Peptonik Cont ...
some of which were supplied through me. On hearing about my idea Pat said, “Oh you better come and see us then!”
There offices were in Harrogate then, so off on the train I went. On my arrival I think Pat and Neil were slightly bemused. There I was, with nothing but what I was standing in, and a really good concept in my head. When I had finished telling my life story, Pat responded, “If I was to give you a thousand pounds, do you think you could come back with a proper presentation?” I left with a cheque!
Two weeks later I was back to Harrogate along with a full product design package concept, including production ready artwork for 250ml cans, packaging and merchandising. The name of the product had changed though. It turns out it’s illegal to use the word Tonic without royal approval, so I renamed it PepStir. On seeing the designs, Pat said, “Where did you learn to do that?” and gave me a job! I was in full flight, I created an orange, a lime and blackcurrant flavoured energy drinks. The minimum order was 250K cans per flavour (30,000 cases). I lined up Rexam in Germany for the cans, Dohler and Britvic in the UK for the flavouring and the production. I went with Britvic for the production and distribution.
Great! We were all set to go when I received a phone call from Britvic’s marketing manager explaining that “they had a conflict of interest as they produced Pepsi and the names were too similar” (Honestly, I was surprised and fairly annoyed they hadn’t spotted it sooner).
Back to the drawing board. I needed a new name and a new producer …
I re-named the drink Wasp Energy (along with a trademark application this time). My contact in Dohler suggested a firm in Holland, with cost a saving of £30,000 for the run, so it all worked out well in the end.
My first visit to Rexam came with some trials and tribulations. With not much planning, I arrived in Germany and at the airport I jumped into a cab to the factory. To my horror it was much further than I had thought, and I didn’t have enough money to pay the driver. Embarrassingly the gate attendant had to call the production manager whom I was meeting to come down and pay. Not a good start! I thought my can production chances were lost, but soon the atmosphere in the room changed. I quizzed them on the details of the print overlap and my attention to detail shone through. Later this skill proved invaluable to me as when the orange cans arrived in Holland for the next day canning, the colour was wrong. The factory missed my fax confirming the colour change. A costly mistake for them as they had to reproduce that day and re deliver, ouch!
But the stress was on my shoulders too …
I remember sitting in a bar across the road watching lorry after lorry of Wasp Energy drink leave the factory for the UK. OMG look what I have done, all I had to now was to sell it all!
The market at that time was dominated by Red Bull, and there were lots of big players trying to get a piece of the action, including Virgin DT, NT, and Solstis (GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), with their huge marketing spend and then there was me with Wasp!
Sadly, the doors didn’t open this time. The method of moving product had changed since I was last in the game, with evermore products and diminishing shelf space. The days of giving it a try were well and truly over. With the bottomless pockets of the big boys (I heard of £6 million for one product launch) we didn’t stand much of a chance. In hindsight, perhaps we should have run with one flavour somewhat closer to Red Bull as a ‘MeToo’ copy? (I had used quinine to make it taste dryer, and to make it glow under UV lights.) Or should I have run with a yellow and black can design? Who knows the whim of the buyers, or your luck on the day! Incidentally, Virgin DT, NT and Solstis all failed too.
We gave it a good go, though …
I believe the Leonard family were giving me a bit back, and I thank them for their belief in me and all their support over years.
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