SWEN

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Brand Big Idea

Feel It Fast

"Feel it fast" invites consumers to look for an emotional connection and builds curiosity about the product. Each word in the phrase is working hard for the brand:

1. feel. Redefines the question of "did it work" for consumers. Instead of focusing on the overall outcomes (Were you able to change your mood?), we wanted consumers to simply answer whether or not they felt anything at all. If they didn't, we wanted to encourage them to try/explore the product again. This opens the door for us to educate consumers about bioavailability and manage consuemr expectations.
2. it. Flexible enough to cover all of the different functions, with a vaguely counterculture reference to exploration of mind-altering drugs (I'm totally feeling it, man.)
3. fast. Key differentiator against supplements and other functional drinks.

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Brand Strategy

Challenges

• Multiple functions. Needs to work for multiple products: sleep, focus, relaxation, and vitality.
• Crowded market, still niche. A lot of competitors who are science-backed, well-funded, and celebrity-endorsed.
• Unfamiliar category. Despite noise in market, average consumers need education on adaptogens and nootropics.
• Categorization. More of a 'shot' than a 'drink,' but the 'functional shot' category feels even less inviting for new consumers.
• Not very tasty. Test audiences found taste polarizing. If it's a 'functional drink', consumers expect more from taste.
• Unpredictable experience. Product experience is dependent on non-product factors (diet, current mood, lifestyle, etc.)

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Key Differentiators

• The product was developed using nano-encapsulation of ingredients. This new technology meant that encapsulated ingredients could more easily be absorbed by cells, creating a faster onset time than other functional drinks.
• The products used blends of functional ingredients. Some ingredients were chosen for an immediate effect, while others were selected for long-term health benefits.

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Insights

• Curiosity. We want the brand to encourage people to feel curious. As an unfamiliar product category, first-time buyers need a relatively high level of curiosity. Additionally, curiosity can encourage consumers to take multiple attempts at using the product — even if it didn't have a feelable effect the first time.
• Did it work? Looking through amazon reviews, we realized that negative reviews were primarily focused on the experience of tasting the product, even if consumers had a positive experience of the functions. Instead of open-ended reviews, if consumers were only asked the question "Did it work?," ratings would be significantly higher.
• Instant supplement. Most supplements suggest daily consumption for a full month before evaluating for impact. Consumers often wonder if they are working at all. Positioning the product as a supplement that provides a same-day effect that you can feel, challenges that category competitively. For supplements consumers also have a lower expectation for taste.

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Naming

The name "SWEN" came from an exploration of using the cardinal directions (south, west, east, and north) to represent how the product allows you to determine the direction you want to take your day. It had a vaguely European feel to it, which we found beneficial to any narratives about mushrooms and natural adaptogenic plants.

Testing it in use, SWEN had the brevity and an acoustically soft speed that represented "feel it fast" well. The "sw-" sound echos positive language such as swig, swish, and swoosh. While the end of the word makes the phrase "take swen" feels reminiscent of "take ten."

As a close rhyme, SWEN can be used as a replacement for the word "when" (i.e. Sleep swen you want to,) which opened the door for visual wordplay.

Ultimately, SWEN is a short and fast word, with a lot of feeling.
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