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 into favor even more than ever, as the world became engulfed in uncertainty and there was elevated risk was at every turn.

For those that trusted me by giving me some of your attention, I’m humbled and I don’t take that for granted, as I know it’s the most valuable thing you own. For those that took it a step further and not only consumed, but also implemented something from my content into your business that worked out positively, where can I send the invoice? Just kidding...but, thank you to those that have messaged me privately saying something from XYZ piece of content helped you in 2020.

For my clients, this was a wild ride that many of us will not forget anytime soon. You trusted me and I left it all out on the playing field for you this year. Finally, along with the performance recap of J. Schall Consulting and my personal brand, I also mention a few things I learned about myself over 2020. 

As for my 2021 goals...you'll have to watch sure to listen to next episode where I outline some of those and also walk you through how I've done my yearly goal setting for the last 12 years.

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;

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 personal details around him because my channel focused on business insights gained from storytelling...and IGNITE International Brands makes for a great story. 

I'll bring up key factors, including;

It’s fairly clear to see Ignite International Brands Ltd. is nearing breaking point without further radical change, but I don’t want this content to be seen as just another negative Dan Bilzerian piece because I honestly wish his company well and hope to see the right changes put in place to make the company successful.

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 are my prediction for Top 5 Sports Nutrition Industry Trends in 2021; 

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-time entrepreneur. Additionally, we talked about her 6 years at Perfect Snacks (Perfect Bar) and how public relations and communication strategy helped the functional food company get acquired by Mondelez International  in mid-2019. Many people have misconceptions about public relations or earned media and we breakdown some of the dated views. Finally, Jess shared some of her favorite public relations strategies and tactics for emerging CPG brands.

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 for Top 5 Functional Food and Beverage Product Trends in 2021;

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 to sleep friendly ice cream in 2018. While this shift to the ice cream category of CPG might seem easy on paper, it comes with massive challenges that include cold-chain distribution and expensive limited real estate in food retailers. That being said, Nightfood ice cream seeks to standout in the coolers from major competitors by focusing on functional elements targeted towards sleep and relaxation value propositions. Nightfood also has done a great job at building strategic partnerships with the American Pregnancy Association and Papa John's by leveraging the pickle flavored ice cream Pickles For Two. Finally, Sean and I discuss the sleep and relaxation functional food and beverage trend in greater depths and explain why its still in the early stages of a captivating secular growth story in the CPG industry.

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. Additionally, how CPG packaging has changed as its optimized for ecommerce, but also how the importance of that design hasn't diminished in the overall consumer journey. We leaned forward to talk about design trends in 2021 that place importance on authenticity and having a sound voice, tone, and message to your CPG brand. Finally, we talked about how Gen Z and younger Millennial consumers are considering themselves personal brands and what that means to consumer brands in the future.

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 brand winners of 2020.   

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 ground level in the sports nutrition industry at the same time and would frequently pair up during sampling demos at the same retail stores. Flash forward many years later and Ben Hartman has successfully built Morphogen Nutrition by bootstrapping it at every step of the way and never compromising on that vision of launching premium high-quality products that he knew consumers would appreciate at a price that was always fair. While many might have heard of Ben Hartman in the last 1-2 years and thought he was this overnight success, you'll hear him share stories about how building his business has been a slow process that has been rewarding past his wildest vision.