🚀 How Ian Perez is Revolutionizing the Alcohol Industry! 🍸 Behind the Scenes of Brand Arc & MHW 🎯

🎙️ In this episode, we sit down with Ian Perez, the visionary behind Brand Arc at MHW, who is helping beverage brands break into the U.S. market! 🍸✨

💡 Key Takeaways:
✅ How Ian went from Ireland to NYC 🌍
✅ Inside Brand Arc’s innovative approach 🚀
✅ What it takes to launch a successful alcohol brand 🍾
✅ Challenges & trends in the alcohol industry 🔥
✅ Marketing, sales & compliance secrets 🏆

🌟 If you're in the beverage space—or just love the behind-the-scenes of your favorite drinks—this episode is a must-watch! Subscribe for more! 🎧

🚀 How do brands successfully launch and scale in the alcohol industry? 🍸 Ian Perez, Head of Brand Arc at MHW, reveals the secrets behind building a successful beverage brand from scratch!

In this episode, we cover:
✔️ How Ian transitioned from Ireland to New York 🌍
✔️ The power of Brand Arc & its innovative approach 🚀
✔️ Challenges & solutions in beverage brand building 🍷
✔️ How digital transformation is reshaping alcohol sales 📲
✔️ Insider tips on launching a spirits brand 🏆

💡 Whether you're a startup, beverage enthusiast, or industry pro, this episode is packed with valuable insights! Hit LIKE, SUBSCRIBE & SHARE to stay updated with more beverage industry secrets! 🍾✨

📌 Watch now & follow @ThirstyThursdaysat3PMEST for new episodes every week! 🎙️🔥

NOW ON YOUTUBE!!! Thank you for Listening! Join us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter!

Host Jessie Ott's Profile on LinkedIn

Chapters

• 3:16 Educational Background and Early Career
• 6:10 MHW's Connection to Irish Products
• 9:01 Life in Ireland vs. the U.S.
• 11:50 Trade Shows and Industry Dynamics
• 14:42 Internship Experience and Career Development
• 20:19 Building a New Brand from Scratch
• 23:00 Concept Commercialization and Brand Development
• 25:56 Project Management in Brand Development
• 29:02 Understanding Financial Needs for Brand Building
• 32:47 The Importance of Marketing and Sales Strategies
• 37:36 Adapting to Industry Changes and Trends
• 41:06 Innovations in Non-Alcoholic Beverages
• 45:12 Personal Growth and Mentorship in Career Development
• 52:05 Building a Supportive Community
• 54:40 Leveraging Resources and Networking
• 57:27 Navigating Supply Chain Challenges
• 1:00:11 Rapid Brand Development
• 1:04:45 Industry Outlook and Opportunities
• 1:07:45 Personal Passions and Interests
• 1:15:06 Produced by Fedora J Productions
• 1:15:27 Tune in Next Thursday & Have a Great Week!

Transcript

Jessie Ott (00:29)
Hello everybody and welcome to Thursday, Thursday. am Jessie Ott and I have Ian Perez here, MHW, and he has started a new position at MHW at BrandArc. So he's heading up that whole division. Welcome Ian. I can't wait to dig in.

Ian Perez (00:45)
Hey Jessie, thanks for having me on.

Jessie Ott (00:47)
Yeah, no, I'm so excited. You're like a like a celebrity to me. I don't know why I was just so pumped about having you on the podcast.

Ian Perez (00:55)
It

was funny because we had one outreach from a pretty big client of MHWs had reached out and had said like, I'd like to get connected with Ian and definitely went straight to my head where I like, people want to talk to me now versus me trying to get a a hold of folks too. So yeah, it is, it is nice. But yeah, what definitely won't go too far to my head. I'm firmly tethered to earth, but thank you.

Jessie Ott (01:15)
That's

okay. You can let it at least for this podcast. can. So where are you calling from?

Ian Perez (01:21)
Though I am based in New York, in Brooklyn, but if you can guess from my accent, I'm actually from Ireland. And I've been living in New York kind of on and off with COVID for five years, but officially full time since 2022.

Jessie Ott (01:34)
Okay, what brought you to the US?

Ian Perez (01:37)
So I was doing a master's program in Ireland with UCD Smurfit, a pretty prominent business school, and it was in conjunction with Bordbia, which is the Irish food board. And what they do is they're responsible for exports of Irish food and beverage all across the world. And the United States is the biggest home for Irish spirits and beer, wine and alcohol in general.

So as part of that program, I had to do an international work placement. And one of the goals between Bordbia and the US was that they wanted to basically send someone to an importer to kind of learn more about the US, kind of build some more strategic relationships there. So.

I was very fortunate to get selected to be in the program one and learn from all those wonderful lectures at UCD Smurfit. And I got to do an 18 or sorry, 15 month work placement in the US. So I came to MHW in like fall of 2019, again, just for 15 months, but I'm here five years later with a new role. So yes, it's worked out quite well.

Jessie Ott (02:37)
So, can you talk a little bit about your start and how you got started in Ireland? I mean, guess, I mean, was this your first entrance into the beverage area through school?

Ian Perez (02:49)
Yeah, no, so that's a great question. I had up until that master's degree, had done nine, just shy of 10 years of work experience in the food and beverage non-OAK sector in Ireland and across kind of central Europe. And I had done a master's prior to the one I was talking to you about. And honestly, it was a bit of like a scarring experience with regard to it was just like a lot of time, a lot of commitment to doing it part-time whilst working full-time was like really, challenging.

So when the folks at UCD Smurf had reached out saying like, hey, I think you should apply, like you're a great candidate and whatnot, I kind of was like politely like, hey, I've done a master's, like I've got all of the wounds and scars and I don't really want to do it again. Thank you, appreciate it. But the best thing that ever happened was that whoever sent me that message was like, here's the brochure, have a look at it and see what you think. And I read it and I was like, my God, this is like a really good opportunity one.

Jessie Ott (03:25)
You

Ian Perez (03:39)
phenomenal school that I didn't get a chance to go to when I was originally doing my masters because it was just kind of expensive. to get an all expenses page, a master's was this day and age of this economy is highly sought after. But then the fact of being able to work internationally for a bit was like really cool. And the best way to describe it of doing an international placement when you're doing an internship, like it's the only job in the world where you can kind of say, you know, I don't really like what I'm doing. Can I do something else? Whereas

If you apply for a job as an accountant and you're doing accounting, you can't be like, you know, I want to do marketing or I want to get into this line of work. It was like a playground kind of thing, which was really, really exciting. And I had said once I got into the program, had worked in drinks and non-alcoholic. I've worked in lots of different food and fresh produce, consumer goods, snacks, all that kind of fun stuff. I kind of had said, I'd love to do something like alcohol. I'd never worked in before. I always had an interest in it from a packaging side.

love staring at bottles. also love going to bars and restaurants and enjoying a cocktail and a glass of wine. So, you know, it'd be fun to be in an industry that you're kind of passionate about and that you already have an interest in. And then I kind of got very lucky where it was like, yep, you're going to be working with an importer that imports wine, beer and spirits from like hundreds of countries all around the world.

So you're gonna get a chance to obviously learn about that, but also speak to people in Japan and Australia and across the United States and Africa and all the continents. And for me, like that's like the best part of it is that it's a truly global game. So, and one of the first things I had heard when I got into the alcohol industry was that like people come from different industries, not just food or drink and from like real estate or whatever type of industry.

And very rarely do they leave the alcohol space. So was kind of like, yeah, I'm going to be here for 15 months. We'll see how it goes. And it was like the most truest thing ever. I've gotten so many of my friends and even family in the industry now. I'm like, this is the place to be. It's like super duper dynamic. It's so interesting. It's always moving in different directions. There's also headaches and challenges that you are faced with pretty consistently. But again,

I always kind think of that as a positive, as any challenge creates an opportunity to not just overcome it, but make something new, which I love, and it allows me to utilize my creative aspects. And again, it's the perfect role for me.

Jessie Ott (06:02)
So how did MHW get enrolled in that program? Do you know the history or background of that? Because that is super cool.

Ian Perez (06:10)
So I think the founder at MHW, a guy called John Baudet, for those not familiar, he had a great affinity for Irish products because his mother was from Killarney in the Southwest of Ireland. And I think as just a nice gesture, he had done a lot of consulting or pro bono work where educating Irish brands on how to navigate the complexity of the US. And I think he was really involved.

in that aspect and a big thing that would be the Irish food board pushes is like education. So the US is daunting. It's a big country. It's 50 countries instead of 50 states as an example. kind of like you want to have so many ducks in a row before you even think about entering the US. So I feel like there was a great relationship there that kind of I was lucky as the kind of Irish person that I could get involved in that. And kind of I've taken on that burden now since since since John has kind of retired and with that respect.

So I kind of got to pick up that relationship and kind of solidify it even further. Like I do some stuff with BoardV every now and then when we get a chance with webinars or in-person workshops. And for me personally, I just love educating people. I love talking about what I do. So that kind of that relationship has existed for a while before my time, but thankfully it kind of continues to this day.

Jessie Ott (07:23)
That's great. So are there other people that end up here from Ireland in the same way you did?

Ian Perez (07:27)
I'm hoping so. would

love to, maybe when the Brand Arc program gets bigger, if we can start taking on internships, I'd love to find some more alumni and folks from Ireland because honestly, in this industry, it's kind of like when I first came here, kind of like was like, I don't want to be a stereotype, but actually it works out quite well. A lot of people like have a great affinity for Irish people. They love listening to us no matter what we want to talk about. So it actually has somehow lended itself well to the role and kind of how I build relationships with.

current clients and people in the industry too. So I would definitely be well into getting some more folks to come over too. Because again, there's so many great jobs, so many different roles to come across too. So I definitely feel like there's loads of opportunities.

Jessie Ott (08:05)
Yeah.

Nice. I don't think you mentioned it. What part of Ireland are you from?

Ian Perez (08:14)
I am from the East coast, a place called Laytown. So kind of nice that that's getting it put out onto a podcast. It's a very, very small town on the East coast of Ireland. It's about 25 minutes north of Dublin, but it's like beautiful coastline. It's close to Dundalk where that's a very prominent whiskey making area in Ireland. Like a lot of great order distilleries there and they produce and they bottle for a number of like pretty big Irish brands that are exported into the U S too. So it's kind of like.

Jessie Ott (08:27)
Okay, all right.

Ian Perez (08:41)
nice that I went to college there and know a bunch of people and kind of then came into that industry kind of later in my career too. So it's nice part of the world whenever the sun does shine.

Jessie Ott (08:51)
Yeah, it's pretty beautiful. I haven't been, but obviously I've seen pictures.

Ian Perez (08:55)
Well,

definitely for anyone in the industry has to take a pilgrimage at some point to St. James's Gate, see how Guinness is made, or go through all the wonderful old distilleries that have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years, but also the newer distilleries that have been popping up at record pace since the early 2000s. there's a lot of really cool startup micro distilleries and bigger distilleries all across the island. Because it's so small, you can really see a lot of it in a relatively short space of time too.

Jessie Ott (09:01)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's really cool. Yeah. One day I'll get there for sure. It's on the bucket list.

Ian Perez (09:28)
No, for sure. And again, happy to give any recommendations.

Jessie Ott (09:31)
Okay. Yeah, that'd be great. My wife is turning, she's going to get mad at me, but she's turning 50 this year and she wanted to go to Scotland. so yeah, they're super close. Yeah, that would be pretty amazing, but she wanted to go like in April or something. And I'm like, can we please go in the summertime? Cause it's really cold up there.

Ian Perez (09:39)
Well, they're super close. You could do boat trips pretty easily. That'll be amazing.

Even

in the summertime, you've got to be careful. You can still, I would recommend, bring your sunglasses, your shorts, sun cream, coat, scarf, the lot. You might just need it all.

Jessie Ott (10:01)
Yeah.

Yeah. We went to Scotland for work and I, it was in September and I, I just, it was so damp and cold. My shins hurt so bad and I just couldn't believe people were golfing. I just couldn't believe it. I'm like, that's crazy. I'd never make it. It was pretty impressive. Yeah. I would imagine they look fairly similar to some degree.

Ian Perez (10:19)
to Scottish and Irish for you.

No, they're pretty

very, very similar. It's kind of like everything is pretty much gray the majority of the time. But the big differences compared to here though is like I'm in New York so it doesn't get like super duper cold. It definitely is colder here in the winter time and a lot hotter in the summers too. But here you get like really crazy torrential rain where Ireland is kind of just continuous like light kind of spitting rain too. So it's not too, too bad.

Jessie Ott (10:51)
Yeah.

Ian Perez (10:53)
But no, if you're lucky to go into summertime and you get like a really nice day, I think it's one of the nicest places you can be on a summer's day, especially on the West Coast, that beautiful coastline.

Jessie Ott (11:02)
Yeah, I bet. I bet. Yeah. So do you get back to visit?

Ian Perez (11:08)
I try and go back at least once a year. I'm fortunate with work. travel a reasonable amount to like Germany and France for trade events. So I usually try and get like a, a local flight there or try and catch it on my way because usually flights to Ireland from the U S are more cost effective than central Europe or mainland Europe. So I try to go there, visit family and then get like a small like hour long flight from there to Europe. And it's always funny when I meet like my U S colleagues there, like they're always like,

super tired and jet lagged. I'm like, I just have arrived that morning because I've gone a few days prior. So it actually is a nice kind of life hack to fly somewhere beforehand because doing a transatlantic flight and then doing a trade show from like nine till six. As I tried to explain it to my friends who are not in the industry, it's like on paper, it sounds great. Like there's wine and spirits and to your heart's content and it's open, not open to the general public. So it's kind of very much like business. There's no consumers there.

Jessie Ott (11:50)
Yeah.

Ian Perez (12:04)
But again, by noon, if you don't pace yourself or are not doing it correctly, it can become a nightmare quickly. So especially when there's newer people to the team going for the first time, there is a prep session of how you conduct yourself when going to a beverage alcohol trade show, because it's very easy to, like, this is delicious. This is nice. And then this person's really nice. I feel bad saying no to something or spitting something out where it's like, no, you have to survive.

Jessie Ott (12:19)
Yeah.

you spit the

pro wine? You spit the whole time. Yeah.

Ian Perez (12:32)
You have to, because it's

to make it past lunchtime and then do all the steps. Like it's not just that. It's like the pure size of it. Like you're talking football fields, like a multiple of them. It is cool. Like I said, on paper and then like your first time, it's very like almost overwhelming because you just like bombarded with like stimuli and boots. But again, it's not for the faint of heart. I've seen some like early twenties folks just like after a few hours, like, my God, like, how do you do this? And then it's like three days consecutively. So you do like.

Jessie Ott (12:39)
Yeah. It's cool.

Ian Perez (13:02)
nine to six, you're probably up at seven or eight to get breakfast, get set up. You're at the show all day, you're talking all day, you're on your feet all day. And then there's probably a nice client dinner after that's two or three hours, and it's already 11, and it's like, people want to go out then? I have to be up at seven, how do I do this three nights in a row? It's not for the faint of heart, I would say. You definitely do a lot of work. And then that's just at the show, post show, all the cards, all the...

Jessie Ott (13:24)
Yeah.

Ian Perez (13:28)
outreach, it was great to meet you, all those kind of things, the follow-ups, like that's another day in itself. as I say to a lot of my friends, be careful what you wish for.

Jessie Ott (13:36)
Yeah. Yeah, but it's fun. The military has what they call the express seminar where we do that. And I think the last time I attended, just went to, I literally just ate dinner and went to bed. was so tired because it's a lot. Yeah. It's a lot of people, a lot of talking, but great. It's a great place to meet people, you know, like at ProWine. I love that. I love that.

Ian Perez (14:01)
No, it's one of the few places

where everyone is because it's just like central. It's really well organized. The matchmaking system is like really great. So you can really make the most out of your time and have a lot of your meetings set up. Although I definitely always say to people like leave a bit of time, like don't be booked up from nine till six. It's great to have a bit of downtime where you can actually wander around and just like meet people organically and just, oh, come across like a really cool pack and you want to just ask some questions about it. Like sometimes those

Jessie Ott (14:05)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Ian Perez (14:28)
the best meetings are the ones that aren't scheduled and you just kind of happen to fall upon to. But no, it's a great provine, especially as a great show because it's one of the few ones that I kind of feel like everyone who's in the industry meets there from all four corners of the globe.

Jessie Ott (14:42)
Yeah, we were gonna go this year, but we're probably go next year.

Ian Perez (14:45)
Maybe a live podcast area could go really well. think people have tried to do that before. don't know, because it gets quite noisy. But that would be a great one, if you could finagle that.

Jessie Ott (14:51)
Yeah. That would be a great one.

Yeah. Yeah. Maybe I can fly over and, and, use the podcast as media and just go and check it out and film. That'd be so fun. Yeah. I'm going to try and get out to some events this year. with that in mind. So we'll see. I got to practice.

Ian Perez (15:06)
No, for sure.

Yeah, we

know all definitely. We just got back from wine Paris. I didn't attend, but a lot of the team are there. They're going to also be at Provine in March. My first Brand Arc trade show, which I'm really excited about is next month at the ACSA, the American Craft Spirits Association in Tucson, Arizona. yeah, it's MHW. What's another great aspect is like, there's a lot of traveling involved, which is

which is great if you're not way inclined across the US and across Europe too, which is really exciting.

Jessie Ott (15:42)
Yeah.

Well, it gets you to learn more about the U.S. and see more people. A lot of people don't get the opportunity to travel, so to be able to get out there and check out different cities around the country is pretty cool. And in Europe too. It's pretty awesome.

So you did 15 months of an internship, you called it. So what kind of things did you do in those 15 months?

Ian Perez (16:08)
So when I first started, kind of got involved in a lot of kind of smaller projects. Like I did some stuff with the Craft Beverage Modernization Tax Reform Act. So I kind of helped the team with all those CBMA credits, that tax saving for a lot of our brands that we import. I got involved in a lot of kind of operational inventory warehousing type kind of smaller projects, which I really enjoyed. But again, I was kind of always looking for like, what's going to be the thing that like

I really want like I had alluded to earlier in the podcast where I talked about like you could kind of get involved with various different like business units within the company. And then I really kind of fell in love with the sales and marketing side because I hadn't really done dedicated sales prior. So I kind of showed an interest there where I could talk to like some clients, educate them on the United States, educate them on how we as a company operate and differentiate ourselves between different importers.

But when I came, I went back home for the winter break and I came back to the US in January and I was like super excited because I got an opportunity to work with pretty much the largest brand agency in the world to help them create a new product from scratch, which is MHW hadn't done before. So it was something that I could use like my direct experience and really kind of show my value because I felt like I was jumping in on projects here and there and kind of...

bringing some of my skills and insights into those areas. But this was an area that I definitely had so much experience in that I was really excited to work on. So we had an opportunity to work and build a new brand from scratch. as an importer, you tend to work with finished product. They already exist. Their packaging exists. You just bring it in and help them sell it across the states or to whichever markets that you're selling into. Whereas this was, we had a brief that was just like, we have all these barrels of whiskey that don't quite fit in with the current

Jessie Ott (17:45)
Yeah.

Ian Perez (17:57)
like the lineup of products that are produced there, we want to make a new brand from scratch. And we want it to be a bit different to what we're currently doing. And we don't have a name, we don't have packaging, we don't have anything. So this was just like an absolute test, like playground that I was like super excited to get involved in. So this company, their innovation pipeline and their timelines are quite slow as a large organization, like from getting an idea to having it.

to getting a budget, getting approved, to getting R &D involved, packaging teams, it just can take well over a year to two years, if not longer. They were just like, let's outsource the entire thing, let's see how it works, and if it, God forbid, is successful, we'll take it in-house. And if not, it's like, we just lost a bit of money here. So we did our first project in about 12 weeks, which was crazy, because again, when you have a small team, you can be really agile and make decisions on the fly.

Jessie Ott (18:29)
Yeah.

Ha ha ha.

Ian Perez (18:55)
And so we went from having just liquids and no name to brand name packaging to us kind of putting it in the production line. So obviously they were like, this is like really exciting. That was nice. That was, that was really cool. Why don't we try it again and try it again and try it again. so by the time I was leaving, or by the time my internship was wrapping up, I kind of was on project three and I was like, Ooh, I'm really enjoying this. Like, can I, can I do this? and at that point it was like mid COVID like

the later part of 2020. So I had gone back to Ireland and was working like fully remotely at that point. And because I build up trust, I had worked pretty well remotely. They were like, yep, like we want you to stay. Let's get you like an Irish contract. Let's get you an accountant who can do your taxes. And I was like, oh my God, like this is, this is great. Like I'm just, I'm just a person and like, uh, like they could easily just probably find people, the U S space that could, could do this. But they were like, you know what? We were like what you're doing here. Um,

Jessie Ott (19:40)
you

Ian Perez (19:50)
So that was really exciting. And then about another six months into then, we decided that like, okay, we need to start marketing this as a, as a, a tool that we can sell to and help other clients or non our future clients as well. So it kind of, I ended up making a role for myself and its own department now, which was really exciting. But yeah, the, the, best thing about the internship was really just getting this project and really sinking my teeth into it and turning it into this, this, this kind of business we have now where we have

I think I have 12 active projects right now, multiple clients of various shapes and sizes, which is really exciting. We have huge agencies that we work with plus teeny tiny entrepreneurs who we're hoping will be big agencies in the future. For me, which is really, really exciting because it's great working with entrepreneurs because it's like their baby. It's helping them get it from like a piece of paper on a napkin to a physical product in their hand and seeing like...

Jessie Ott (20:22)
this.

Ian Perez (20:44)
their love and commitment that they've had to put it together because a lot of these people aren't like millionaires or billionaires or anything. They're like regular folks like you and I who just like saved up some money or have some family that they can lean into or friends where they can raise some capital. And they're putting a kind of all their eggs in this like basket of theirs, which is like really admirable. And that's the kind of thing that I love. Like I think of myself as like an authentic person. I kind of like to work with people who are like-minded. So.

When I'm interested in your product, I'll give you all of my time and attention, my blood, sweat and tears to make it happen too. that's like probably the best aspect of, as much as I like the big agencies, it is nice to work with like the independent, like really small scrappy entrepreneurs.

Jessie Ott (21:25)
Yeah, I like that. Question. So can we go back just a little bit to how you ended up at this agency? So this agency is part of MHW or became part of MHW?

Ian Perez (21:38)
It essentially was a service that we were providing for certain clients. And then it just became too big internally where we needed dedicated accounting, needed dedicated billing, we needed dedicated department. And the name we had at the time for the service was Concept Commercialization, which in theory was the perfect name because it's like taking ideas, getting them on shelf. But personally, it's really hard to say.

Jessie Ott (21:44)
Okay.

Ian Perez (22:04)
And I definitely felt myself, even though I would say 50 to 60,000 times a day, I would still stutter or stumble across concepts of commercialization. So kind of recently, we had a really good year last year especially, and I was like, you know what, it would be great to actually get a dedicated budget for this, dedicated life marketing impetus so that we can actually start targeting folks. So then it kind of has become like a...

kind division within MHW, so very much part of MHW for sure. Like I definitely love to lean into that expertise. Like MHW has been around for 30 years. So just like the executive team alone has probably a hundred plus years experience combined. So like I never want to take myself away from that and the network of suppliers that they've worked with over the years. But this is kind like a new way of thinking a new service that like we can educate our existing staff to be educated on because like they deal with different clients of shapes of all shapes and sizes and

they might be on calls or on emails with them and they might have just a general gripe about the day. And it's like, we can actually help with that. Like, whereas before it was like, I'm so sorry to hear your bottles are like, like they have poor quality or to keep breaking. Like, but now we can be like, okay, we can actually help solve that problem. So we can find, we can do a custom bottle for you or we can find alternative suppliers, be it in state side, if you're worried about tariffs in China, we can have them, like you said, state side or made in Europe.

or you feel like you want customized packaging or maybe a better continuity of supply with regard to liquid, we can assist with that kind of stuff now. Whereas previously it was probably like, I'm so sorry, that must suck, but let's continue on our day-to-day service of what we do. So yeah, it's more of like an extension of the division within MHW as well.

Jessie Ott (23:48)
And so if I had a you know, an idea or a brand, I would come to you and we'd just start brainstorming ideas on the market, what's selling, what's not, I guess, and kind of figure out what category we wanted to play in. And then you'd help design and source and create all the ingredients and all the things.

Ian Perez (24:08)
For sure. That's exactly how it works. it kind of, I kind of, it separates into like two buckets. So there's one where it's very much like data driven as in, okay, I see a gap. I think this product is going to be the next big thing. I feel like certain products are like kind of tailing off a little bit, like something like maybe a tequila or like malt based or TDs. And that's like, okay, what's the new thing? And then again, based on trends, based on what's happening in pop culture, someone might see an opportunity to create a perfect product for the

perfect time for the perfect person. So that's our kind of one avenue. And then we would help to facilitate all that. So we would help with firstly liquid sourcing that. So whether it's made in the US or made abroad, we would work on that. We would then help with brand name ideation if they don't have a dedicated name that they like. So we've come up with a bunch of different names, different design directions. And then we work with a third party graphics design agency in the UK called United Creators, which we absolutely love. So they help us like...

bring these ideas to life in terms of renders, mood boards, art direction, all that kind of fun stuff. And then we essentially project manage it from start to finish to the first production. So we've created the graphics, we've sourced the packaging, we've come up with the liquid, we have someone who's gonna put it into a bottle or a can, and we basically facilitate all that. We work on it for a number of months and we bring it all together and then the brand owner has this beautiful brand that they've created.

And then the other aspect is someone who just has a wonderful idea. It's not always tied into current events, timing, trends. It's just like, just made this concoction. I've made this cocktail in my kitchen, served it to a bunch of friends and they just really loved it. And then I tried it with a bigger group and they loved it. I'm gonna make this my thing. So we'll help that person build their brand from scratch. let's again, come up with a name, let's create some graphics, let's create a world in which this brand lives in.

and we will project manage the entire thing from start to finish because a lot of people in the industry come into it not knowing how it works and they could spend a lot of time spinning their wheels with regards to like a great example, Provine. If you're starting a brand and you go to Provine, you see 1.3 million boots of wine, beers and spirits and it's like, who's a good supplier? Who's not a good supplier? Like who's even going to listen to me? Who's not going to listen to me? Whereas because we have the network already in place,

Jessie Ott (26:20)
Right.

Ian Perez (26:24)
you hire us, we'll build it for you. You're still the decision maker. That's big thing we try to get across from day one is that like, I'm not building this brand for you, I'm building it with you kind of thing. So it's like as much as I give my two cents because I feel like I'm like a millennial, I'm into current events and politics and pop culture. So if I like the product, there's probably a good chance other folks will like it too. So I always offer like my own two cents as well. But at the end of the day, I'm building something that you really, want and you...

you want it to become real. And then, yeah, we project it, manage it from start to finish. And then once the first production is done, we kind of like separate, we go our separate ways and hopefully come back for another project. Or the goal is that they will work with MHWs like dedicated services. So if they need importation, they need domestic, like out of state shippers, we can then, they can come in and become a full circle client, which is really exciting because I feel like a lot of clients, they love working with us. So the fact that we do more services, the less

people and less touch points they have to have, which can help. Because again, to my point about going to Provine, you're going to find like your bottle supplier, you're going to find your cap supplier, you're to find your liquid supplier. There's probably a design agency there, cork suppliers, secondary packaging suppliers. That's like seven people I just named off the top of my head. You want to work with me, I'll build it all for you and with you so that it's all tidy up in a nice bow at the end so you know who you're ordering with, what are the pricing, what's the minimum order quantities.

what's the lead time for a reorder? Like we're establishing all that for you guys too. And most importantly, making sure we're doing it compliantly so that we're using like approved vendors that just continuity of supply there that it's not just like the cheapest product to get out there. We want to do it like right and buy the book too. So that was probably the biggest learning for me is coming into this, into MHW not from a beverage alcohol standpoint. I was like, I know how to build a brand, but I need to learn how to do it here because

Jessie Ott (27:58)
Right.

Ian Perez (28:13)
I don't know what the key milestones are. I don't know what the key federal legislation is and the state legislation. So that was my biggest learning curve in the beginning was like, okay, for me to get a design, I need to have it approved by the federal government first. So it was kind of like learning all those mandatories, learning about how to the verbiage and that kind of fun stuff. So that was a big part of my learning piece too. But yeah, essentially if you're starting a brand from scratch or you're part of a larger agency and want to outsource some of the brand development and project management,

Like there's no client who's too big or too small for us.

Jessie Ott (28:42)
Can you, cause a lot of people, you know, start this process or have a brand and they have no idea the financial needs it takes to build a brand. Do you have a range that people kind of need to be aware of that they need to have before they go into something like this?

Ian Perez (29:03)
No, for sure. that's part of our, hopefully our value add is that we do free consultations all the time. So the first two, three, even more calls we have is kind of outlining or outlying kind of where do you, my first question is usually like, where do you want to be on shelf? Because a lot of brand owners sometimes don't even answer that question because they want to just create a brand and they want to sell it. But it's like the shelf is only so big, my friend. it's like, who's realistically, who's

spot are you trying to take off, whether it's like a bigger brand or smaller brand, whatever the case may be. So that's kind how I start. I say, like, that brand, you're not trying to necessarily emulate, but you kind of, I see that as a benchmark of like how I would like to kind of conduct my business. So I work backwards from there and say, okay, so if you want this like $100 bottle, your juice is probably going to be X, your marketing is probably going to be Y.

your graphic designer is probably going to be this. I know what RFI is and basically I help them with their first initial budget. I might even help with their first initial business plan because I might not work with a client for six months because they're fundraising. again, not going to be like, like someone reaches out to us and says, Hey, like I'd to learn about this. And my first question is not how much money do you have? It's like, what are you trying to do? And then let's see what you need for in terms of those resources. So I would say like,

utilizing us, a good graphics designer, like you probably want to spend 20 to 50,000 on the initial, building the brand. And that can seem like a lot of money, but when you amortize that over the life cycle of a brand, it's like, it's a thousand dollars a year. It's $2,000 a year. So again, if you really want to do it right. And I think that helps weed out the people who are like in it for like it's current and trending. Like I want to have a brand, like those people who are like, okay, that's a lot of money. I probably don't want to do that.

Jessie Ott (30:30)
Yeah, I mean, that's what it takes.

Ian Perez (30:46)
I'm like, okay, they're probably not going to do really well anyway because they're probably going to lose interest. when the going gets tough, the inventory is just going to sit somewhere and get like written off at some point too. So that's a great gauge of like, okay, this is, I'm committed. Like this is for me to do it right. That's kind how much I want to spend on that portion. And then obviously making the product, like I kind of roughly know how much bottles cost. If you want a custom mold or if you want stock, you're talking anywhere from like a dollar plus to four or $5, depending on what type of bottle you're looking at.

I know how much labels cost depending on again, how many colors, textures, recycled paper, non-recycled screen digital printing versus hand pressed products, you name it. And then from there, I kind of help them say like, okay, your first order is going to cost you like $50,000 as well. So you're talking about 100K potentially.

Jessie Ott (31:23)
You

Ian Perez (31:30)
But then also I spent a lot of time in procurement and supply chain. So every misspent dollar and cent keeps me up at night. So I love doing it as scrappy as I can. Like I work with some clients who like are flush with cash and that's great. I'm like, congratulations to you, but I'm still going to build this as if it's my own. And I'm not going to get you to spend money that you, wouldn't necessarily spend it myself. And again, you might decide to still do that, but I'm always going to give you like my thoughts. And I'd say like, okay, this is definitely what you want to do. This is probably something that is like.

Nice if you really want to, but not necessary kind of thing too. So we've built brands from 20 to $30,000 upwards, all the way up to six figures, depending on, again, how complicated it is, what's the scope of services, how long are we thinking on this? Is there any R &D we're doing as well? But again, the key is I want to figure out who you're trying to either emulate or take off the shelf and work backwards from there to say, for you to make a similar type product,

this is much it's going to cost you. And we do that right at the gate. And then again, hopefully they come back and say, yeah, we want to work with you because like I said, you've given us loads of information for free. And like I said, hopefully it's a good starting point.

Jessie Ott (32:40)
So we're at a hundred grand without selling a single bottle.

Ian Perez (32:43)
Potentially, depending on, again, if you're looking at a premium product. But what's great about our network is that we have suppliers of all shapes and sizes. So we could do an MLQ of 50 cases. You'd probably spend more per unit than you would for a larger production run. But hey, if you want to spend 10,000 just as a test and make no money off it, great, because data is key. Also, brands, the big thing I probably

Jessie Ott (32:47)
Yeah.

Ian Perez (33:07)
like they see all these numbers like of maybe sales and exits and they see all these like huge, huge, huge settlements. Like being realistic, like making money in your first year is really hard. Like one, the down payment on all those products and then two, like hiring a person or doing it yourself part-time or giving yourself a salary is like, it's a lot. And there's a lot of expenses and just like conducting business, like just going out into New York city and selling like you're gonna

Jessie Ott (33:18)
Yeah.

Ian Perez (33:34)
You're going to buy so many coffees, you're going to have lunch, you're going to, to do it well, you're going to have to buy a lot of drinks at bars and restaurants and hotels just to get to know the people so that you can build a rapport. Because going in a store and walking out with a sale, like that doesn't happen anymore. I think that type of like salesperson with this great pitch, like leaving with like a couple of cases of orders, like that's not kind of how it really works or how I've seen it work. It's very much like.

Jessie Ott (33:49)
Yeah.

Ian Perez (33:59)
You go in and you ask loads of questions and you learn loads about this business and you try and build a connection with this person before you start talking about what you're selling. Because I think if you come straight out of the gate and like, have this wonderful new product, it's the best product ever. It's like, dude, look outside, there's like 45 more people like that. They're just gonna say the exact same thing with the same bag. It's really, really hard to do. But yeah, I would say.

Scrappiest like you're talking between like 30 to 50 K to like to start a brand and get like a very very small order in but again closer to a hundred if you're like really serious and you like think that John I really believe in this I'm gonna put my money into it or raise raise the capital for it

Jessie Ott (34:37)
Yeah.

Yeah. And then you have to promote and advertise and all the warehouse and shipping and yeah.

Ian Perez (34:47)
Because that's the key,

because having a great pack, having great liquid is like 20 % of the battle. 80 % is keep getting it front of mind, keep getting it placed on shelf. Because especially living in New York City, I could have a new drink every night and never drink the same drink twice.

Jessie Ott (34:58)
Yep.

Ian Perez (35:06)
So like why, what's going to compel me to reorder your product? Cause that's probably the hardest part when I'm talking to new brands as well. It's like, yeah, you can get your first listing. Like you'll get a guy who's going to buy like six bottles and put it on shelf, but you're going to be the reason why they move because you have to either be in there like doing tastings or pourings and that kind of stuff, or just supporting them and giving them more information, getting their, their sales team and their, their pourers, their bartenders and staff to be actually care about your brand. Because when someone comes in looking for a recommendation,

Jessie Ott (35:13)
Yeah.

Ian Perez (35:36)
your front of mind, you've a chance. But again, you go into like a total wine or a Bevmo or any large like wine and spirit store. It's like, really hard to stand out. So the key is just knowing that you have to be everywhere in the beginning. And especially as a brand owner, it's way more impactful than like a sales rep kind of coming in off the street that's like has a sales sheet that they've memorized no matter how good or how personable they are, like

Jessie Ott (35:50)
Everywhere. Yeah.

Ian Perez (36:01)
Meeting the maker is so impactful, especially in the beginning. that's one thing I definitely implore to brand owners or prospective brand owners is like, again, having a great pack, having a great liquid, great product in general is great, but why am I going to remember this and why am going to come back for more? That's the kind of the hardest part.

Jessie Ott (36:21)
Yeah. And it's a long build. Tito's wasn't built overnight, right? was 10 years of that exact same thing, going to the distributors day in and day out and working the streets and connecting. It is getting harder and harder for brands just because there's so much more competition because there's just so much

going on. mean, I would say when you got here in 2019, you know, we evolved and we had, had, you know, innovation, but not to this degree. We've never had it to this degree. And especially with the non-alcoholics that have really taken a huge interest in the, in around the world, but in particular here, you know, I know athletic brewing really kind of

cut their teeth on it and really kind of formulate that, this is a thing and it's good. It's taking share from beer. You just never know. That was also a brand at one time that was getting started in same exact way. It is possible, obviously, to do it, but you got to...

You got to be serious about it like you said, and you got to be ready to spend the money to do it right.

Ian Perez (37:42)
And think the last part is just being open to change and having like having a business plan that's flexible is like super, super important. Cause if you just like a rigid and you're sticking to it, like, yeah, I appreciate the stubbornness. It could come out the other side fine, but having being able to pivot, being able to maneuver on the fly is really, really, really important because like I said, there's so many things, something could come out of politics like tomorrow night and the whole world changes. So just being able to be.

reactive and being able to, like I said, have connections and build a network and be willing to work with people is really, really, really important. Because at the end of the day, if you stay where you are, even if you have some success, you're going to get overtaken at some point. There's so many billion dollar businesses that have gone because industries have changed and moved on and new products. so sometimes embracing, like I had said earlier, embracing challenges is really, important because it

leads to more innovation. so people complaining about like THC and kind of like products, it's like, let's learn and let's like work together and try and figure out something in terms of how we do this kind of stuff too. Because honestly, like non-alcoholic products, you just touched on that, like I definitely was like,

and a non-believer in the beginning, like, like what's the point? Like have a Coke, have a Coke Zero or whatever the case may be. But actually now like the products are so, so good. And so like, it's just such a nice, like it's not like talking about like chastising people who drink alcohol. It's just having an alternative, which is just a really, really nice, it's really nice to have. And having options is always great. We're working on a non-alcoholic gin right now. And it's really kind of opened my eyes to that space because

Definitely I would have been someone who would have consumed non-alcoholic beer pretty consistently because I'm a designated driver for a lot of the time. So I love having a Guinness Zero to plug something when I'm out. But just being able to get a really good cocktail that's not just syrup and juices is really, really, really compelling. And probably the most bonus part working on this non-alcoholic gin is that a lot of the gin competitors, non-alcoholic gin, are not really ginny at all. It's kind of like...

Jessie Ott (39:31)
You

Yeah.

Ian Perez (39:47)
gin-adjacent, if that's a term, or it's kind of like an alternative, whereas we're really trying to make a gin that is everything but alcohol. So getting the burn, getting the bitterness, getting all that kind of stuff that you associate with gin has been really hard because I did a de-alcoholized wine tasting recently, and it just tastes like juice because they just removed the alcohol from it, whereas we could really make something really interesting, which we're trying to do.

Jessie Ott (39:50)
Yeah.

Ian Perez (40:13)
But I love that the fact that they're really trying to push like it has to be like gin so that people still get the enjoyment of it, the crispness, the tart, the bitter, the piece two versus just making something that's like really easy to drink. And also kind of, I learned also about like making this type of product. It's equally, if not slightly more expensive than making alcoholic gin because like you're making gin and then you're removing the alcohol, so there's an extra step. So I have a better appreciation of like cocktails on the menu that like are now

Jessie Ott (40:22)
Yeah.

Ian Perez (40:43)
only so many dollars cheaper than an alcoholic cocktail. Because usually I would have balked and be like, why am I paying like $10 for a non-alcoholic cocktail where I can pay $6 for a Coke or maybe it's even more expensive now. But now that you can actually have really good options and have a good time tasting it, like I said, we need to move with those trends versus trying to fight them and fight them and fight them because you're just going to get left behind.

Jessie Ott (40:49)
Yep.

Yeah, I agree. Well, I think that once these non-alcoholic products get more volume behind them, I think that the price will come down. But for now, it's not cheap. They're not cheap. And that's okay. mean, you know, obviously, it's not stopping consumers from buying it. So it's all good. But yeah, that de-alcoholization sounds really tricky.

Ian Perez (41:30)
No.

Yeah, no, it was interesting and it was a good seminar that I was at in Amsterdam at the World Bulk Wine Show in November of last year. I just found it just, again, I'm a type of person that just wants to learn more. I'm never kind of satisfied with what I know. Like, I love coming across something new. I'm not that type of person that's just like, like, I need to know what I need to know. Like, I love that because that just helps fuel me with ideas so that when new brands come across, come through the inbox.

It's like, actually, I know something about this. I can add some value there and I'm kind of, did you see this kind of thing? And we can open up the idea even wider, which is really, really nice too. So, but yeah, de-alcoholized wine is challenging because shipping it is different too. Shelf life is loads of things that are at play. So it's not just a matter of cost.

Jessie Ott (42:11)
Yeah.

Yeah,

yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Well, that is super, super interesting, Ian. Is there anything else that we haven't talked about with Brand Arc that you want to mention?

Ian Perez (42:31)
No, just that we're doing a bunch more kind of media. Like I'm doing a webinar with Discus, the Still Spirits Council of the US later this week. I'm going to be doing a webinar with the Women of the Vines Spirits, which I'm really excited about in either March or April of next month or in April, which I'm really excited about. So really this year has just been a really big like get the name out there because I've met so many people and

Jessie Ott (42:47)
yay!

Ian Perez (42:57)
We kind of joke about it internally where it's like, where were you like a year ago or 18 months ago or two years? So now we kind of have like, people have no excuse because we're like really banging on doors and we're really kind of shouting about what we do kind of thing too, because we have some awesome case to these worked on some really cool products over the years, like Cascade Moon, which was like a really cool brand to work on. And we had our biggest brand launch earlier this year with Maru Hi.

Jessie Ott (43:07)
Good. Yeah.

Ian Perez (43:21)
a new sparkling canned cocktail, which just launched in January in California. And just to even talk to you about for a second, the probably most interesting aspect of that project, aside from it being wonderful, it was the biggest project in terms of volume. So normally working with an entrepreneur, you're scrapping for like low minimum order quantities, like, oh, can we do like 200 cases? And it's still like a lot of money. Our first production was 30,000 cases and we've done 60,000 cases since January.

So was kind of a new headache with regard to just the sheer volume of it, which was really exciting. So it was a lot of fun. So I honestly don't know how they did it. I wasn't really involved in the marketing strategy. My role is more so on the supply chain aspect. So we're sourcing ingredients from Asia, from Europe, and a lot of domestic components too. There's about 20 odd ingredients per pack.

Jessie Ott (43:55)
Wow. They must have pre-sold themselves.

Ian Perez (44:18)
which for me compared to like say a whiskey where it's just like liquid, front label, back label, closure, it's like a lot more straightforward, but managing all these components has been like a big challenge, especially as they're all coming from different parts of the world. They're also being stored in different warehouses across the US and then they all have to get to one final place in the Midwest. So like that's been a big, big challenge too. So yeah, it's really just the goal of this year is to show everyone like, what we're doing, we're kind of like been underground for a while.

Jessie Ott (44:31)
Yeah.

You

Ian Perez (44:45)
which has been good because we've been able to kind of perfect what we're doing. We've made mistakes where we can learn from them in a smaller environment and we've like loads of learnings, which has been really, really great. But now that we've gone through all that, we have the really good foundation and we can just plug in new clients at will, which we're really excited about. So yeah, it's really just getting more and more projects, bringing more people on. We hired a new team member in the summer of last year who's been a great addition to the team and we have kind of more

Jessie Ott (44:53)
Yeah.

Yeah, that's great. That's fantastic.

Ian Perez (45:12)
and dedicated sales support with regards to like new business as well. yeah, we're kind of watched a space where we're growing at pace, which is really exciting.

Jessie Ott (45:21)
I would love to do that job. That would be so fun.

Ian Perez (45:25)
I'm very fortunate because I

also think it's a lot of fun and I feel like a lot of people have careers and jobs that like, yeah, they pay the bills and they do that and they satisfy them in other ways, but I'm very, I sometimes just like knock on wood all the time. And yeah, it's, I said, it's just such a dynamic industry. I've gotten so many people into the beverage alcohol space now, just not just on our team or in our company kind of thing. I just, I really enjoy the people.

Definitely in different industries there are specific characters that you just keep coming across all the time. Honestly, in the beverage alcohol space it is really much like forest gump, life's like a box of chocolates. It's just so weird and wonderful. I just come across the most random, interesting people. We just signed a major league baseball player, I'm a sports guy. You can't see, but I have loads of posters and stuff all around the office.

Jessie Ott (45:51)
Yeah.

Ian Perez (46:19)
So that's like super exciting. And then just meeting people who are like uber successful in different fields. Like I've met a guy who was like dominated real estate. just getting to meet, like you said, just meeting new people all the time that are not necessarily just they're in the industry now, but have lived a life over many years. Like I was talking with a potential client earlier today that was friends with Bruce Springsteen when they're in college.

For me, I just love that kind of stuff, whereas in my previous roles, you just don't get that exposure to these types of people who are coming into the industry too. So yeah, I definitely feel like I have to pinch myself sometimes because we have some projects that are just like, this just makes no sense. And like, is this a real project kind of thing? This is too good to be true. And it's like, no, this is it. So yeah, just more of that please. But we do also have, I will say to folks, there's a lot of stress involved too, because when you're managing projects,

Jessie Ott (46:49)
Yeah.

You

Ian Perez (47:10)
You deadlines and you have to hit them and I take them all like very personally, even if there's a polar vortex and my container gets stuck in the ice in the Arctic Circle, like I'm still bummed because I want it to go as smooth as possible all the way through. So I'm constantly kind of always like checking my phone throughout the day to be like, hey, there's so many like plates spinning and balls juggling and it's just making sure all of the things kind of come together. That's why it's great having another person to help kind of coordinate all this madness because there's a lot of...

Jessie Ott (47:31)
Yep.

Ian Perez (47:39)
lot of moving parts. But yeah, I'm very fortunate. It is a really great job. And just the testament goes to MHW because like I said, they just saw something that was working really well and they just gave me all the tools and resources that I needed to make it happen. And that's probably one of the best parts of my role where it's like, if I ask for something and can justify it more often than not, like, yeah, that makes sense. I don't have to kind of really fight for absolutely everything in my life is not too difficult that way.

Jessie Ott (47:39)
There's a lot.

that is great. That's great support and good network. Good network of people. They obviously see your vision for Brand Arc and what it's capable of because you've proven it time and time again. So it's pretty exciting. I'm super pumped for you, Ian. I can't wait to continue to watch your success. It's awesome.

Ian Perez (48:24)
No, I appreciate it. Hopefully we can

check back in at some point and kind of do an update. Definitely put on your calendar. We'd love to.

Jessie Ott (48:28)
I'd love that. Yeah.

Okay. Let's do it. Well, let's shift over to you for a second. We have some, I have some questions for you, for you personally. do you have any mentors that you'd like to mention that have helped you throughout your career?

Ian Perez (48:45)
Yeah, there's a lot like recently, I'd say like my old boss before I came to the US, a guy called Connor Broderick was super helpful because he brought characteristics out of me that I was scared to let out with regard to just like being strong. I definitely feel like I'm, I always want everyone to be happy. I'm very much like that type of person who just like always like doesn't want conflict.

But he was able to bring that side out of me without creating conflict all the time, but just being able to manage it and sense where it's going and how to capitalize on that. he taught me basically everything I know about negotiating and asking questions and probing and getting prompts and reading body language. So he was a super big help for me in my earlier career because that was definitely something I shied away from. I would just pass it over to someone else. But being strong and standing up for yourself.

like seeing instances where you can kind of like capitalise on, think he's been great. And honestly, pretty much every senior person at MHW has been like phenomenal with regard to like, especially this space because like, even the guys in college, like they kind of utilise me as a bit of a like a flagship with regard to like, this is how good your program can go. Like Ian went into this company and made a job for himself and an entire department, like that doesn't happen very often.

Most often than not, you just get experience. They probably don't want to hire you at the end because they don't have the budget. So that has been great. And everyone just at MHW from like Chrissy Bodette, who was my initial manager when I started, it's like Mary Ann Pisani, who's the chief revenue officer at MHW. The scariest part is that anytime I've had an idea, they're just like, yep, let's do it. I'm like, are you sure? Because it's my idea. And there's no one above me holding my hand kind of thing. Whereas they're very much like, hey, we trust you.

Like you literally worked remotely, you've kind of built this from the ground up. And the whole like executive team there is just like, it's funny because like, as an Irish person, like I always thought of like American, like the corporate America was very much like cutthroat where like you had to work really, really hard along the crazy hours and you had to really show yourself, prove yourself over again and again and again. Whereas like this has been not necessarily the opposite in terms of working hard. I definitely feel like I work really hard.

But like you have an idea, someone likes it, like you get the credit for it kind of thing. And they just promote you versus being like someone maybe more senior than you takes your idea to someone more senior than them. It's their idea. And then you don't get the credit until you're like in your sixties and you're finally, whereas they're kind of like, it doesn't matter what your kind of experience is, what your age is or whatever. It's just like, you can do it. Like you should, you should be the right person to do it kind of thing. And that's for me has been amazing because like I've definitely had roles where like I feel like I'm doing like

Jessie Ott (51:07)
you

That is amazing.

Ian Perez (51:22)
work that I should be getting paid twice as much for, but I'm not getting the credit. But I always kind of taught to myself and like what my family would say to me. It's like, great experience. It's great experience. Like use it all like in the future when you go for new interviews, whereas like now it's like everything I do, just adds to the role. And the role is consistently evolving, which again, going back to that piece, it's been great. yeah, pretty much from Chrissy to Marianne to Ryan, our current CEO, Bridget, our director of marketing has been super helpful to just like

helping me in areas that I don't really, I don't have a ton of experience in the marketing side of it. like getting exposure to those types of people and learning all those things and having them drop stuff to support you has been like the reason why this department has done so well.

Jessie Ott (52:05)
that's amazing. That's great. It's great to have a good community, you know, within your company to help all that come together. It takes a village, right? It does take all hands on deck.

Ian Perez (52:19)
No, for sure. like good ideas are great, but it's just getting the resources to like bring them into reality is so hard, especially when like a great example with MHW, like the day to day activities are importation, distribution, compliance. There's a million and one fires going off constantly with the industry, with politics, with things happening. So being able to get people away from that, to get dedicated time is like so like, for me, it's like so rewarding because

they have a million more other things to do. So the fact that people are dropping stuff to focus on this, because like I said, having a great idea is sometimes the easy part. It's implementing it and making it consistent is like the hardest part. Cause when you're trying to implement change. the fact that a lot of senior folks, like I said, have a million more other things that are probably more profitable or more time consuming with a larger clients as an example. But the fact that they get involved in the day to day and help me basically execute everything is like the biggest thanks I can say.

Jessie Ott (53:13)
Yeah, that's awesome. What about resources? Do you have any resources that you recommend to the audience that you've used in the past in your career?

Ian Perez (53:24)
So we're lucky,

like I said, we're lucky that we go to a lot of trade events. like the wine spirits daily summit, like some of our team go there and get some like wonderful insights. Like I said, I've worked with trade associations. So we work with like the likes of board via the Irish food board, Scottish development international, the Italian wine agency too. So there's like lots of good data coming in that way. We travel to a lot of trade shows, as I'd mentioned previously too.

Jessie Ott (53:28)
Yeah.

Ian Perez (53:48)
We get access to the beverage trade network. That's another great resource that we use going to those trade events as well and being a partner there. The American Craft Spirits Association that we're attending next month, we're really excited about. That's probably one of my favorite things about the alcohol industry as well is that it's very communal. For me personally, I haven't found too many people are just holding secrets to themselves. It's like, hey, I've built a distillery. Here's all the 50 things that went wrong with it. Make sure that you don't incur any of these things.

It's very much like a kind of family with regard to that, which I really, like. Definitely again, I would have thought coming to the US, it would have been more guarded and not as much information shared with regard to that too. So those are definitely some areas that I love to kind of lean into and ask questions. And like I said, we just have a great network of suppliers all around the world and a great network internally. So I'd love just being able to pick up the phone or just message someone and just like, hey, what are your thoughts on this?

Jessie Ott (54:33)
Yeah.

Ian Perez (54:41)
I'm very much like a relationship forward person. So I just love building these networks where like, I feel like when I get connected with someone, like you can call me, text me, email me anytime. And it's great that I can do the same with you because again, I have ideas. I don't always have like, I don't know everything as well, which is probably another good aspect of myself, whereas I'm curious. So I always want to ask questions. If something worked in the past, it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to work the second time around. So being able to like get that perspective outside is really, really important too. So.

I just love reading anything I can with regard to the industry. Because like I said, I'd like to be one of those people in the next 20 years that people kind of remember working with and enjoyed working with them with regard to the stuff that we do too. So yeah, any resources, like I said, any data we can get a hold of, we're kind of always utilizing that. And we sponsor a lot of trade networks as well. So we kind of get like kind of a lot of great data that we share with our clients too, depending on the need.

Jessie Ott (55:34)
Yeah, no, that's great. When you say the word data, you're speaking my language.

Ian Perez (55:40)
I know it's tough

sometimes to go through it all because there can be so much and there's a skill of being able to manipulate it and get rid of the stuff that you don't want so that you can focus on it. But again, it's just getting access to it. It's power. It can help you make decisions. I love it and that's why I always feel like when you're new brand getting set up, kudos to you if you do all by yourself. It is so, so hard. I don't mean this as like a...

Jessie Ott (55:45)
Yeah.

Ian Perez (56:05)
in sarcastic way at all, whenever I meet like a new brand that has launched, like my first thing is always like, congrats, like I'm not doing it like to just like appease you. I'm like, it's a lot of stuff. So if you can connect with us earlier in it, early on in the development cycle and you say, okay, these guys kind of know what they're doing and they can provide a lot of insight. I want to be that go-to person so that they can be like, okay, like I want to this idea by you. Like I'm also really honest. So if I feel like if something is not like the best, like I'll be honest and let you know that too. And also happy to take the L if.

suddenly something I didn't think was gonna work out turned out to be the greatest thing ever. Like I think being that type of person that's malleable and adaptable to certain situations is really, really important in helping the brand become the best brand that it can be too. yeah, that's something that's really important to me.

Jessie Ott (56:48)
Yeah, no, that's great. From your point of view, what do you see as the major pain points?

that is it supply chain kind of from where you sit is sort of like that the biggest challenge that you're seeing and sourcing and finding all the right ingredients. Like what challenges do you have?

Ian Perez (57:08)
Yeah, that's definitely up there. And it's having the right people for the right project as well, because there are bigger suppliers out there and smaller suppliers. And sometimes, depending on the brand, it might be a good fit. Supply chain, obviously, is challenging because it's so unknown. Even when you do know what's happening, there's still so much ambiguity. That is a tough one to navigate. And that's where I feel like brands like working with us, because I understand that. And I kind of...

Jessie Ott (57:27)
Yes.

Ian Perez (57:35)
embrace the challenge and I'm always working at Plan B. So a big part of our project, when we create a project, is that our template has a risk analysis and mitigation portion where I'm literally putting up every single thing that could go wrong with this. And we're making decisions daily to say like, okay, this is like a, this is a risk, but it's a green risk because again, like life, life is full of risks. So you have to at some point take, take a chance where stuff that's read is like, okay, do we do this? Do we import?

this type of product from Mexico right now, because tariffs, although they're not in place right now, they could come into effect at any point in time. If this product or ingredient or item doesn't have to come from that part of the world, like what do we do? What's our plan B or plan C or plan D? Because the last thing you want to do is build something wonderful. then one, like I always try to explain this to like new people that come and work with us. if you have everything bar your like little tiny cork, like that

You can't produce your product. it's just, every part is just as important as, as, as the rest. So like why the bottle and the liquid and the front label are like the game changers, like again, not having your cork or not having the shipper to put it into, like you can't, you can't sell it without it. so supply chain definitely huge. I'd say another big, big worry is obviously all the geopolitical pieces that are happening with like wars, with the new regime in the United States, there's a lot of like things potentially happening there and.

The worst part is it seems that these things can happen overnight, whereas it's not like, this thing is coming down the line in six months. It's like, actually, now this whole industry has changed and then we can't utilize these mechanisms that we once relied upon for so long. So there's definitely a lot of worries with regard to that. And then also, it's just finding the right people for the right project because...

Jessie Ott (58:58)
Mm-hmm.

Ian Perez (59:20)
When I talk to brand owners that have taken two years to get on shelf from their initial, hi, I want to pursue this, this endeavor. It's just meeting the right people. and like there's great suppliers out there that are just not a good fit for certain clients, depending on they might be too needy or not needy enough, or they're not asking the right questions. And then they get like thrown, this, type of curve ball too. So those are the key things that I try and get ahead of when I'm working with a new brand. But the key is that like,

I'm helping you along the entire way. it's not just like, there's a polar vortex. We're stuck now. It's like, I'm saying there's a polar vortex. We're stuck. But here's what I would do as a plan B, plan C kind of thing. So having that, think is a really valuable resource to have so that you're not alone in this and you have to make this big decision by yourself. Or worse, just like you're so busy and six months later down the line and your investors are like, where's my product? Like, where's my return? Like you've taken our money.

we don't really have anything to show for it. So that's our big value add is like, hey, if you're going to give someone X number of dollars, like we know that if we have their time and attention, we can build this thing really, really quickly. And then it's a quicker return on your investment as the investor in the project too. So yeah, but I feel like supply chain as a supply chain person is always the one that people talk most about because it's just so complicated. So many things can go wrong and it's fluctuation to change like mainly almost.

Jessie Ott (1:00:12)
You

Yeah.

Just out of curiosity, what's the quickest you ever created a brand? How many months?

Ian Perez (1:00:42)
That's a great question. So I started working with a bourbon brand. I I spoke to him for the first time in January of last year and we had pitched to services and we had chatted through that. And then I think it was like mid February, they were ready to like sign. And then they told us that their launch date was Juneteenth. So February to June. So we had like a two and a bit month window to like, and also she had not a lot.

work done. So we had no brand name, we had no juice, we had no packaging, we had no nothing. So we did that, I think in like eight and a half weeks. and I also source samples. This is like I've already popped myself in the back, but I think we did a good job on this one. We sourced the toughest part of the brief was that like one of the questions was like, I want to do a bourbon, but I have no providence in mind. I want just the best bourbon for me. Here's like a kind of vibe I have for this product. I'm like,

Jessie Ott (1:01:20)
Cheers.

Ian Perez (1:01:36)
no, so I had to this huge net out across the United States and I ended up getting like 15 samples and actually the longest part of the project was giving her a few weeks to actually taste them and not like lose her mind or lose her consciousness because that was a lot of samples and they weren't like just miniatures, were like bottles of like cask strength whiskey from California, New York, all across Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Georgia, loads of stuff.

Jessie Ott (1:01:52)
Yeah.

That's cool.

Ian Perez (1:02:02)
And then the key again was getting it not just on shelf for Juneteenth because it was a date really important in her calendar for the product. Like you know yourself, you have to get it in a bottle first. You have to get it picked up by your partner and then you have to sell it and get it on shelf. So we have all of these things working against us. And then obviously as we get closer to summer is like people are on vacation, God forbid. People are like out or they're traveling at trade shows and suddenly like, ah, like.

Jessie Ott (1:02:26)
Yep.

Ian Perez (1:02:30)
We're trying to get a hold of folks. So we were able to get that from February. We started that project mid February and it wasn't bottled on May 31st, I remember. So you're talking like, yeah, like eight to 10 weeks in regard to that. again, and that's with nothing. we had no, like sometimes we have brands that have a name and they have like a rough concept and like, okay, it's we've done a month's work there already. But this was like blue skies, no name, no packaging. And we were able to kind of bring it all together and

Jessie Ott (1:02:41)
Wow, that's impressive.

Ian Perez (1:02:57)
It won a silver medal, forget, which international spirits competition. So very proud. She's awesome. But yeah, it just goes to show you if you give us all of your time, we can do this as quickly as time will allow us. And that's factoring in also like TTB, federal approvals, price posting in New York state. So that's what I'm very proud of.

Jessie Ott (1:03:04)
That's great.

Yeah, that's impressive.

Right. Yeah, all the things.

Yeah, I would be too. That's pretty incredible. That's impressive. I bet she was really happy.

Ian Perez (1:03:23)
Yeah, because one, I felt bad because you know when someone gives you like, when you know something is actually possible and versus like all the things that can go wrong. So I'm definitely more of the pessimistic type being like, yeah, you kind of need every single thing to go. It's like, it's like you're in a rush and you're in rush traffic and you get every green light on the way home. Like sometimes you just need that to work out. And even then you still might not have enough time. So I kind of was, I always felt bad saying like, yeah, I think this is possible, but I don't think it will in reality. So, but the great thing about her was that she had

Jessie Ott (1:03:45)
Yeah.

Ian Perez (1:03:52)
She was definitely a hopeful person and that made me more motivated. like, you know what, like if it's possible, let's not it be down to us why it didn't work out. Like if it, God forbid, was a problem with production or a problem with the federal or state approvals, like, okay, I get that. Like we're fighting against a lot of different things. But the fact that all these kind of dominoes started falling in the right order at the right time. And again, when you have a brand owner who's like giving you all their time and attention can get on a call like, hey, here's artwork. you like give me your...

Jessie Ott (1:04:01)
Yeah.

Ian Perez (1:04:20)
give me your thumbs up, like what do you like, what you don't like. Having a designer who could then turn it around really quickly, like as soon as you send an email with all the emails, they come back with all the stuff, you're like, how did you do this kind of thing, what witchcraft is this? So having a good team that really is on the same page, like that's the reason why we're able to do that. And again, we could definitely do it again and again and again, but again, we need also like feedback, we need a lot of things to come our way, but.

But I'd always say to a brand at least give it three months as a worst case like let's build it kind of thing as a good guide because You also don't want to rush. So that's the key is that while we did it at pace We didn't once compromise anything or take a risk It was just like these are the things we need to happen These are the key milestones we need to hit for us to get this on shelf completely So again, it's not like skipping steps and like cutting corners. It's still like planning that out with hopefully some buffer time too, but I would say like in a perfect world like

where you can take some time off and we can take some time off and we don't need an answer like that minute, like three months is a good example of like how long it would take for us to start from scratch.

Jessie Ott (1:05:23)
Okay.

No, that was good. That was interesting. So what is your outlook for the industry with all the things?

Ian Perez (1:05:33)
So yeah,

like I'm a pessimist by trade, so I'm always kind of worried. I'm always anxious for a number of reasons, but I still think like everything else, things always work out. think if you keep pushing and putting yourself out there, there's loads of challenges that we can overcome together. I think again, every challenge brings 45 opportunities almost. So just embracing that, not being put down by it.

there's loads of opportunities out here too. I would say to brands also that your route to market, you don't need to be national brand to be successful. So picking an area maybe that is not the most sought after is not necessarily a bad thing. Growing organically across not even cities, but just areas and then getting into the next city and the next city, even before you think about crossing state lines. I think a big part of my role is getting people's expectations where they need to be.

I feel like a lot of people sometimes in this industry can promise you a lot and show you wonderful case studies of where people were super successful. Where I'm kind of like, loads of things can go wrong, here's all the things we need always consider. So that I feel like when those people are destined for success because they just know what the worst case is, and if they're prepared for the worst case, there's always a way around it, a rebound or a way you can overcome that certain obstacle.

And like I said, there's a million trends out there. So it's like either jumping on them at the right time is really, really key. But I also say like trends are great, but I prefer doing it in an authentic way that's authentic to me because I think people are smart and can see right through like consumerism sometimes. So when you have not only something that's trending, but also personal to you as a brand owner, I think that's like the, the, the, optimal win there because I think that's the key is just connecting with.

with consumers versus being like, like you're a test subject or you're like, you're just a piece of data that I think like you're going to like this because of like, here's all the focus groups and case studies that I've paid for. Like I think doing something like really impactful, authentic for the right reasons is like probably why a lot more brands will be successful versus just like, I think this product is perfect for you as a 25 year old with a certain level of income. think that's, that's challenging in this modern day.

So yeah, I'm definitely hopeful. I'm always pessimistic in a way because I'm always kind of ready for the worst. But I also, as you can tell by me chatting about this, I'm super excited. I love new brands. So much competition for sure. But if anything, motivates me even more to be successful because there's so much more people we have to compete with. I love it. love it.

Jessie Ott (1:07:57)
Yeah.

Yeah, well, you're certainly are passionate about what you do. It's really cute. So the biggest question is the last but not least is your passions. see you've got, is that a bass guitar back there?

Ian Perez (1:08:19)
That is my daughter's bass guitar. I'm trying to get her to learn it. I am a guitar collector. I've been collecting guitars for 15 years or so. It's getting worse because as I start to grow and have a little bit more disposable income, it gets a lot more challenging. But yeah, that's my, I know that's definitely my big passion. love guitars.

Jessie Ott (1:08:29)
wow.

You're going to run out of wall space.

Ian Perez (1:08:44)
One of reasons why I love being in the US also is that there's a lot of great manufacturers here. So any chance I get to do a factory tour or go to a really kind of boutique music store, I love doing that too. So yeah, that's like my big passion I love to do in my free time. I have a couple of friends that I play with here as well. And then yeah, like pop culture, movies, TV shows, books, I'm kind of Jack of all trades. So I have the person to favorite line.

Jessie Ott (1:09:08)
What's your favorite line? One-liner.

You got a one-liner?

Ian Perez (1:09:11)
One-liner,

I love taxi driver. I love Robert De Niro. So like, are you talking to me? of like that's just a classic. Anytime you can use any of that stuff, like I'm also someone that will use a line to death. And like literally my girls were like, what are you even saying? was like, it's from a movie from 1989. Like we need to educate you kind of thing. But I love pop culture. I love bringing it into my day to day. And if anything actually,

Jessie Ott (1:09:17)
Are you talking to me?

Ian Perez (1:09:36)
One of my favorite lines, it's actually a general line it's from, so I love like, I love Marvel, see Spider-Man in the background. So I love Stan Lee and all things Stan Lee, but I watched his documentary when it came out on Disney and his story is phenomenal. And he talked about, there's a part in it where he's talking about, he's talking to his wife and he's kind of not getting, he has a great job. He's working for a comic book company prior to Marvel and he's like,

Jessie Ott (1:09:45)
Yeah.

Ian Perez (1:10:04)
not being fulfilled even though he's being incredibly successful and she's trying to talk to him and he's just like, I want to make something that I want to make. I want to make characters that I like. I don't want to write a comic book for a 10-year-old kid in New York or a seven-year-old girl in Wisconsin as an example. I just want to make cool stories and that's where I feel like I use that line a lot when I'm pitching to brands where it's like, I just want to make something that I really care about.

Obviously it's great if you care about it too, because it's your money, but I want to be proud of it. And I think if I'm going to be proud of it, I'm going to like it and really care about it and talk about it to anyone who listened to me. Like I think it's going to be good because again, I feel like I'm a, I'm your core demographic for the most part. Like someone like millennial, like knows how to use a laptop, but also like can speak a little bit of Gen Z, has some disposable income has interests. Like, so I feel like if I like something I'm not super niche where it's like, you're stuck, you're typecast and that's your audience of like,

Jessie Ott (1:10:28)
you

Ian Perez (1:10:55)
people that like that product. that's my kind of how I blend my personal life, things I like into like my day to day life in terms of working. And I'm very fortunate that I can do both sometimes.

Jessie Ott (1:11:06)
Yeah, I love that. That's fun. Those are a lot of fun passions. We love Marvel too. I know that they just came out with a movie over the weekend and it looks like it did pretty good. Yeah.

Ian Perez (1:11:15)
That's the hardest part is catching up is like I'm still I haven't seen

everything I know there's someone sent me a link to like every every Marvel movie and it's in chronological order and I'm like I don't have the time I don't have the time to do that. Like I will get about them as I can I'm definitely more of like I'd love comic books like I love physical like media like as much as I love tablets and e-readers and audiobooks just like when you have like a brand new fresh graphic novel is just like really nice and I spilling but yeah, that's kind of how I got into like

Jessie Ott (1:11:24)
in order

Ian Perez (1:11:44)
animation was true, true watching like Spider-Man as a kid and reading Spider-Man too. So it's funny because, oh, for sure. It's definitely somewhere just like in the series of like links that I have saved of like things I need to watch and read. Like I have all those recommendation lists. No, don't worry. We'll definitely sort you out.

Jessie Ott (1:11:47)
Yeah.

Well, I'd love that link if you can, if you still have it.

yeah, don't worry about it. I'm sure I can Google it.

Ian Perez (1:12:05)
But yeah, no, it's great also, like I love the wall because like you never know, someone might see something and it's like an authentic way of like, you like that show or like that video game or like that book or whatever. And it's like, like people like to work with people they like to work with. So that helps, hopefully.

Jessie Ott (1:12:17)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, no, absolutely. Well, Ian, this has been an immense pleasure. You are tootsie-dorbs. I love that you love what you're doing. I love that you're trying to get your daughter to play guitar. I think that's super awesome because bass players, everybody always needs a bass player, right? Because everybody wants to be the lead. And I love bass. I think it's great.

Ian Perez (1:12:39)
She's so cool

when she plays too. It's just like trying to get like I was a kid also once so I know it's like oh like I want to just do the things and like I'm like when you're 25 trust me like you're gonna be the coolest person in school, college, your workplace or whatever or a successful rock star like who knows but yeah I'm working on it but no I really like I need to get that on a if I can get a testimonial with Totes Adorbs my my my family would absolutely love that I really appreciate that.

Jessie Ott (1:12:52)
Totally.

Who knows? That's cool.

Yeah, of course. You are. You're just Totes Adorbs. I don't know what else to say. You just exude like this amazing confidence in what you're doing and you have all the support you need obviously from your family, but the executive leadership team at MHW for you to create this Brand Arc division and you're kicking ass, man. You're doing it. I love it. It's awesome.

Ian Perez (1:13:30)
Ryan, best, no, thank you

so much. This has been wonderful. I really appreciate it. It's great to just like actually let your hair down and just talk through like all the fun stuff. And it's great from a, like sometimes I feel like in life, like it's very hard to like just take the time to sit and like kind of smell the roses and like, Hey, we're doing actually okay. Cause I feel like everyone is like in the future worrying about all the million things to worry about, which obviously people need to allocate some time to, but just getting a chance to sit and actually talk through like the successes and the interesting things we're doing like right now.

It's been a lot of fun and you've been a great host. I really appreciate it. I'd love to come back on

Jessie Ott (1:14:03)
I would love to have you back on. Just tell me when. Yeah. Well, let's keep in touch then and make sure that we get you back on. I don't know if you have some exciting ventures that you might be getting into that you want to talk about, but feel free to come on anytime. This has been so much fun.

Ian Perez (1:14:19)
Absolutely, I really appreciate it Jessie Thank you so much for having me.

Jessie Ott (1:14:22)
Yeah, maybe maybe I'll have to come to New York or are you going to go to bar con?

Ian Perez (1:14:25)
Or we could,

I will be at Bar Convent in Brooklyn in June. I was going to suggest if you're in Ireland, we could definitely do a international podcast at some point.

Jessie Ott (1:14:30)
Yeah.

That would be fun. Maybe we could hit some distilleries.

Ian Perez (1:14:40)
I know all the distilleries personally, which has been a good aspect of the role, which is great. So yeah, I've been able to get some cool tours with some friends and family as well, which is great. But no, definitely would love to do this again. But yeah, you're in Brooklyn and Barcom and definitely let us know, we'd love to grab food.

Jessie Ott (1:14:42)
you

Oh, that'd be still a phone. Okay.

Yeah, let's do it. Absolutely. All right. Well, I will let you get back to it. So thank you so much and we'll, be in touch. Okay.

Ian Perez (1:15:00)
Perfect.

Cheers, Jessie. Thank you.