00;00;02;23 - 00;00;18;25
VO
Welcome to Dig In, the podcast brought to you by Dig Insights. Each week Jess Gaedeke chats with world class brand professionals to bring you the story behind the story of some of the most breakthrough innovations, marketing tactics, and campaigns.

00;00;18;28 - 00;00;46;17
Jess
Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Dig In podcast. This is Jess Gaedeke with Dig Insights and today I got to tell you, you're probably going to feel like you're listening in to like a night out on the town or some form of professional gossip sesh because I have a very old friend here today. So buckle up. We've got Lucienne Castillo, senior director of consumer insights and strategy at Pabst Brewing Company, which I'm sure a lot of you know is the parent company of the beloved Pabst Blue Ribbon brand.

00;00;46;24 - 00;01;00;10
Jess
But also brands like Jack Daniel's Country Cocktails, Lone Star, Rainier, Schlitz, which was one of my grandmother's favorites, Lucienne, I have to tell you that and many more brands to come. So Lucienne, seriously thrilled that you're here. Thanks so much for joining me today.

00;01;00;13 - 00;01;06;12
Lucienne
Thanks for having me, Jess. I feel like we need to have like a drink in hand. I should have brought a Pabst.

00;01;06;14 - 00;01;17;04
Jess
It's it's late enough for us. I think we could have made that happen for us. But maybe after maybe we'll cheers once we wrap up today. So let's start with you telling our listeners a little bit about yourself and your background.

00;01;17;11 - 00;01;41;07
Lucienne
Perfect. So I've always been in insight roles, always been a very curious person. I started off my career actually at Bank of America, so I did small business banking coming out of college, had a math background, so jumped into Bank of America just because it was like, okay, it has numbers. We'll figure it out. You know, when you're young, you don't really know what you want to do.

00;01;41;10 - 00;02;00;20
Lucienne
It was a great job, great company, but really not a great fit for me. So I started off in banking, ended up fortuitously meeting a gal, now one of my best friends who worked at Nielsen, and she introduced me to the whole world of just measurement and what it means to collect data and understand people behind it.

00;02;00;22 - 00;02;28;24
Lucienne
So I worked on the Nielsen side, local media for a couple of years, which brought me to Los Angeles, one of the best times of my life, you know, living in La la land in my twenties, it was great. And then shortly after I got recruited into Pabst in 2015 and I've been at Pabst ever since, but carrying on different roles and Pabst that I really enjoyed, really insights heavy roles, but also worked on the brand teams for a little while.

00;02;28;27 - 00;02;47;22
Lucienne
So jumped around in different positions, which really exposed me to two different things. Really gained the toolset that I needed to step into my most current role as the Consumer Insights lead in the department at Pabst. So still a bit of Pabst, but really, really enjoying my role now at Consumer Insights.

00;02;47;24 - 00;03;03;18
Jess
That's a great background, super diverse background that I think leads to a lot of interesting decision making that you can do now in your current role. And we are going to get into that. So thank you for sharing that. But first, just an impromptu question to get things going. What is your walk up song?

00;03;03;21 - 00;03;34;19
Lucienne
Man, that's a good question. I feel like it would have to be. I'm a very big like R&B type hip hop girl. I actually had a walk up song recently. We had a company meeting and they said, You got to walk up song. And I did Everyday People by Arrested Development. I don't know if you know the song, but it's a really great like everybody kind of grooves to it and it's really positive vibes and that's why it would have to be my walkup song.

00;03;34;19 - 00;03;35;24
Lucienne
What's yours?

00;03;35;24 - 00;03;53;21
Jess
Oh gos, I never get asked those questions. I'll answer in a second. But that song, what comes up often on my nineties on nine on Sirius XM and it always gives me that vibe. Yeah, I got to say, my walk up song since high school is AC/DC Back in Black. Part of it was we were the Hornets and so our colors were black and gold.

00;03;53;21 - 00;04;17;14
Jess
So the, the black theme worked. But that song hits like that, that song gets me so pumped up and I'm coming in hot because I just got back from the Super Bowl, Lucienne, I think I told you that I was at the Super Bowl on Sunday in Las Vegas. But anyway, we did play the a lot of hype music that morning in our hotel room and Back in Black was certainly there.

00;04;17;16 - 00;04;41;07
Jess
But anyway, I'm back. I lived to tell the tale. That’s the important part. Enough about me. Let's get into your story. Let's dig in because our listeners, they really do crave inspiration from other leaders and I think one of the best ways to inspire is to tell a story. So I am very excited to hear about this upcoming launch that you have been integral in helping bring to market.

00;04;41;07 - 00;04;52;20
Jess
And that is Not Your Father's hard soda pop and I am super excited to hear the story. So tell me about how that idea originated. What inspired that idea? How did it come to be?

00;04;52;20 - 00;05;26;04
Lucienne
Yeah, I love to talk about Not Your Father's hard soda pop because honestly, it's a product and just idea that wrote itself. I can't say that it was anything new that inspired this because it is a brand that was launched in 2015 or launched nationally in 2015. So if I hope you're familiar with it, a lot of people pop hopefully you’re heard of it because in 2015 it was like the craze in the alcohol or at least the beer space, largely because of Not Your Father's root beer, which is delicious.

00;05;26;04 - 00;05;49;18
Lucienne
If you taste it. It's like a root beer that alcohol root beer that just tastes like root beer, like what is the magic in it? So in 2015, it was the number one selling item. You couldn't keep it on shelves long enough. And that's actually also what brought me to Pabst, because at that time everything was growing. It was a really exciting time and it really was a pioneer in terms of the beyond beer space, right?

00;05;49;18 - 00;06;21;16
Lucienne
So at that time, within beer, really, craft beer was the biggest thing. So Not Your Father's root beer was really a pioneer. Now, looking at the beer aisle now, so Not Your Father's root beer still exists, but it definitely took a little bit of a backseat. It kind of just, you know, kept going along with it. Not Your Father's root beer brand, but it's been a few years now and we recognize that it was time to really reinvigorate the brand and really the hearts

00;06;21;16 - 00;06;45;08
Lucienne
of the spot. It started off with actually an idea to launch a better for you soda largely because of the better for you sodas that are coming around. You just had mentioned the Super Bowl and I saw the commercials. You know, there's Poppi, you know, we know that there's Olipop and there's a lot of these alternative sodas that are coming out.

00;06;45;08 - 00;07;10;11
Lucienne
And while I do see the need for that, that item, it's just that sodas in general are just huge in terms of the non-alcs of the space. So we knew that sodas are having, sodas have been around for forever. It's actually a really top selling category and it just made sense to relook at that hard soda spot.

00;07;10;14 - 00;07;36;07
Lucienne
So that's where the inspiration came from. It just like looking at the opportunity of a brand that we used to have, we knew that it had much success in market when it launched, but there was a lot a lot of learnings that we made along the way as well. So knowing that soda is a relevant category, I don't know if you know this, but sodas in general are actually the number two selling drinks category only second to beer.

00;07;36;07 - 00;07;57;27
Lucienne
Yes. Everybody loves soda. All different ages. So when we started testing the concept, we didn't know if it was going to be under the Not Your Father's brand. You know, we wanted to confirm that that was still the right brand to bring this product back in with. And through a lot of research and work, we found the solutions which really drove us to Not Your Father's hard soda pop.

00;07;57;27 - 00;08;22;12
Lucienne
So it really wrote itself. Just because people love sodas, it's right in our face. It's like not overcomplicating an opportunity. It's just kind of staring at us in the face. It's something that we owned in the past and we knew that we could refine and, you know, make some wrongs right that we had done in the past to make sure that we we hit on the great opportunity that sodas are having this moment.

00;08;22;19 - 00;08;38;23
Jess
Yeah, for sure. And you just said that, you know, right some of the wrongs of the past. I'm curious, what were some of the biggest, I don’t know if you call them failures, but some of the biggest missteps in the root beer, you know, execution that maybe you corrected this time around?

00;08;38;25 - 00;09;12;08
Lucienne
Yeah, for sure. I think it's not necessarily that we made mistakes. It's just that things that we could have validated more. I think Not Your father's root beer was right. The liquid was delicious. The product was true to taste. The branding was also, you know, great for the time. But what happened immediately after we launched Root Beer and we did a lot of innovations immediately after a lot of extensions because we were really excited about the success the brand was having at the time.

00;09;12;10 - 00;09;32;23
Lucienne
But we didn't do a lot of validation in the process. We launched a new flavor, not a lot of quality testing, making sure that the liquid was right, that people like the taste were they flavors that were niche or were they flavors that were would reach the masses and that were sessionable or what we call it easy drinking.

00;09;32;26 - 00;09;55;26
Lucienne
So it's just making sure that we launched in the right flavors, making sure that we launch with a number of the right number of brands and extensions and flavors at the right time. So it's almost like we got too greedy and tried to do too much that did the reverse. So this time and this go around, we started from the ground up, right?

00;09;55;26 - 00;10;17;26
Lucienne
So we did true ideation with consumers. We did it even to test whether or not I'm Not Your Father's brand had the right equity or not. We also checked to see which flavors do people want to see, you know, what were the true drivers of purchase that would interest somebody in a hard soda? Were people into hard soda. We wanted to validate that as well.

00;10;17;26 - 00;10;41;02
Lucienne
So it's a lot of the asking the why behind to help validate some of the assumptions that we thought going in but also helped pivot some of the trajectory in terms of what the concept is today. So not necessarily mistakes is just things that we didn't do that we are doing now to make sure that we have durable innovation.

00;10;41;08 - 00;11;01;03
Jess
Durable innovation is a phenomenal phrase. And I think that as we continue to hear about the story, I'd love to hear more about that. So one of the things that really strikes me about some modern branding strategies that I've seen is the role that nostalgia is playing. I see it as a consumer. I see it in my professional life and I'm into it.

00;11;01;06 - 00;11;08;24
Jess
I'm just curious, did you tap into nostalgia, especially as you thought about the flavors that made sense for this Not Your Father's hard soda?

00;11;08;27 - 00;11;26;03
Lucienne
Yes, we definitely did. And talking about nostalgia is definitely relevant for not only our Not Your Father's hard soda pop brand. Pabst is probably the the king and queen of nostalgia. So that's definitely a relevant topic for us, which I love. But yes, we did, because we know at the end of the day there's a lot of brands out there.

00;11;26;03 - 00;12;01;27
Lucienne
So we also want to drive a connection with consumers and have a little bit of consumer empathy, whether that's like, yeah, I love that flavor or that reminds me of when I was young. So nostalgia definitely played a part, but I would say it was more so making sure that we had the right flavors that brought both excitement, but also would be sure flavors that would drive repeat purchases and we also wanted we also considered, as we tested in the ages that the flavor spoke to.

00;12;01;29 - 00;12;21;02
Lucienne
Right? Because what we found was unique with hard soda and soda in general, is that it really speaks to all ages. So whether you were younger and older is I mean, I'm sure you've seen and everybody's seen that like younger LDA not drinking as much as the older LDA. Yeah, that's definitely true. But there's definitely an appetite.

00;12;21;02 - 00;12;42;04
Lucienne
People are still drinking even if you're like 21 in the 20, you know, and so we found that the hard zone in particular really resonated with the legal drinking younger generation, which was exciting. So when we tested the flavors and made sure we built our turf, we wanted to make sure that it spoke both towards the all ages.

00;12;42;07 - 00;13;15;25
Lucienne
So that's where the flavor is. You'll see we have the classic cola and the lemon lime, which really hit with the masses. But then we added the strawberry vanilla, which is still a flavor that we saw tested really well, but adds a little pop of excitement that one might not expect. But one thing that we made sure across all the flavors, whether a classic or a new exciting flavor like strawberry vanilla, is that it was a flavor that or a liquid, I hate calling it liquid, but a drink that you could drink the whole thing and you'd want another one, right?

00;13;15;25 - 00;13;43;24
Lucienne
Because that's another issue within the beverage space, especially flavor malt beverage. Is that great if you have somebody try it once. But if they can't drink it again, then you know you're not going to really have sustainable innovation. So yeah, that's another table stakes thing that we do now when we launch product and develop products is that we do in-home usage test to make sure that we're not only sampling three ounce pours, but we're making sure that a person can drink the whole can as well.

00;13;43;24 - 00;13;54;24
Lucienne
So yeah, the flavor strategy is extremely important within the variety pack that we did and there was a lot of considerations into it to make sure that we had the right product in hand.

00;13;54;25 - 00;14;13;23
Jess
You have to get that whole experience kind of validated, right? You have to because if it's not in the context, you know, I believe in context. If it's not in context of how consumers are going to bring it into their lives, then you're missing a big part of the story. So you've mentioned a lot of the things that you kind of learned maybe from the root beer time and applied now to the hard soda pop.

00;14;13;26 - 00;14;18;00
Jess
Are there any other new tools or frameworks or approaches that you leveraged?

00;14;18;02 - 00;14;48;06
Lucienne
So not I wouldn't say necessarily new for the industry, but I would say new practices that we were remiss to do in the past. So, you know, talking to the consumers upfront and doing that ideation session and making sure there was a brand fit, so nothing new, but making sure that we were doing the fundamentals along the whole process, which really makes everybody's lives either easier, you know?

00;14;48;06 - 00;14;54;11
Lucienne
So at the end, the product really sells itself because you're being true to the consumer, which is the most important part.

00;14;54;11 - 00;15;14;17
Jess
And you'd be surprised at how many of your industry peers have the same situation that sometimes it's like back to fundamentals, back to the basics. Let's make sure we're blocking and tackling and not just, you know, sprinting to market. So no, that's really good. So it's launching in the spring. So what are some of the like launch plans?

00;15;14;17 - 00;15;18;26
Jess
How will you measure success? What are you doing to get everyone excited about this?

00;15;18;26 - 00;15;38;03
Lucienne
Yeah, great question. So it's launching this spring. So, you know, March is when the sales to the retailer will start shipments will start going out in March. But we are doing so one of the, one of part of our launch strategy is making sure that we launch in the right markets, right?. So we want to kind of launch small, it's not a test market.

00;15;38;04 - 00;15;57;22
Lucienne
It's more we really want to go where Not Your Father's hard soda or Not Your Father's root beer really had its strength and making sure that we know that the brand has a fit there and has a little bit of an equity. So that way we can really focus our efforts and do it right and then expand out nationally next year.

00;15;57;25 - 00;16;25;27
Lucienne
So it'll be a nine market or nine state launch to start primarily in the north central region and then a couple of states in the northwest. So the Washington and Oregons. And yes, so it's very much back and tackle making sure that we launch it right in the in the right states and of course, with it, we're having, you know, social media making sure that we have the media launch plans like the displays.

00;16;25;29 - 00;16;36;25
Lucienne
So, yeah, full 360 support on the brand, but just making sure that we test it right in the states that we're in and then very much drive the excitement to launch nationally.

00;16;36;28 - 00;16;41;27
Jess
Yeah that's so exciting I'm I can't wait to see it. You didn't mention one of my states so I may have to

00;16;41;27 - 00;16;42;10
Jess
go out of state

00;16;42;19 - 00;16;55;15
Jess
to purchase this product during that initial or maybe I can convince you to smuggle it across state lines for me. We didn't say that. I’m joking. So this is an exciting launch. What's your biggest takeaway from this experience?

00;16;55;18 - 00;17;20;03
Lucienne
The biggest takeaway, having this experience is it all goes back to the consumer, right? It's just validating and making sure that you go in with an open mind. Right? Because all of us, people often go in, especially when you come from the brand side, with you know what it's going to be. You know what brand or you know, not.

00;17;20;03 - 00;17;40;22
Lucienne
And there was a lot of pivots that we made. So like I said, going in, it was going to be a better for you soda. And that was the concept statement that we tested with. It was like a lower calorie, you know, better for you soda and quickly, the first thing that we learned and it was blaring at us is that consumers like soda should taste like a soda.

00;17;40;22 - 00;18;08;26
Lucienne
I don't really understand how could it be a soda but be better for you? And I definitely think that that's an opportunity. I think where the Olipops and the Poppis are going is definitely an opportunity. But given how small hard soda still is in its infancy. It was very clear that we should start with a soda that tastes like soda because that's really what consumers expect from a soda.

00;18;08;28 - 00;18;33;17
Lucienne
And it was still where the biggest authentic opportunity lie. So I think listening to your consumers being in that consumer empathy piece like just really putting yourself in that position and not overthinking it really just kind of like, okay, yeah, a soda that tastes like soda. So we kind of rewrote the concept and then, yeah, another learning was Not Your Father’s, we weren't sure.

00;18;33;17 - 00;18;57;26
Lucienne
We know we had a great brand in 2015, but this was also an opportunity to launch a new and exciting brand. What did people think of Not Your Father's as a brand name. And what we found to our pleasant surprise was that Not Your Father's had really positive brand sentiment. And oftentimes when we asked the consumers, they didn't even know we were talking about Not Your Father's.

00;18;57;26 - 00;19;14;08
Lucienne
We'd ask, you know, name any hard soda brands that come to mind, Not Your Father's was often the most one mentioned. And when we asked what they thought about them, they were like, Yeah we just don't see it on shelves anymore? Like we don't see it as often anymore. We'd be totally interested in the hard soda, Not Your Father's hard soda

00;19;14;19 - 00;19;29;18
Lucienne
but we just don't see it. So sometimes just listening to your consumers and humbling yourself and trying to put away your objective, your opinions going in will help with the process.

00;19;29;21 - 00;19;48;03
Jess
There are many lessons in that last part of what you just said. I I'm so glad that you were able to be part of that and again, I'm excited to see it on shelves for sure. Well, let's turn to you as a leader. So you're a leader in your organization. You're a leader in our industry. I really have admired your points of view on innovation for a number of years.

00;19;48;05 - 00;19;56;02
Jess
So I'd love to know what's one of your either most controversial or maybe passionate opinions about the state of innovation today?

00;19;56;04 - 00;20;17;12
Lucienne
That's a good question. You know, I think this comes to top of mind just after Super Bowl and, of course, being aware of the ads and all the new products coming out and just my world being in consumer insights and touching innovation. Part of it is that I think what's most controversial or that I'm most passionate about: innovation is important.

00;20;17;19 - 00;20;49;18
Lucienne
And it makes up probably 85%, if not more of my time. But I do think that there is a very fine balance between doing too much innovation and especially in beverage. You know, innovation is huge. I think it drives excitement. I think it drives new people and new news on the shelf. But I also find that the brands that do well are the ones that really own what they do well versus trying to do everything right.

00;20;49;18 - 00;21;13;25
Lucienne
Like it's what is it like math, you know, Is it master of Master of none? Like, you know, like that saying Jack of all trades, master of none. So that's like one lesson’s that hard because obviously you support innovation and I work in that. But I think innovation and I think you and I talked about this in our past lives but innovation doesn't necessarily need to be product driven.

00;21;13;25 - 00;21;38;10
Lucienne
And I think it's something that a lot of people, at least that I surround myself with in the industry just immediately goes to creating new product. But sometimes innovation is most important within your core business, and I think the brands that are performing well in our industry are the ones that are supporting their core business the most and having success in their core business.

00;21;38;14 - 00;22;09;29
Lucienne
So sometimes brand health or the industry health I feel like itself inflicted is, you know, that SNL skit when they had that hard seltzer skit on like all the brands coming out with a seltzer and it's like, well, it's true. It's just like everybody's trying to do everything. So yeah, so I think innovate, but innovate smartly and try not to do too much where it starts to hurt yourself and also hurt the shelf.

00;22;10;01 - 00;22;29;24
Jess
The category, right? Like you're just confusing the consumer at a certain point. Yeah, I definitely agree with what you're saying. Like, I think some companies tend to focus so much on product innovation that they lose the opportunity to think about innovation as any change of brand is making with the, you know, intent to shift decisions in their favor.

00;22;29;24 - 00;22;57;17
Jess
I mean, if you launch a new size pack or you create a new positioning statement or you have a new ad campaign, those are all innovations and they can all be grounded in your base brand that's trying to do something to influence consumer decisions. And so we really define innovation quite broadly. And we think the most successful companies apply that type of thinking and it's all about influencing the decisions that are going to result in your favor.

00;22;57;17 - 00;23;19;22
Jess
So yeah, I agree with you and I think that the category is an interesting one. I mean, crowded does not even begin to describe it or fragmented or any of those adjectives that you would use to describe that industry. So especially in light of that, do you have any new tools or frameworks or things that you're applying? And it could be going back to basics or it could be something new

00;23;19;22 - 00;23;25;07
Jess
but I'm just curious, what is a company like Pabst or you as a leader, what are some of the new things that you're trying?

00;23;25;10 - 00;23;51;15
Lucienne
Yeah, so I would say there's some really there's really like some fundamental things. And then of course there's things like, you know, that like you cannot have any conversation without talking about AI when you talk about new news. But I would say this year, you know, because consumer insights at Pabst is somewhat newer, right? So my department has been around for two little over two years.

00;23;51;15 - 00;24;27;01
Lucienne
So we are really building some of the fundamentals back in place, which has been extremely exciting time for myself, but also the organization. But what I found is that oftentimes and this was something that my mentor actually I have to give a shout out to my mentor because he's brought this to my attention. And it's a really simple application, is that a lot of companies are are victim to looking at two things or two actions, right? Jjust taking information and immediately jumping it into action.

00;24;27;02 - 00;24;47;02
Lucienne
So what's the information and what's the action that we're going to do from it? Or conversely, they know the action that they want to take or that they need or they think they need, and then they back it into the information. You're nodding, as I'm sure you've been part of that. So there's two simple steps in between that people often miss.

00;24;47;02 - 00;25;13;11
Lucienne
Or you think that you think about, but you don't take stop and take the time to actually do intentionally, which is getting the understanding. So the why. Right. So you're taking the information and then you need to apply what's the understanding of it? Like why. And then from that, what's the insight? So what's the so what from that, why is that important?

00;25;13;12 - 00;25;36;06
Lucienne
Why is that relevant? And sometimes it's not. And that's the thing people always think because you have an information that has to be an insight. And I think that's something that's so powerful too. Not everything has to have this unicorn insight, but, you know, first you need to then understand is there an insight? And if there is, how then can that be applied, which will then drive the action.

00;25;36;08 - 00;26;02;17
Lucienne
So it's really this like four box method that we often skip the in-between because it's the hardest part, but it also will unlock so much information and so, so much direction that will drive maybe in a different way or it helps provide more color to the conversation and to the project and to the objective.

00;26;02;20 - 00;26;23;27
Lucienne
And so we are practicing more of that at Pabst. So whether that is even small things like once a month we meet as a group and we take we, we have a specific objective like go outside and buy a product that you didn't buy before that jumps out to you. And then we all just talk about why why did you pick this up?

00;26;23;29 - 00;26;49;04
Lucienne
You know what, what is the the why behind it and from it it unlocks so many things. Or if there's a very specific or simple question that comes up or or challenge that a salesperson has, like, we need this in a bottle or we need this in a slim can, then you, if you ask why, because obviously, like, okay, well let's go do it or like, let's test it first.

00;26;49;04 - 00;27;12;04
Lucienne
I asked why, like, what's the need for it? Like it unlocks so much. So I think that that's the simple practice that doesn't cost any money. It just takes a little bit of time. And group think and you know what it also does not only unlocks a lot, but it also creates a great dynamic cross-functionally. So if you have this and you take the time with your counterparts, different departments, this is not just an insight thing.

00;27;12;07 - 00;27;27;28
Lucienne
You know, this is something that you work with your marketing team, your sales team, all different functions and you work on it together collaboratively. It really creates a great dynamic, but also unlocks a lot of information that's within your fingertips and you had right here, you just didn't take the moment to stop and talk about it there.

00;27;27;28 - 00;27;57;29
Jess
Again, there are about a dozen things that I hope people take away from that. But there's the cross-functional piece where you want to make sure you're getting outside of just the insights perview, right? You're tapping into other disciplines within the organization, but also taking the time to do that because so many companies were just moving so fast all day long that we don't take the time to pause and be curious about things and kind of know that, hey, maybe we're going down an exploration where there's not going to be the silver bullet at the end of this.

00;27;57;29 - 00;28;14;18
Jess
It's just we're going to learn and explore. So I just I think that's great. I'm glad that you do that. And I'm sure it's going to be core to how you guys continue to grow. And finally here, what's your hot take on either the beverage alcohol industry, RTD industry. Like there's a lot going on.

00;28;14;20 - 00;28;51;24
Lucienne
A hot take. I mean I think a lot of people or at least if you read a lot of the industry news, is that beverage, alcoholic beverage in particular is losing share. You know, fewer people are drinking, dry January. It's definitely true, but it's still big. So I think one one thing that I've reminded myself or even our CEO Paul we talk about it often is that beverage alcohol and beer in particular is a social vehicle to bring people together.

00;28;51;27 - 00;29;31;15
Lucienne
And it really is. It's like in terms of the category we play in. Yes, it's beverage alcohol. Yes, it's beer. But really we play in the social, social game. And I think that that is a positive thing, especially in a world where there's so much screen time, you know, coming out of COVID. Also with the acceleration of technology, we are so much, you know, screen on our phones and what bev-alc and in particular beer does is it brings people together, whether it's at your local watering hole or, you know, happy hour after work.

00;29;31;15 - 00;30;02;06
Lucienne
And it gives you the time to gather together and I think that that's something that will always exist. And I think that's something that we and I say we people working in the beverage, bev-alc industry often forget. So in terms of the hot take, yes, there's always this news about beer is losing share. Alcohol is in decline, you know, but it's still a big part of people's lives.

00;30;02;06 - 00;30;33;10
Lucienne
And I do see it as a way of of a positive, positive take. So but as we said, not too much innovation. We have to make sure that we do what we do right. You know, remember what it's all about, which really is in which drove which really drove my interest at Pabst and why I love what I do is that it’s a fun category and it is part of people's lives in different ways, celebrates people, you know, brings people together.

00;30;33;12 - 00;30;45;25
Lucienne
It's always brings positive light. So I guess that's my hot take or just like kind of like my two cents on what's going on with the beverage industry and why I love working in in beer.

00;30;45;25 - 00;31;06;26
Jess
That's awesome. And what better reason to like work, you know, on behalf of a brand than to bring that togetherness? I think that's fantastic. I love it. And you are making me even more thirsty the more we're talking. So it's time to go to the final dig. This is all about you as a person, as a consumer. Feel free to take off your Pabst hat if you wish for a moment.

00;31;06;28 - 00;31;09;24
Jess
What's the last product or service that you bought on impulse?

00;31;10;01 - 00;31;38;15
Lucienne
The last product, so, his is a true one. I actually recently subscribed. I had never thought about doing this, but I'm a new mom-ish so I have a 14 month old and I feel like my wardrobe needs a change and I do not have the time. So I did actually subscribe to Stitch Fix because it's something that I'm like, you know, I'll just see.

00;31;38;15 - 00;32;02;13
Lucienne
They also have that first box for free. I'm like, It's it's convenient and then we'll see how it goes. I don't know if you've ever used it before, but I hear great things. Yes. And so I'm excited to receive my first box. I don’t know. We'll see. But it's just basically something new. I don't have the time. But it also I'm like, if somebody can pick something good for me, I'm here for it.

00;32;02;13 - 00;32;15;04
Jess
And you know this, brands have very distinct personalities. So if you were to think of a brand that you would like to date and a brand that you would like to marry, and sometimes they could be the same brand, but not always.

00;32;15;04 - 00;32;42;13
Lucienne
That's such a good question and one I will steal for like the next ice breaker. So, okay, I'm thinking the qualities that I like or that I would and I'd probably group them together because date and marry for me at this point. So qualities, you know, consist, something that's consistent that you can trust, but also deliver some excitement and you're going to laugh,

00;32;42;16 - 00;33;06;18
Lucienne
only thing that comes to mind is Costco. I really love Costco, but, you know, Costco, you know what you're getting. But there's always an element of surprise, right? There's always like a new item or a sample thing. But like you know that Costco is kind of always got your back.

00;33;06;18 - 00;33;17;27
Lucienne
You know, you always end up spending more than you plan to. But they have really great options for good value and great customer service.

00;33;21;04 - 00;33;35;00
Jess
I had not thought about Costco in that way. But you're so right. It hits on all of those elements. Consistent, right? Takes care of your necessities, but also allows you the opportunity to just spontaneously buy.

00;33;35;00 - 00;33;42;19
Lucienne
Exactly. Like I didn't know I needed that. Yeah, I'll try that.

00;33;42;21 - 00;33;53;15
Jess
That's awesome. So this has been a great conversation. I feel like I've already picked up on what inspires you and in your field and in your work, but leave us with that thought. What keeps you sort of motivated every day?

00;33;53;15 - 00;34;16;23
Lucienne
I think what keep me motivated every day outside of obviously family and friends, that's table stakes, is work related are the people I would say people is number one. I think people actually answers both because the people I work with is what has kept me inspired and what I love about my job, whether it's you, you know, even people that I've met along the way.

00;34;16;26 - 00;34;35;15
Lucienne
But the people that I see and I work with day to day, we care about each other and we care about the brands that we work for. We support each other and making sure that I'm in a company that has a good company culture is what's kept me at Pabst and what really drives me.

00;34;35;18 - 00;34;59;22
Lucienne
But then second is my curiosity. You know, I think, you know, once you lose your curiosity, like, you know, that's that's it, you know. I just have so I love to ask the question why my husband hates it. You know, I was like, Why, why? Why? He's, you know, but that's always been my nature. And I love learning about people and learning about things and understanding what drives people.

00;34;59;22 - 00;35;19;20
Lucienne
So I think in my role in my department, it's really the perfect place because it allows you to do both, you know, create both worlds. It's like I like to understand people that I can still apply it in a way that earns living and helps build brands and, you know, is out on, you know, out in the world.

00;35;19;20 - 00;35;31;19
Lucienne
But yeah, so my curiosity drives me and the people I work with and meet is what inspires me. So yeah.

00;35;31;22 - 00;35;54;14
Jess
That's awesome. And I know that you hopefully you get that, you know, kind of played back to you because you really do just bring such an energy, such a positivity, and that curiosity serves you well in your insights profession, but also as a human being. So thanks for being you and thank you for joining me today. This has been such a fun conversation, filled with learnings and nuggets that I'm sure our listeners can take away.

00;35;54;14 - 00;35;56;23
Jess
So I appreciate you.

00;35;56;23 - 00;36;04;01
Lucienne
Likewise. Thank you so much for having me. This was fun. So we're going to have our drink now. Cheers.

00;36;04;03 - 00;36;11;11
Jess
Yeah! Well, no thanks, everybody. Until next time. Thanks for joining us on Dig In.

00;36;11;13 - 00;36;17;22
VO
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