Time to Thank TikTok

A few weeks back I shared how it started with Jennifer Garner. Her Instagram post brought in millions of views and sold us out. We scrambled to catch up and swore we’d be ready next time.

Then SAS ASMR took a bite of a raw onion on YouTube. No brand deal. No outreach. Just curiosity and golden silence, like only she can deliver. Millions of views later, we were sold out again.

Just as we started to recover, along came Elongated Musk on TikTok, turning Nature’s Wild Berry into a six-part saga. Each video racked up hundreds of thousands of views and showed us exactly what Steve Babcock at Vayner saw in us back in 2017. Building the brand was never going to start in retail. It was an influencer play all day.

We weren’t influencers, though, so it took time to understand what he meant. This product is novel. Retail wasn’t ready for that but influencers could be paid in social credit just for teaching their audience something new. The value came in views and engagement, not just dollars. Elongated Musk made video after video without waiting for free product or back and forth emails. She saw that one 50-pack was enough to create a series her fans would love.

We understood the desire to give people what they want because we had loyal fans too. Ours weren’t just curious. Some were taking the berry daily before their meds to block bitterness. Some were parents using it to turn school lunches or home-cooked dinners into something their kids looked forward to. Some were using it to stick to their diet or run flavor-tripping events for their catering clients. And some were chemo patients using the berry to help with treatment side effects.

Both my parents had cancer 18months apart. I know what it’s like when life gets turned upside down. Something small can make a big difference. Yes, we were proud to be profitable but each sell out came at a cost. We had to crack the code on how to deliver. Experience taught us when it felt impossible, we had to find a way to make it undeniable. That meant expanding. And that’s where we’ll pick up next week.

Now for this week’s taste test.

I was at my local farmers market when I saw mulberries selling out. I had no idea how they’d taste on the berry but figured I wouldn’t be disappointed after my magic trick. The "before" bite was slightly tangy with a soft sweet finish. But after chewing Nature’s Wild Berry for 30 seconds, the next bite exploded. Like candy. Like Gushers from grade school. You’ve got to try it for yourself.

While we're talking about you, if you’ve got ideas for what I should taste next, drop them in the comments. These tests are a way to connect and grow together. The berry has been bringing people together for centuries. We’re just continuing that magic.

And as always, if you spot the hidden alphanumeric code in this post, you’ll get 20 percent off for the next 48 hours. Just my way of saying thanks for being part of this adventure.

— Hank