the Joshua Schall Audio Experience

Once an epicenter of the suburban lifestyle, the purpose and importance of shopping malls have slowly faded way. The “fall of the mall” or more broadly the “retail apocalypse” was happening long before the pandemic started, but things accelerated over the last twelve months as consumers stayed inside. In the coming years, hundreds of America’s roughly 1,100 malls are expected to shutter. The reaso...

Dr. Seuss famously said “why fit in when you were born to stand out”, so it’s only natural consumers would want CPG products as customizable as their individual uniqueness. Mass customization has been the “next big thing” in CPG product strategy for a very long time. Problem is, the CPG industry isn't there yet, but that doesn't mean brands can't creatively find ways to integrate customization ele...

This is the fiftieth anniversary of the very first cereal to be born out of a licensing agreement. The unique-at-the-time agreement between Post Holdings and the Flintstones owner created a cereal brand named after Fred and Wilma Flintstone’s daughter Pebbles. What does this have to do with the legacy sports nutrition brand Dymatize Nutrition? I'll utilize the recent BellRing Brands (BRBR) 2021 fi...

SPACalicious definition make them CPG investors go crazy…it’s hot, hot! Fergie probably never envisioned a world where her song would be used to describe the insane SPAC trend, but I also never expected to hear a rendition of the national anthem like she did at the 2018 NBA All-Star Game, so I think we are even. On the real, SPACs were all the craze in 2020, and it hasn't slowed down in 2021. For...

Just another celebrity trying to productize his/her name in the CPG industry, right? Old-School CPG pundits are always quick to hate on celebrity founders. Fact is, when these A-List celebrities are authentically engaged in the business-building process, it can be the signal that cuts through the noise, even in the most competitive industries in the world. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson was recently na...

The Kardashian’s can sell anything, right? What about nutritional supplements? Acknowledge it or not, the Kardashians are disruptive figures in today’s pop culture scene. Googling the “Kardashian Effect” you’ll get a number of different definitions, but maybe the most widely used comes from urban dictionary that states it’s the ability for a public figure who has absolutely no contribution to soci...

You've got to keep reinventing. You'll have new competitors. You'll have new customers all around you. The U.S. energy drinks market is arguably the most competitive beverage sub-category. It reached ~$15B in 2020 and sustained its high-single-digits growth rate, despite the “COVID-19 Effect” basically slowing consumer mobility to a crawl, essentially cutting off the #1 sales channel for energy dr...

By pure financial metrics, Glanbia would have the “All Valley Karate” championship in the bag, but don’t underestimate the Crane Kick from The Hut Group (THG). In fact, Glanbia and its Glanbia Performance Nutrition division are basically double the size of THG and its Nutrition segment that houses the MyProtein brand. This podcast episode will explore the historical strengths of Glanbia and THG, b...

How is the American economy doing? According to the Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book, prospect of COVID-19 vaccines has bolstered business optimism for 2021 growth, but what about the CPG industry specifically?  The Beige Book is a Federal Reserve System publication that collects mostly qualitative information, gathered directly from District sources. This consumer data creates an opportun...

After giving it a lot of thought, Lebron James has decided to take his talents to Purchase, NY (PepsiCo Headquarters). Since his rookie year in 2003, Lebron James has had a sponsorship agreement with The Coca-Cola Company. You've seen him on countless Sprite and Powerade commercials throughout their deal together. That contract ended September of last year, effectively making the second highest pa...

GNC and The Vitamin Shoppe had a wild ride in 2020, but did either stay on the bull long enough to get a score? GNC and The Vitamin Shoppe are both specialty retailers with an emphasis on brick & mortar locations GNC and The Vitamin Shoppe both sell health and wellness products GNC and The Vitamin Shoppe both faced challenging COVID-19 business environments Yet, GNC and The Vitamin Shoppe came...

This podcast episode breaks down of the 2021Q1 Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ: SMPL) earnings report, earnings call, and supplemental presentations that were filed on 1/6/2021. Those public financial documents will be used as the backdrop to provide broad health and fitness snacking market insights that will be valuable to you. Quest Nutrition and Atkins Nutritionals each continued to have a mi...

Welcome to the 2nd annual J. Schall Consulting year-end awards show that focuses on the "better for you" CPG product category, along with the grocery, brick and mortar, and internet retailers. This is the pinnacle of award shows that are light on tradition, peppered with randomness, and heavy handed with personal bias.  While the awards categories were selected at random, the winners were tho...

What happens when a bunch of brotato chips circle around the 5 pound protein powder container and start making sports nutrition industry event predictions? This episode is basically the personification of that imaginary scenario. So, what do I see as 5 outlandish events that I could happen within the sports nutrition industry in 2021? The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ: SMPL) Eats or Gets Eaten...

Happy New Years! Now that the celebrating is over and you’ve told everyone on social media how this will be your year…reality is setting in, right? Well don’t fret because I’m here to help you actually make that statement come true. I’ve always been a goal-oriented person and can vividly remember writing up little goals for my lemonade stand or trading card collection when I was a young kid. I nev...

I'm not one to look back and congratulate myself on any accomplishments, but I figured why not keep with the tradition I started on YouTube in 2018 of being transparent and recapping my performance throughout the year. Firstly, I would like to thank everyone for making this my most impactful year as a professional. The stuff I’ve been barking about publicly the last few years seemed to have come i...

After one of the most transformational years in recent history, I figured I would continue my fool’s game of trying to predict the future. What do I see being the Top 5 Retail Industry Predictions in 2021?  In no particular order; Grocery Stores and Farms Converge Facebook Acquires Patreon Amazon "Other Revenue" Reaches $10 Billion in a Quarter Facebook and Uber Form Strategic Partnership Cos...

Which is bigger? Dan Bilzerian’s Instagram follower count or Ignite International Brands revenue since its founding in 2017? With dropping YoY revenue and bloated historical operating expenses, I'll explore what's below the surface of the internet personality's premium lifestyle brand. While Dan Bilzerian is a central figure throughout the video (for obvious reasons), I’ll spare you most of the pe...

Based on the popularity of this trend prediction video from the last two years, I decided to again put my reputation on the line and try and predict the Top 5 Sports Nutrition Industry Trends in 2021. If you're interested how I did in my 2019 and 2020 predictions, I made a recent Instagram post recapping my performance - https://www.instagram.com/joshua_schall/   In no particular order, here...

On this Pivotal interview-style episode, we talk with Jess Windell, Founder & CEO of Maven Consulting Co., about the real value of strategic public relations in the CPG industry. Jess shares how she pivoted from advertising to public relations early in her academic career and why she's made it her life's work. We also talk about why she chose this year as the perfect time to become a first-tim...

Based on the popularity of this trend prediction video from the last two years, I decided to again put my reputation on the line and try and predict the Top 5 Functional Food and Beverage Product Trends for the upcoming year. If you're interested how I did in my 2019 and 2020 predictions, I made a recent Instagram post recapping my performance.  In no particular order, here are my prediction...

On this episode of the Pivotal interview-style series, we talk with Sean Folkson, Founder & CEO of Nightfood Holdings Inc. (OTCMKTS:NGTF), about how his love for EAS Myoplex bars and following the Body for Life diet by Bill Phillips created curiosity for the "better for you" nighttime snacking category. This is partly why Nightfood initially started with nutritional bars before pivoting t...

On this episode of the Pivotal interview-style series, we talk with Jared Strain, Co-Founder & Partner of the strategic digital brand agency Super Top Secret (STS), about how his involvement in sub-cultures throughout his life has created a unique perspective for top-level creative and design output. We also talked about how the "COVID-19 Effect" accelerated some creative trends in 2020. Addit...

We are coming to the end of 2020, which gives us a perfect reason to reflect over the past year. Over the next few weeks, I will be sprinkling in some "Top 5 Lists" of different functional "better for you" CPG and FMCG topics that will be insightful, valuable, and/or just plain entertainment.   In this first "Top 5 List" video of the year-end season, I cover my biggest sports nutrition b...

On this episode of the Pivotal interview-style series, we talk with Ben Hartman, Founder & CEO of Morphogen Nutrition, about how he has been able to double his brand's revenue year after year by always staying true to himself. Ben and I have known each other for around 15 years, as we both went to Kent State University and worked at the rec center together. We also both started out at the grou...