Willpower Weekly: Issue No. 02
⚡ Brands to Watch
C4 Liquid Gold: Performance x Party
Have you ever wanted to pop an energy drink like champagne? C4 just launched C4 Liquid Gold — a citrus-flavored, gold-foiled, champagne-bottled drink ($44) with 200mg of caffeine and CarnoSyn Beta-Alanine. Initially formulated for elite athletes, it’s now a limited drop you can only get via waitlist.
Why it matters: This launch is pure hype-cycle mastery. C4 is repositioning energy not just as fuel but as celebration. In an age where performance is aspirational, this is more than a supplement; it’s a moment.
LesserEvil Gets Scooped by Hershey for $750M
LesserEvil, the clean-ingredient popcorn brand with cult wellness credibility, is the latest better-for-you company to join a legacy portfolio — this time, Hershey’s.
It’s part of a bigger pattern: major CPG players are betting on brands that already have consumer trust and emotional equity. From Pepsi’s recent pickup of Poppi to Mondelēz’s earlier acquisition of Hu, the wellness insurgent-to-acquired pipeline has been seen time and time again.
And just as this deal closed, Khloé Kardashian launched her own popcorn line, debuting in retail alongside brands like LesserEvil. While it checks the boxes on paper (celebrity founder, wellness angle, and aesthetic packaging), early reactions point to a growing consumer filter for authenticity. The bar has officially shifted.
Why it matters: This isn’t about popcorn. It’s about positioning. LesserEvil turned snack food into a values-driven experience — and that's what legacy buyers are hungry for. But consumers? They’re craving substance over celebrities.
🪩 Culture x Tech
Sleep Tech Fatigue
From $180 sunrise alarm clocks to melatonin gummies, wearable rings, and AI-powered sound machines, sleep has become one of the most aggressively optimized corners of the wellness world.
At face value, it makes sense — everyone wants better rest. But as the sleep economy grows, so does the decision fatigue. Do you need a Hatch Restore 2, an Oura ring, magnesium powder, a blue-light blocker, a sleep coach... or just a dark room and a consistent bedtime?
At the Human Performance Summit, Josh Ruben, co-founder and CEO of Absolute Rest, put it simply:
“Sleep isn’t a luxury. It’s a baseline. And right now, we’re overcomplicating it.”
What we’re watching:
Creators embracing “sleep minimalism” and ditching gadgets
Brands shifting messaging from optimize to restore
A cultural reset; less noise, more trust
Our POV: The next wave in sleep won’t be about hacking rest. It’ll be about protecting it. The brands that win will offer clarity, not chaos.
💡 Real Talk: What It Actually Takes to Build Community
At our latest Catalyst Series: Innovation Playbook, founders Jen Batchelor (Kin Euphorics), Jimmy DeCicco (Super Coffee), and Daniel Goetz (GoodPop) offered more than just brand playbooks. They shared the decisions that shaped their companies, and the mindset it takes to stay close to your customer through it all.
Jen Batchelor (Kin Euphorics): Build the brand, nurture the Kin
When Kin Euphorics began gaining momentum as a pioneer in non-alcoholic functional beverages, Jen Batchelor stayed laser-focused on building something more profound than a product — a community rooted in intention and care.
That focus on genuine connection is what drew in supermodel Bella Hadid, not through a PR push, but through personal experience.
“Bella made a 13-page deck about why she wanted to be part of the company,” Jen shared. “It wasn’t a celebrity endorsement, it was someone who believed in the mission.”
Jen brought Bella on as a co-founder, not just a face of the brand; a move that amplified Kin’s reach while keeping its soul intact.
What’s kept the Kin community strong isn’t scale, it’s the unscalable: in-store samplings, thoughtful DMs, handwritten notes, and showing up again and again for the customers who keep showing up for you.
The takeaway: When you build with love and listen like it matters, customers become loyalists — and loyalists become the heart of your brand.
Jimmy DeCicco (Super Coffee): You can’t serve your customer if you don’t know them
Jimmy shared the story of Super Coffee’s rollout into 7-Eleven stores — a massive expansion that didn’t hit the way it had in grocery. That’s when the team realized they were marketing one product to two very different consumers.
“Grocery stores are 80% women — they care about function, sugar content, calories. Gas stations? 80% men. They want energy and indulgence.”
That insight led the team to embrace a concept known as “Bubba” — a persona used by beer companies to describe the typical convenience-store customer. Bubba wasn’t looking for 70-calorie protein coffee. He wanted bold flavor, serious caffeine, and zero compromises.
With that clarity, Super Coffee launched Super Coffee Extra — a new SKU designed with Bubba in mind.
The takeaway: Creating personas isn’t just a marketing tool; it’s a listening strategy. When you deeply understand your audience, innovation becomes service, not guesswork.
Daniel Goetz (GoodPop): Without joy, nothing lasts
Daniel founded GoodPop in 2009 and spent the next decade bootstrapping his way through every imaginable challenge: failing at festivals, self-distribution, even designing new equipment to get real fruit to work in frozen form.
“I was solving problems nonstop, but I wasn’t feeling anything. Then I had my first panic attack at 30.”
What helped? Slowing down. Talking to a therapist. Finding connection again. And realizing that joy — not just grit — is what makes the journey sustainable.
“The source of mental illness is isolation. The source of mental health is community.”
The takeaway: Passion matters, but joy is what keeps the lights on, emotionally and operationally. If your work doesn’t sustain you, it won’t sustain your brand either.
💭 Willpower POV
The most interesting brands right now aren’t just building products — they’re building context.
They understand that:
Community is strategy
Positioning is culture
Performance is emotional
And the ones doing it well? They’re not just selling, they’re creating something people want to belong to.
