the Joshua Schall Audio Experience

Hormel struggled to sell Applegate “Well Carved” hybrid burgers. Likewise, Tyson Foods couldn’t overcome the “middle ground paradox” with its “Raised & Rooted” blended meat burgers. Essentially, vegans wouldn’t touch them because of animal protein, and purists wouldn’t touch them because they felt "processed." So, the middle ground felt like a compromise to both sides. Although we ca...

MyProtein is undoing their global rebrand and attempting a dangerous strategic pivot. THG (aka the company formerly known as The Hut Group) recently updated the public markets by releasing its Q3 2026 results. I’ll be utilizing all available publicly disclosed information to obviously update you on the recent performance of THG Nutrition division, which includes the world's largest online spor...

Is any CPG brand truly "untouchable" anymore? In this episode, I'm breaking down the explosive, high-stakes corporate war between Kroger and Red Bull. Red Bull is a beverage brand commanding over a third of the U.S. energy drink market and generating $10 billion in annual retail sales, yet it has been completely pulled from 2,700+ Kroger stores and fuel centers. If a category captain...

Did you know that only six percent of sports science studies focus exclusively on women? Think about that for a second longer…as nearly all modern hydration, recovery, and performance nutrition protocols are built entirely on male physiological data. So, almost zero data on women's needs across life stages and critical moments, including the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and perimenopause. But G...

Calm is the new energy, or at least that’s what Walmart emphatically declare when it recently began rolling out a brand new "Mood & Mind" merchandising section across 1,000 stores. And honestly, I love this decision for a few reasons. I’ll start off a bit selfishly here, but Walmart just validated the cultural drivers and contextual demand spaces I’ve been shouting about like a broken record for t...

The energy drink marketing playbook is officially being rewritten. Historically, the approximately $29 billion U.S. energy drink market has run on a high-octane formula engineered around the fast-paced, anti-establishment ethos of extreme sports and hip-hop culture. But as the category matures from a niche youth subculture into a gender-balanced, multi-generational household staple, the cultural e...

Forget real estate. The Trump family is officially taking over the beverage aisle. Donald Trump’s eldest granddaughter, Kai, recently partnered with Accelerator Active Energy to launch her very own flavor called Blue Raz Slush, which is directly inspired by her childhood love for movie theater slushies. Unlike her uncle Barron, who keeps a low profile with his new yerba mate brand, Kai Trump is us...

Stop watching trends. Start engineering markets. In this episode, I've adapted from my educational session at the inaugural Future Nutra Innovation Summit, and I'm breaking down why traditional market research is broken and show you how to use Predictive Market Engineering to map the math of human behavior. Linear thinking looks at a cultural movement like "Make America Healthy Again&...

I usually roll my eyes at wild conspiracy theories, but did you hear the one about the “macho” meat snacks era? For decades, meat snacks were marketed almost exclusively to young males and road-trippers. Although today, the almost $7 billion U.S. meat snacks market is being driven by suburban soccer moms, wellness shoppers, and the Ozempic effect. So, what caused this drastic marketplace shift? In...

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 “categoric...

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 rebel...

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 CP...

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...

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 C...

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. ret...

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: Mr...

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 becom...

The tragic death of a Texas teen allegedly from an energy drink is heartbreaking (full stop). But when government officials (like Texas Attorney General) attempt to connect the dots between “bright packaging aesthetics” and energy drink brands deceptively marketing to minors…it ends up sounding downright silly. As a parent, I’m totally onboard with protecting children…but banning colorful cans won...

Target is secretly turning into a scaled-up Trader Joe’s, executing the largest transition of its grocery department layout in more than a decade. Almost half of its grocery assortment has been overhauled, not to mention a huge expansion of health and wellness items. Also, Target just slashed prices on over ten thousand everyday grocery items. Plus, they spent BIG on new high-tech mega-warehouses…...

Let’s just hope the MyProtein packaging I just saw was some mistake or they’ve got some explaining to do! THG (aka the company formerly known as The Hut Group) recently updated the public markets by releasing its H1 2026 results. I’ll be utilizing all available publicly disclosed information to obviously update you on the recent performance of THG Nutrition division, which includes the world's...

What if the most famous bodybuilding supplement in history was actually meant for your brain? For over 30 years, we’ve lived in a reality where creatine belongs exclusively to plastic shaker bottles, gym bro subculture, and building big muscles. But behind the scientific shadows, a parallel market universe has existed since the very beginning. In this episode, I'll dive deep into the collapsin...

How does a small, struggling hemp company pull off the "heist of the year" in the supplement industry? In this video, I'm breaking down the mind-blowing M&A transaction between cbdMD and the legendary legacy supplement brand Twinlab. Drowning in a staggering $148 million of debt, Twinlab was completely insolvent. But instead of entering a standard federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy, t...

I generally hate overreaching regulations that unfairly target consumer choice. As an example, if you’re spending your own money, you should have absolute freedom to choose what you eat (or drink). But here’s my semi-controversial take…when it’s the taxpayer's dime, the rules change. If you’re receiving federal nutrition assistance (like SNAP), it’s hardly “overreach” to require that funds be...

From an early bet on Liquid Death to co-owning JAMS, here is why Pat McAfee needs to go all-in on investing into CPG brands. I mean this in the most endearing way possible, but Pat McAfee looks like the type of dude that has “elite grocery store knowledge.” And this is why I think he really needs to stop dabbling and start investing extensively in food and beverage CPG brands. If you weren’t aware...

Today, we are pulling back the curtain on CPG venture capital with Nathan Cooper, Founder and Managing Partner at Barrel Ventures. As an early backer of category-defining brands like OLIPOP, Nate shares his unique "Rules" of CPG investing in an era defined by rapid disruption. We kick things off by exploring how macroeconomic shifts, from GLP-1 lifestyle changes to wearables feedback loo...