Challenge

When I joined O1 Distribution, the company was just starting to get presence in the Australian market. We pivoted from an initial plan to import trail running shoes to taking on the distribution rights for SOS Hydration, a US-based electrolyte brand. The challenge was enormous: breaking into one of the most competitive FMCG categories — hydration — against entrenched players like Hydrolyte, Gastrolyte, Gatorade, and Powerade.

On top of the brand recognition barrier, we faced constant hurdles around regulatory compliance, packaging laws, inconsistent supply chain lead times, and the simple reality of trying to change entrenched consumer habits.

Approach

My role was intensely hands-on. I took SOS to market from scratch, building awareness store by store, demo by demo.

•Channel Prioritisation: Started with online and pharmacy channels, then expanded into independent retail and direct-to-trade.

•Grassroots Sales: Personally visited stores, ran tastings and demos, and handled cold outreach to pharmacists, store owners, and sports clubs.

•Credibility Building: Supported the launch of the “Sweat Lab” initiative with AFL players, creating personalised hydration monitoring programs that validated SOS as a scientifically backed product.

•On-the-Ground Learning: Focused on understanding what resonated with buyers and where the resistance points were. This gave me a front-row seat to the realities of competing with big players and working around operational bottlenecks I couldn’t yet control.

Results

Despite the odds, we carved out meaningful early traction:

•Retail penetration: Built a footprint that included over 40% of IGAs in Tasmania, along with pharmacy and direct trade wins.

•Sports credibility: AFL Sweat Lab programs provided strong brand validation.

•Market insights: Identified that the most effective channels were direct-to-trade and online, rather than head-to-head competition with supermarket hydration giants.

While revenue growth was modest compared to incumbents, the experience laid the groundwork for more sustainable strategies later on — including the realisation that we had tried to scale too quickly rather than executing incrementally.

Learning

This chapter of my career wasn’t about sitting in the boardroom; it was about being in the trenches. I learned:

•How hard it is to break into FMCG without a staged, data-driven scale plan.

•That execution matters as much as strategy — but without systems to support growth, execution alone can’t scale.

•The importance of building credibility through direct relationships — with store managers, pharmacists, athletes, and consumers.

Most importantly, this was the experience that gave me the trust and confidence to later co-found Applauder, where I transitioned into a Director of Operations role. Applauder was built partly to subsidise the cost of having a field team for SOS by serving multiple brands — turning the lessons I learned here into a scalable operations model.