Pip Murray: On Creating A Challenger Wellness Brand

Founded by 27-year-old British entrepreneur, Pippa Murray, in January 2015, Pip & Nut has been shaking up the nut butter category ever since.

Born out of Pip’s love for peanut butter, the concept was devised after she noticed that most supermarket brands were laden with either palm oil and sugar, while the healthy ones were just a little too healthy looking.

Taking matters into her own hands, Pip entered the concept for Pip & Nut into a competition; ‘Escape to the Shed’ run by Escape the City. After beating 3,000 other entrants, she left her day job at a museum, to spend the next three months living, working and launching her business from a shed in central London.

Using equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube, Pip secured £120K in just nine days. With an original target of £100K she gained 81 investors, giving away 19% equity in the company.

Pip Murray On Creating A Challenger Wellness Brand With Pip & Nut
Image: Pip & Nut

So Pip and Nut was launched; a healthy food brand making 100% natural nut butters that deliver a nutritionally uncompromising product.

Currently found in 473 Sainsbury’s stores across the UK, a contract worth £750K, Pip & Nut has a predicted annual turnover of 700K for 2015, with a forecast of £2.5m for 2016.

Recently launched in Ocado and Fortnum & Mason, the brand has quickly established itself as a key player within the nut butter category, winning The Grocer New Product Award, for its Coconut Almond Butter, as well as being crowned a winner of The Virgin StartUp Foodpreneur Retail Award.

But with so many variables and challenges associated with launching a new brand, it hasn’t been easy to develop such a strong identity.

From tiny budgets to lack of consumer insight, for new wellness brands like Pip & Nut, standing out from the mainstream competition can often feel like an impossible struggle.

However, Murray revealed; “There are a ton of advantages that you can leverage to ensure that your brand gets the momentum it needs, to ensure it gets heard above all the noise.”

Sitting down with Welltodo, Pippa Murray identifies the key strategies she feels all new wellness brands should implement in order to build a challenger brand.

Build distribution and retail presence

Having a clear idea about how you are going to get your product to market and the various channels that are open to you is absolutely key. Your distribution strategy should align with the types of consumer you are trying to reach.

For instance, at Pip & Nut we are building a brand-led premium product and therefore we were very lucky to secure Selfridges as our launch partner.

Not only were they very supportive in terms of working with a new brand but they also helped establish Pip & Nut as a premium brand on-shelf. Now, as we grow into a larger customer we maintain a strong relationship with them and continue to support them as much as possible since they played such a key role in getting us off the ground.

Secure new stockists

There are many ways to build your customer base, but the main principle is persistence. If you’re looking at reaching out to a big customer like a supermarket, having a direct contact in the company is great. However, if you don’t have the key buyers’ details then reaching out to your existing network, or doing a spot of digging on LinkedIn will normally do the trick.

Once you’re in the door you need to be able to concisely communicate what your product is, have a short punchy set of USPs and be able to explain why they, as the customer, would benefit from working with you.

As with any sales pitch, you’ve got to have a customer-focused approach and be confident in the way your brand will help drive sales.

Build partnerships with brands

As a new brand, budgets are tiny, so a key element of our marketing strategy is partnering with brands that have a similar set of values, as well as a complementary consumer base that we can leverage – it should always be mutually beneficial.

Interestingly, partnering with large brands doesn’t necessarily have to involve loads of capital. If you’re creative with your ideas and have a brand that is able to offer something that other brands don’t, you’ll be surprised how much you can achieve without it costing the earth.

Pip Murray On Creating A Challenger Wellness Brand With Pip & Nut
Image: Pip & Nut

Manage growth

Pip & Nut has grown really fast since we launched in January 2015 and with that comes its own set of challenges.

Scaling quickly means having to purchase more stock and grow the team before you’ve necessarily had the chance to see the benefit from the increase in sales (supermarkets can take up to 60-90 days to pay you).

One of the best ways to manage this is to ensure you’ve got good terms with your suppliers, who might be more sympathetic and allow you to pay them after you get paid. We’ve also had to do a couple of rounds of fundraising to finance part of this growth, as well as look for alternative forms of funding.

Implement efficient business practices

Being small means you can be nimble and move quicker than larger multinational corporations. Despite this, it’s important to start as you mean to go on. Think like a big company and build processes into your business that perhaps seem a little redundant when there are only two people in the company, but will benefit you as you grow.

Things like setting time aside to have formal catch-ups rather than chatting over a desk will allow you to think more strategically and prepare properly. Additionally, seeking out professional services right at the start of your business will put you in good stead. Get a great accountant and an excellent lawyer – this will only serve to benefit you in the long run.

Manage the highs and lows

Growing a business from the ground up takes a serious amount of tenacity.

There will be times that are incredibly stressful and things that make you feel totally out of your depth, but one thing I’ve found is that you grow with the company and develop skills faster than you would if you were in a regular job.

And, despite the fact there may be some days that are harder than others, when the good times are good, it’s absolutely great!

There’s nothing more satisfying than winning a new customer, getting an awesome piece of press or simply getting an email from somebody who loves your product. It’s an exciting journey and the best I’ve ever been on.