222 | The Silicon Valley Model of Selling Drinkable Products | with Henry Murray

Honest Ecommerce

Henry Murray is the co-founder and CMO of waterdrop. With an impressive educational background, Henry is waterdrop’s resident jack of all trades.

After working for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Henry joined his brother, Martin Donald Murray, and friend, Christoph Hermann, to co-found the beverage-industry disrupting company, earning him a spot on Forbes prestigious 30 under 30 list.

Henry is currently in charge of overseeing waterdrop’s global expansion, with a focus on the U.S. Murray holds a Master of Science from The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), an exchange semester in Business Administration and Management, General from Seoul National University, and a Bachelor of Science in International Business Administration from WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business).

waterdrop, the fast-growing hydration brand based in Vienna, has been shaking up the beverage industry since 2016 with its innovative waterdrop® Microdrink and global hydration platform.

The company's mission is to encourage people to drink more water in a more sustainable way. Its sugar-free, flavored cubes, which dissolve in water and enrich it with natural fruit & plant extracts and valuable vitamins, have been praised by consumers for supporting them to Drink More Water.

waterdrop significantly reduces plastic use and CO2 emissions. The 98% saving in plastic compared to traditional bottled drinks is achieved through the individual recyclable packaging of each cube: the plastic contained in a single cap of a traditional bottle is equivalent to 10 Microdrinks.

In partnership with Plastic Bank, waterdrop pledges to collect one plastic bottle for every 12-pack sold, meaning consumers can not only drink more sustainably, but they can also support waterdrop's cause for a better environmental future.

Now established for six years, the company has grown to having more than 2 million online customers and over 300 employees, as well as product listings in over 20,000 retail outlets and more than 40 waterdrop stores in Europe, America and Singapore.

In This Conversation We Discuss:

• [00:00] Intro
• [01:00] The products of waterdrop
• [03:46] The R&D process and the initial launch
• [05:00] How the team validated the product
• [06:05] The duration from R&D to product launch
• [07:01] Launching a CPG is quite a process
• [08:21] Acquiring new customers for waterdrop
• [10:11] The budget range to move the needle
• [11:20] Limiting your budget is a limiting belief
• [12:07] Sponsor: Electric Eye electriceye.io/connect
• [13:04] Sponsor: JSON-LD For SEO jsonld.app
• [14:21] Sponsor: Retention.com retention.com/honest
• [15:12] Why did waterdrop chose tennis specifically?
• [17:24] waterdrop’s innovative hydration bench
• [17:58] Why waterdrop chose top-tier tennis athletes
• [18:59] US vs EU markets
• [21:48] The perspective of an EU brand coming to the US
• [24:07] Where to find waterdrop

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Helping you drink more water with bursts of delicious flavors made from real fruit and plant extracts — anytime, anywhere waterdrop.com
• Connect with Henry linkedin.com/in/thomas-henry-murray-00578a55
• Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect
• Get your free structured data audit for your store jsonld.app
• Book your demo today and get 20% off the annual commitment fee retention.com/honest

If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!