testing product-market fit felt easy because we were creating a drink that suited our sporty lifestyles. We love a balance between health and fun without sacrificing quality and so do a lot of other consumers. Our initial research played out across our peer groups and post-match at sports clubs across Melbourne.
With the research under your belt, what were the first iterations of Nak like?
We smile fondly at the first drinks. I guess we were quite lucky in that we landed on the perfect taste early on which scored well in research. From there, we knew we needed to build out an equally impressive brand.
We remember the first samples well! Ok, funding? How have you been funding everything?
Nak has been bootstrapped to this point.
Lets talk branding. What was the process like and how did you arrived at where you are today? Bonus points included for name dropping Hunter.
Once we’d landed on the perfect product, we got moving on building out the brand.
This is going to sound cheesy but we created Nak as a drink we wanted to enjoy ourselves. The values we enjoy are what we like to show in our branding. We wanted to be different without being in your face. Memorable, quietly cool. Fun.
We had great label designs from the get-go. Working with Hunter, (you know those guys), we wanted something that people would feel cool holding, the cans do that and also really stand out in a crowd, on the shelf and behind the bar. The pixelled design was a cheeky play on that post-night-out blur. Something you don’t get drinking Nak.
We’ve got to say, the design is a favourite. Once you had landed on the brand identity, how did you go about raising awareness? How are you getting the word out there?
It’s early days but without a huge marketing budget, we’ve been focusing on growing our community and generating word-of-mouth. It is a case of being seen in the right hands and the right places. Exposure is everything. We’re backing that up with tastings in bottle shops and venues as our profile grows. People are scared of change when it comes to alcohol choices, and so am I. Once we get people to try it, they won't go back to boring low-calorie RTDs.
Future challenges? What big hairy challenges are on the horizon?
Exposure again. We need people to try the drink but we also need to grow beyond the early adopters. That comes from scaling, a lean plan and that larger marketing budget.
Ok, before we hit our final question, we just want to thank you Will for your time and for sharing what’s been going on in the land of Nak. It’s been great seeing Nak out there in the world and on shelf. Now, here’s that final question. Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give another founder setting off on their own startup journey?
I'd say just being willing to do anything for your brand without expecting immediate results. We do so many little things to get leads or contracts and a lot of the time they come to nothing. Then randomly bang, things happen. Also… remember to enjoy the little wins.
