The power of entrepreneurial thinking for brands: Small Details

In the fourth episode of our podcast series “The power of entrepreneurial thinking for brands” with The Marketing Society Member Ruth Fittock, Ruth talks small details with Jacqueline Ellis-Jones, Marketing Director at Pip & Nut.

Here’s some detail behind their conversation:

Pip & Nut started in the kitchen of Pip, a marathon runner who couldn’t find any products that met her needs, back in 2013.  From Maltby Street Market to 20,000 stores in the UK it’s a brand who started small and listened to consumers needs along the way as they grew. Ruth Fittock, managing partner of Tomorrow Brands, spoke to Jacqueline Ellis-Jones, Marketing Director at Pip & Nut to hear how they used entrepreneurial principles to scale.

These are their key principles:

Channel ‘Squirrel Energy’

Their "squirrel energy" philosophy highlights quick thinking, resourcefulness, and positivity, which are reflected across the brand, across every touchpoint.  You’ll see squirrels pop up everywhere, from sample boxes (squirrel carriers), to meeting room names, to job titles, to live event details.  They aren’t afraid to sweat that core brand asset really hard.

Tight budgets can be a good thing

You naturally sweat the details, try to get as much bang for your buck as possible, get really really detailed with every touchpoint because the budget is limited, everything has to work hard.

Go again, go again, go again

Never settle’ is a brand value, and you see how this plays out across the business, we talked about a ‘relentless pursuit of improvement’ of everything from packaging tweaks, to product development, it's iterative and ever-evolving.

Stay close to your consumers, but not just those who love you

Pip & Nut have a large panel of "secret squirrels" to gather insights from, but it’s not just brand loyalists, they also speak to consumers who might only buy the brand once a year- to help them stretch and grow, otherwise it’s a bit of an echo chamber.

Be obsessed

A word that came up a few times ‘obsessed’, the level of obsession the team has for the brand then means a focus on small details as they naturally want everything to be as good as it can be.  Pip & Nut use inhouse resource for creative ideation a lot as the team are the closest to the brand because ‘no one cares more than the team working on the brand day in, day out’.

Ditch the Brand Echo Chamber

Customers care about what your brand does for them, not how much you love it internally. Focus on grabbing attention, adding genuine value, and being useful or entertaining.

You can listen to the podcast here

Published 26 July 2024