When This Energy Drink Changed Its Packaging, Sales Skyrocketed to $40 Million. Here's Why It Worked.

How overmuch does your packaging matter?

Consider this: Hiball Energy utilized to beryllium sold successful solid bottles, and the institution grew slowly. Then it switched to aluminum cans and income exploded — reaching $40 cardinal successful yearly revenue, and past getting acquired by 1 of the world's largest intoxicant brands.

But earlier Hiball's squad could alteration its packaging, they first had to do thing moreover much important: They had to situation their astir basal assumptions astir their marque — and wantonness ideas they erstwhile thought were sacred.

That is the hardest activity of all. And if you tin do it, you're connected your measurement to growth.

Here's what happened.

Why Hiball was served successful glass

At first, it was a applicable decision: "We were trying to get connected cocktail menus," says Dan Craytor, who astatine the clip was Hiball's VP of business development.

The marque launched successful 2005, conscionable arsenic group were drinking a batch of Red Bull vodkas. Hiball laminitis Todd Berardi saw an opportunity to elevate that — creating a higher-quality power portion pinch nary sweetener aliases sweeteners, which group could operation pinch a assortment of alcohols. Mixers were often sold successful squat solid bottles, truthful Hiball did the same.

This turned retired to beryllium a bad strategy; it was conscionable excessively difficult to get stocked successful bars and restaurants. Hiball needed to pivot and started sampling successful independent market stores. That's erstwhile it began connecting pinch fitness-minded female consumers. "You'd perceive the aforesaid thing," Craytor says. "It was like, 'Wow, this is for illustration a Perrier pinch energy. This is amazing. I emotion sparkling water."

Hiball saw opportunity. It rolled retired different flavors and pursued retail.

By this time, market shelves were stocked pinch power drinks — and they were each successful gangly aluminum cans, for illustration Red Bull aliases Monster. Hiball wanted to beryllium seen arsenic different from those brands, and the solid helped them do it.

"We were like, we'll ne'er springiness up connected glass.," Craytor says. "Hiball is premium. It tastes better. People tin spot it, because the solid is clear. We were conscionable wholly wished to beryllium successful solid done the long of the company."

Why Hiball changed its mind

Hiball started to prime up steam. It was stocked successful Safeway, past Whole Foods, past Kroger.

But arsenic its distribution increased, truthful did its problems. People would sound complete displays of Hiball, and its solid bottles would detonate everywhere. Its solid supplier started raising prices. Shipping costs kept going up.

Hiball's founders still loved their solid bottles and thought it was halfway to the brand's identity. But arsenic a test, the founders started asking immoderate of their retailers: Hey, would you beryllium willing successful canned Hiball?

The consequence was quick: Yes!

"There was decidedly immoderate psyche searching," Craytor admits. "Like, we really had to beryllium location and go: What if? What if we were successful a can? Because we'd been truthful anti-can."

But the marketplace seemed to support cans. So they tried it, and...

What happened erstwhile they switched

"Sales went done the roof," Craytor says. Because arsenic it turns out, the solid vessel had been holding consumers back.

People subordinate power drinks pinch cans. It's a speedy signal, the measurement you expect sugary cereal to beryllium successful boxes. So erstwhile group saw Hiball's solid bottles, they often weren't judge what the portion was.

Once Hiball was successful a tin too, that disorder went distant — and the marketplace opened up.

Convenience stores were abruptly interested. They ne'er wanted to banal Hiball's solid bottles, but they were now inviting Hiball successful — which was a large woody because convenience is simply a immense income transmission for power drinks. "Then we conscionable sewage much marque beingness connected shelf," Craytor says. "So, deliberation of a cooler astatine Whole Foods. That's a batch of exposure."

By 2017, Hiball's income had deed $40 million. Then it was acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev.

The top instruction of all

When Craytor looks backmost connected this now, he sees the irony: He thought solid bottles made Hiball typical — but instead, solid bottles held the institution back.

It's a communal laminitis mistake, he said: When you person a imagination for your brand, it's difficult to mobility whether that imagination is correct.

So, what should founders do? His answer: Make judge you cognize what really matters.

"Every marque that's positioned for occurrence is going to person first principles," says Craytor, who coming is the main customer serviceman for RxSugar. "If you tin place what those first principles are, usage that arsenic your guiding light."

In Hiball's case, its first rule wasn't a solid bottle. It was to make a premium power portion pinch nary sweetener aliases sweeteners. The packaging conscionable needed to explicate the marque — and the founders needed to beryllium unfastened to immoderate solution worked.

"Know what you are, and what your differentiation is," he says. "Then you conscionable request to find a measurement to amplify."

To perceive much astir Hiball's story, listen to Dan Craytor's interview connected the Entrepreneur podcast Problem Solvers.