Juneshine Social Media Brand Ambassadors
“ Juneshine’s fundraising strategy goes beyond identifying social media influencers. Instead, the company seeks out “disruptive” athletes and creative types that “embody the culture” and brand identity Juneshine is working to build — one that is focused around delivering “an honest, transparent product.” – Brewbound, Feb 12, 2019
Juneshine sells organic hard (6.0% ABV) kombucha. The company currently distributes four flavors in both cans and draft (Blood Orange Mint, Honey Ginger Lemon, Midnight Painkiller, and Cucumber Mojito). They brew with honey and green tea, so we assume the product is Jun, hence the company name with the play on Jun+Moonshine.
Today’s announcement that they have secured the funds to significantly expand operations beyond their current 2,000 barrel to upwards of 100,000 barrels contained intriguing news on their social media marketing strategy:
The company has also tapped several athletes as investors and ambassadors, including surfer Albee Layer, Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Sage Kotsenburg, skateboarder Nora Vasconcellos, and snowboarders Chris and Kimmy Benchetler. Juneshine co-founder Forrest Dein told Brewbound that those athletes “own a small piece of the business,” and the company plans to offer five additional athletes, artists and musicians equity positions.
There’s a complete listing of brand ambassadors on their website.
Rankings
We took a look at the numbers of followers these “disruptors” have on various social media platforms. Instagram is, not surprisingly, the most active. (Apologies in advance if we missed anyone’s Twitter or Facebook feeds — it’s not because we didn’t search long & hard.)
Amplifying their Brand
The company themselves have 31,300 followers on Instagram and 2,321 on Facebook with no Twitter account listed on their website. The ambassadors have 1,730,645 Instagram followers in total between them. That’s over 50x the number of their own followers.
This fantastic strategy shows how a company can amplify their brand. In this case it’s among the surfing, skiing and bee keeping communities. (We’re guessing bee keeper Hilary Kearney, owner of Girl Next Door Honey, is the source their main ingredient…)
