From cult favorite to category leader: The brand marketing formula behind Health-Ade’s success

Let me start with a confession: the title of this article includes two big lies:

1. The idea that brand differentiation is the secret to success. 
2. There’s some kind of super-secret magic formula I’m about to hand you that’ll instantly unlock market leadership. 

So yes, we’re sitting on a bit of a throne of lies here, and I say that as someone who’s spent the last 15 years immersed in these very topics. 

I’m Charlotte Mostaed, Chief Marketing Officer at Health-Ade – the kombucha brand that started at the farmers' market and grew into a household name on shelves across the U.S. Along the way, we’ve learned a lot about what it really takes to grow – and it’s not always what the textbooks say.

What follows isn’t a fairy tale; it’s a behind-the-scenes look at what actually works. Here’s a taste of what you’ll find:

• Why distinctiveness beats differentiation
• What behavioral science tells us about how (and why) people really buy
• The brand marketing strategies we rely on at Health-Ade – and how you can adapt them
• How to measure success without getting lost in attribution chaos

Let’s get into it.

The myth of the winning formula

Let’s start with the so-called “winning formula.” You’ve probably heard some version of this before:

You identify a super unique audience segment – the exact person who’ll fall in love with your product. Then, you figure out what makes them tick, find the perfect place to reach them (maybe at a yoga festival, if you’re in the kombucha biz), hand them a sample, and boom – growth takes off.

Except… no. I just don’t buy it.

The problem with segmentation

Here’s where the winning formula for growth starts to fall apart for me: segmentation.

People always ask: “Who’s your target market?” “Who are you trying to reach?”

My real answer? Everyone.

Anyone can drink kombucha – and honestly, we think everyone should. A healthier gut means a healthier, happier you. So, if Health-Ade is in 80% of grocery stores, why narrow our reach? Why chase an ultra-specific persona when broad appeal is already within arm’s reach?

We’ve got to let go of this idea that there’s a perfect segment, or a perfect formula for success.

Why brand distinctiveness beats differentiation

Now, onto the myth of brand differentiation.

The way we typically think about it is all about unique product features, performance, and attributes. We think we just need to do something 20% better than the competition.

However, when you talk to your consumers – even your most loyal fans – they often can’t tell you why you’re different from any other brand. What they can recognize, though, is brand distinctiveness. That’s what really matters.

Distinctiveness is about those sticky, memorable brand assets that hit people in the gut – the stuff that makes you instantly recognizable and emotionally resonant.

That’s not to say differentiation doesn’t matter. Especially early on, when you're trying to get on shelves, you need to show what sets you apart. When Health-Ade launched, it was all about being small batch, organic, and founder-led – and that helped us earn our place.

I still talk about product-level differentiation all the time. But what I’m really chasing now, especially as an awareness-driven marketer, is distinctiveness. That’s what sticks. That’s what builds memory. And that’s what makes people care.

Why I stopped chasing outdated marketing playbooks

So here I am, casually tossing out some of marketing’s most beloved frameworks – segmentation, secret formulas, the whole kit and caboodle. But am I doing this in isolation? Not at all.

This approach is grounded in the philosophy behind How Brands Grow. When I was at P&G, the entire company went through an internal learning journey based on this book, and for good reason.

For this book, the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, led by Byron Sharp, used real-world data to uncover what actually drives brand growth. Instead of relying on theory, they tested classic models – the Six Ps, segmentation, targeting – and asked the big question: does any of this truly move the needle?

Turns out, a lot of what we thought mattered… didn’t.

The power of neuroscience in marketing

One of the things I find most fascinating about the philosophy behind How Brands Grow is how rooted it is not just in data science, but in neuroscience. 

There’s a great explainer video that breaks this down beautifully. In it, the team at Intermark Group digs into the psychology behind consumer decision-making, referencing Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow. The gist? We all operate with two systems:

• System 1 is fast, intuitive, and automatic – think muscle memory.
• System 2 is slow, deliberate, and effortful – think writing a strategy doc or preparing a presentation.

Here’s the kicker: 90% of our decisions are made by System 1. That’s right – most people aren’t consciously analyzing your brand’s benefits at the shelf. They're going with what feels familiar, easy, and memorable.

So, if most of our audience is running on autopilot, your job as a marketer is to make sure your brand fits neatly into that autopilot mode.

The takeaway? Simple, distinctive branding wins. Complex messages don’t stick. Memorable brands get chosen.

That’s why the best marketing doesn’t just tell people why to choose you – it makes you impossible to ignore. Think Super Bowl commercials. These big, bold campaigns aren’t just about flash – they’re about reaching millions of people and embedding your brand into their memory structures. It’s about being recognizable, easy to buy, and top of mind when it matters most.

At the heart of this is a simple principle: you need to build two types of availability.

• Mental availability: Are people thinking of you when they’re ready to buy?
• Physical availability: Can they actually find you when they go looking?

Nail both, and you’re setting your brand up for real, lasting growth.

Making your brand easy to buy (and impossible to miss)

Let’s talk about those two key pillars – physical availability and mental availability – and what they mean in practice.

Physical availability: Don’t be precious, be everywhere

Your distribution team is going to do a lot of the heavy lifting here, getting your product on shelves and into the hands of consumers. However, marketers still play a huge role in reducing the friction it takes for people to buy.

That means ensuring your product is easy to spot from ten feet away, making your packaging pop, and embracing a “relentless pursuit of everywhere” mentality – not getting precious about which stores are “on brand.”

At Health-Ade, we had to shift our mindset from “We’re a Whole Foods kind of brand” to “We belong wherever our consumers are.” Today, two of our fastest-growing channels are Aldi and Walmart – and we’re not mad about it.

We also focused hard on a “core four” strategy, identifying our four top-performing flavors and pushing to get them everywhere. Because once someone falls in love with a flavor, if they can’t find it again, they’re gone. 

Building consistent branding

When I joined the team, I took one look at our shelf presence and saw some issues. Our packaging wasn’t consistent. Our signature anchor logo kept changing colors depending on the flavor – fun, sure, but not exactly memorable or easy to recognize.

So in 2021, we started codifying our visual identity. We locked in the anchor with a white background as a constant brand signpost – no more color roulette. We also made it way easier to navigate the shelf by introducing clearer color and appetite cues for each flavor – so you didn’t have to squint to find your favorite.

Mental availability: Build memory, not just awareness

Now for the heavy lift: mental availability. This is where marketers earn their keep. It’s about building memory structures so your brand comes to mind at the right moment – even if that moment happens weeks or months after exposure.