Hypefeast: Safe names are bland

For the brave souls who have decided to launch a consumer packaged goods brand in the past few years, brand naming was likely as important as their proprietary blend of herbs and spices. In the increasingly diverse and thoughtfully branded consumer goods world, standouts no longer whisper. They leap off the shelf, label forward, with a (metaphorical) tab of acid on their tongue, daring you to try some avant food or beverage. The best of these vanguard names provoke double takes in local grocery store aisles or have us taking selfies to share with “the thread.” These kinds of impressions sow the seeds of a brand’s story—allowing it to take root and flourish.

Today we’ll look at some prime examples of the open minded, nouveau CPG brands that have pushed naming to wild frontiers. While maybe a trite example, Liquid Death is pretty hard to ignore—it’s hyperbolic, iconoclastic dark humor that adorns the very essence of life. Seemingly for many folks, the joke lands and activates a subset of the (some might say) ubiquitous water-imbibing market. Frankly, it’s hard not to feel something about the Liquid Death brand, even if you wouldn’t serve it to grandma with her afternoon cookies.

Still the first gambit isn’t the whole game. A brand has to live up to its promise. Some brands might make a big splash with an outlandish name, but sustaining brand equity is vital. Liquid Death works because they continue to double down on the bold, irreverent, and absurd with every addition to their product line—Killer Cola, Sweet Reaper (sweet tea), Murder Mystery (energy drink). They haven’t shied away from their initial message and it has worked—every part of the brand ecosystem, from packaging to social content to merchandise, channels the identity fervently.

Large legacy CPG brands land on the shelf with decades of refined processes, consumer trust, and infrastructure. But what they often lack is originality and curiosity. Whereas scrappy upstarts have to fight their way into markets and mindshare through DTC proving grounds, distribution negotiations, and myriad marketing methods. That freedom to be creative, to flex their weirdness, and name boldly are distinct advantages.

Magic Spoon is one brand accomplishing all of the above—it is a high-protein cereal that started out as direct-to-consumer, but now is sold at Whole Foods, Target, Costco, and Walmart. While the protein-enhanced trend in food might be slightly polarizing, Magic Spoon as a name is lighthearted, whimsical, and conjures an image of parents (and some kids) wishing a healthier breakfast cereal into existence. The brand is helped by colorful, modern packaging design that easily stands out on grocery store shelves. The company has expanded into granola’s and even “protein treats”—wherein the “spoon” in question might be imagined as a measuring spoon. 

Finally, let’s take a quick look at a growing brand that recently raised some investment. Righteous Felon is a premium jerky brand known, with a craft ingredient sensibility meant to rival traditional mass-market options. Apparently started by a group of friends who had a love for cured meats, they dreamed up a fairly-engaging, oxymoronic persona for a name with notes of Robin Hood and a playfully mythologized genesis story to boot. Granted, it seems there haven’t been any real criminal convictions in their past. The felons have had success with American pasture-raised Black Angus products at Tractor Supply Co. and specialty markets—they even landed their loot on palettes at Costco in some areas. Clearly, their name, brand story, and products were quality enough to land them some capital which will help them accelerate out of their early growth stage and share their homecooked story far and wide.

What these brands share isn’t just a loud name—it’s conviction. Retail validates them as “real food,” not just memes or brief sensations, and the ones that endure don’t tone it down once they hit shelves. Name, identity, and voice lock together into a clear point of view, carried through design-forward packaging, sharp copy, and culture-building content. Where legacy brands often dilute themselves for broad appeal, insurgent brands pick a lane and commit, using curiosity, humor, and surprise as real competitive advantages.

A bold name can buy you runway, but it also creates expectation: the product has to deliver, and the brand has to keep living the idea as it scales. Small brands win by staying agile and taking risks to move their category forward, forcing big brands to compete with that energy, acquire it, or fall behind. In CPG, there’s no reward for blending in. Pick a name with tension, own it completely, and make the shelf feel different.

Thanks to Ben Weis.