The Key To Branding Your Beverage Business

Ten years ago, Ashleigh and Trey Lockerbie were brewing kombucha at their home in Los Angeles. During that time, they found themselves nicknaming their creation “booch.”

After many trials and errors, they finally fell in love with their recipe.

“This [was] so much better than what we’d been tasting in stores, [we thought], why don’t we just call it Better Booch?” Ashleigh says.

Fast forward to today, andBetter Boochcan be found in local grocery stores such as Whole Foods and Walmart.

Better Booch co-founders Trey and Ashleigh Lockerbie in front of their kombucha brewing tanks.

Better Booch co-founders Trey and Ashleigh Lockerbie work together to operate different sides of the business.Better Booch

“We knew we had the right name, because at farmers markets people would walk by and just squint their eyes and mouth the word to themselves … ‘Better Booch.’ It was inviting in questions, and opening the door for discovery,” Ashleigh says.

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Taking their kombucha to the Los Angeles farmers market scene allowed them to collect valuable feedback from new and returning customers.

Ashleigh Lockerbie, Chief Marketing Officer at Better Booch, pictured at a kitchen counter.

Ashleigh Lockerbie executes all the branding and marketing strategies at Better Booch.Better Booch

It’s one thing to have a good product. But you also have to be able to market it properly. Ashleigh says it took her and her team a few tries, but they eventually landed on an image that was colorful yet represented the New Age, flower-of-life symbolism they were experiencing in the kombucha industry.

“We wanted something inviting and approachable. … Sometimes the wellness industry can be known for exclusionary language and imagery. … We wanted something welcoming to everyone,” Ashleigh says.

The Better Booch cans sitting and cooling in a mini refrigerator.

The brightly packaged kombucha is designed for everyone.Better Booch

Ashleigh says the bright and colorful elements on their website, within their social media channels, and even their physical cans, invite the customer in.

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“We came up with [a look] that really matched what was on the inside of the can,” Ashleigh says. “We use premium loose leaf teas, which a lot of brands weren’t doing,” she says. “We wanted something that was the antithesis, visually, to what was prominent in the kombucha space at the time. … We went with something very clean and premium looking.”


Tune in to the second part of this two-episode special onShopify Mastersto hear how Ashleigh Lockerbie is designing and telling a cohesive story for Better Booch that not only represents the brand’s kombucha, but stays relevant over time.

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