#76 - Newtopia Now Preview with New Hope Network

Episode Recap:

ReGen Brands Recap #76 - Newtopia Now Preview With New Hope Network - (RECAP LINK)

Episode Transcript:

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated with AI and is not 100% accurate.

Kyle Krull - 00:00:15
Welcome to The ReGen Brands Podcast. This is a place for consumers operators and investors to learn about the consumer brands, supporting regenerative agriculture, and how they're changing the world. This is your host, Kyle, joined by my Coves, AC, gonna take us into the episode.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:00:34
On this episode, we have Jessica Rubino and Douglas Brown from New Hope Network. Jessica serves as the vice president of content and Douglas serves as a senior retail reporter and analyst. New Hope Network's purpose is to cultivate a prosperous high integrity CPG and retail ecosystem that creates health, joy, and justice for all people while we're generating the planet. New Hope Network is at the forefront of the natural organic and conscious products industry with solutions for the complete supply chain, including manufacturers, retailers, distributors, service providers, ingredient suppliers, media, and investors. Newhub Network offers a robust portfolio of content, events, data research, and consultative services. And most of you are probably familiar with them for their seminal annual event natural products Expo West, which Kyle and I broke down in episode 66. In this episode, we are talking all things Newtopia Now, which is New Hope's newest event designed for buyers to discover their best selling conscious products through facilitated connections, deepened relationships, and actionable and inspiring content.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:01:23
The unique floor plan at Newtopia Now is built around 4 neighborhoods with one being REGENERATE, showcasing brands building more regenerative supply chains and overall business models. We get a special sneak peek preview into the event overall. Learn what retailers and regenerative brands can expect when attending Newtopia Now And I asked both Jessica and Douglas for their thoughts on the hottest topics in the world of regenerative CPG because I know y'all are tired of just hearing Kyle. I talk about them. Hopefully not, but it seemed cool to say. This was a super fun episode y'all, and I'm looking forward to seeing many of you at Newtopia Now in August. Let's go. What's up, everybody?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:02:08
Welcome back to another episode of The ReGen Brands Podcast. Very excited today to have our friends Jessica and Douglas from New Hope joining us. Welcome y'all.

Jessica Rubino - 00:02:27
Thank you. Thanks for having us.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:02:30
Yeah. Happy to have y'all here. We are here to talk about Newtopia Now, which I am very excited about, and we'll be in attendance at and speaking at, and super fired up to kind of see the inaugural version of but before we go there, you know, like I shared with you all kind of before the show, we probably have 2 paths into The ReGen Brands Podcast, the the kind of the CPG dominant path and the regen dominant path and everyone that comes from that CPG lane definitely knows who new hope is and and probably has heard about Newtopia Now, but maybe some of our regen friends are less familiar. So, Jessica, could you kind of give the audience a little bit of overview on who new hope is and what y'all do?

Jessica Rubino - 00:03:10
Yeah. Definitely. No. It's funny because we were just talking about this the other day that, like, not everyone knows who knew how is about everyone. Hey. Newsflash. There might be some people, so time is good to revisit. So, yeah, New Hope Network, we're probably most known for Natural Products Expo West, which is the largest trade show for the natural and organic product industry. And we do a range of other things. So we have publications, websites, We do research all for the natural and organic product industry across categories of food and beverage dietary supplements, clean beauty, and we're really the B2B company that makes those connections that will help brands and retailers in the industry thrive. So everything from events to media to research is really what we do all focused on B2B, CPG Industry things.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:04:12
Love it. I I'm so impressed that you just wrap that up in that concise of a of a nice little bow after the previous calls we've been on, Jessica, where you've kind of expanded it for me and listed it all out in detail.

Jessica Rubino - 00:04:24
I am too. That's like, that was my own personal challenge to conquer of, like, can I do that in 30 seconds? Alright.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:04:36
You're off to a hot start. Yeah, and we'd love the the audience to also know each of y'all personally. So if you could share kind of full name, title, scope slash role of of what y'all do, and maybe history with the organization. I think that'd be that'd be great as well.

Jessica Rubino - 00:04:50
Yeah. Doug, do you wanna start?

Douglas Brown - 00:04:53
Sure. I'm, Douglas Brown, a senior retail reporter at New Hope and also natural foods, merchandiser. And, I've been here for about a year, a little more than a year now, but prior to this, I was a reporter for a long time. I covered the White House for 6 years.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:05:10
Wow. I

Douglas Brown - 00:05:10
covered crime across the state of New Mexico, covered tech. I did a million different things, but I covered food and agriculture for the Denver Post for a decade. And then after all that, I ran a PR firm for a while back in the side of what you're gonna lose in now.

Jessica Rubino - 00:05:25
And that's amazing. He's been, such an amazing part of our team and has really contributed. He'll talk more about his work around region. Later on, but, yeah, so I'm Jessica Vito. I'm the vice president of content at New Hope. I have been at New Hope Network for 15 years. I celebrated my 15 year anniversary just recently and even more than that because I started an intern when I was in college at the University of Colorado. Yeah. I'm, like, the intern success story. And I love it. So I get to oversee content across all of our things.

Jessica Rubino - 00:05:57
So get to work with Jenna Fitch and our conference group on all things expo, Nootopia, NVJ summit, as well as all of our digital content and our MBJ brand. MBJ is focused on data for the nutrition industry. As well as all of our branded content and sponsored content. So all things content, and I just have the most wonderful team that work across all of our different products at New Hope and really connecting the industry through content data and insights.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:06:41
Yeah. 15 years.

Jessica Rubino - 00:06:42
Yeah. So

Anthony Corsaro - 00:06:43
yeah. Congratulations. That's that's to be celebrated. And you do have an amazing team. I've enjoyed working with all of them, and they're various capacities. And I love that you're you're mentioning Doug's kind of work on the regen beat so to speak. We'll definitely talk about some of those stories and and link them in the show notes. Fun question to round out the intros. You know, what's y'all's favorite thing about the natural products industry for each of you?

Douglas Brown - 00:07:06
I would say it's, dynamism I mean, when you go to Expo West, there, you know, it's an industry where, you know, you can't really just or dream up an idea, you know, working in your kitchen for tech or for a 1,000,000 other things. But a lot of the brands, it started in someone's They went to a farmers market. It picked up steam. And, you know, they they end up, you know, making a CPG. I think that's thrilling. That's why it's such a big, diverse industry. I mean, a lot of it begins in a kitchen and people that just love food, which I'm a huge lover of food myself. Was it for a long time?

Douglas Brown - 00:07:37
So, anyway, I just think that's super cool.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:07:48
Yeah. Love that.

Jessica Rubino - 00:07:49
Yeah. Doug's a really cool food. He, you know, I I don't even like the word foodie, but Doug, you are a food. I think it's annoying when people say foodie, but I love, like, Doug, like, always knows things. It gets way cooler than I am and those about all my things. Mine is the people. I mean, I think the people of I am convinced that this industry attracts the most incredible mission driven kind people in the world, and I think that probably underneath that is the purpose piece that brings all these people as just a magnet for all these people doing really powerful and impactful things in the world. So that's why I plan to always be in this dream. I've been with New Hope for so long is because of the people. How about you, Anthony? What's yours?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:08:41
I appreciate the prompt because I was gonna say it

Douglas Brown - 00:08:43
anyway, and now I

Anthony Corsaro - 00:08:44
feel like even more obliged. Mine's a a combination of both of those. You know, we've kinda labeled, I think, what you're both talking about in our work as entrepreneurial activism. And we really think that like regenerative brand founders and operators are the, you know, 1% of the 1% entrepreneurial in this space right now. And so it's a deep empathy and I want to support those folks that we've launched the podcast and now various other things. Some some becoming more public, very soon. So yeah, definitely a combination of both of those things and, you know, eating good healthy food all the time and supporting people trying to make those more available, across the country is always a nice little added bonus. Which is probably a good segue into talking about Nutopia because at the end of the day, I think that's what all the content and events ultimately kind of lead to.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:09:27
Right? When when we're talking about what new hope does. But, Jessica too.

Jessica Rubino - 00:09:39
I do have to say, Anthony, I do have to say before you go into that, take you all of my self control to not, like, ask you follow-up

Anthony Corsaro - 00:09:49
when when your role gets script and you become a podcast guest versus a podcast host. I feel I feel you. I this happens to me.

Jessica Rubino - 00:09:55
Oh, I know. I have to, like, clutch the seed and be like, no. No. Okay. Yes. Let's talk, Natosia.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:10:02
Yeah. Well, give give folks just to lay the land. You know, this is a new event. Obviously, it replaces expo east. You know, what's the background? What's the goals? You know, What what's the overview there?

Jessica Rubino - 00:10:14
Yeah. So really exciting things are in the works. First of all, we're really excited to have you in Denver in August, and just such a great place for the natural products community to convene. We already have such a flourishing, a you know, incredible group here in the Denver Boulder area with obviously naturally Boulder being the 1st of the naturally started in Boulder, new home network being in Boulder. So now we have this great event in Denver, and we many know, but if you don't, we sunsetted now products expo east last year. So 20 2023 was our last year of the east, and It really gave us the opportunity to totally reimagine what we do with our 2nd big trade show for the CPG industry. So enter Neutopia. Now it is a completely reimagined event for the CPG Industry. I would say at its core.

Jessica Rubino - 00:11:03
The number one thing we wanna do is be able to deepen relationships between buyers and brands as well as brands and investors and brands and others in the industry. Expo West is our big tent event. Everyone is there at such a beautiful vibrant gathering of the community. And we also know that people come out of it. Like, oh, I wanna I wanna better get to know that connection, or I didn't really get a chance to meet with that buyer from sprouts or whole foods or Thrive market. And so we wanted to create a space that was more curated, more focused networking opportunities, matchmaking, some of those things that are really complimentary to all of those big dynamic experiences that people have at Natural Products Expo West.

Jessica Rubino - 00:11:44
So by coming up with a new event, called Neutopia. Now we were able to do that along with just really fun experiential things. I mean, I think one of the most exciting things about events now is the opportunity to surprise and delight. And, you know, when I go to an event, I wanna be like, oh my god. Remember when that really interesting cool activation happened or I was able to connect with this person over some great food. So those types of experiences are really front and center at Newtopia Now as well. So Yeah.

Jessica Rubino - 00:12:27
We're really looking forward to it, and I love just being in the community talking with people about it and getting feedback. Feedback was really one of the most important to us as we listen to our buyers. What is it that they wanted when they were discovering companies and getting to know brands and how are brands feeling like they wanna to show up, even outside of their boots. So for companies that are exhibiting at the show, they don't find that, you know, it's not just about being there at your booth, but it's about telling your story and having a different activation, demoing your product, sampling, doing all these different things that allow you to deepen those relationships with with buyers. So lots of exciting things.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:13:17
Yeah. Love that. Great overview. The the word that stuck out to me was depth, you know, and deepening those relationships like you said a couple times. Which I think is sorely needed in all B2B type relationships, especially in the very digital universe we live in. We're kind of COVID through us into this. No in person interaction, but then the boomerang effect of that has been the expectations have been increased for those in person interactions. So it's also kinda interesting timing. Have you all formulated this. I'm gonna ask you a peek behind the curtain question, Jessica. I've just like, how long have y'all been developing this concept?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:13:43
Cause I'm assuming it was really exhilarating to, you know, replace XPEL East or something new, but also very scary. You know, so like how long has that timeline been and why has that process been

Jessica Rubino - 00:14:01
Yeah. Yeah. Terrifying is You know, it's been we definitely have been thinking for a while about how do we continue to evolve expo east and really just our you know, our shows in general, you probably saw there are also some exciting changes that we're making to expo west around show floor hours and different things. So you know, that's always top of mind. How do we listen to our community and make the necessary changes to have it be as good of an experience as possible? On-site and beyond. So that's an ongoing process. The work there is never done for spo east specifically.

Jessica Rubino - 00:14:36
Last year, we really wanted to try some new things at expo east in Philadelphia to test them out and see what would be sticky with the community. And we were working on that for several months in advance of East. And then really we're like, in the throes of launching this new event. So it all did happen pretty quickly. And, you know, we were able to, introduce the new concept at east last year, but between east and west was when we were really able to refine and get into the nitty gritty of it and are still doing that work. The beautiful thing about that is we've been able to as we roll out different concepts and ideas, get feedback, and continue to make the necessary adjustments to have this really successful launch in August.

Jessica Rubino - 00:15:17
So, yeah, it's hard. I mean, it's a big challenge to to launch a new event of this size but we're really grateful that we have so many great partners to help us do it and the early adopters whether they be the brands, the reach tailors or the other members of the community like yourself who are on board and helping us spread the word and make sure it's super successful. So

Douglas Brown - 00:15:53
Yeah.

Jessica Rubino - 00:15:54
It's fun.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:15:54
Love that. And and good on you for taking on that challenge. And look, everything's not gonna go right. The 1st year, we all know that. But it's all about, you know, putting that best foot forward, doing as much as you can to prep, and then just learning and iterating from there. And I think the community supports that is a community that understands that very well conceptually. Douglas, what's the process been like for you to be involved in all that? And maybe what are you most excited about for in Newtopia?

Douglas Brown - 00:16:18
Well, I'm, I'm very excited for the REGENERATE neighborhood for sure at Nutopia. But I I'm I'm excited for this notion of bringing the buyers and the and the and the brands closer together, we do that, of course, at expo west. But this is really joined out in focusing on that. And I I think I've been interviewing people quite a bit, and they seem very excited about this that were being really intentional with thetopia about bringing them together. So I'm pretty excited about that. The REGENERATE neighborhood I I think the whole movement is just kinda thrilling. And I love that we have a whole neighborhood here devoted to this. Really, it's still pretty novel movement.

Douglas Brown - 00:16:53
It's not like

Anthony Corsaro - 00:17:00
Yeah.

Douglas Brown - 00:17:00
You know, again, it's gigantic or it's not like, I don't know. It's it's still kind of is infancy, but here, we're developing a whole neighborhood to it, and I think it's pretty cool. And we have some cool events with chefs and farmers and brands. There's all kinds of things going on that are gonna be really exciting. So I'm excited about that.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:17:18
Yeah. And we were definitely excited to see it. It chosen as one of the 4 neighborhoods. That was definitely exciting to us. And I think, you know, good good timing and and made sense for where the industry's at with this novel and nascent concept, like you said, Douglas, but very complex concept as well. So maybe Jessica give us an overview on kind of the neighborhood concept and how that's come together, why REGENERATE was selected as 1 and and kind of what's this whole neighborhood concept about?

Jessica Rubino - 00:17:47
Yeah. So one of the things that makes Newtopia Now unique, there are some I'll share a bit more detail, but one of them is the neighborhood concept. So what we wanted to do was create an environment on show floor that was really interactive that married boots with experiences and content. And we thought the best way to do that would be around the neighborhoods as opposed to the more traditional category based pavilion style that people are used to. So in doing that, we were able to say, what are the areas of interest that are uniting people in the natural products and CPG community and identify those that we thought were most important right now and most influential. So we have 4. The first one is in no particular order. Let

Anthony Corsaro - 00:18:36
me say in

Jessica Rubino - 00:18:37
no particular order. Thry Thryv. Is our neighborhood that's dedicated to innovations in human health. So you'll find food and bridge dietary supplements, kind of all categories represented there, but they're doing really interesting things around health innovation. Then we have REGENERATE, which is all about regenerative business. So companies that are having a measurable positive impact on environment that are really looking at, you know, how they can do good in the world from an environmental standpoint as well as just regenerative business models. So new ways of doing business and looking at impact. Glow is our neighborhood that's dedicated to the future of wellness and clean beauty. We're really excited to have that represented and represent is a really important neighborhood that's all about a celebration of multicultural products and diverse founders and really incredible companies showing up there as well.

Jessica Rubino - 00:19:24
So that's the way that people will experience the show floor at self, we also understand that it's really important for buyers to have a more intuitive way to find products. So buyers will be able to do that through what we're calling the market. The market is off the show floor. We're hoping it's kind of the point of entry into the Newtopia Now experience, and it's an actual environment that's set up like a marketplace. And so every company that's exhibiting on the show floor also has a product in the market and buyers can go in there, scan the product, see where those companies are on the show floor, and then go on to the show floor. Where within those neighborhoods, they'll find booths, but also a stage that has content you'll be on the stage.

Douglas Brown - 00:20:24
Yeah.

Jessica Rubino - 00:20:25
And, there's leading within the industry. We'll be featured there right there on the show floor. And then also experiences, we have a kitchen, we have a salon, all these really cool dynamic spaces on the show So that is the neighborhood and then some.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:20:41
That's amazing. I'm ready to go. Can we go tomorrow? Like, you know, it's Right? It's the start of June. I can't wait till end of August for this.

Douglas Brown - 00:20:48
Yes. Finally gonna be 85 and sunny tomorrow in Denver after a huge hailstorm last night. So, yeah, let's do it tomorrow. There you go.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:20:57
Well, that's that's amazing. There's a lot of places we can go. There there a lot that y'all are working on. I can only imagine the operational complexity of handling all that having been in the events business myself at one point. So I definitely I definitely empathize, but I also think it's it's a really important and fun undertaking because, you know, it sounds like it's gonna be a very new dynamic kind of event setting. For brands specifically, you know, what should they expect that's different or unique about this experience versus other trade show event types experiences.

Jessica Rubino - 00:21:31
Yeah. There's a few things. And also thanks for recognizing, yes, it is very complex. There are lots of moving pieces. Yeah. And so many different aspects but I appreciate the the empathy for sure because it's a lot. But, yeah, there's a lot of really, different ways that brands or different things that brands can expect. I would say one is, like, very operational, and that's that a booth comes with buying a booth comes with the boot package, the furniture package. So it's not something that, like, I mean, I'm a content person. So I'm not like, oh, wow. Like, boot furniture.

Jessica Rubino - 00:22:03
But when you really think about it, I mean, that's a big deal, and that kind of speaks to this bigger vision for it, which is that a company, we wanna make it really easy for them to actually zippets that they can get there and put that energy into building those relationships and building those connections. So the other big difference is that we've crafted most of our packages in a way where a company is buying a booth, but also participating in some sort of activation. So that activation may be something called the stoop talk where they're having an view with a host in front of buyers to talk about what's behind their company and behind their brand, or it may be a really cool cooking demo opportunity in our kitchen space or it may be a demo of their beauty products in our salon. So every company is expected to show up and not just be, you know, staffing their booth, but really be telling the story of their product and connecting in that different type of way with buyers, investors, others. So that's why we crafted everything in the way that we did. We also really wanna it to just overall be really accessible.

Jessica Rubino - 00:23:14
Our buyers are excited, very excited to connect with a lot of emerging brands. They're also looking forward to, you know, being able to have more time with some of their more established partners. So I would say the expectation is a little bit different for this trade show. We want everyone to come and not be sort of anonymous but to really show up and show up in a way that feels, very intentional. So I think that's kind of a big difference. And then of course, as I mentioned before, brands can expect to also have their product in the market and then also participate in matchmaking.

Jessica Rubino - 00:23:53
I didn't talk that much about that, but everyone who attends the event, our buyers are participating in a a type of making, whether it be our digital matchmaking program or concierge matchmaking program. And so brands can really expect to be having a lot of those one on one meetings through our matchmaking. One more thing. So I'm not doing so good with the concise answer that through my

4 - 00:24:27
You've got a lot to cover.

Douglas Brown - 00:24:29
I think

Jessica Rubino - 00:24:29
you're 1st ones. Great. Honestly, I understand. I hope you enjoyed that 30 sec I hope you enjoyed that 30 second response from,

Douglas Brown - 00:24:40
so final

Jessica Rubino - 00:24:40
thing is just the curation of the networking experiences. So in addition to matchmaking, we have a lot of really focused networking opportunities We have diner rounds. Each neighborhood has its own diner round where we bought out really cool restaurants throughout Denver, and those will be us curating the invite list. So being like, this retailer and this investor should really meet these brands Wow. And getting people together in that way. Yeah. So lots of things like that. So I think that big picture, it's like brands can expect to have a lot of the right meetings at the right times and some of those really important conversations and, you know, you had mentioned the importance of and we're both we've both been talking about that, deep in relationships.

Jessica Rubino - 00:25:13
And I think just partnerships overall, like, we want this to set the stage for the types of partnerships that can advance the mission of regenerative, advance the mission of human health initiatives. And so, this this environment is kind of the perfect place to set the table for and set the stage for all of that.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:25:56
Yeah. I appreciated the length of that response and the depth and the nuance because it it was needed and to me, like, the theme that's coming out of that, that I'm hearing Jessica is, like, bringing the experience back into these products into this category, like, making it very experiential, which I think if you look at the history of natural and organic products, you know, it started off as super experiential kind of a niche thing and it's gotten more commoditized over time, which is great because you know, it's become more accessible and it's become more scaled. But we've seen some of those retailers get less, creative with their merchandising. We've seen a lot more products of the same type, you know, proliferate in the marketplace. So how do we kind of bring some more of that uniqueness that that experience into the into the experience, for lack of a better way to say it. And, we talk about this a lot with the regenerative brands that are on this podcast. Most of them are, you know, merchandising center store, which you feel you are limited in how you can express your product and its attributes in center store sometimes versus fresh.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:26:46
And I actually think that's a limiting belief that we don't have to accept And so trying to bring that kind of energy into this assortment, I think, is really, really cool. And that's how we're gonna get people to discover these products, try these products, fall in love with these products. So I just love that that kind of ethos underpins all of that that you just mentioned.

Jessica Rubino - 00:27:14
That's such a great takeaway. Thank you, Anthony, for, kind of extracting that from all all the words that I put out, to this because it's so spot on it. It's actually come up a lot. Like, I had a cumbersome with Angela Bozzo from Infra who's been a really great partner for this, and she'll be doing a session on innovation and merchandising. And but one of the things that she and I were talking about is, like, just that, that even how we are talking about this event, it's kind of like merch dising people and experiences and products and ideas and getting all the right people together and infusing some of that energy. And excitement back into the industry and the things that really built this natural and organic product industry of, like, being super innovative, creative, resourceful, and, you know, challenging the status quo. So I think a lot of those core values that the the industry is built on are coming back through Newtopia Now and a lot of the other work happening throughout the CPG space right now. So Yeah. Thank you for that.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:28:24
Yeah. I love that. Douglas, you mentioned very excited about the REGENERATE neighborhood. You mentioned some specific things, but wanna give you a a moment to maybe elaborate on some things we haven't covered or other things that you're really excited about when it comes to REGENERATE.

Douglas Brown - 00:28:38
Yeah. Sure. We have, you know, let's see. There's the, one, event that's gonna be quite quite a bit of fun is we've got We've got chef Eric Skokin. He's a chef and farmer. He he runs a black cat organic farm. Yeah. It's the biggest, biggest farm table operation in the United States just want the Michelin Green Star, which is a in a way, it's hard to get Michelin star to begin with. And this one goes beyond Its restaurants that are sort of, you know, really committed to sustainability. He'll be on state.

Douglas Brown - 00:29:01
So he's been doing this for 15 years, and he's been doing regenerative farming with incorporating live stock, and he's also USDA organic. So we're gonna have him on stage with Kelly Whittaker, another He's a well known chef in Colorado. He also won, I think, actually, 2 Michelin Green Stars last year. And both Eric and Kelly were very involved in launching with called the Colorado Grain Chain Chain.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:29:33
Yeah.

Douglas Brown - 00:29:33
And that's and that's really leading, you know, sort of finding markets for local, you know, at least Colorado mostly well, green farmers. And so Kelly has a bakery in a bunch of restaurants, and he, you know, he turns to local regen farmers to get a lot of his his, his wheat and other grains. And same with Eric. And then on the same panel, well, those 2 also, in addition, they're both like, both are well known for their, like, very teen palettes. So they're gonna also talk about, you know, Era I've known Eric for my god for I used to write about him before I before I, was with Dan proposed. He, he's he he farms for flavor. So to him, you know, he loves.

Douglas Brown - 00:30:12
He's very committed to the environment and everything else, but if it didn't taste good, like, if it didn't taste better, probably, he wouldn't do it. But both Kelly and Eric will talk about in addition to the finding markets for Regent Farms, they'll they'll talk about it. It just tastes better. You know, it's just better. It's better. Texture, better flavor, the rest of it. And then we'll get, Claudia Buvier.

Douglas Brown - 00:30:31
She's the co founder of Pastaficchio, which is a a Colorado, or actually based in Boulder, a pasta company. And Claudia also is part of Colorado Green Chain And so a lot of her products, it's all heirloom grains in her products, but a lot of her products, she gets her grains locally. And so as as much as she can. And she's now now pastaficchio is nationwide. So she'll cover the CPG angle. And in the end, it'll be, like, the group of people talking about, you know, support to support regenerative farmers.

Douglas Brown - 00:31:05
You know, it's not like it's it's relatively easy to support soybean or corn farmer and that conventional in Iowa because there there's markets there. There's a million markets there. But to support, you know, a small region, he he, you know, she needs the restaurants. She needs the CPG. She needs the farmer's market. She needs all of it.

Douglas Brown - 00:31:21
And so I think it's gonna be a fun panel where you have these these these three people that they're talking about, how they have really, you know, leveraged and and worked with local regen movement to create their businesses. And I I think that's really cool.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:31:45
Just for the listeners, I promise I did not prep or prompt Doug to give the regen brands manifesto on how we need to create better markets for regenerative agriculture, but he just did. Unprofits. So thank you, Doug. I appreciate that. And that's that's what we're all about. You know, I know like Moxie Bread and Madag and some other folks are also involved in the Colorado Grain Chain. So I think that's a great group you know, I've I've kinda co conspirators to get involved.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:32:04
And it actually reprompted something I wanted to say earlier too of, like, you know, I can speak for myself where I feel as though the Denver Boulder OG Natural Community has adopted me, you know, in my efforts and and people kinda brought into this. And so I think it's just really cool that the events happening there because I certainly, you know, in in tech and Silicon Valley, they talk about the PayPal mafia that has gone on, like, from PayPal to start all these other companies that are unicorns and all this stuff. And I see the o the OG Boulder Denver crew is is a similar kind of things in natural foods and there's so many people I could list off that have been so formative and helpful, you know, to me personally and to to many others. And so I love that that you know, that connection just spark that thought in my head again. It's just the perfect place for for this event, for sure.

Jessica Rubino - 00:32:52
We think so. No. And I, I know you have some deep roots here, Anthony, and I think, yeah, what Doug outlined, like, bringing some key members of the community and then of course bringing as in the the local community and and being able to the gap between the culinary world and the CPG community and the agriculture world. So that's a really exciting aspect of generate. And then I'm also really excited to bring the voices of key retailers to the stage. That's something that we wanted to do a lot more of that Newtopia Now. So we're doing that through something we call our buyer side chats. We've done some of these virtually. They've been so success full, but, of course, brands and really anyone doing business in CPG wants to hear from retailers.

Jessica Rubino - 00:33:34
What are they looking for? How do they make decisions? How are they merchandising? How are they educating their customers? And so in the REGENERATE neighborhood, we're really excited to have the sprouts forage or team there. They're gonna be on the stage talking about what they look for and specifically some of their work in the regenerative space. And then throughout other neighborhoods.

Jessica Rubino - 00:33:54
We have Thrive Market, Whole Foods, a range of really awesome retailers that are doing great work because I think it's so important for us to all. You talked about empathizing with the kind of event operations experience, but just that idea of empathy is so important in the CPG space. Like, brands have to be listening to retailers, not just trying to get their products into those retail environments and vice versa. And, of course, when you introduce the agriculture piece into all of this. Like, we need to better understand each other the needs, the challenges, the opportunities, in order to effectively partner and advance our collective mission. So, fireside chats, I think, are one really unique way to do that in a really important part of the regenerative conversation too.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:34:51
Yeah. I love that. And that's that's becoming a recurring theme on the podcast as well as, like, we think we have a lot of momentum in region on in terms of the farmers actually and the brands and and kind of this claims universe that's developing. So we're getting a proliferation of products with, you know, 3rd party validation claims to some degree, but there's kind of this conversation that still hasn't happened with distributors and retailers. Where there might be a way we need to commercialize these differently, or there might be a way we need to collaborate in how they're commercialized differently. And so establishing more of that 2 way communication. And also kind of open kimono 2 way communication where it's like, hey, we're making these decisions because of this reason. Okay. On this side, we're making these decisions based on this reason. How can we do it differently? How can we do it better?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:35:30
You know, I think that's that's key and for regenerative, you know, marketing claims specifically. I know I'm very excited about our session not to plug it too hard, but it's really about not just regenerative, but also organic and some other you know, eco claims overall, how do we give retailers more programmatic tools to go educate consumers and drive purchase with these claims? Because in in regen specifically, we've reached phase 1 where we've gotten to critical mass in terms of the products that are being commercialized but we are kind of now just getting into the frontier of, okay. How do we actually translate all that work into more commercial value in a programmatic way where that entire engine is is humming together? So I'm really excited about all conversations and connections around that topic.

Jessica Rubino - 00:36:18
Yeah. Well, you're the best possible person to lead that to lead that discussion, and I think we should be, you know, tuning your horn for that session. So I think it's going to be one of the most powerful. I mean, we talk to retailers all the time who were asking those questions. I'm like, how do we do this? Like, how do we educate our customers. We care about this, and our brand partners care about this, but what does it look like in the aisle? And so to really start building that understanding and and recognize, like, the work is not done when the product makes it onto the store shelf.

Jessica Rubino - 00:36:45
Like, that's what it's just getting started. And so for for retailers to really dig in and see some case studies understand some examples of how it can come to life in their stores. That's so important. And there's no single right way to do it, but we need to start developing some industry wide standards how we educate and how we talk about these issues, in the store. So, yeah, I'm I'm really excited for you to be driving that

Anthony Corsaro - 00:37:24
Yeah. Thank you. For sure.

Douglas Brown - 00:37:25
Yeah. And I along those lines, I interviewed PCC markets, you know, in the past couple of weeks, and they they were they're they are very they're very methodical about how they're gonna go about sort of, 1st of all, setting regenerative standards. And then how how to market and message it. So they had a convening, I think, in February where they invited a lot of people to Seattle to sort of have a big discussion. And they told me it's gonna take that. They won't be done with this until I think in the fall. They'll finally sort of say, Look, there's a lot of different certifications out there. There's brands that have those certifications and use their word regenerative.

Douglas Brown - 00:37:53
We, as a store, want to figure out, a, what are our standards? What what to us means regenerative? What are the different things that fit into the regen puzzle? And then in addition, on top of that, okay, we we now we get that, How are we gonna, you know, educate consumers about what this means and why it matters?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:38:17
Yeah. It's it's certainly a wild lens escape at the moment. And, you know, I think it's exactly where it needs to be as frustrating as that can appear at times or feel at times, but it is rather early innings in this whole thing. And what I think we all are trying to avoid is it going the way of sustainable. Or all natural where it kinda just becomes like a boilerplate thing that doesn't mean a ton because that term clearly has all of this potential that so radically different. But I think when you think about in trade, we all understand that. We love that nuance. We love that complexity.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:38:47
But if you look at historical claims in CPG, they need to be simple and binary and really easy to communicate to consumers. And so what's that through line that we're gonna create, you know, to actually translate it? I'm curious kind of just y'all y'all are covering things. So you're not like me where it's all regen all the time. It's just one of the many things that are are top of mind for y'all. But what are you seeing in terms of regenerative claims and those sourcing commitments? And, like, how do you think that's gonna continue to develop in the landscape?

Douglas Brown - 00:39:22
You know, it's that's that's a wish I had it.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:39:24
It's a hard ask question, Doug.

Douglas Brown - 00:39:25
That's that's a hard ask question. I wish I had a a hard ask question, Doug.

Jessica Rubino - 00:39:29
Yeah. I'm like, god, you take that one.

Douglas Brown - 00:39:33
Yeah. That's the inside step out of it.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:39:36
Like, yeah, I'm using the matrix.

Douglas Brown - 00:39:38
Yeah. That's right.

Jessica Rubino - 00:39:39
Did start barking, so I didn't out.

Douglas Brown - 00:39:41
But I I like she talking to me. Yeah. You're right. Sustainable is a meaningless word. It is also a much weaker I mean, if we just sustain the current situation with agriculture, we lose. You know? So, man, boy, I'm glad it never got were defined, annoyed his his loss, his meeting, because regenerative actually means, you know, we're gonna we're we're it's all about enlivening the soil. It's bringing life back, biodiversity, all these things. But, right, you know, I think a big effort right now is California, the state of California, is in an effort to define regenerative. And, and and it's I don't think I have of course, I have no idea what they're gonna end up doing, but they're gonna make up their own definition.

Douglas Brown - 00:40:14
I don't think it's gonna say ROA is regen or regen if these are different certifications. I don't think they're gonna say this is what it is. They're gonna have their own definition. And I think that's gonna be, that because when what California does tends to sort of echo throughout the rest of the country. I think it's a very important effort. I think we're I think we're still in the comment.

Douglas Brown - 00:40:40
The public sort of comment, section of that effort And there's a lot of competing forces there, whether some think it should be built, the foundation is organic. Others say not at all. And I, you know, I guess I have no idea where that's gonna go, but we do need to figure something. I do think especially when brands use the word, the way they use sustainability, and there's no certification, in in a way outside of the California effort that So almost the onus is almost on retailers to sort of say, look, if you're gonna be in our store and you're gonna say, regenerate generative. There are certain standards that we abide by. You you can't just will, you know, use this. We're we have regenerative oil and gas drilling. I mean, you know, Yeah.

Douglas Brown - 00:41:24
So, so, anyway, but, again, I, again, no crystal ball. I don't know where it's gonna go. It is a wilderness. USDA, I mean, or when when USDA 0ed in on organic. They at least did define it. There's only one organic out there.

Douglas Brown - 00:41:39
I don't think it's gonna happen with Regen, but it will be important that over the next however long, we do sort of come to some consensus about what it broadly means.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:41:57
Yeah. We certainly need more unification how we get there will be really interesting to see and watch unfold. The the the interesting on the CDFA defining is they're really defining it for the definition in terms of awarding money to support specific practice adoption from what I understand. So it's really like an on the ground application definition. So how is that gonna translate to a packaged food product marketing claim? You know, how do those 2 interact? They haven't clearly defined that and we really don't know how that domino that ladder domino because that's

4 - 00:42:28
the world that we all

Anthony Corsaro - 00:42:29
live in more down here. Right. And and it's kinda funny to break it down like that because that's honestly what all the discourse and deviceiveness is currently stemming from, which is kind of how the trans of what it is on the land is ending up on pack, right, or on in sourcing. And there's this there's this really hard kind of fine line between, hey, it does need to be 3rd party validated and certifications have value and are really, really meaningful. And I have some very specific examples of people that from a philosophical perspective or from an operational cost or complexity perspective. They don't feel the need to be certified and I don't feel like they should be mandated to be certified. So it's this weird catch 22 where we have to come up with systems that, you know, in our hypermasculine western binary world, you can put into something like that. But also we have to leave some nuance and some complexity for improvement to actually occur and kind of the journey to to be alive and and and kind of self self determining.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:43:21
So it's hard. I don't know how to figure it out.

Jessica Rubino - 00:43:34
And I completely agree with what you just said, Anthony. And, Doug, like, I think that there's a few things, you know, that obviously, like, I think that third party validation is really important on a lot of levels. And there's so much nuance here that I think figuring out a way to dissolve some of the in fighting that's just creating barriers, you know, any progress. But I also think I love what you said, Doug, about retailer role in all of this of creating those standards and barriers to entry. I think the retailers role as gatekeeper is so important to especially in these emerging and developing areas, whether it be regenerative or clean beauty. We see it in a lot of different spaces, but retailers have such an important role to play there. And the only other thing that I wanted to add is just we do have to also be aware con how consumers are changing?

Jessica Rubino - 00:44:24
One of the interesting things that we found through our Gen Z research is that certifications outside of organic, organic, very important to Gen Z Consumers, but certifications are really resonating. And I'm not saying, like, don't pursue the certifications, but we have to kind of peel back the layers and say, well, why is that? What are people? If they're not certainly equating certifications with authenticity, then what does indicate a degree of authenticity? And I think the transparency, the story all those things that sometimes can be a little bit harder to quantify and define are actually having some of the greatest impact on consumer decision making, especially this, like, younger generation of consumers. So I just want to throw that out there as, like, food for thought of whether people how are people making decisions now and how can we do, you know, what we believe is right.

Jessica Rubino - 00:45:15
We'll also do what is best supporting their journey to more kind of conscious decision making. Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:45:33
It underpins even more empathy, another empathy conversation for retailers and brands because they they're in a weird catch 22 where it's like, the wallets that are being spent on food today, that's not showing up, but we all know the things are coming. So when are we gonna get to the tipping point where we're gonna because right now certifications do move the needle and if you will buying the products, we do care about them. But maybe the next generation's not, but they are not the ones spending a lot of the money yet. And so it's like, you're in this really odd spot where you kinda have to decide am I playing the puck on the ice as it lies today or am I skating kinda down to it to where it's gonna go? We're kinda trying to do both. Didn't play hockey. I don't know why I'm in a hockey mode today in my brain, but that's pretty much it. It's sticking.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:46:05
You know, I do I do wanna say last thing just kind of on the the claims validation landscape, which is it is the Wild Wild West. We have many, many third party certifications and we have people that are not using one of those certifiers. But in the natural, in the natural channel specifically, there is almost next to 0, you know, non third party validated claims because these retailers like Whole Foods, Natural Grocers, Thrive Market, they are making people validate, you know, those claims from a regenerative perspective to their standards. Folks, even if they aren't 3rd party certified. So I do think we actually have done a relatively decent job as an industry kind of holding the line even though it's very messy. And I I think people do forget that that even your non third party certified claims are still a third party validated a lot of the times by a very robust processed by a retainer.

Douglas Brown - 00:47:01
Yeah. Yeah. I agree with that entirely. In fact, I was talking with a jimbo's, a buyer of jimbo's, maybe just a few weeks ago. And he said, look, you know, we we love it. If it's if it's certification, it makes it easier, but there's a lot of brands that are they don't have they don't have the resources or whatever. It's we like to bring them in if we can, but we have to interview them. We have to look closely at their story you know, but we, as the retailer, will do the work to sort of say, okay, this one doesn't have a certification, but, you know, we trust we've done the work. We understand what they're doing is actually in the right direction. So the retailers are key for all of this.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:47:38
For sure.

Jessica Rubino - 00:47:39
Doug, you didn't talk. I know you're pro we're probably getting ready to move on, and you can cut this, Sam. I think if you

Douglas Brown - 00:47:48
Let it rip. Come on. Let's do that.

Jessica Rubino - 00:47:50
Well, Judge's been covering a lot. I'm curious your thoughts on this, Anthony, but just more of the work to identify the nutritional aspects of regenerative. And I think that that's like a message that has a ton of potential. Like, the more we can prove that regenerative ingredients and product are more nutrient dense and people can tie it directly back to their personal health, the more we're going to move the needle. So I think a lot of that work is really exciting. And comes much more down to the quantifying of the nutrients in the products and ingredients as opposed to the 3rd party validation piece that we're talking about. So just wanna throw that out there for talking about the next frontier of of regenerative and what it looks like.

Douglas Brown - 00:48:39
Yeah. For sure. That the the science is still nascent on on that, but it's happening. And, that, you know, regenerative does it sort of, like, organic had the, you know, it's very complex to get certification. However, consumers boiled it down to know chemicals better for me. I'm gonna regen doesn't necessarily have that. Doesn't really have that. Doesn't have that. At least it's a strong kind of cell like that. But this nutrient density piece, might might give that better for me kind of angle to reach in.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:49:10
Yeah. I have so many thoughts. You you summed it up there really well, Douglas. I think, you know, the the technology is not there yet and is cheap enough there yet to really allow us to do the amount of data collection and rigor needed to make it really easy to make these claims. The Nutrien density Alliance put out a recent white paper where they cover all this in-depth. So we will link that in the show notes and people can check that out. You know, and I'm I'm a really torn on the comp you just gave, and I was gonna go there so happy you brought it up, which is organic has become just this binary chemical free versus not when it really was supposed to be something much more than that. And so is there power in learning from that and saying regenerative has to do that because that's just the paradigm we sit in when you're translating claims to a consumer? Or is it like, hey, let's make sure we don't do that because we're gonna you, we're gonna lose, you know, all this nuance and beauty that it it should entail.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:49:54
And I don't know what the answer is to that. I think what we talk about ad nausea on the show and with brands is, hey, Regina is not a primary purchasing driver. You know, you can have the best regenerative operation ever. You can have it fully certified. It can be front and center on pack, but like the vast vast majority of consumers are still not gonna buy your product because of they're gonna buy because of the other primary things that always win taste. You know, it looks cool. Price, it has an awesome health and wellness benefit.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:50:22
And so I think nutrient density allows you to play that game of a primary purchasing driver with the health and 1 health and wellness benefit potentially, but ultimately You have to win by translating regenerative into one of those things and then using it as a loyalty and retention tool on the back end. You know, to kind of keep people into it and show them that's why you're winning with one of those primary things. I'm also very fresh off of a really, really good episode with Alio Brian, who's the VP of Marketing at Harvest Harvest, and they're now all regenerative organic certified, you know, coconut supply chain, and she's really, and her team have really had to think long and hard about how they build this into their claims architecture, how they put it on packaging. And she's classically trained total badass marketing CPG through and through. So that was a super illuminating conversation around kind of how do we think through some of these things conceptually start activating them tactically in the marketplace learning from that and iterating from there.

Douglas Brown - 00:51:18
Yeah. And to your point about, to your point about whether, you know, the organic, again, it's comp it's it's a complex system. However, it got boiled down to really one thing.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:51:27
Yeah.

Douglas Brown - 00:51:27
And should Regent do the same thing or do something, you know, should it try to find a better for me to angle or do all of it? And I was talking to Paul Legg foot at Pataguni Provisions, and I said, presented a question to him saying, well, Regent is very complex. It must be hard to sell. His responses was like, that's the advantage. He said, that's great. We're full of rich storytelling possibilities. We can really lean into people's heartstrings and why this matters in That's the beauty.

Douglas Brown - 00:51:48
I'm so glad it's complex because that gives us a lot of opportunity to tell the story.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:51:58
Yeah. And it's gonna be unique based on the product and the commodity too, which is a whole another piece we haven't even touched on, which is like, for Patagonia to talk about their beer, that's gonna be different than simply talks about their lupini beans. And Alex ice cream talks about ice cream, and Good Sam talks about chocolate. Like, those are gonna be different stories, but they're all regenerative. You know, so what does that also look like too is is interesting?

Jessica Rubino - 00:52:22
You just list some of my favorite brands there too.

Douglas Brown - 00:52:26
What was that?

Jessica Rubino - 00:52:27
I was just gonna I was just saying that Anthony listed some of my favorite reach under to brands about last bids. I'm like, oh, those are all my things.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:52:35
I was gonna skip this question because I don't wanna ask you how to play favorites, but because people make me do it all the time, I'm gonna ask both of you. What is your favorite regenerative product that you use, you know, or have used?

Douglas Brown - 00:52:49
Well, I'm gonna say it's not a single product, but for me, Lundberg writes. Lundberg has really I mean, they are leaning heavily into region. Yeah. And I I've been buying Lundbird rice for decades, but I love that there's so many. If you go into Whole Foods or wherever, there's gonna be a lot of lumber. There's gonna be a bunch of it. It's gonna be I know their goal. I think it's by next year. It's sometime relatively soon. They want everything to be regen. And so I, yeah, I I love that brand. I love that product.

Jessica Rubino - 00:53:18
Yeah. No. I think this is the portion when we all start talking over each other because we get really excited about all the companies that we're like, yeah. Yes. I love Lundberg. I I'm a big fan of ancient what ancient nutrition is doing because I think it's really important to have this conversation in different categories, whether it be in supplements or beauty in addition to food and beverage. So I'm a big fan of their work I love simply. So I've been eating

Douglas Brown - 00:53:49
Me too.

Jessica Rubino - 00:53:50
Beanie beans since I was, like, a little green on the jet. Yes. And then I'm like, oh, loop loop the loop 80 b. That's everywhere in our next few judging. And but I think to to really understand that that ingredient and and just what simply is done with supply chain work is is is so amazing. But, so I I love what they're doing. And, yeah, there's a lot of really great ones. And, of course, good Sam, and I am always a fan of just seeing powerful women leaders driving change across supply chain and CPG work. So, yeah, there's there's lots of good ones. Of course, Doctor Bronner is a pioneer in all this work as well. So Yeah. Anthony, what about you?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:54:33
Jessica sounds like me answering the question. I, like, say 1 and then, like, I gotta say 7 more. Yeah. It took all seventy five episodes of the podcast. So, like,

Douglas Brown - 00:54:41
okay. I'm finally done. Yes.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:54:44
You know, for me, there there's definitely a couple of favorites. I I'm investors in their businesses, so it's hard to not show favoritism towards them, but I acknowledge that had that bias. But I mean, my dad eats more ice cream than anyone you've ever met. And so naturally, I have a sweet tooth, and I love ice cream. And Alex ice cream is is it for me. Like, if you put a gun to my head and you said, hey. You have to get rid of all your returner products besides 1.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:55:06
It'd be hard for me to give up grass fed, grass finished regenerative beef of of all brands, but Alex ice cream would be the number one. And, I just Like, I will eat literally a whole pint a night. It is insane. I don't know how I'm not, you know, £400, but I'm just crushing Alex ice cream at an incredible rate.

Jessica Rubino - 00:55:27
It's so good. You should have seen us judging that during the next year where it's falling. You know, you say all these, like, what do you think are these eloquent things about these products with really insightful things that were like, for that, we're like, it's just so good.

Douglas Brown - 00:55:40
Yeah. Yeah. It's nice. Totally.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:55:43
Well, that's that's the power of brands and products to translate regenerative into consumer awareness, which is like, once again, some people are gonna buy it because it's regenerative. And probably more people will buy it because it's a 2, but most people are gonna buy it because it's just damn good ice cream.

Douglas Brown - 00:55:59
Yes.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:55:59
And the more products we have like that that are like that and regenerative know, this thing is gonna win in the long term because of that.

Jessica Rubino - 00:56:07
Yeah. Yeah. The greatest way to scale your impact as a mission driven brand is to have an awesome brad with a exceptional product and then people will love it. I completely agree. And we're seeing so many of those and in the regenerative space. So that's that's so cool to see that evolution.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:56:25
Yeah. This has been a super fun conversation. Y'all, thank you so much for spending the time with me so excited for Newtopia Now. I'm just curious kind of any last minute closing thoughts on newtopia or regenerative or anything else we've talked about. And Douglas, maybe we we start with you.

Douglas Brown - 00:56:40
Sure. One thing, you know, this we we've talked a fair bit about how to sort of how to sell how to sell the the region idea And I mentioned Lundberg before as one of my favorite brands. I do wanna mention that they, you know, Lundberg has done a fantastic job of marketing what they do. They have a whole campaign called ducking and good race.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:57:00
Yeah.

Kyle Krull - 00:57:00
And, you

Douglas Brown - 00:57:01
know, the Lundberg race region story is unique. They don't depend on livestock to sort of to to sort of be become regenerative for their rice patties. It all has to do with waterfowl. And so they they've been saving, I think it's 30,000 duck eggs a year and getting them hatched and laying these ducks loose and then preserving habitat for ducks. And that has become the heart, the centerpiece of their marketing campaign. And they've had they have ducks walking. People dress like ducks walking around Times Square. They've got full time full page ads in the New York Times. A lot of stuff tied to Earth Day. They've done so much.

Douglas Brown - 00:57:29
And Brita, Lundberg, can sort of runs their marketing there. She said, look, we we have we had a unique little niche, and we realized this is how we can tell the region story very culturally. Colorfully. And she said every Regen brand has the same kind of thing. Just find out what it is that you're doing that's kind of colorful and unique and tells your story and just run with it. I thought that was great advice on Briefest part.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:58:00
Yeah. We an episode with her and Brian, was so fun, and they're amazing people. And, you know, that's really a critical thing that's gonna happen with them now having, like, 70 plus SKUs with rock certification on it and then putting, the resources into that that big marketing campaign that you're talking about, Douglas, because I think that's, like, the very 1st brand of really significant scale that has crazy ACV in the natural channel and Mulo that's gonna have kind of this proliferation of that that thing showing up in pack in front of consumers. So the entire the entire community and rock specifically that that brand, that community of brands, excuse me, We'll learn a lot from that and just so appreciate their trailblazing efforts there and and great call out. Jessica, anything on your side as we wrap up?

Jessica Rubino - 00:58:47
Yeah. Well, I, first of all, thank you so much for having us. This has been really great and fun, and Yeah. I think the big thing just taking a step back a little bit, big picture. Like, I'm seeing so many kind of similarities tweet this conversation. We're having around regenerative and what we're trying to do collectively through newtopia. I think this idea of interconnectedness keeps coming up and how important it is to tackle these big issues together to co create the future we want to see and just, of course, going back to the idea that the you know, the hole is greater than the sum of its parts. And so I'm really excited to see how we can take on some of these big issues, not dotnewtopia now, but as an industry together moving forward, a conscious, see, a conscious products industry that's trying to do good in the world. So yeah, I think this is a a great microcosm of kind of all the things that we're trying to achieve as a as a CPG industry.

Jessica Rubino - 00:59:44
And I'm really can't wait to see you at Newtopia Now, and I I wanna this conversation to, of course, we could go on and on on this. So we'll have lots more opportunities out of Topia now in Denver.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:00:06
Yeah. Love that. And for folks that are really keen to check out Nootopia, is it just nootopianow.com is the website?

Jessica Rubino - 01:00:13
Yes. Nootopianow.com, and then we'll have tons content leading up to the event on newhope.com on our socials. Be sure to, like all of our our pages, new Nokia now. And, also, we have a podcast, the natural list. And we have lots of great episodes coming up with interviews of people, including you coming up pretty soon, who will be at Nootopia now. So lots of ways to stay connected into the month in the months leading up to the event.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:00:43
Amazing. Well, thanks y'all so much for joining us. This has been super fun. Looking forward to being in Denver in August. And, hopefully, we'll see a bunch of people there that are listening to.

Douglas Brown - 01:00:51
Thank you, Anthony. You do a great job.

Jessica Rubino - 01:00:53
Thank you so much.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:00:54
Thanks, y'all.

4 - 01:00:58
For show notes, episode transcripts, and more information on our guess what we discuss in the show, check out our website regen-brands.com. That is regen-brands.com. You can also find our regen recaps on the website. Regen recaps take less than 5 minutes to read and cover all the key points of the full hour long conversations. You can check out our YouTube channel, ReGen Brands Podcast for all of our episodes with both video and audio. The best way to on our work is to give us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast platform, subscribe to future episodes, and share the show with your friends. Thanks for tuning in to The ReGen Brands Podcast brought to you by the Regen Coalition and Outlaw Ventures. We hope you learned something new in this episode, and it empowers you to use your your time, and your dollars to help us build a better and more regenerative food system.

4 - 01:01:41
Love you guys.