For the uninitiated, CBD can be a confounding product category. It can’t simply be labeled fat-free or sugar-free, called natural or organic, and isn’t reliably or consistently dosed from product to product.
Andrea Wightwick is working to change this. She’s the Founder and CEO of Hapsy–a CBD brand that puts power back in the hands of the consumer. Andrea has a long, storied career working with brands you probably use daily, and she used her experience to create a CBD brand that’s pure, discreet, true, and transparent.
Today, Andrea joins the podcast to share the story of how she discovered CBD, created a unique brand that rethought the positioning and ideas behind CBD products, and what she’s doing to educate and empower her customers.
P.S. Andrea is running a promotion until July 31, 2021. Please use the Promo Code “HEYHAPSY20” and enjoy a 20% discount on the wonderful products she has available over at Hapsy.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- What Andrea learned from 15 years of brand development with Coca-Cola and other major companies creating packaged goods.
- How the COVID pandemic derailed Andrea’s launch–and why this proved to be a blessing in disguise.
- What makes Hapsy’s CBD products different from others–and, more generally, how to shop for CBD products for your unique needs.
- Why so many CBD products are inconsistent in dosage or performance.
- The common myths about CBD and its effects.
- Why Andrea thinks we’ll see full federal legalization in 2025.
INSPIRING QUOTE
“It was a lot of starting with the consumer first, really keeping the need state in mind that you’re solving for the consumer, and meeting that consumer where they’re at.” – Andrea Wightwick
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TRANSCRIPT
Rick Kiley: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of The Green Repeal. I am here, Rick Kiley, with my co-host, Jeffrey Boedges. He’s in the office. I’m at home. What’s up, Jeff?
Jeffrey Boedges: Greetings from the exit of the Holland Tunnel, everyone. It’s good to be in the city. It’s beautiful here today.
Rick Kiley: Is it? Yeah. A lot of traffic. A lot of cars coming in and out?
Jeffrey Boedges: It is. It feels like old times. People are honking. I watched a guy. He’s screaming and yelling. Got out of his car. New York is feeling like home.
Rick Kiley: I just want all our lunch places to open up again.
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah. That’s not that. That isn’t the case. Although, I did get a wonderful Poke bowl delivered today.
Rick Kiley: Spectacular. Good for you. So, you’re ready for this.
Jeffrey Boedges: I am.
Rick Kiley: Today, we are going to welcome Andrea Wightwick, the Founder and CEO of Hapsy, which is a CBD brand that puts the power back in the hands of the consumer. I just love how that rolls off the tongue. Andrea comes with a wealth of knowledge and market research and brand building from her storied career working with large brands you most likely use on the daily. With her big CPG brand credentials in hand, Andrea took the leap to create her own CBD brand, providing consumers with the truth and transparency they deserve about the products they purchase. Andrea saw some white space in the market, jumped at the opportunity to create the kind of brand that she saw missing. That’s how a lot of entrepreneurial stories start I think. That brand which we’re going to talk about today is Hapsy, a line of pure yet discrete CBD products. She wanted to create a brand for those who may be intimidated by the category, one which they can confidently enjoy wherever and whenever they need it.
[INTERVIEW]
Rick Kiley: Hello, Andrea, and welcome to The Green Repeal.
Andrea Wightwick: Hi. Thank you to both of you for having me.
Rick Kiley: Cool. So, we gave you a little bit of an intro there but I’m wondering if you might be able to just tell us a little bit more about your career path and the road you took, however circuitous it may be, that led you creating this brand.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. Interestingly, I think nowadays, I started as a receptionist at PepsiCo while I went to school at…
Jeffrey Boedges: A Coca-Cola lander working at Pepsi?
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. Where I got my thick skin, right?
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah. I guess so.
Rick Kiley: For those not in the know, Andrea’s in Atlanta where Coca-Cola is headquartered and PepsiCo is way up here.
Jeffrey Boedges: In Purchase? Yes. Beautiful Purchase.
Andrea Wightwick: Yes, which I have been to Purchase. Very, very nice. Very different than the Atlanta compound for Coke down here. So, yeah, I started literally just answering the phones there as a temp and as I went to school at night in the City of Atlanta here to study marketing and Spanish. I ended up getting a bunch of different jobs there, different assistants, and eventually a brand analyst on Tropicana, some really fun stuff with Gatorade, so on and so forth. So, I had a good four years there and then I spent 15 years in marketing consulting and I thought my first client would be Gold Bond and Icy Hot and then I got there on the first day and they’re like, “Actually, we took another look at your resume and we want you to go and work on Minute Maid.”
Rick Kiley: Move on to Minute Maid.
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah. It makes sense.
Andrea Wightwick: I thought that sounds like an easy transition here. I can take care of that. So, I spent ten years working on the Coke account, and that was fun. It was very cool going straight from one to the other and firsthand seeing people talk about each other. There’s no bigger brand fighters between the two over marketing, so it was really fun to be first-hand experience on both and just see, okay, well, this is what they say externally and here’s what they’re like internally on both sides.
Rick Kiley: So, can I ask a question? Just like when you went to a restaurant and you asked for Coke and they said, “Is Pepsi okay?” what did you say?
Andrea Wightwick: Oh, well, so I never said anything because, before all of this, I worked as a waitress in a Pepsi restaurant, and I had those things thrown in my face many times, “Can I have a Jack and Coke?” “Well, I’m so sorry, sir or ma’am. You know, we have Pepsi. Can I offer you a Jack and Pepsi?” “No. You can offer me sh*t.” I’m like, “Okay.” So, I never gave what was dissed to me as a waitress. I very much just was like, “Okay, that’s fine. I’ll have water.”
Jeffrey Boedges: You can always spot a former server by how much they tip and how polite they are to the people and how few times they send you back to the kitchen to get a straw or a new bottle of ketchup.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. And how they stack their plates when they’re done.
Jeffrey Boedges: Absolutely.
Rick Kiley: All right. Sorry. We derailed you here but we were somewhere in Coca-Cola.
Jeffrey Boedges: I thought it was kind of a cathartic moment for me, too, though. I got to be honest. I was into it.
Andrea Wightwick: So, yeah. So, for 15 years, 10 of those at Coke, but for 15 years as a whole, I basically advised brands on like ways to grow. So, there’s like these three basic ways to grow. As a company, you can buy a new brand and the market and make it yours. You know, in the portfolio you can extend an existing brand through a flavor or new price architecture, whatever, or you can have a brand line that comes out new kind of thing. And so, this is basically working with brands to be like, “All right. Ziggy’s if you want to talk to kids more, let’s get into a pouch and let’s get into tubes and things like that or different flavors that would work for that segment.” Just basically white spacing to help consumer packaged goods grow. And so, yeah, so then when the farm bill was passed, that’s a very obvious new organic growth market or avenue for a lot of brands. So, then we started talking internally to brands. It’s very quiet while Jeff Sessions was hanging around and then the conversations became a little more fluid after that. But that was really what kind of it was doing for the last 20 years, not even 40, but I had a really long career already.
Rick Kiley: Right. You had to throw that in there just to do with Dr. Gray Hair over here. All right.
Andrea Wightwick: I’m counting it down, literally counting it down.
Rick Kiley: Sweet.
Andrea Wightwick: Well, hopefully, you have a product that will help enjoy the ride.
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah. I was starting to think about some brand extensions for us, maybe, you know. Brown Repeal or something maybe, you know.
Rick Kiley: Brown Repeal?
Jeffrey Boedges: Yes. Instead of green. It’s like that’s the new coke podcast. That needs an adjustment.
Rick Kiley: Yeah. Nice. Okay. So, what was the trigger that, I mean, that you talk about the farm bill, of course, and the landscape changed a little bit but what got you to move from consulting with big brands to starting your own? I think that’s really the big question here. Just entrepreneurial itch like it’s now or never or what happened?
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. It was not.
Jeffrey Boedges: Well, there was no entrepreneurial itch.
Andrea Wightwick: There was no itch.
Rick Kiley: You are really wrong. Okay.
Andrea Wightwick: No. There is no itch. Listen, if anything, it was an internal voice that I was like, “You’re going to shut up, lady. Like, I don’t know what you’re doing but zip it and quit it.” Listen, like I grew up pretty visibly poor, okay? I grew up visibly poor. I had holes in my backpack growing up and was on food stamps back in the day, all the things. So, no, I did not want to leave a very stable and fulfilling career with a 401(k) and a good insurance policy to just like willy-nilly take a huge leap on a nascent category that has so many hurdles to get over. So, no.
Jeffrey Boedges: So, this has got a good story. Then what happened?
Andrea Wightwick: I know. It’s kind of crazy.
Jeffrey Boedges: Did you get hit by lightning?
Andrea Wightwick: Honestly, really, it was a tipping point as the consumer. I was really frustrated talking to clients. They’re very kind people but then as a business sense, it’s like, well, cool. For the most part, they’re kind people. Let’s be real.
Jeffrey Boedges: They’re just like people at the restaurant.
Andrea Wightwick: Yes, exactly. And so, it was just like cool, cool. So, I can just throw like a couple of milligrams of the CBD stuff in my tea, charge $2 more, and be done with it, right? I’m like, “Well, it’s a little more complicated than that.” It’s not as easy as the natural product claim or the organic product claim that you’ve been used to and all, not all, but most consumer packaged goods companies were just trying to get the next label claims that they could get their premium pack off their baseline and continue growth. And that’s completely understandable, especially when you have shareholders to deal with but I just did not feel like it was a good environment for this category to be like that. It’s not as simple as fat-free or sugar-free.
Jeffrey Boedges: Right. Or gluten-free or organic.
Rick Kiley: So, were you encountering brands that were literally like, “Now with CBD,” and that’s what they wanted to do?
Jeffrey Boedges: The big star call-out with the big sun fire on there? Yeah, that’s great.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah, exactly. I mean, that’s exactly what it was. It’s like, okay, well, I have my bar of soap. Great. So, my bar of soaps pretty commoditized in pricing and I can say things like moisturizing or whatever and charge a little bit more. But I have a brand line extension or a new brand name and I offer CBD and now I have this. It’s just like Dasani and Smart Water. You’ve got these two brands that you can offer when really they’re both water at the end of the day. They would say differently, right?
Rick Kiley: No way. Both are water? Water is water?
Andrea Wightwick: Right. At the end of the day, we’re talking about a single compound element, and yet you can make this into a very widely differentiated price category, right? And so, yeah, it was kind of going that way and I was like, “Man, this is messed up like it shouldn’t. This is not the justice this category and this ingredient actually deserves.” And so, I was just like, “You know, I bet I could do it better,” which I know 100 people say and that’s kind of what jumpstarted.
Jeffrey Boedges: If you don’t say that and you’re an entrepreneur, you got trouble. “You know, I could do this a lot worse. Let me go out and do that.” Yeah, that’s usually a pretty short runway to that.
Rick Kiley: Yeah. So, by the way, you do have an entrepreneurial itch because it all starts with, “Well, that’s dumb. I could totally do that better.” That’s every entrepreneurial story.
Andrea Wightwick: Well, yeah, I never wanted it. I got fed up as a consumer myself and then a lot of the stuff in the market is just ugly and really seedy looking and tastes like crap. I got to burp up hemp for two hours and I was like, “Man, this is just like…”
Jeffrey Boedges: Know what you put in burritos.
Rick Kiley: Ain’t no burps like hemp burps.
Andrea Wightwick: No, there’s not. There’s really not. So, yeah, I was just like, “This is jacked up. I can make this better.”
Rick Kiley: Got it. But you did have personal experience with CBD and you found it personally beneficial to you and so that was part of the alchemy of the idea?
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. So, I mean, listen, I live in Georgia but I have spent a considerable amount of time in Colorado since 2009 every year. And so, I have seen the evolution of recreational cannabis. And so, from that standpoint, I am a cannabis enthusiast and partaker when it’s legal. And then, specifically, I microdose and I tell everybody. They’re like, “Oh, you’re just so calm on the plane.” My daughter has panic attacks on the plane and I’m like, “Yeah. I had like 2 grams of a one-on-one CBD to THC so that I can be like the flight attendant in the moment for her and get her on this plane. And so, I needed something that was able to kind of let me be that flight attendant with like a hostage negotiation with my son about the merits of wearing underwear under his athletics every day or dealing with a client or whatever. And so, I was already trying to find something that was legal where I could find it every day back home and maintain that level throughout the day. And also, I really enjoyed it and a lot of people do say this, I will be the one to admit it and not call out anybody else but a lot of people, especially a lot of women that I know, they’re like, “This is a really good replacement for the one glass of wine that I need after work.”
Rick Kiley: Oh, my God, it’s so funny you say that like the thought I had when you said, “You know, I’m someone who microdevices,” I was like, “Is that the equivalent of someone saying, ‘You know, I have a glass of wine with dinner?’” As we always have these conversations about where the industry is going and what is considered too much, what’s considered appropriate, what’s considered like the amount you can sort of do socially, and it’s just an interesting way of saying that. And I get the equivalency.
Jeffrey Boedges: And we’ve talked a lot about self-medication and how we feel like the cannabis industry is going to erode a lot of casual wine and spirit who says it becomes the more appropriate response for the calm down.
Andrea Wightwick: Right. And that’s a lot of things I do find as I take CBD specifically and in a micro dose. The one glass of wine many times leads to a second or a third glass of wine, whereas like that micro dose…
Jeffrey Boedges: Oh, no, that never happens.
Andrea Wightwick: Right. This isn’t the way it is, right? The bottle just begs for you to…
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah. It’s going to go to waste. It doesn’t keep very well.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah.
Rick Kiley: Now you see why canned wine is doing so well right now.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. Exactly. So, it was just this is a satiator without being one that craves again and again. And so, yes, I find it beneficial from that standpoint and it’s something that I can just take on a Monday at 3:00 before I go get my kids and I have to deal with the second shift and I’m not inebriated in carpool. I’m completely lucid.
Jeffrey Boedges: Right. People do frown on that.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah, generally.
Rick Kiley: Okay. Cool. So, I guess then so tell us how you got, I guess, how far into it are we? When did you launch and how much time has passed since you officially launched?
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. So, I can’t say it without laughing. I left corporate America in 2019 with the intention of launching an on-the-go hemp brand by April of 2020.
Jeffrey Boedges: Good timing. Yeah.
Andrea Wightwick: Good timing when like everybody is promoting the idea of sheltering at home. I was like, “Yeah. Really, I nailed this business.”
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah. Again, that’s also part of the entrepreneurial experience is the best-laid plans of mice and men.
Andrea Wightwick: That was nice to fail very quickly before I’d even intentionally launched.
Rick Kiley: You’re still here. It’s now 13 months later.
Andrea Wightwick: I’m still here.
Rick Kiley: So, something must have happened.
Andrea Wightwick: It was a blessing in disguise that I had not even launched because I could just be like, “Well, I’m just going to hold everything.” And so, I just didn’t make money for longer instead. Just whatever. Yeah. So, we officially launched in January of 2021 and I held on to it not until necessarily there was a vaccine, just where there felt like there would be hope of getting back out and getting into society again. And I’m like, “Okay. The idea that did come about on being discreet and on the go so small, portable. A lot of this stuff is like, “Oh, I just love my CBD bath bomb.” I’m like, “That must be so nice to go through your whole day super chilling calm with everything that’s coming your way and then still have time at 9 PM to take a giant bath. I have a very hostile client at 2 PM and I have anxiety about it at 1:00 and I don’t know how I’m going to deal with him and not rise to his emotional level. I don’t need a bath right now. I need something in my pocket right now.”
Rick Kiley: Got it. It’s a bath in a pocket. Let’s write some taglines for this.
Andrea Wightwick: The power of a pause in your pocket is what we say.
Rick Kiley: Nice.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. And so, that’s just kind of like, listen, like that’s just kind of where it all came about. I lost my train of thought, frankly, but I just feel like it was one of those things where there was just a lot of white space in the market and we could have really launched and been fine but we would have missed the keynote on why we were doing it, which is giving you the power to be able to recalibrate your mind and mental state wherever you are throughout the day, not having to compromise on some taste or smell like it’s very just if you know, you know kind of thing or like, “Wow. How does she keep it all together?” I’ll tell you how she keeps it all together kind of thing. It just in January, it kind of felt like it was time. As people start going out, it was like…
Jeffrey Boedges: Right. Well, even then, that’s a lot to say that you’re going to do it in January and then be where you are right now in May. So, you had things you were doing development in 2020, yeah?
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. So, now, that was another gift. I got to do a lot more product development than I initially had budgeted time for. And so, I got to have a lot of failed product forms and smells and tastes and stuff like that. And so, that was the blessing in disguise was actually in a lot of R&D that was important to me.
Rick Kiley: Yeah. So, can you talk about that a little bit? Because we’ve spoken to a lot of startup brands and early brands in various stages in this industry. And most of the people do not come from the back alley that you do. Ten years in the Coca-Cola sort of marketing and market research infrastructure like that’s a master’s degree and then some in sort of how to bring products to market, how to develop pricing strategies, how to approach retail, the whole thing. So, I think that there are probably some people out there who would benefit from this knowledge when you were kind of bringing the product to market and developing it. Can you just walk us through a little bit of the approach that you took, really kind of going back from the idea to the point where you’re now like trying to sell the product? What was the work that was done in between? You don’t need to spend like an hour on this but just like the rough kind of outline I think would be interesting.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. So, I mean, it was a lot of starting with the consumer first, really keeping the need state in mind that you’re solving for the consumer and meeting that consumer where they’re at. And so, for instance, there were immediately retail outlets that were interested. A distributor for gas stations came and found me before I’d even launched and was like, “Yeah. We need to get you in.” I was like, “Nope, no. My consumer is not walking in there.” I mean, how fun would it be to be in a 7-Eleven? Yes, but my consumer’s not walking in there, right? So, immediately at the forefront of my mind is my shopper and my consumer because they’re different. They’re an expansion, if you will, off of the shopper. And then also really maintaining those need states, the idea of portability, discreet, feeling ownership, and empowerment in what you’re having and not something like, I mean, ask any woman how she carries a feminine hygiene product in the office to the bathroom. Hiding it in a bra or tucking it in a pants pocket like hoping that your shirt’s long enough so that it’s not showing through the tight pants that she wears. These are things that people deal with all day in different walks of life. I mean, a bottle of wine is always in a brown bag when you leave the store and it makes you feel seedy sometimes for it, depending upon that person.
Jeffrey Boedges: It depends if you open it in the parking lot or not.
Andrea Wightwick: Right.
Rick Kiley: Well, I always bring my own really nice bag.
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah. That way when you open it in the parking lot, you look like, “You know, he’s doing it in the parking lot but he’s got style.”
Rick Kiley: Look at that bag.
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah. Look at that bag.
Rick Kiley: Ooh, that Gucci knockoff he’s drinking out of. Sorry.
Jeffrey Boedges: You make it look good.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. Exactly. It’s just kind of leaning into that idea and actually playing on it to be like, listen, you can take ownership of this and you shouldn’t feel bad about it. It’s fine.
Rick Kiley: And you’re just making me think of an interesting like you have, obviously, you’ve done some work and I understand the language you’re using around the mood states but it’s really interesting to me to hear the juxtaposition of the need to be discreet but with one of like claiming full ownership. You know what I mean? So, it’s a discretion juxtaposed with someone who’s sort of leaning in with pride to this type of product.
Jeffrey Boedges: If someone is badging with a product or being discreet with the product, they can be contradictory.
Rick Kiley: That’s a challenging balance to strike. How do you find that those ideas reconcile?
Andrea Wightwick: So, we do that through the branding. So, the idea of having not these three ginormous letters in like 80-point font on the package, something that you feel very comfortable having on your coffee bar or on your kitchen counter or in your purse or something. And so, if your kid or somebody is rifling through your desk or whatever, you’re not like, “Oh my God, don’t look at that.” You know, like everybody knows what a condom looks like, for instance, in a package like it’s very generic at this point. And so, a lot of the products in this space were very like energy drink colored and ugly looking from that standpoint but then also just like ginormous letters and no brand behind them. And I’m like, “Listen, what if you just had a word, a vibe, and it’s kind of this if you know, you know kind of thing,” and that gives agency to the brand and that gives agency to you as the owner of the product and the consumer but yet it’s discrete enough that you can just have it out and it can sit. I have one placed in my little tray with all of my spirits because sometimes I mix them into a cocktail right there and it’s next to bitters, for instance, you know? And so, it’s just one of those discrete things that if it’s there, then somebody’s like, “Oh, I know what that is,” but it’s not loud and proud at the end of the day. It can stand on its own. So, that’s what we mean by the juxtaposition of the discrete with the ownership of it.
Jeffrey Boedges: There’s a club you got to belong to.
Rick Kiley: Got it.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah.
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah. Of in the know, right?
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. If you know what Spanx are, you’re in the know. You know what Spanx are, right? And so, the same thing with Hapsy, like when we were trying to decide what the brand name and kind of what it would be like from a branding standpoint, I wanted it to be this conjured verb, this action, this state of being kind of thing that would come to your mind. But also, I wanted the name to be one of those names, like, “Wait a minute, I know Hapsy. How do you know Hapsy?” and get the conversation going between those two people because that’s kind of the new puff puff give of hemp is friends talking to friends and moms talking to daughters and things like that.
Jeffrey Boedges: Right. So, do you say you’ve been Hapsy’d? Is that the way?
Andrea Wightwick: I say I’m feeling Hapsy.
Jeffrey Boedges: I’m feeling Hapsy. Got it.
Andrea Wightwick: Or I have a moment of Hapsyness or things like that.
Rick Kiley: So, let’s talk about the name. Where did the name Hapsy come from?
Andrea Wightwick: So, I’m going to give you the visual. I drive a Jeep Wrangler but I’m very much, I mean, you all can see me but I’m very much like a Southern Belle woman at the end of the day. So, I drive a Jeep Wrangler with the top down and the doors off but I have lily Pulitzer scarves in my hair like very Thelma and Louise kind of thing. And so, those moments of joy, of being, just take that visual, if you will, and just driving around town with like the best music on, the sun is shining down on you, and everything’s just like maybe you got good news that day or your kid’s like, I don’t know, honor roll student of the month or whatever. I don’t know, whatever. And then if everything’s like all good in the hood and it’s not even that moment is all good in the hood. It’s that you’re actually aware in that moment and you can appreciate that moment for what it is. How do I like…
Jeffrey Boedges: You’re present.
Andrea Wightwick: You’re present in it. Yeah. You’re appreciative of the present moment. And I was like, “I want to like this word that defines that kind of like south of euphoria feeling in that moment.” And I just settled on Hapsy, just yeah.
Rick Kiley: Got it.
Jeffrey Boedges: How many other names did you go through before you landed on Hapsy though?
Andrea Wightwick: You know what, not a lot. Not a lot. I just kind of like I was writing down a couple. I want to say maybe seven I wrote down and I got there and I was like, “Yeah. That works.” You know, I have a marketing background and so there are certain things you want to look for and there’s not too many syllables and you can get like a hard K or you know there’s all sorts of things. And so, I was like, “Okay. Kind of festive.”
Rick Kiley: Wait, what? Hard K?
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. You can get a hard C or a K sound, it’s really good or an X. There are just certain things that resonate better and memory collection.
Rick Kiley: Let’s see if we could guess the six ones that you didn’t pick like Hacky, right? There’s a hard K in there. Let’s see, Hacky, Sacky.
Jeffrey Boedges: Hacky, Sacky. Well, it came in a sack bag.
Rick Kiley: Yeah. And it’s like tipsy and happy together so what if you reverse that, that would be Tipity? No, that doesn’t work.
Andrea Wightwick: Doesn’t work.
Jeffrey Boedges: But I’d be more interested to find out the committee that shows is sitting in your office right now. So, the more people you have, the harder it is to make a decision, and with only seven, that strikes me as a committee of one decision. Is that accurate?
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. it was just me and I was like, “I think I like this. I think I like this word.” And then I googled it. I’m like, “What if this is like a serial killer’s last name or something?”
Rick Kiley: Smart.
Andrea Wightwick: So, it was pretty clean from an SEO standpoint, from a googleability search kind of thing and I was like, “Cool. I got it.”
Jeffrey Boedges: URL is available.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. Interestingly, no. It is not available. Interestingly, it redirects to another company which shall not be named. So, I have this month my circle are coming back to me, the trademark’s been fully registered at that point and so on, so forth. So, I’ll be requesting that with my lawyer. So, we have BeHapsy.com, which is our conjured feeling. Again, we do want to activate off of the word and so our branding is around be hapsy and be present, be balanced, be hapsy kind of thing. But, yes, I will be buying the URL back and rerouting it to the actual website that I have right now.
Rick Kiley: Nice.
Jeffrey Boedges: Good for you. I want you to help us with some of our stuff because you sound like you really got good ideas about that.
Andrea Wightwick: We got thick-skinned from those Pepsi days.
Jeffrey Boedges: I guess so. I guess so.
Rick Kiley: Yeah. And from the waiting on tables. Sorry. You cannot have a Pepsi. Man, I’m still mad about that story. All right. So, just go through quickly then the products that the Hapsy product line. What can one get from Hapsy? How does one get Hapsy?
Andrea Wightwick: So, there’s a topical and then there is an adjustable. We’re going to start really small with this consumer and we want to sidestep them in. And so, there are four daily drops and that’s a tincture. They come in two different sizes. There’s the more traditional, which is hilarious to say out loud, the idea of traditional in this casing category. But there’s the traditional 1 ounce that people if they’re open to this area, then they’re familiar with but the mainstay and the reason behind it was a smaller one so there’s a half-ounce. Fun time, we did go through was looking at like dram sizes and stuff but there was just a little, listen, there was a little too much closeness to the idea of a cocaine dram in vial.
Jeffrey Boedges: It’s like a 5-ounce you got there, Rick.
Rick Kiley: Well, this is 30 milliliters.
Andrea Wightwick: That’s 1 ounce.
Jeffrey Boedges: Well, that’s 1 ounce? That’s it? Oh, wow.
Andrea Wightwick: Yep. And if you’ve ever nursed, you know that off the top of your head still.
Jeffrey Boedges: I have not nursed but it looked to me to be about half of the soda cans. I was like that’s got to be about 5 ounces.
Rick Kiley: No, it’s 30 milliliters.
Jeffrey Boedges: Look, I’m not arguing. I would lose this conversation faster than I would lose more than with my wife but, yeah. All good.
Rick Kiley: Yeah.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. So, we have the half ounce. They’re both basically 40 milligrams for a full dropper. And that’s because, listen, and master’s class and Coca-Cola marketing and Pepsi, there’s media consumption and future consumption at the end of the day in those categories. You’ve got the quick 20-ounce at checkout and there’s a premium price on that. Then you’ve got the very value price 2-liter that somebody isn’t going to chug.
Jeffrey Boedges: 20-ounce is now a quick one, huh?
Andrea Wightwick: 20-ounce is a quick one. Yeah.
Jeffrey Boedges: Oh, wow.
Rick Kiley: Here’s how you know that actually that’s wrong because when you look at the calories and the servings per container, if the service per container, not one.
Jeffrey Boedges: Two-and-a-half, I think. Yeah.
Andrea Wightwick: Well, I believe the 20-ounce I haven’t looked at it in a while but they were pushing candy and like all immediate consumption products, they were pushing them to have the ingredient label actually say full serving one. So, like a vitamin water bottle is 2.5 servings and you would have to instead of saying that’s 40 ounces per serving and then you have to double plus it up. They would have to say it’s one and for this 20-ounce bottle, here’s exactly how many calories it is.
Rick Kiley: Yeah. And it’s 500, just so you know. It’s a lot. I tend to only drink tea and water and…
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah, bourbon. So good.
Rick Kiley: I was like I realize whiskey has some calories. Okay.
Andrea Wightwick: Yes. So, there’s literally 40 milligrams between the two for each dropper so that way you can bounce between the two. You’re not like, “Okay. Well, I have this one that I keep in my car, my gym bag, and I got to take one-fourth of a dropper on this one. But now I’m back at home and my normal dosage amount is a half a dropper on this one.” I’m like, “That’s just too much math for anybody to do. So, forget it.” So, we just try to make it really easy so you can bounce between a bigger bottle and a smaller bottle as you’re going about.
Jeffrey Boedges: What are the indications that they are good for right now? There’s one for calming down, evidently, right? So, for your 2:00 tough meeting…
Rick Kiley: Why are people using your products? What are the ailments they’re treating here?
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. Actually, it’s not that complicated. So, let’s take my baseline. My baseline is 10 milligrams every day at 3:00 but like if I am going to have a rainy day movie with my kids and I don’t want to be holding my phone at the same time or reading a magazine or making a laundry list of whatever I need to do, I actually want to be a good mom and like be present, I’ll take 40 milligrams because I’m not going to fall asleep. I just am able to sit there and be like, “Okay. Yeah. I’ll watch Frozen. You know, actually, I haven’t watched it the past 40 times you all have watched it because I’ve been doing other crap around the house but I’ll sit down and watch it. Yeah. Olaf, he’s funny. Sure. I could take a laugh with him.”
Jeffrey Boedges: I think we have a partnership coming here now with like with one of the big movie houses where you can rate it. So, that’s a 40-milligramer. You got to have that if we’re going to get through this. This one, it’s only ten.
Andrea Wightwick: Right. Yeah. It’s not like rated. Hapsy isn’t rated for you to be alert or for you to be calm. We help you understand, find your baseline, and then that’s your baseline for like whatever that is, right? And then if you have something that you actually want to be more present or more focused on or whatever, plus up from there if you want to. That’s fine. Like you could still drive. You’re not going to fall asleep at the wheel like you’re fine. Go.
Rick Kiley: And we should be clear here just for everyone listening. These are entirely CBD. They do not have THC. They are not psychoactive. 40 milligrams of THC might be a lot for you so like let’s be…
Jeffrey Boedges: And that’s a different kind of movie to watch at that point.
Rick Kiley: Yeah.
Andrea Wightwick: It’s a very different movie.
Rick Kiley: Yeah. That one, Olaf he flies around.
Jeffrey Boedges: Olaf does it funnier.
Rick Kiley: You do fall asleep.
Jeffrey Boedges: You need a lot more popcorn.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. I’m pretty sure I’m like a paperweight with 40 milligrams.
Rick Kiley: Right. Okay. That’s most common use, number one.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. So, that’s how we help you understand just how it works and how you can bounce between the two sizes. And then it’s based in safflower oil so it’s really just pure plant. It’s just nothing because CBD isolate doesn’t taste, it doesn’t have all the terpene from the rest of the hemp plant. And so, it actually is tasteless and odorless as its own compound. And so, then you’re just tasting the safflower oil and pure plant. And then we have a hint of mint because some people they’re so used to having some sort of smell or taste when they’re taking something in their mouth. And so, we’re like, “Fine, fine. Here’s a little bit of…” Now, we have only a hint of it because, again, back to all that R&D I would do, I would hold these like stronger mint ones under my tongue because that’s where you want it to sublingually get into your bloodstream and you hold it for about 30 seconds and then you can go ahead and swallow. But what would happen is the mint, it’s so strong, it turns on all the olfactory senses, and then it starts like burning in your nose while you’re like holding it under your tongue. And it’s like it creates anxiety as I’m trying to get rid of all of my anxiety and I was like, “Well, I’m just going to have an aversion over time to taking this. I’m not going to deal with this.” And so, I ended up calibrating it down to about like 10% of what we originally started with. So, that’s why we just call it Hint of Mint.
Jeffrey Boedges: Okay. And is that something that you sort of perfected in your time in soft drinks? Seriously, that’s a skill. I mean, it’s a real skill that being able to taste and understand all that.
Andrea Wightwick: I wasn’t very involved, so I helped launch Vitamin Water Zero and Powerade Zero. Those are my two biggest, most heavily involved brand launches that I did. Very happy about it. It was a lot of fun but during that process, I did have the privilege of being in the R&D kitchen a lot. And, yeah, I think we went through as a group 26 versions of stevia before we got to the right blend of a natural sweetener for just the Vitamin Water XXX Zero, just that one. And so, yeah, I think between knowing the big brands have had to go and go and go and refine and refine I’m like, “Yeah, I can refine.” That’s fine like this is just a part of the process.
Rick Kiley: Yeah. You are giving me an idea, though, if you could create this like super hard to keep in your mouth line and be like for men trying to fill that like Jager shot like moment, that’s like…
Andrea Wightwick: Like a warhead?
Rick Kiley: Yeah. It’s like, “Oh, I can’t even keep it under my tongue.”
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah.
Rick Kiley: It’s like right up at the ass.
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah. You got a rocket. I do the Listerine every night. You got to keep it in there for 30 seconds. And I got to tell you, man, that could be hard sometimes. You’re like, “Son of a gun, that’s hot as a pistol.”
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. Exactly.
Rick Kiley: I’m thinking the whole product line, a whole different target consumer.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. You know, there’s always round two. Yeah. So, those are the tinctures and then we have to soothe sticks. So, we use what people are familiar with, the sunblock stick, that you can glide over your face, your kids face like really easily. That size is actually really perfect for a shoulder that I broke and then had surgery on and still have a slight rotator cuff tear from skiing three years ago now. And really I would find stuff and it either smelled like menthol, which in the office are like sitting next to it on my shoulder all day. Oh my God, I hate smelling like the gym. This is just disgusting and gross where people would hug and they’re like, “Hmm, you smell nice. Is everything okay?” I’m like, “Yeah. I have a knocked-up shoulder. Can we talk about business?”
Jeffrey Boedges: Also tends to connote a certain age, “You smell like my great-grandma.”
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. Exactly. So, yeah, it was just not like cool. So, between that and then also like it would be this like big deodorant stick size things and I’m like, “I just need it for this one ball joint right here.” And so, I kept playing around with a bunch of different product sizes and different packaging and I looked at, of course, I shopped the aisles to be like, “Where can I find this kind of thing?” And when I found it over in the sunscreen because I was buying it for my own kid, I was like, “Oh, this is actually the best buy, using it on your face. No wonder it would work really well on a tennis elbow or a shoulder, that kind of thing.” So, the soothe stick is just that topical, really easy oval shape. We have it in a hint of mint as well. So, it’s not menthol. It is, again, a very, very, very subtle minty scent for people that are kind of Pavlovian at this point about that more topical analgesic traditional product with the menthol smell in there. And then we have a magnolia scent because, again, back to the like, if you know you know, I was like, “Oh, wouldn’t it be nice if it just smelled like a very light spa fragrance that almost is like a perfume and somebody is like, ‘Oh, you smell nice,’ and you’re like, ‘And I’m taking care of my body.’” No one needs to know.
Jeffrey Boedges: We worked one time on a perfume that actually repelled mosquitoes.
Andrea Wightwick: That would be amazing. Did it take off?
Jeffrey Boedges: I don’t see it so I don’t think so.
Rick Kiley: I don’t think so.
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah.
Andrea Wightwick: God, that would be amazing. I guess we have to go relook at that one. We have one moneymaker idea every show. That’s today’s. We need a bell.
Rick Kiley: Ding, ding.
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah.
Rick Kiley: I still think it’s like the extra strong like Altoid type, you know.
Jeffrey Boedges: Stuff for men? Yeah, exactly.
Rick Kiley: The Forbidden CBD.
Jeffrey Boedges: Are you man enough for this CBD?
Rick Kiley: Are you hot enough? Okay. So, that’s cool. I’m curious. I mean I think you explained it. So, topicals, ingestibles, they have somewhat different effects, one, obviously for your whole body and the other for a specific region. We’ve talked about that. I’m just curious, you talked about the giant letters in 80-point font. You know, if someone is interested in shopping for a CBD product like let’s take a step maybe just to the side of yours, how does somebody know that it’s a good CBD product? Like can you help us with that? I mean, I’ve seen everything from like I’ve got chocolate with CBD, I have the drink with CBD, I have a rope that has CBD like floss. You know, I’m sure there’s like everything out there right now and how do you know if it’s just like a bunch of hoo-ha? I was going to say malarkey. I got Joe Biden in my head today.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. Oh, that’s my favorite word, malarkey. Scuttlebutt’s another good one. I like certain old words.
Rick Kiley: Yeah. I guess, how do you help people know what to look for?
Andrea Wightwick: Well, so we start by not even talking about our branding. So, if somebody is asking me like why would I even use CBD? I’m like, “Well, what’s your problem, first of all? Like, start there.” Somebody else have asked me, “Should everybody use CBD?” I’m like, “No. Everybody should be open to it if they want to try it. Not everyone should just want to use it.”
Rick Kiley: Do you ever use peer pressure then? I mean just, “You’d be cooler if you did.”
Jeffrey Boedges: All the cool kids are doing it.
Andrea Wightwick: I joke that I’m like Tina Fey in Mean Girls. I push people. I’m a pusher. I’m a drug pusher. My husband calls me Blanca from Weeds, Nancy Botwin.
Rick Kiley: Oh, man.
Jeffrey Boedges: Right, right, right. Okay. That’s a good one. I like that one.
Andrea Wightwick: There’s a lot of fun side jokes but with the consumer, no. We try and keep it lighthearted and educational. And so, like you said, throw Hapsy to the side for a second, think about what kind of things you want. And so, what we do is a lot of conversations about things that are already in there every day. So, a lot of times I talk about wines. I’m like, “Let’s talk about wines and then let’s talk about hemp, and let’s make an analogy. So, guys, we’re going to The French Laundry tonight on me. Let’s go.” And then we go. The three of us are sitting down and the sommelier comes out and he’s like, “Listen, I’ve got this great Bordeaux from 2009. It was a very acidic year. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” And you’re like, “Yeah, bring it right now.” Great wine pairing. That is very much like what is called full-spectrum hemp or whole plant CBD. And so, what you’re doing is you’re allowing the harvest and the acidity of the soil that year and all those other variables to just naturally occur and you’re taking that product as it was harvested and accepting it with that. You’re also going to allow for up to 0.3% THC and maybe a little more CBN in this blend, which is a nice natural melatonin that’s found in the hemp, some CDG, some other terpene that’ll give a smell, that bouquet or entourage effect. All of those things are allotted within that full-spectrum area. And then you’ve got broad-spectrum, which is that exact same harvest but now they just stripped out that 0.3% THC but all that variety is still there.
And then the wine analogy comes back in when you think about an isolate product like Hapsy or a CBD isolate, and that’s going to be like your Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc, the one that is the mainstay. She’s a great Savvy B. You trust her. You know her. That’s a very stable color and clarity and taste. You know what you’re getting. It’s consistent. It’s reliable. I like both of those wines for those two different occasions, right? And so, when it comes to CBD, you should also know what am I going after, what do I want. For me, I don’t like the sommelier telling me what I’m going to end up having and have that kind of like I have to be at the behest of the harvest when I just need to have a consistent dose and I wanted this kind of like crockpot set and forget every day. And so, that’s why I have Hapsy and that’s why I, as a consumer, want a CBD isolate, period. And so, we start with like those types of conversations with the consumer to really help them understand and distillate down how the category is structured and then what do you want within there? Because Hapsy is only going to be one segment. And so, we’re not for everybody. If you’re looking for that entourage effect, totally fine. That’s great. Hapsy is not playing there.
Rick Kiley: Got it. So, when people if they were to look at a package on a CBD product, you’re saying the package should convey this full spectrum, broad-spectrum and like, are those things communicated?
Andrea Wightwick: I mean, it should. There’s a lot of things I wish that people did, period. I would love regulation in this space for that reason. It would be so lovely. And so, yeah, they should say exactly what they are. A lot of times these like bathtub-made brands are not. And that’s another thing, you didn’t have to say where you’re made. You don’t even have to say, “Hey, I was made in a clean commercial kitchen or a lab or a GMC keep up.” You could literally just put it on the market.
Jeffrey Boedges: There’s no farmer grade yet.
Andrea Wightwick: No. There’s nothing. The idea…
Rick Kiley: It probably have to say whether or not it was in a factory with peanuts and shellfish for allergies, right?
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah. Kind of a rabbi blessing.
Andrea Wightwick: They can roll the dice so you don’t really have to. You can roll the dice as a company. I mean, God, good luck getting insured.
Jeffrey Boedges: Sorry. Just as a corollary question, right now, who is my state? So, are the rules federal or the rules state-by-state, question one? Question two, who’s controlling it right now for CBD?
Andrea Wightwick: So, the DEA is controlling it but then also from a marketing standpoint, like the FTC, right? Like there’s guidelines and they’ll shut you down for saying things, things like that. And then the FDA as well. Very similar.
Jeffrey Boedges: No FBI?
Rick Kiley: I think the ASPCA is involved.
Andrea Wightwick: Exactly. Good Lord. You have three with the agencies?
Andrea Wightwick: The AARP is also involved.
Jeffrey Boedges: Oh, wow. Yeah. Well, get back to smelling like grandma.
Rick Kiley: We’re back to grandma, smelling like that. Yeah.
Andrea Wightwick: So, yeah. So, there are definitely ways you can get in trouble and they’ll find you, right? That how you’re going to get on the government’s radar is basically doing the wrong thing. But as far as like so the 2018 hemp farm bill, it descheduled hemp out of that listing. And so, that is what federally makes this a product that you can commercially make and sell. So, it’s not varying from state-to-state from that standpoint.
Jeffrey Boedges: And you don’t have to have big warning labels on there and anything like that?
Andrea Wightwick: You should.
Jeffrey Boedges: Oh, you should?
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. You should. I mean, you don’t have to but again, the FDA, if you do not throw their FDA disclaimer out there, they will come and shut you down and they have shut down.
Rick Kiley: Got it. Packaging has a long way to go in CBD.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. I have UPCs and on the tinctures, I have the full supplement facts panel and the full ingredient list. And so, that’s the caloric panel. And then on the drug facts panel for the soothe stick as well and I rate the purpose, topical analgesic, everything, and people are like, “Why are you even bothering? None of these other brands do. They don’t even have UPCs,” and I’m like, “Why wouldn’t I do it exactly the way that markets are going to go?”
Rick Kiley: It makes them feel better. I don’t know. I would have a lot more confidence as a consumer shopping for something that looks like it’s met some sort of standard. You know, it’s just like…
Jeffrey Boedges: Any kind of standard.
Rick Kiley: That’s the whole challenge.
Andrea Wightwick: So, I think those are some of the answers to your questions, even too like putting things out there that consumers are already familiar with from other product categories within this floor, helping them understand, “Okay. I should have this here. I should look for something like this and see, ‘Oh, this is 6 to 8 calories. Okay. Good to know.’”
Rick Kiley: Yeah. Okay. I think I’m going to try to push the conversation a little bit towards another direction but we always talk about myths and misconceptions about the category, and I would imagine with CBD, I’m just going to guess that one of the myths is that people think it’s psychoactive the way THC is. But beyond that, are there other preconceptions people come in with about what CBD is or does that you find yourself having to educate otherwise?
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. There’s two main ones. One is around will I pass a drug test and then the other one is around, well, what’s going to happen to me if I take too much when I’m trying to start? Those are the two main ones out of am I going to get high and those questions.
Rick Kiley: Well, okay, so people think they’re not going to pass a drug test and they will.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. So, we go right back to that wine analogy with it. We’re like, “Well, let’s talk about what a urine analysis is. Okay. So, urine analysis is testing for THC. That is how they’re trying to decide if you have put marijuana into your body. Well, if you have a full spectrum, a whole plant product that you’re consuming, that product is commercially allowed to give you a finished product of 0.3%. So, it stands to reason that that could show up in a urine analysis because they’re controlling for THC. That’s another reason why a CBD isolate can be beneficial if you are anxious or worried about that type of effect.” And so, we again educate the consumer. We’re not selling them on Hapsy. We’re just like, “Let’s get you just please be informed.”
Jeffrey Boedges: You don’t have to worry and it takes it away. Sorry, Rick. I had to get it out there. Yeah. I screwed up big time.
Rick Kiley: The worst thing that can happen to you if you take too much is?
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. A lot of people think like, “Well, am I going to pass out? Can I still drive? You know, what about my kids? Am I going to be okay around them?” And I’m like, “You’ll be probably better around them, a bit more amenable and agreeable.”
Jeffrey Boedges: You know, my shoulder gets real paranoid though when I have to use that balm on their symptoms.
Andrea Wightwick: So, I try and give again like it’s taking things that people know every day and helping them understand it. And so, I say, “Listen, if you take too much, what you’ll end up feeling like is how you feel after you ate Thanksgiving dinner. You’re just not bloated. But it’s that like, ‘Oh, I can just sit and watch this football game that I don’t care about but it’s just on because that’s what everybody agreed to watch,’ and you’re just able to just sit there and be.”
Rick Kiley: Well, I guess there’s like also a question like there’s a lot of over-the-counter medications out there. You talk about other analgesics like Tylenol, like they come with warnings to sort of stay to a prescribed regimen. Do your products sort of have that guidance on the label?
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. We do. So, the one serving size, for the 30-ounce, for instance, we say it’s 30 servings and 40 milligrams per serving. And that’s a very safe number to get. And so, people can double-dose if they end up that their double dose is their baseline, okay, that’s fine. No judgment.
Rick Kiley: Yeah. But like if you take too much of anything, it’s bad for you. So, if I take 25 Tylenol pills, that’s not going to be good for my liver or anything else. So, I get it but within reason, people should feel comfortable taking the amount. All right. What did we want to ask about next? I think…
Jeffrey Boedges: I’d be interested to hear do you have plans to go more THC at some point? You’ve mentioned at least a general acceptance to it when it’s legal. So, I know you’re headquartered in Georgia where you distributed. So, are you distributed only in Georgia? Are you distributed in states that are also rec legal and do you have plans to go that direction?
Andrea Wightwick: Yes. So, we’re DTC just in the U.S., direct-to-consumer, sorry, just in the U.S., and then we have wholesale agreements that we are working on. We are in retail and boutiques and more like luxury where again, you wouldn’t expect to see it but the shopper is in this browsing, open-minded mood. There are certain categories you shop on autopilot like pet and then there’s other things like home furnishings and stationery and things like that. We are like, “I don’t know what I want today,” and you just kind of walk in open-minded. So, those are the stores that we’re targeting. And then also those like Provisional Market. So, we’re working with a distributor in the Southeast that carries local artisan goods, shelf-stable and perishable ones, to be distributed in those more like provisional general store type of food traditional markets like not like a bodega but small print at the same time, small footprint. Our THC plans do not involve the brand Hapsy. We are in Georgia. $0.94 on the $1 is spent back in the local economy within 90 miles of my house. And so, we’re distributed. Our fulfillment center, that’s the furthest away. That’s close to 90 miles. The print shop that made the soothe stick boxes, shout out to Forest at Graphic Solutions Group in Kennesaw. Like, I went up there and I did everything with him and worked hand-in-hand and I’m really proud, especially during the pandemic, to be able to had the ability to put money back into small businesses here locally.
We also were trying to support the farmers as they’re getting up. So, the first harvest for hemp was actually in October of this past year. And so, as we get the farmers going on hemp, we’re going to support the Department of Agriculture down here even stronger. For THC, if that does happen in the state of Georgia and/or at the federal level, that will be a sister brand to Hapsy. They will not be the same.
Rick Kiley: I think you should call it Thapsy. Put a T right in front of it.
Andrea Wightwick: There is a specific brand name that already has the intent to use, filed on.
Rick Kiley: Fine. I’m just concerned for Thapsy.
Jeffrey Boedges: Is the URL available? Just make sure the URL…
Rick Kiley: I make a cease and desist for Thapsy. She seems to be right on it. So, when you’re just like – I think the last thing I just want to cover is when you’re promoting your brand, when you’re trying to communicate with consumers, what are you taking? Like, a lot of the THC brands have a significant amount of restrictions but I imagine those are fewer for you. Are you?
Andrea Wightwick: Oh, they’re not.
Rick Kiley: They’re not? Okay. I’m wrong.
Andrea Wightwick: They’re on the same umbrella
Rick Kiley: Okay. So, how are you getting the word out then?
Andrea Wightwick: So, again, we kind of go back to those again, the consumer. We go back to the consumer. Where are they going to be interested in talking and listening? And so, the bigger the screen, I think everybody knows this but they maybe just not be aware that the bigger the screen, the less intimate it feels. And so, everything that we do from a media standpoint is through the idea of somebody is viewing it intimately on their phone. So, for instance, we’re doing a podcast now, right? Like this is something that’s very intimate in a consumer’s ear where they’re open-mindedly listening to you all and to me and learning. Same thing on Instagram. So, we partnered with specific Atlanta, very professional people that are not necessarily pushing any Tom, Dick, and Harry product but have entrusted Hapsy and then invite me in to have a conversation over coffee or a glass of wine. And we talk through it like just two women would talk at a coffee table and you get to listen in and learn. And so, because the consumer is a skeptic but in that medium, open to listening to that person they already follow or entrust, we’re able to have them come in and listen with a more open mind. And so, that’s how we’re getting through to them right now.
Rick Kiley: Are you doing any like product sampling or demos or that sort of more traditional work?
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah. Natural food shows, things like that?
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. Well, that’s the fun part about being in a pandemic and launching during this. So, those are definitely on the horizon. That was part of the initial plan. That’s definitely all of those grassroot things as people get out and about, totally. But it’s interesting. We have this thing called the BeltLine down here. It’s a rail trail. It’s like the High Line but longer and not a bridge.
Rick Kiley: And it keeps your pants up.
Jeffrey Boedges: It’s longer and it’s not so high.
Andrea Wightwick: And so, there’s people that are like, “Oh, we’ll just go get a permit to be on the BeltLine and pass out a bunch of Hapsy.” And I’m like, “That’s not the consumer. The consumer, if she’s going to the BeltLine, if she and her husband are going to the BeltLine, it’s for like a special occasion. It’s not because they live there and just they’re going there on a Saturday morning.” So, instead, we’re meeting them where they are and finding them where they are. And so, that’s through the mediums but then also when we get out in the market, it’ll be through like pop-up stores or there are these specific Italian Ape Piaggio trucks like the Prosecco truck or things like that, cocktail trucks. And so, those go to special events and so we’ll serve CBD mixed into those. If somebody wants a nonalcoholic, just CBD version, or coffee shop, things like that. So, that’s kind of how we’re infiltrating into the market, if you will, in a different way to meet the consumer where they’re already, again, open-minded and shopping and willing to listen.
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah. I’m just going to brainstorm for one second because this seems right but I’m like I’m not a multilevel marketing guy but I feel like the Avon model would be dynamite for this type of thing where you would have Hapsy ladies that are like introducing you because that is that intimate moment really amongst friends and peers.
Andrea Wightwick: So, listen, I want to say that very badly like think about the Tupperware party. Think about a Pure Romance party like I don’t know if you guys know what Pure Romance is but I guarantee that the ladies listening of a certain age definitely know it.
Jeffrey Boedges: I can figure it out and I’m sure there’s not that much romance in it but, yeah.
Rick Kiley: Yeah. And I think it should be called Impure Romance.
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah. That sounds a little bit plastic.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. Those are home conversations.
Rick Kiley: By the way, impure romance is a great name for a line of products.
Jeffrey Boedges: Oh, for sure. Yeah. Well, that’s CBD laced.
Rick Kiley: You can keep that.
Jeffrey Boedges: Slippery stuff.
Rick Kiley: I already just registered Not So High Line as a CBD brand.
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah. Oh, that’s good.
Andrea Wightwick: That’s a fun one. That’s a good one.
Rick Kiley: Sorry. We come up with names all day.
Jeffrey Boedges: Ding goes the bell.
Andrea Wightwick: Yep. You’re exactly right. So, we want to be very careful talking about it to the consumer that way as like, “Listen, it’s almost like an MLM what you’re talking,” and they’re like don’t sell me anything.
Jeffrey Boedges: Sorry. I know people freak out but like my sister sells Pampered Chef and she makes a bazillion dollars but she loves having Pampered Chef parties. Okay.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. So, I mean, we’re taking a similar approach from the standpoint of leaning on the consumer to help them spread the word. So, we’ve got like a referrer friend on the website. For instance, we have 10 get 10 but we call it a wink and a nudge, things like that.
Rick Kiley: In the alcohol beverage sector, which we work in a lot, especially with the on-premise shut down the idea of consumption at home has gone up and people are doing exactly what you’re talking about. It doesn’t have to be multi-level marketing but people who are passionate about brands are sharing their affection with others just because it’s a social opportunity. And especially if you’re trying to create a little sense of being in the know, it seems to be a good approach. I could see ambassadors and people working for you basically going into offices and other clubs and it could definitely be a book club scenario with impure romance. And you just own that all.
Jeffrey Boedges: I think we have the book club partner for this.
Rick Kiley: We do. Yeah. Offline conversation about some promotional solutions through partnerships.
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. The ideas are endless for sure and it’s fun thinking of those, being more creative. Because of the restrictions, it actually becomes more fun that way I think as a marketer.
Rick Kiley: Hey, necessity is the mother of invention. Good stuff comes. Cool. Well, we’re really at the end of our time here. This has been a good conversation and we end our interviews always the same way. If you’ve listened to us before, you kind of know what’s coming.
Jeffrey Boedges: So, hopefully, you’ve done your homework because we have a big board.
Rick Kiley: Yeah. We’re starting to get really specific about it and we call people out when they’re wrong.
Andrea Wightwick: I heard. I heard the recap.
Rick Kiley: So, just given what you know, where do you think sort of the legalization process is going to take us in the U.S.? When do you think we’ll be federally legal if it’ll happen at all? Do you maybe not care? I mean, I think you probably care but, you know.
Andrea Wightwick: I totally care. I got into this for many of the reasons like we talked about but I would love for it to be federally destabilized. It would be amazing and make everything recreationally and medicinally around. So, listen, I think we’re going to have another four years of the party that we have in-house. Let me just go bold there. I think we’re going to have another four years. So, I think it’ll happen within the first election, I mean the first year, so that’ll be 2025. That legislation session is when I’m calling it.
Rick Kiley: Wow. All right.
Jeffrey Boedges: There’s some science behind that. So, you have thought about it,
Rick Kiley: It’s conservative but it’s a more conservative answer than many people. I think you’re just fearful of being shamed publicly and I get it.
Andrea Wightwick: No. No. So, here’s my reasoning behind it. Listen.
Jeffrey Boedges: President Harris will make that first on her priority list.
Andrea Wightwick: I think if the pandemic had not happened, it would happen in this administration, 100%, but there’s so much to clean up right now that there’s not going to be enough time. There’s nothing going to be enough to push through. I think the Banking Act will help move it. So, get the Banking Act passed in this administration and then campaign on the promise of descheduling and make that part of your first year. That’s how I think it’ll play out.
Rick Kiley: All right. Everybody is listening up in Washington. Pay attention.
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah. It’s going to be a good tax revenue base for you guys out there trying to raise money.
Rick Kiley: There you go. Well, Andrea, it has been great talking to you today. If people want to get some information about Hapsy, where should they go?
Andrea Wightwick: Yeah. So, Hapsy is H-A-P-S-Y for the record because we can’t see it right now on the podcast. That’s a good point. It’s BeHapsy.com and you can follow us on socials @BeHapsy.
Rick Kiley: Cool. Awesome. Well, if you’re…
Jeffrey Boedges: People want to sing that Be Happy song now though. Don’t worry, be happy. I can’t be the first person to say that to you, Andrea. She’s like, “But I hope the last.”
Andrea Wightwick: No. We get all of it. We go, “Come on, be Hapsy.”
Jeffrey Boedges: Yeah. The old Partridge Family. Yeah, man. Rock it.
Rick Kiley: All right. Anyway, thanks so much. Talk to you, guys, next time.
Andrea Wightwick: Thank you.
Rick Kiley: Cheers.
Jeffrey Boedges: Thank you, Andrea.
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