Dive into the captivating journey of John Roman, CEO of BattlBox, as he reveals the intricacies of creating an engaged community for a booming subscription box. Discover how passion combined with savvy marketing can lead to exclusive Netflix deals and audacious challenges. Learn firsthand why fostering an exclusive, tight-knit community can be the key differentiator for subscription box businesses.
Transcript from video:
Intro
0:00 you did a hundred thousand dollar tank challenge could you describe to everybody like what it was like how did
0:07 that idea even what it was how'd the idea spawn and what the experience was like we put you in a tank you aimed you
0:15 got out you fired it at a Target downrange and uh the goal was if you hit
0:20 the target we were gonna give you a hundred thousand dollars
0:25 three two one
0:33 foreign everybody I have John Roman with Battlbox here he's the CEO of Battlbox
0:41 which you know what's interesting is John was a CEO of Battlbox group that
0:46 consisted of Battlbox Carnivore Club and was it Wanlow win low and and which
0:52 was a 30 million dollar e-commerce subscription portfolio but it was acquired in
0:57 2021 but then like Arnold Schwarzenegger John's over here and he's like I'll be
1:03 back and John goes on to buy back battle box in April of 2023 wow that's pretty
1:11 that's pretty recent here took it private and he's now the CEO of BattlBrands which owns battle box Battlbox
1:18 has its own TV show I had a TV show on Netflix called Southern survival I believe it was 2020 that you guys had
1:24 that out and today he is our guest of honor so John thanks for the time man
1:30 thanks for being here yeah Josh thanks so much for having me I'm excited to uh to be on here yeah so so I have and I
1:38 told you this earlier but like I um I was introduced to you by Nathan with
1:43 pipsticks with Pipsticks if anyone hasn't listened to that episode it's a great episode with NASA with Nathan from
1:49 pipsticks go listen it's like episode 59. just don't quote me it's like 50 something uh go listen to it really
1:56 really good and so Nathan's like if you haven't had John you have to have John on and then we finally got you on I know
2:02 you're a really busy guy and so we got you on here and uh and then I started telling people in our community that we
2:09 were gonna I was gonna have you on I was very excited about it because I'm an outdoorsy guy I love survival stuff I love we're we're about to go on a
2:15 two-week trip out to uh out west here in a month and I started telling everyone and then everyone that I talked to was
2:21 like John BattleBots great guy John great guy John Gray guy and so now now
2:27 we're here and we're gonna see by the end of this I'll give you the I'll give you the the coffee stamp of approval man
2:32 yeah am I am I really a good guy or not phone everybody yeah this whole time
2:37 well so I want to know let's kind of I'd love to pull back to the beginning a little bit like the the original day
2:44 like so what kind of prompted you to start battle box and what kind of LED it
Why John Started BattlBox
2:50 to where it is today and I know there's a lot of things in that but what kind of started it like what was that first starting moment for you
2:56 sure so um so they were originally there were four of us that that were the original
3:03 Partners Founders co-founders um one of them uh Daniel business
3:08 partner that is no longer involved um in any capacity he uh was watching it's
3:14 kind of cool he was watching is at the time fiancee get a Birchbox
3:19 um every every month in the mail and he saw that you know that unboxing experience that genuine experience of
3:26 excitement and emotion as you're going through you know this Christmas every month experience and
3:35 he wanted it he wanted to meet clarify he wanted that feeling himself and also
3:41 an Outdoorsman and he went online couldn't find anything and
3:46 um was like okay well if I can't find one to buy maybe I should start one and
3:52 um that was that was really the moment that that this all came together and it came together quickly he um had a site
3:59 launched within a week um within a couple weeks but early February site launched um
4:06 I I bought into it uh to just to be originally in a very hands-off advisory
4:14 role um and uh it just it just quickly quickly
4:20 exponentially rocket shipped to the moon and um time was was needed and things changed
4:28 and it was as simple as that we were using at the time a platform called
4:33 crate Joy um which was like super super easy just to get started right like it
4:40 everything's there it gives you the template you could have um it can be a novice when it comes to
4:46 Ecom or website building or honestly business and uh you can be up and
4:53 running and have a site live in in a very short order so you know we we outgrew them a while back but they were
5:01 Paramount to us you know getting to Market immediately and so when was this
5:06 that that battlbox officially launched so we launched in February 2015. okay
5:12 2015 and then was there a moment that it just like like took off or was it just
5:18 gradual um it was it was it was quick so in uh
BattlBox Takes Off
5:25 in in the month of February we we ended up selling about 200 subscriptions
5:31 and um in 2015 in in February 2015 the first one so we were we were probably
5:38 launched for that month at about three weeks of the month uh you know Feb uh in
5:44 February and and we picked up 200 subscriptions um the First full month or month two
5:52 um we did a thousand new subscriptions whoa and then yeah and then the third
5:57 third month I think we popped 12 1200 additional
6:03 um so it was it was success fairly quickly
6:08 um you know not to discredit um any of it but it was a very good idea
6:15 a very strong brand but it was also uh you know timing's always part of it too
6:21 right so there was subscription box craze that's probably one of the you
6:26 can't time the market like everybody wanted a subscription box in in 2015.
6:31 and uh you take that you take a great idea great brand you take a a product that wasn't out there right which was
6:38 the reason it was created and then you take um being able to acquire customers for five
6:44 dollars a piece on Facebook wow five dollars what in the world yeah
6:50 that's fit for world yeah yeah that is true um so a lot of it is you know there's
6:56 you know you can argue do you create your own lock um there was definitely some some luck
7:01 luck in that it was definitely a perfectly timed execution wow so so you
7:08 started this in 2015 it sounds like it just started getting traction really really fast
7:14 um and just for everyone can you describe what battlbox is and what are the boxes that you offer sure so so
What Is BattlBox?
7:21 battle box is an adventure and outdoor outdoor brand um and it's at its core and um we're a
7:28 little bit non-traditional in the sense that um we we really lead with two
7:34 um important factors and all of our decisions all of our business decisions all decisions
7:40 um take these two things in new um account when making those decisions and and one is community
7:46 and the other one is content um which is a very non-traditional approach you'll notice that
7:54 um just when I describe battle box I didn't say we're a subscription box
8:00 90 of our revenue is from the subscription box we you you could classify us with certainty as a
8:06 subscription box we do not position ourselves um necessarily as a subscription box
8:12 we're we're a membership we're an experience um and and I think that's part of part
8:18 of the the secret sauce is that that we we we take Community
8:24 um very seriously and it's of the utmost importance and by Leading with that by putting out really cool content
8:32 um it helps just with with the brand with retention with experience it just
8:38 changes the dynamic and it it makes it very very very less transactional
8:44 you know that reminds me of uh I don't know if you've ever seen you've ever seen founder uh about McDonald's and Ray
8:51 Kroc but it kind of reminds me great movie yeah by the end you kind of it's kind of like the social network with
8:56 Mark Zuckerberg it's like you kind of get it but you also have this little part you're like I kind of don't like you a little bit it's kind of like
9:01 sleazy but I get it you know it's logical so one thing that um McDonald's
9:06 or Ray Kroc always said was he's like we're not in the burger business we're in the real estate business and that's
9:12 part of the play that they had when they franchise so you're like Hey we're on the subscription box business we're in the the community the content-driven
9:19 business the experience in that is obviously funded and it's all together
9:24 but you're positioning and messaging of that is is community and content I like that that's really good uh hopefully I
9:31 hopefully if there's ever a movie about me people don't view me that uneasy feeling you come back you buy it you
9:39 take it over like that was never I'm sure we'll get to that but that was never part of the plan yeah okay so so
9:47 why don't we talk about that because like you start in 2015 you got pretty good traction five dollar CPAs I mean I
9:53 think anyone here would just fall over in the seat if they were able to get that today um I don't even pay I pay more than that
9:58 for a lead so the fact that yeah don't don't get me wrong we can't we don't get that as a cap now yeah now I would
10:08 if that was possible um yeah so really the so we saw that
10:13 immediate success um we did have a little bit I would say it was bleeding edge on
10:20 thought process back in 2015 I would say it should be part of everyone's standard
10:25 go to market strategy in in 2023 but um we off the Jump in February we we had
10:34 2015 we we had 30 um YouTubers
10:39 um that that we had talk to identified had their mailing address and we started off the Jump
10:46 sending them boxes um you know I I think it works
10:52 um well for battlbox some Brands you know it might not maybe 100 YouTube off
10:58 the Jump isn't the right answer maybe it's a mix of reviewers and influencers
11:03 um but that's got to be part of your initial initial go to market strategy you have to get people talking about
11:09 about your brand in an organic genuine way like how important do you believe that
11:15 is because I will say most subscription boxes that we work with and that I know don't do that or they don't do it very
11:23 oh they don't do a much they don't prioritize it like how important is that skill 110. to me I'm I'm putting it up
11:29 there it's a nine really okay um yeah it's you you want you want the
11:35 buzz and if um you know you might not have when you launch
11:41 truly you know Define product Market fit yeah you're still probably trying to figure it out you might have to make
11:46 tweaks to your offering to make it work um you're gonna get that feedback right
11:51 you're gonna get and it's double feedback when when you're giving it to influencers and reviewers because one if
11:59 if you're building any sort of relationship with that individual they're gonna give you feedback but but
12:06 more importantly when they drop their content Their audience is going to give feedback too so you're getting it from
12:11 both sides and and and to me that's just very valuable and I think that should be valuable listening to customers and
12:19 potential customers is is kind of key to making sure your offering is what they
12:24 want I think I think Founders um and maybe maybe it's honestly
12:30 cyclical where sometimes they do sometimes they don't but I think Founders a lot of times have a very bad
12:37 habit of thinking that they know exactly what the consumer wants
12:43 um and that's a problem because you don't you can think you do but but the reality is the Line in the Sand is
12:50 constantly shifting based on a million variables outside of your control like
12:55 right now with the economic climate we're in you have you have to keep your ear on the ground you have to be
13:00 speaking to to customers and getting feedback um and and that accomplishes that I
13:07 think I I'm I'm all on board with that um I think that like you said as
13:12 Founders we we know everything about our product we we think one thing about it
13:17 but a lot of times what people say and truly believe it is different and then we try to live in this bubble of like perfect well why aren't we getting the
13:24 conversions that we want or why aren't we getting getting uh why aren't we getting the results we wanted the the reviews that we want and you didn't you
13:30 have to look at it like sometimes you just got an ugly baby and all you have to it's okay I don't know if you can do anything about ugly baby but sometimes
13:36 it's just ugly and you just you can't see it for what it is but other people outside are like dude your kid's not
13:42 that cute maybe like change his clothes or something you know and then you got to work a little bit maybe that's a bad
13:47 analogy no I I don't think it's a bad energy I think it's a great analogy
13:53 um so we so so to finish that the thought on that it was an interesting thing
13:58 um so in in month three month three we saw it a little bit a month too but then
14:04 we saw it a lot in month three um again a day to ourselves on 2015 we
14:10 had kind of cringy to say we had a uh pre-purchase survey
14:16 um you know arguably not great for for conversion rate optimization but you know we were naive in 2015 was a
14:22 different time and it was how did you hear about us right and had The Usual Suspects Facebook Twitter Instagram
14:30 Etc and um there was an other and you could click other and you could type something in and right away in the
Using Influencer Marketing To Spark Growth
14:38 second month we saw it but then we saw it like actually game momentum and be like like 20 of what people were filling
14:45 in and they were clicking either and they were writing current 1776 and we're like what is that we
14:54 don't know what this is and we um we end up doing a quick search we find
14:59 them on YouTube he's doing battle Box reviews oh okay perfect one of the 30
15:05 boxes we're sending out is working really well we look on our Google sheet
15:10 and um he's not in the list so we do some additional research find out his real name look him up
15:16 he's a paid customer in our top tier and he is driving
15:21 traffic and equally or more important conversions and um
15:27 we we reach out to him he is a full-time career long for two decades HVAC guy and
15:35 at night time he shoots some video content it's kind of his his passion right it's his hobby it's his it's his
15:40 unwind from from a hard day at work and uh we reach out to Brandon we're like hey ma'am keep doing what you're doing
15:48 you don't have to pay for the Box anymore we're just we're just gonna keep setting it to you please please don't stop and then a few months go by and
15:56 it's continuing we're getting we're putting up a 2 000 new sub
16:01 um month and he's easily responsible for a a few hundred and we're like wow
16:08 um yeah Brandon uh box is still free we're also going to give you 500 a month
16:15 um and you know make sure you post it on this day and this time and let us know if you have any problems with the
16:20 products and uh the next conversation was hey do you want to
16:28 um quit your career your job do this full time we're gonna take it it's not
16:33 just going to be a monthly review like we're gonna dive into content hard and
16:38 you know we'd love for you to be the face of our brand and lead the way do you want to move your uh wife and three
16:44 kids to Georgia and he he obviously consulted with his wife
16:49 but then came back and said yes and and that was that was a really Paramount point because it was a very it's there's
16:57 in no Playbook does it say hey if you have a really strong influencer creator
17:04 that is you know collabing with your brand to like flip the script and bring
17:09 them on board as the face of the brand that doesn't make any sense yeah especially back back in 2016.
17:16 so go ahead I was gonna say so so he's the big beard guy right yeah okay okay I
17:22 didn't know the name okay I didn't know the name I've Just Seen Him in all of your stuff okay he's a manly dude yeah
17:31 like like you see him in a video you you can't help but but like him like he's
17:36 such a likable God and genuine yeah I think I just watched the video of the the tank and he had uh like Captain
17:43 America stuff on or something like that which by the way we have to talk about that once we get through you're leaving
17:50 the company we're going to come back to that that's really cool uh yeah he was not happy about
17:55 um uh middle of Texas uh a couple weeks ago because it was hot was it uh was it
18:02 drive tanks was it domination oh it was Drive tanks okay gotcha yeah I'm familiar
18:07 um that's cool so and for anyone listening um we're just gonna sneak peek they did a hundred thousand dollars it
18:14 was it was a tank challenge where they had to shoot a Target is that it yeah for a hundred thousand if they hit it
18:19 yeah so we're gonna see we're gonna tease all of you let's come back and talk about that but let's keep on the story here so as you're you're you're
18:25 you're kind of getting into this things are taking off you bring this influencer in 2021 you decided to sell like that's
18:32 a huge that's a huge decision um I'd be scared to do it because I feel like I would just I would regret it I
18:39 don't know like what was that experience like for you and what prompted you to sell so so we um
18:47 so I'll I'll try to Breeze through the next couple of years to be cognizant of time so 2016 I stepped away I was
18:55 actually had a had a career in in Sales Management a B2B technology sales and I
19:02 would build sales teams not d2c marketing by any means but once we saw
19:08 the momentum of of the business and you know where we go into year two and our
19:13 our our projection our our run rate is we're gonna do we're gonna do eight figures if we if we stay on track
19:21 um so I I came in full time in in early 2016. one of my first things to do was there
19:28 were four of us um that were the four Partners one of the the partners wasn't bringing any
19:33 value or doing really anything um and I I won the uh the Short Straw
19:40 where I had to figure out how we were gonna structure some kind of buyout to to remove him so did that now there's
19:48 three of us myself Daniel who came up with the idea in Patrick um so the three of us fast forward bring
19:56 Brandon on full time Brandon parlay's um success of our content and the face
20:02 and it's the it's the reason we got the Netflix show and and fast forwarding wait to a point
Selling The Company
20:10 where where Daniel is ready to be done ready ready to you know
20:16 I at our age I don't know if I guess you technically could say retire he he's
20:22 just he's over it and and he's also not really putting in the same amount of effort that that maybe he did at one
20:30 point and we're we're just an interesting spot at that point um how do we do this do we do we buy him
20:37 out well that's not gonna really work because if we agreed internally that we wanted
20:43 at minimum 6X ebitda and that's tough pill to swallow for Patrick and myself
20:49 to justify paying that if if we don't have a a huge plan a double even if we
20:57 double in size we're likely looking at a three-year payback which is risky and how are we gonna get the money personal
21:03 guarantees like it's scary yeah and um the alternative was find find a buyer
21:11 that we would view as a partner that would allow us to continue to run the
21:16 ship that would um more more importantly just just be be
21:21 really a partner and and maybe bring some value to us and we don't want to be the smartest people in the room let's be
21:28 be surrounded by smarter people and that's what we started to look for and we we went down the whole Rabbit Hole of
21:34 we had some private Equity offers and they couldn't give us one of which was a
21:40 better deal but they couldn't give us the assurances that we were looking for um that our team was going to stay
21:46 intact that they weren't just going to treat us like a spreadsheet and uh we
21:51 ultimately found what we thought was going to be a great partner and emerge and um they were kind of
21:59 they said everything we we wanted to hear and I think at the time it was it was probably genuine they were they had
22:08 just gone public they were via SPAC and they were stacking up Ecom Brands
22:14 um that were direct to consumer in in in high growth
22:20 mode and they had this vision of all these synergies they could bring together and we were all being ran as
22:25 Independent Business units which checked a box for us we were still in in control of our destiny in theory
22:32 um so you sold and still worked at the company then correct okay gotcha okay okay so yeah so
22:38 so fast forward we sold and um Daniel was able to immediately day one uh
22:44 retire and be done um and Patrick and myself and um Patrick's our CEO and then uh Richard
22:52 Thomas our CFO he stayed on two the three of us stayed on and um Richard we
22:57 had brought on a few years prior in 2018 and he was also Paramount to our business we we needed a a a a a smart
23:06 person in that cfoc and we did we didn't we we just were in desperate need of it
23:12 for a bunch of reasons so yeah the three of us stayed on and you know I think in the in the deal it was 60 up front cash
23:20 which was great and the other 40 of the deal was tied to uh three-year earn out
23:26 so myself Patrick and Richard were we were going to be there be with Battlbox for for three years because of the uh
23:33 the the potential monetary uh reason to stick around
Buying the Company BACK?
23:39 and then in 20 so then just literally a few months ago
23:45 you bought it back yeah um it was never part of the plan
23:51 um okay no I want to kind of be a little a little careful here with with with my
23:56 words um I think it's public knowledge you you look at what happened in the stock
24:01 market from end of 2021 up up up through all of 2022
24:09 in the beginning of 2023. it's tough it's tough to probably traded companies
24:15 um more importantly you look at specs and to no fault of their own they could
24:21 have great you know business economics but you you look at the story of all specs
24:28 and they all lost 90 95 of their value on the market and there's just there's ramifications when when that happens
24:36 um and it created an opportunity um for us that was that was truly
24:42 mutually beneficial where we could Supply some cash
24:47 um that was that was you know needed cash is always needed for for businesses and and we were able to take our baby
24:54 back okay so um that's a I love hearing really
25:00 unique like yours is a really unique story because like the whole cell the stay the buyback That's Unique you hire
25:06 an influencer like who does that the timing of your of the start I mean
25:12 timing plays a role for sure but also there are others that started in 2015 that didn't make it so there there is
25:18 intelligence at the table and smart hard-working people don't want to Discount that
25:23 um yeah you look at some of the you know at times they were who we looked up to and wanted to
25:30 replicate the the Birch boxes of of the world and I mean Birchbox I guess is technically or still around and it's
25:37 maybe going to make a rebound but it's with its third owner right um it's it wasn't a a fun fun Journey we
25:44 watched them go from a billion dollar evaluation of bankruptcy wow so yeah so
25:50 we we've done some things right and I think it's it's honestly just being a little bit conservative with with our
25:55 growth small steady calculated just slow and steady up to the right as opposed to
26:03 rocket ship we had rocket ship in the beginning but um it's tough to manage yeah so
26:10 um I'd love to talk about um the Netflix experience so if you
Getting A Netflix Show
26:16 could just break down what led to it and what was the result of doing that sure so so what led to it um we had
26:24 gotten pinged in 2018 so so shortly after Brandon came on
26:31 we just really doubled down with content and all of a sudden we were doing product reviews and funny videos and and
26:38 you know we probably five back star content overnight with Brandon Brandon starting
26:44 in a full-time capacity so we um we had been reached out to uh someone had seen
26:50 the brand in videos seen the battle box videos uh Production Studio called High Noon entertainment
26:56 um feathers in their cap are uh Cake Boss and Fixer-Upper okay so two small
27:02 shows yeah two two small shows but but both shows um involved businesses which was which
27:09 was very interesting and appealing and we had we had seen what Fixer-Upper you
27:15 know they they shot up into they're in retail they're it's insane the growth
27:22 growth that they saw um and Cake Boss's relevance right there's a a I saw a vending machine last
27:30 time I was in Vegas where you could buy slices of of of cake that that his team
27:35 has made which is weird vending machine cake but I'm not yeah that's pretty interesting I'd be scared
27:43 um so so they reached out and and they said hey um we want to shoot a Sizzle reel
27:50 um with you guys and and we of course said what is a Sizzle reel um because we don't know Hollywood terms
27:57 and talk and I from from my understanding you you get a Sizzle reel and from that you shop that to get money
28:03 for a pilot you then shoot the pilot and then you get money for a full season and
28:09 that's typically the the the the way it goes and sometimes that pilot will actually air first
28:15 um before them before the the network pulling the trigger and giving money for the rest so
28:21 we we we we said okay we'll we'll shoot the sizzle reel and um it instantly went
28:28 to History Channel History Channel sat on it for six months with very little
28:35 um communication and then eventually after six seven months said hey appreciate it but no we don't want it we
28:41 don't want to shoot we don't want to pay for a pilot we don't we don't see see a reason to do this so you know at that at
28:48 this point it's probably a total of 10 months of the journey and we're just deflated it didn't work out like what a
28:55 shame and uh they're like no we're gonna pitch it a Discovery Channel okay so same thing Discovery Channel sat
29:04 on it for six months didn't tell us yes or no finally said no we're just gonna pass so we're like you
29:11 know getting close to a year and a half into it rejection rejection we're already kind of like tuning it out it's
29:18 not gonna happen and they're like we're um in in uh early 2019 they're like in
29:25 January they say hey we're gonna pitch it to um to non-standard uh companies we're gonna
29:33 pitch it to Walmart which had a streaming service I don't know if it's around anymore
29:39 um I can't even think of what what it was called but Walmart streaming service and we're gonna pitch it in Netflix and
29:46 um they they pitch it in Netflix first and Netflix says yes
29:52 um to clarify they they don't do pilots they don't pay for Pilots they said no
29:58 we'll we'll do a season and we want the right to Seven Seasons
30:03 and you know we'll we'll cut a check and we'll pay this much we'll pay the this
30:09 multi-millions of dollars towards budget and we'll do it right and we'll do the Netflix way but it's ours like we own it
30:16 it's it becomes a Netflix original series um so we're like sure and they send us a
30:24 uh 120 530 page agreement
30:30 um we look at it and it's it's in a foreign language and we're like wow so
30:35 like we can't even take this to the the normal lawyer we take stuff too so we have to find an entertainment lawyer
30:41 find an entertainment lawyer um spend hours and an embarrassing amount of money and we Redline it all
30:47 exactly how it needs to be we feel really good about this red line we send it back to Netflix after uh after you
30:55 know about a week and a half and um they reply back 10 minutes later and say
31:00 apologies if we didn't set clear expectations there's there's no
31:05 redlining this this is a Netflix agreement if you want it sign it
31:11 and um you know we we ended up signing it we made we made some changes in in tweaks
31:18 in kind of our view initially I was going to be a part of the show um I was not comfortable with with the
31:26 character that they that I was going to be because it's reality TV at the end of the day um but also with with the commitment
31:33 like it was very clear it's a one one-way agreement um and some of this stuff just didn't
31:39 feel that warm and fuzzy 24-hour notice to go anywhere domestically to promote
31:44 it um with no choice like it just it was it 100 wasn't for me but we saw the value
31:52 in it so we so we did it um fast forward filmed in 2019 came back
31:58 and and did uh some touch-ups in January of 2020 and then radio Silence from Netflix we
32:05 don't hear anything at all um we're trying to reach out because one we want to know when is this going to
32:10 drop is it gonna drop um do you have any guidance like what
32:16 kind of lift is this gonna give um they would provide zero guidance we
32:21 were just viewed as um as Talent uh which is a little disappointing but I get it but also disappointing because at
32:28 the end of the day we're a business first and the reality is there was no case study on
32:35 um a business having a a show drop in in the binge era where people watch entire
32:42 Seasons there was um there was Duck Dynasty which was a business and their duck calls blew up
32:50 and it became this Empire but it wasn't Apples to Apples because it was on
32:55 traditional TV where there was a new episode every week so the traffic and
33:00 the the the data from that is a little flawed and you can't really extrapolate easily because it was a very slow build
33:07 in their website traffic and success and conversion rate and and all the stuff that applies to Ecom so
33:15 we're just throwing Dart to the board and we hoped that we had that we put some new process in place so that we
33:20 didn't necessarily get um you know death by death by inventory and um
33:27 we we were ready we got word in April so we're midst of the pandemic now perfect
33:33 timing lockdown for April for a show um we had just gone through the uh the
33:40 Tiger King phenomenon so we're like oh this is this is perfect maybe this will
33:46 be the next then you know the next Tiger King which you know I don't know if you want that but you do when if you're
33:53 talking about getting eyeballs in traffic on the brand and um we premiered July 4th weekend 2020.
34:01 what did it look like um so leading up to that we were getting about 125 000 unique visitors a month on
34:09 our site um in the month of July we hit 1.2
34:15 million unique visitors wow did your website crash at all or anything like that no so saved it it
34:22 sustained it um so we use Shopify plus we we spoke to them and
34:29 um kind of told them hey this is coming on the pipeline we're we're concerned about about this and they um
34:38 assured us that we were in a cluster that was similar to the ones that um uh
34:46 like Kylie Jenner are in were because because that traffic is is normal
34:51 traffic for for some of those some of these big big Brands like like Kylie
34:56 Jenner's um I'm gonna lip not Lip lip gloss whatever whatever it is uh but so so we were fine we never
35:05 saw an issue with traffic um the traffic was interesting it obviously is very hard to track because it's it's
35:14 not like there's a UTM parameter um in the Netflix show in this
35:19 particular two years yeah we put our triple whale North beam or high Rose uh attribution UTM strip on all of these
35:27 with the links yeah so exactly it's a little bit tough because you saw you obviously saw a
35:34 increase in direct you saw a very large increase in in Google unfortunately
35:40 Google organic and Google paid because we were bidding on branded so of course
35:46 people don't understand that's an ad still and click that those whoever was managing your ads looked like a hero
35:52 that month I bet they're just guys were running like 82 row as this month like
35:58 I'm great yeah Unstoppable yeah um that entire year was was was
36:04 uh a fun year for for agencies because especially for us because you had that
36:10 pandemic so you couldn't you weren't losing anyway you were renting and putting up those numbers when it comes
36:15 to you know CPA or return on ads Ben but then we gave them in the midst of the
36:20 Ecom in the midst of the pandemic which was giving the Ecom boom we then threw a TV show in the mix so to your point like
36:29 I think um I could teach my chihuahua how to how to do do some ads yeah 2020 plus Netflix
36:37 yeah yeah that's great um yeah so they didn't all behave exactly the same way
36:43 um but but it did behave well so we we did it was very more one-time purchase
36:49 Centric but we did see we did see our subscriber base um double double win in the in the three
36:56 months following the uh the show drop and still to this day
37:02 um you look at our our post purchase survey of where did you first hear about us we still get
37:09 um On Any Given month today this year between 12 and 15 of of traffic of new new customer
37:16 signups say they first heard about us on the TV show so it's very long in the tooth when it comes to
37:23 um we're still we're still feeling it we're two years past that and you're still feeling that's pretty so that
37:28 that's a oh yeah 2020 not 2021. that's pretty
37:33 impressive that's that's neat so so 2020 had to have been a really good year for you guys
37:40 2020 wise and that was you know you can't um you can't time the market
37:46 um but but you know we were having the the internal figuring out Daniel wanted to retire
37:51 what do we do um we're coming off of the pandemic we were then had the Netflix show it was at
37:58 the end of it was right after that around November 2020 when we decided okay well
38:04 let's go through the process right let's let's see what what it looks like to sell this um and hopefully to a partner that makes
38:11 sense and and that's what and it was right then we we had um
38:16 I think we we had our first conversations with emerge in January 2021 and by by March we had an Loi
38:23 signed and it just took from March to October to close um we we weren't doing audited
38:29 financials we we thought we were doing and we were doing a great job with financials but at the end of the day
38:37 um the whole publicly traded company piece financials have to be very very
38:42 very specific in certain ways and um the audit that we did while it didn't
38:48 hurt us or or change anything the amount of time it took pushed the deal out as
38:54 long as it did so one thing I mean one one thing that I I just see I do see this trend and I
39:01 love that it comes back to those two things you said you you always look at and that's community and content and so
39:07 much of what we talked about has been around heavily on that like especially the content side of it so Netflix played
39:14 a role but then recently and I think you just wrapped this up in July right you did a hundred thousand dollar tank
100,000 Tank Challenge
39:19 challenge could you describe to everybody like what it was like how did that idea even what it was how'd the
39:26 idea spawn and what the experience was like yeah so so because I watched the video it's pretty cool yeah thank you
39:33 it's um so what it was is it was a Golden Ticket
39:39 um model Willy Wonka style where there were five golden tickets placed in
39:45 um the the July battle boxes that all that all went out so our boxes go out in
39:51 a set window each month it's a drop style surprise so everybody gets it around the same time and if you had a
39:58 golden ticket we flew to uh San Antonio Texas
40:04 um on a Wednesday that evening we had a reception that Thursday morning you went
40:09 on a bus with us drove two hours out into rural Texas to drive tanks and uh
40:15 we put you in a tank you aimed you got out you fired it at a Target downrange
40:21 and the the goal was if you hit the target we were going to give you a hundred thousand dollars
40:27 um unfortunately nobody won which is kind of disappointing um we we genuinely
40:33 we wanted them someone to win right that that checked so many boxes
40:38 um which in it also is though kind of like a next one we do like there just has to be
40:44 a winner like we can't yeah chance yeah that kind of puts you in a in an uncomfortable spot too because
40:51 like everyone's there you're like we want to do this but you guys aren't fluent in aiming and shooting tanks at
40:58 Targets so you all suck yeah it's rough but it was okay like we
41:05 got to we got to see the you know five battle box customers and you know so we
41:10 took um we had we had six sponsors for the event they were all brands that had
41:15 been featured in Battlbox previously so again it was It was kind of cool because
41:22 you were seeing the the full full ecosystem farm and table you were seeing
41:27 the vendors that make the products that go in the Box us and then the end the
41:32 end user the consumer and everybody interacting which was which was cool
41:37 um that part was was was really neat and
41:43 yeah so how it happened in January of this year we went to a uh a show and our
41:51 CFO went past this drive tanks had a booth at this show okay he grabbed the
41:56 pamphlet shot it over to me in slack and was oh was it was it the event in Vegas yeah
42:02 Shot Show Shot Show okay Shot Show yeah yeah I know a lot of people that went to that so yeah he sent it to me he's like
42:08 hey potential content idea and uh well there's a giant bee right in front of my
42:15 face right now um be very still I've been in this situation three times nothing
42:21 I didn't even know what to do um okay so he sent over don't show Fear
42:28 John they smell fear [Music] um but he was like uh maybe this is a
42:34 Content idea like we could shoot some tanks that'd be some cool content and um
42:40 around the same time he sent that we were hearing Rumblings of battle boxes hundredth boxes coming in July and our
42:48 customers in in our members only Facebook group are all speculating what's going to be in the box and it was
42:54 all unrealistic things things we'd love to put in the box but like if we put
42:59 these things in the Box we would lose money and go out of business like we can't we can't spend 500 on a box that
43:08 we're selling for for 170 it's just the the economics aren't there like even
43:14 if we could get that 500 item for 300 like we still can't put that item in a
43:20 170 box like we would lose too much money so we knew we want to do something special and just chatting through the
43:28 tank thing um next thing we knew what if what if we do a golden ticket and what if
43:35 um there's a Target and you know this probably would fall under um the equivalent of an insurance policy
43:43 like like a hole in one or half court shock when the car and uh yeah it
43:49 quickly just came together and uh it was cool my my favorite part was that
43:55 it's such a unique idea that everybody especially marketers were like
44:03 what a great sales tool you are just going to get all the customers from it
44:08 and the reality is we had been we had set this up it was it was happening we
44:13 didn't announce it until the day at the hours after on the day of our
44:20 customer renewal which meant only our active customers uh yeah
44:27 announcing could qualify if you had if you bought a box that day and sign up for a subscription
44:32 you you weren't going to qualify and we wanted we we were very strategic about
44:38 that because we wanted this to be a surprise and Delight we wanted this to be a of our attention to it we wanted
44:43 this to be a thank you to our customers and we didn't want it to be a sales tool
44:49 because if it was a sales tool um the message gets lost hmm
44:54 it's it's tough these these customers that have been with us for years they see it as a sales tool they
45:00 you know it's it's probably just not as exciting um still exciting so it was it was an
45:05 interesting move to do it as as not a sales tool
45:10 see that's uh the marketer in me is just like oh the amount of sales and new cuts
45:15 new cusses and uh renew people that would have re-upped for that would have
45:21 gone up but I I have a that's a respect like I have a matter of respect for that the fact that you didn't do it when you
45:28 knew I can pull this lever and we can make a lot more money but at the cost of
45:33 maybe lowering the perception of us and and why we're doing it with our existing
45:40 reliable loyal customers that takes a lot of uh guts like you had just a bag
45:46 of cash sitting on a table that you could have taken but you're like I'm not gonna take this I'm actually going to
45:51 kind of take this and give this to our people that that deserves a lot of admiration but the the reality is we're
45:59 and we're communicating this now like this event now you know I think we we literally dropped the video on Monday so
46:06 if this is super Super Fresh we're already communicating explaining like
46:12 yes that's the first one we did but there's more coming and there's more coming soon
46:17 um so now people are gonna see that they they missed it and if they want to
46:23 sign up now sure you know there's there's a strong possibility that we're
46:28 going to do something um bigger uh less game of chance more
46:34 ensuring somebody wins some money and uh you know it I think it'll be
46:39 it'll it'll serve its purpose the the customers I think were cognizant that we didn't make it a sales tool and I think
46:46 they can appreciate that um but I think it'll it'll end up serving as a post sales tool because
46:52 people will see wow this this membership this community is doing some really cool
46:57 stuff and I want to want to be a part of it which is which which was the goal so like speaking of community I know
47:05 that um what are some things that you do to just Foster even more Community like
47:10 what are ways you're really bringing people together I think this is something that um anyone listening should should really
47:16 pay attention because you guys have done a great job of this from me and I'm on the sidelines like I'm not in it and
47:22 there are probably so many things you're doing but Community I believe is so important and it's funny you say community and content because for us in
47:29 our business we have we so we say community content there's one other thing we add coaching in there because
47:34 in our business we coach business owners so so we're Community content coaching and so we have ways we do but like what
Gaining Community And Engagement As A Subscription Box Brand
47:40 are ways that you really get the engagement maintain it like what is that what does that look like to you when
47:46 you're building that and sustaining it sure so so something that we're just getting
47:52 into is is trying to be more cognizant of of in person
47:58 um so what we're doing is you know in SHOT show in January to
48:04 um to when we were in Texas a couple weeks ago we're we're having um events and I'll use the word event
48:10 very Loosely we know we're going to be in a city on this on this date so we're
48:16 gonna share with with our our community our email list our Facebook groups hey
48:22 this place this time if you're in the city come hang out with us we'll buy you
48:27 a beer we'll buy you a soda um and and that's where we're really trying to put effort
48:34 previously and I think where we shine the most is is on our our Facebook group
48:40 so when we launched in 2015 it was called battleboxforum.com and it was a
48:47 Reddit style bulletin board um it was very hard to manage and it
48:53 pained me but we we we converted it to a Facebook group
48:58 um just because it's a lot easier to manage can use some Automation in it and you
49:04 have to be an active subscriber to to be to be in that group and um
49:11 you you know not everybody joins it we through customer onboarding emails and
49:16 and texts and just app push automations like and YouTube videos we're educating
49:22 that the group exists but not everybody joins I think in the group right now we have around maybe
49:29 82 8300 active active subscribers in there so not not everybody's in there
49:35 but in that group um we're we're interacting daily
49:41 um there there's not a day that goes by where I don't I personally am not in where I'm not interacting with someone
49:48 in that group I would say on average in a week we probably have
49:53 six to eight team members battle box employees that are in the group conversing
49:59 um so you know random customer that just signed up post something in this group
50:06 you're having multiple battle box employees jump in um it's a little
50:13 so it's super cool it really like screams come in here it's definitely a double-edged sword because I get tagged
50:19 in a lot of stuff in my personal account that yeah that is not good right yeah you made a mistake whether we did or not
50:27 perceptions reality a customer is calling me out on on something so it's it's it is rough and you have to have a
50:34 a really thick shell to do it um but then we have a lot of like
50:39 regular cadences so Megan who uh she's our marketing coordinator once a week
50:46 every week she posts a members only giveaway where we're sending out some
50:51 actual gear some T-shirts maybe some swag something and and the ask to enter is is always
50:58 very you know low effort um drop a comment below about this or
51:04 you know send us a picture of the last time you used your battle box gear which obviously serves ugc purposes as well
51:11 but it's a it's a very easy ask and you know we're giving away and providing
51:17 additional value to to the customers and then I would say myself once or twice a
51:23 month Brandon once or twice a month Walter who leads marketing with us once or twice a month we're also jumping in
51:30 on our own accounts and saying uh I'd actually did it on on Tuesday I said hey
51:35 have some extra t-shirts um I forget what the ask was but it was drop a comment oh drop a comment below
51:43 of when you started when you joined Battlbox um and we had you know a few hundred
51:48 people come and pick six of them but like little things like that the the genuine interaction we um
51:55 you know we we procure a box each month with six to eight products in the Box
52:02 um we have and we communicate it very very frequently if you want if you don't like
52:09 the box or if you want a certain item or you think certain item should be in the box we have a Google form sheet
52:19 um where active customers can submit product ideas and when it makes it
52:24 through his procurement process if it ends up in the Box in our our monthly book that comes in the Box we call it
52:31 out this came from from from Charlie in in Sioux Falls
52:37 um so it really is you know this upcoming box I believe we have I think we have two possibly three
52:44 almost half of the box was the ideas came from our customers so it it it's
52:52 cool because it they can actually really see the impact they're making and that they are a part of it and it you know
52:59 it's not Ivory Tower decisions it's hey
53:04 we're not perfect we're humans just like you like if you if you have an idea for
53:09 a better item in the box like share with us so we all can have the item and it's just a very different
53:15 approach um that I think Brands kind of get away from but it also it plays into the the
53:20 the community piece yeah wow um would you like would you would you
53:26 recommend um because I'm gonna go talk to the subscription box people later today and tomorrow
53:32 um would you recommend doing that from the beginning if you like did you do that from day one have a private
53:38 Community Day one okay um and so we have you know through through this
53:45 eight-year journey of Battlbox we've stood up a couple other brands we've
53:51 acquired a few Brands we've sold some brands that we didn't buy back
53:56 um and we've also we've had brands that we started and sold and then we had brands that we
54:01 started that that failed we we had to shut down and it's because especially
54:08 with some of the brands we acquired trying to add this into the mix afterwards
54:14 it's tough it doesn't feel natural um I feel when you launch with it you
54:19 can still do it right but it's like um being able to start with it just truly
54:25 ensures Us in the DNA and when you try to add it after you know you're trying to clone at that
54:32 point and and separate DNA from RNA and it's like you know it's not doesn't
54:38 sound that easy I think you can execute it but it's probably you know 10x work to execute it how how it can be executed
54:46 if you were to just start it from inception you know I think the uh I'm sure
54:52 somebody listening is going to have the thought of like well but I'm only going to have at the beginning 22 people in
54:59 there or it's gonna be like 112 people in there and it's gonna be a small amount and there's like maybe this ego in the back of their mind that's like
55:05 telling them like oh that's too small that's not insignificant um what would you say to someone that's thinking that if you can have if you can
55:11 have 22 people that are genuinely fans of the brand and want to be a part of
55:16 the community they're the infrastructure right like they're they're gonna if you if you cultivate that relationship
55:23 correctly they're all gonna find five people each right and then they're gonna be pillars in the community of that that
55:30 are looked looked upon and they'll be your moderators when you need them and like like those are the seats like the
55:38 22 is perfect like I'd love to start with 22 because if all 22 are like
55:44 into the brand and want to be a part of this and help you build it like that's powerful
55:50 that's good I would uh I'll just briefly share our journey so we have a Facebook
55:56 group we have like I don't know like 42 4300 people in there now when we started it was slow and now it's it's just picks
56:02 up and uh you have those people that are the die hards that they will answer the questions and everybody's asking for you
56:08 and they will defend you so like if you I don't know if you guys ever use the everyone tag in your Facebook group but
56:15 if you use we use it once a week we're very we use it very rare we haven't used it before wear a window so we use a once
56:23 ours is a free group so we love you one for free so they're not if there was customers maybe it'll be a little different but they're not I'm like
56:28 you're here for free I go live so I'm gonna live stream in the studio later today you get a lot of free stuff I can tag you once a week so we'll do it and
56:34 we'll tag everyone when we drop the podcast so when this podcast releases everybody's gonna get tagged in the group and we say hey we take your your
56:41 stuff seriously we will only tag you on good stuff one time per week and uh you'll have something like occasionally
56:46 you'll have one or two people every week just comment like at everyone tag is the fastest way to uh
56:52 to make me leave a group and then you'll have like 15 other people hop in there and be like don't let the door hit you
56:59 on your way out or they'll hop in there like I'm so glad you tagged me or I wouldn't have seen that like you'll see people come and defend you they're the
57:04 die hards um so I those are your people yeah those are your people those are so
57:11 um last question here what is what are you focusing on next because I know you just well you've been in the business
What's Next For BattlBox?
57:17 the whole time but like what's the next big push you wrapped up this hundred thousand dollar tank challenge like
57:22 what's the next big push for battle box um so
57:28 ironically we had uh we had our quarterly board meeting yesterday um all day
57:34 um new first board meeting of this you know technically new entity
57:40 um and you know some of the people on the board you know we didn't know prior
57:46 um and we were we were chatting about it and for me what what's I there's a
57:53 couple easy answers um we're gonna you know try to get into retail um a lot of like
57:59 logical um next steps for growth but then I
58:04 think about um you know if we were going to be a a a a
58:11 trendsetter or Blazer like we have to look a little bit at things differently so right now and and I could talk to you
58:19 a year from now and and it might not be the right answer but but I I like it and
58:25 I want to try it is we're going to do another event as quickly as we can um and we're gonna we're gonna one-up
58:31 the tank thing we I don't know if it'll be as cool as the tank thing because that's like that's pretty sweet pretty
58:36 sweet right but like we're gonna do something that's going to involve more customers and we're going to give we're
58:43 going to ensure guarantee that money's being given away and um we're gonna also make sure we include
58:50 the the full Farm to Table where it's going to be our vendors sponsors us
58:56 customers we might try to figure out a way to bring maybe additional customers
59:01 that are necessary participating for the the whatever the contest is and and I
59:07 think that's that's that's the play like we are we ever going to get our our
59:13 Blended CPA um down to zero right are we ever going to not have to advertise no but if we
59:20 can really Time After Time double down and double it down again on content and
59:27 and really just put cool cool stuff out it's just gonna slowly over time bring
59:33 that Blended CPA down um it's funny you know when when I
59:39 started this journey in in the mid 20 teens we
59:44 were looking at and I even referenced it earlier today we were looking at the Birch boxes right like that's who we
59:51 want to emulate um and in other businesses right semi-com some just smart business people
59:58 some subscription and you know eight years ago that was what we were trying
1:00:04 to say how do we you know we like that they're doing this how do we take that at this point I'm watching Mr Beast
1:00:12 videos I'm watching content creators and
1:00:18 I'm trying for us at this point to emulate and do the cool things that we
1:00:23 like from each of them which which is wild to say um that a business is looking at at
1:00:30 creators in that in that lens but you look at what they're doing the the Creator Community
1:00:38 versus businesses yes we're a business yes we did a good job executing content
1:00:44 and community and and building it on top of a business right um but you look at them you look at the
1:00:51 I'll say his name again just because it's the best example any listener is going to know with Mr Beastie he built
1:00:57 this amazing content he figured out the algorithms and you know he has all this
1:01:03 ridiculous growth and then he got into businesses then he starts Mr Beast
1:01:09 Burger which didn't have a brick and mortar at first and they had just basically insured all these other brick
1:01:14 and mortars had these key ingredients and you can open up Uber Eats or
1:01:20 doordash and you can order a Mr Beast burger or he launched feastables and on
1:01:27 day of launch they're in every Walmart Nationwide like crazy it that's right
1:01:34 like you you tell me that I can get battlbox product in every Walmart Nation why like
1:01:41 that's a that's a game changer even if the margins aren't great like we could want to figure it out if cash flow
1:01:48 allowed but it's like a dream and he's launched both of those now and
1:01:54 there's some smaller versions um uh milk boys with their full send podcast where they've they have a
1:02:01 Seltzer line happy Dad that all of a sudden is getting in all these places all these content creators they built
1:02:07 the content they had the Fanatics right the people that are jumping in on posts you know protecting them and then they
1:02:16 drop the businesses and they were instantly successful so it's almost like a reverse engineered version of what we
1:02:24 did obviously they've all done it you know exponentially better than we did but it makes me think that that's the
1:02:30 play like I don't I don't know if our our next acquisition
1:02:35 will be will it will be a a brand or if we'll
1:02:42 um try to stand another brand up on on top of a Creator I think we're just
1:02:48 we're looking at this all in a much different lens now that it all started we were always focused on content but
1:02:55 you know the rise of short form video content I think really changed the
1:03:00 landscape um quickly so we're looking at everything in a in a
1:03:06 much different lens now and it aligns it aligns with everything that you guys believe community and then
1:03:12 heavy on the content um I want to close with five so five takeaways I have from this I'm gonna
Outro
1:03:18 read these off and I want you to add anything to these after five takeaways I have so anyone listening here's what
1:03:23 Josh Josh Coffee thinks uh number one leverage influencers and reviewers uh
1:03:28 number two content creates brand we just really dove into that with Mr Beast number three
1:03:34 um be intentional about your community they use a Facebook group consider what that looks like for you I think a
1:03:39 Facebook group is free and easy number four create a feedback loop with your customers you even have your customers
1:03:45 help select products and you give them props when they do and then number five uh get a Netflix show it helps
1:03:54 which number five was like some kind of knew how to replicate that one yeah yeah
1:03:59 just keep building the brand the content the community the brand man you keep doing that and you'll and I'll I'll also
1:04:05 give you one here's an idea um oh and then you would add to that anything you'd add to that no I think I
1:04:11 think you you nailed it and articulated it better than I could have [Music] um if you want an idea the next
1:04:18 challenge I would just have everyone go to drive tanks and then have 15 people put their hand on the tank and then the
1:04:24 last one to take their hand off is the one that gets the hundred thousand dollars see that's the Mr Beast way of doing it yeah like very simplistic like
1:04:31 we over engineered it people are going to be there they're gonna have fatigue 36 hours in and it's the most boring
1:04:38 thing to watch ever everyone just goes home yeah but they edit it and make it look make it look amazing and it gets
1:04:44 millions of views yeah well hey John thank you for being on here
1:04:49 um everybody on behalf of John Roman myself and Dylan counts our producer we
1:04:55 want to thank you for listening to the e-commerce alley podcast if you're not part of our free Facebook group go to alipodcast.com group join it it's free
1:05:02 it's awesome tons of great stuff and we'll see you in the next episode John's gonna be in there heck yeah all right
1:05:08 we'll see you in the next episode [Music]
1:05:14 um