I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which this episode is being recorded, the Combomb Merry people. They've been having conversations and telling stories on this land for thousands of years, and we show our gratitude and respect for their contribution to our environment and culture.
This is Rise and Conquer, the podcast where we strive to become the highest version of ourselves through curious conversations, healthy mindsets, laughter, connection, and a deep desire to evolve. I'm your host, Georgie Stevenson. Join me as we explore parenthood, business, manifestation, and so much more. It's positive, it's practical, and it's about putting you in the driver's seat of your own life. Are you ready? All right, guys, welcome back to the
Rising Conker Podcast. Cooper excited to have for.
You, Very excited any taken a month literally.
Look, you guys are well acquainted with Cooper. So today's episode is a special one because we are going to tell you all the behind the scenes of the April Fool's prank we paused, the funny, outrageous billboards we made, and our brand new name change in Naked Harvest, which is now called New Harvest and just giving you the inside scoup. Let's do it, okay, so Coop. First of all,
we were a bit crazy with our marketing plan. Obviously, we were going to introduce the new name that has been a long time coming, which we'll get into very soon, but in true and h fashion, we wanted to do it with a bit of fun, with a bit of difference. Yeah, I am going to put my hand up and say taking the team to the US was my idea.
I remember it actually. I was in the car going home. You're like, oh my god, I get the best idea and you told me at all. I was like, what what is wrong with you? That's the weirdest thing you've ever heard? And I'm like, I trust you, and I trust you in anything you do in marketing. And I was like, yep, well, let's just do it right on. Let's roll with it.
I had to and then I had a meeting with the team in our like Monday marketing meeting, and I had to like really pitch this idea. So basically, the whole point of our name change is because of trademark issues in certain international markets, and so we kind of made the decision to change our name in all markets, so it wasn't confusing, and so we can continue expanding. And so again if you look at NH's history, we love doing marketing in a fun and entertaining way because
life's too short and life's too boring sometimes. And so I had this funny idea where I was like, well, why don't we pretend like fake taking the team to the US. And we did have Chantelle our GM and Kelly RCFO already planned to go to the US to do some market research and to go to an expo. So I think that's kind of where the idea was sitting in my head. And then I was like, let's do this whole thing where everyone thinks we're in the US.
And then on April Fall's Day because that lined up, which was cool, be like joking not in the US because technically we can't trade there. And then go into a couple of days of I guess not telling the name change, but like just introducing the idea of like, well things had to change, things have to move. And then I had this really funny idea because I'm so attached to naked, Like I'm so attached to Naked it's been our identity. It's been something we've played into. It's
so fun. It makes us very different in the market.
I feel like if we stood out from the start.
Yes, And then I think also because most of the sports supplements brands, it's very sport supplements like it's very yeah.
Jim Junkie, Yeah, manly, Yes, more of the performance sort of names and that sort of thing.
But yeah. So I loved that we were always just a bit old alternatives. So I was really sad about us letting go of naked in our name. So I was like, look, let's go out with a bang. The original idea that I had in my head was me and Cooper actually posing in front of like well known billboard locations in like Gold Coast and like Brisbane, but that just didn't happen because of timing. It all had to come together quite fast and we had stuff on.
Then we did our billboard campaign, which I'm sure you guys saw, where we got naked.
Most of us can.
Cooper downright refused and we were like, you're so lame, Cooper. All right, we'll photoshop you. So Cooper's photoshopped, but I'm naked, and so is someone from the team who I won't name. Basically, we wanted to do these billboards that were really focused on like, we're going out the way we came in. It was time to cover up and really focus on the fact that naked was the word that we were dropping in the name. And so they're also just like a bit outrageous and a bit fun. Again, eyes attention,
that's the whole point of marketing. And so they went up and everyone was like, what is happening, which is very very fun to see. The whole time everyone was quite confused, which again creates that kind of like what are they doing?
Well, it's the whole point when people rename companies. It's just we had to do this. We're just moving forward, we're just leveling up. So when you come up with this idea, it was way more fun and just different, like, yes, I haven't seen anyone do that. So it took me a little while just to understand the whole concept because I missed the one thing that I missed.
You missed the marketing meeting, Yeah, flind it to the teams.
And then when I was on the phone to you, it must have skipped out a bit because I was going towards my house. But the one key factor that I missed was the naked part, like we're stripping back.
Yes, well, our tagline when we first started Naked Harvest was like we've stripped things back, we're naked.
Yeah that part. I didn't understand that part. I didn't hear that part, so I was like, it was so confusing for me. But once I heard that when we were filming trouper literally.
On the day that we were like filming content to go to the airport, like fakely, he goes, I still don't get what we're doing.
Explaining this to you again, it was in the naked photo shoot that I was like, I didn't believe in this campaign.
Yeah, it keeps like I don't understand what's happening. I'm like, oh my god, this is so draining. This is my life anyway, That's why I do the marketing side of thing. But yeah, we wanted to be fun and different and obviously, you know when you usually do a rebrand like this, you know you get PR and you get people to talk about it, and so to be very transparent, this is a very cheap way to do our own PR and to get people talking about it, to get eyes
on it. So we just wanted to be a bit fun, a bit unique, and I feel like we really did that. It is interesting. We had a little bit of backlash, people being like I don't get this, or like this is a stupid prank. I'm like, live live a little. But also I think anything like that shows like for someone to go out of their way to comment on a marketing campaign, it just shows that you've got like.
You're doing something right one.
Hundred percent, you're attracting attention. And so yeah, that was kind of the marketing side, which was super fun. And then absously we introduced the name and everyone understood it. And also I think a big decision behind this. When we were talking about it, you know, we were like, oh, what's the messaging, Like why do we say we changed
the name? And there was a couple of kind of ideas floating around, but me and Cooper were like, let's just tell them the truth, you know, let's just say it as it is, because I feel like that's how we've always run the company and it's very like what you see is what you get, very transparent. So that's why we really wanted to use the whole Well, we can't trade in the US. That's why we didn't go
to the US. It just is what it is. Yeah, So well, let's chat about some business learnings with this whole thing.
The learnings, like I wouldn't choose anything less than what we have chosen, Like, I wouldn't I wouldn't change anything because choosing naked at the start really got our scene in the industry because when you do look into trademarks, it's really expensive. So when you first starting a company, like our learnings would be, oh, like you should look into your trademarks around the world, but like when you first start, you're not really thinking about around the world.
You're thinking about your suburb. So like the learnings, yeah, like we should have got the trademark thing sorted a bit earlier, but we just chose naked, and we just got caught because I started this whole trademark issue like three years ago, and it's taken us about three years to finally get this over the line, because I tried to trademark naked in the US and that was around nine to twelve months, and we got right down the end that we got a lawyer letter saying that we
can't trade in America. Because someone else had Naked in supplements and then we had to start again. Definitely a lot of learnings, but I wouldn't change anything what we did because back then we weren't really.
Ready to go to America or just yet take it international or anything like that, and we weren't a lot of resources.
Yeah.
Yeah, Well it's like, obviously in a perfect world, you pick a name that you can trademark everywhere, and it's.
Yeah, because it's so much money.
It costs a lot of money to trademark. So for example, even if now you pick a name that's not trademarked, when you're ready to trademarket and have the funds to trademarket in even twelve months, it might be taken like that's kind of like the risk you take. So it is definitely something you've got to look into at the start.
But in saying that, like I don't yeah, I don't regret, or like I wouldn't really change it because Naked has been such a big part of our identity and also like we're changing it to New Harvest, which is and new Harvest, so it's still n h. The branding still exactly the same. We wanted to keep it, you know, very similar, and we'll go through why we did call
it New Harvest soon. But yeah, basically this whole thing did start three years ago when we realize that we did want to take Naked Harvest internationally and we like we do technically still sell international, Like we have really amazing like New Zealand customers, We have people around the world.
The big thing though, is we're not very accessible because the shipping is so expensive from Australia for the customer and for us personally, and so you know, to be able to you know, export and have our product you know maybe in certain locations internationally, you have to have a trademark and you have to be able to.
Try and store, like to be in the big warehouses there and like trade trade there, so you need those things.
Yeah, so it's kind of been a blocker for us for the last three years. And we actually decided on the name New Harvests three years ago.
Two yeah, two years ago.
We actually had our company kind of come in and help us with the name change to make sure trademarks it made sense, etc. And they gave us a whole heap of names to pick from and can you kind of like I know it was two years ago, Coop, but can you kind of remember why you liked New Harvests.
Well, it kind of fit like it was fitting in my head with change your name new and then it's spelt different, it still had the NH symbol. I don't know, it just it just felt right, like it was just such an inner sort of thing that like it just felt it felt good. Yeah, and then it looked really professional as well. And I could definitely see New Harvest being worldwide. It's or a wad scale, so I don't know, it was like really easy once once I saw it, it was like that's it.
Yeah, And I think I also loved it because it was simple. Sometimes Naked Harvest is such a long name because it's Naked Harvest supplements even on Instagram and whatnot, So like I loved that it was like just made it shorter. I also love the fact because if we think about the name Naked Harvest, it obviously means like our ingredients are stripped back, you know, natural as possible,
and with New Harvest it gives a similar feel. But I feel like we as the company has progressed, we all also have progressed in the products we offer and kind of what we reflect and like New Harvest to me feels a bit more spotty. You know, yes, we've stripped it back. It's still no feelers, no crap. What you see is what you get. But it's like this beautiful like New Harvest, because even if you think about supplements, you should always been trying to get your nutrition vitamins
through food, Like that's just an ideal world. But because of our soil, because of everything that has gone off, because of we're so busy, because of you know, the pesticides and whatnot, we're not getting all our nutrition through our food. And so even like the word like new harvest, because it's like it is quite new age that we have to take supplements and we have to go to these other sources because our food isn't just it anymore.
Yeah, And also that we're some people are naturally deficient in all the things. I know, I'm naturally deficient in B six and.
Like extensive testing and we found like what vitamins were naturally deficient in. Yeah, So why international markets we are obviously Ossie made, we're Ossie grown, and this will always be our majority market. But also the main idea and always from the beginning, the big dream with Naked Harvest was to be accessible to that everyday person who wanted to enhance their you know, mourning their workout their night, and so to be international. We do have community in
the States, in New Zealand, you know, in Canada. We even had like throughout this process of our marketing, we've had so many comments being like, yes, I've been waiting for you to come to Canada, I've been waiting for you to come to the States, etc. And so it's very exciting because we just get to reach more of our community, we get to be more accessible.
Australians are one of the leaders in the natural area of foods and that sort of thing, because I have heard like when people are in the States or other countries they buy stuff from Australia because they just know it's more natural.
Have you heard of It is even interesting in the supplement world what we've seen, like even flavors for example in America, like they have a lot of like lolly flavors and they have a lot.
Of like we'd taken that up.
We took a lot of ideas whereas we feel like Australia we're a bit more not like that, like our flavor profile is very different lab and yeah, it is very interesting. I think. Also Australians are well known for the healthy lifestyle. I see tiktoks all the time of people internationally being like, oh my god, I just got to the Gold Coast let's say specifically the Gold Coast and like everyone's up at five am, they're running, they're
like having a sayah balls, they're having coffees. And we are quite well known to be quite a health focused society, maybe a bit more than you know, other markets kind of thing.
So when they've got that Australian made symbol on something like it just it goes off more interesting. Yeah, so if we can bring that to America.
Like, of course, we're always looking at competitors, you know, doing our research. And for instance, when we were making our greens we got a very viral famous greens powder from social media that was a US brand, and we sent it to our manufacturer because the girls would rave about it, and we were like, look, we want to
do a greens powder. This one like tasted really well, but we want to include this, this and this, And they tested that greens powder and literally were like this is literally lollly water, Like it's not going to do anything for you, gut help.
You didn't have a serve of greens.
Yeah, it didn't have a serve of greens.
Yeah.
We were like so concerned. And I think it's because in certain other markets they don't have a lot of testing, and it is like a lot of money is thrown into marketing, not necessarily the product. And because we believe so much in our products and what we bring to the table. And again, like our transparency, Like I think
that's also another thing. It sometimes makes me a bit angry knowing that some of the biggest supplement companies in the US or Canada or you know what not aren't being as transparent, and so it makes me very like hungry to be like, well, we need to be over there because they need to have an alternative product that actually works and is actually good for them.
Yeah, it's just mass production really you get into the bigger things. But we don't want to veer off of that. That's goal of ours because I want to stay true to our word, which is quality products.
Premium products. Lastly, let's probably just chat about like when this change will be happening, because obviously we have announced you guys know about it, but you will still notice if you buy certain products there will still be the Naked Harvest on it, while we're also selling products that
have the new Harvest on it. And this really was an internal decision because again one of our key pillars is sustainability and being a company that focuses on its environmental impact, and so to throw out all the old packaging of Naked Harvest would just be so silly and such a shit show.
Really well for us anyway, because then it's a it's a slower transition to the newer name anyway, so they can still get a bit of Naked Harvest as well as New Harvest, and great that we don't get to throw out a shitloaded products.
So yeah, that would just be was it was a no brainer.
It was Yeah, that wasn't even a question. Really absolutely, we're just going to sell it.
And so for example, you still might see the Naked Harvest packaging from twelve to eighteen months, because we really do plan ahead till eighteen months, like that's how far ahead we're buying packaging. So also we'd like, we know our community, we know that would never be an issue. So yeah, that's kind of like just in case you guys were wondering. And of course, like we have the same brand, like we love the Naked Harvest branding, So it's literally just a name change. It's not like a rebrand,
not a rebrand. And it is really exciting because obviously our whole prank of like saying we were going to the States with the whole team. It's like, hopefully in the future we can do that.
Because that was depressing, so.
Depressing going to their pot and being like all right, and the team was so excited to go in the hummer and stuff. I know, that was so funny. So yeah, obviously exciting changes, exciting expansion, and we just want to say how much we appreciate you coming on the ride, being the best community, letting us change and evolve. I think that's the biggest thing too, is you know, even the work we do in Rise and Conquer, one of our biggest values is evolution, and so this is one
of Naked Harvest's evolution. Literally you're seeing it as we do it, which is really cool. And I hope we can kind of like look can be like, oh my gosh, remember we used to be naked of us. A new Harvest is just like so well known, so expansive, very exciting. Any last words, have feelings vibes.
Not just pumped pumped, just pumped for the vision.
Yes, and also I do want to put a caveat in there. It's not like we are now focusing all our efforts and resources into like international markets. It's not like that at all. It's we just we don't want
to get in trouble. I think having my law background too, we're very prominent of We just want to make sure we're doing all the right things at the right times, especially being a brand that sometimes feel we have the microscope on us because of my background, you know, Yeah, we always do my profile.
Yeah.
So we just are very conscious and so even for instance, like I'm about to go on to maternity leave, So there's not even really any huge plans with international markets. It's just us being super conscious and safe and doing this before it's ever a problem. All right, my loves. Thank you so much for listening, Cooper, thanks so much for joining us.
Thank you.
If you have no idea about like what we're talking about in this episode, go to Naked Harvest Instagram. Have a look at all the posts. We did have a look at the whole marketing campaign because the team put a lot of the effort into it and we're very proud of it. And again also let that be a little permission shit shit shit, a little permission shit slip that. It's like marketing can be fun, being transparent, It's like, honestly the funnest job ever. Also, just being transparent with
your community and in your business. I just feel like there's always the way to go.
It's definitely a lot easier.
Thank you so much, guys. We'll put all links in the show notes if you do want to check out it's a new name and all that sort of thing. And again, if you're in the nh CO, we love and appreciate you and thanks being on the journey.