Within trendspotting content (when I first started YouTube in 2018), I mentioned how the growing energy drinks market (with all those jolts of stimulation) would eventually lead to a state of overstimulation where consumers would increasingly start shifting more attention towards relaxation. Admittedly, A LOT of my mindshare given to that hypothesis was likely directed towards leveraging a particular trending agricultural ingredient. And this is where synchronicity between Ben Witte (Founder/CEO of Recess) and I likely began. Yet, this phenomenon continued as we both saw the evolving marketplace in a manner that required brands to market the solution, not the ingredient. And I mention all that “separate but intertwined” backstory because our “great minds think alike” dynamic builds extensive layers of insights within our conversation about arguably the next big CPG space. Ben and I will cover how spotting that early marketplace insight helped inform key decisions at Recess that built powerful strategic optionality. We also dive deep into what’s driving the “better for you Relaxation” space and how Recess is intentionally building a broad-reaching platform business within that emerging category that’s inclusive of three distinct product lines, numerous formats, and only slightly nuanced value propositions. Additionally, we breakdown the strategic differences between what is needed to create a new category versus going into an existing category and trying to capture market share. As a special bonus, I got Ben to walk us through his “Recess Flywheel” strategy that has been creating more and more rapid retail growth. But these are just a few of the fascinating topics within our recent conversation…

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