Advantage Solutions marketing<\/strong> company FDM Sales, an incubator for new and emerging brands \u2014 including those that serve diverse, niche audiences.<\/p>\nWith a successful track record that includes household brands like Noosa yogurt and Hu Kitchen, FDM steps in to help emerging CPG companies gain distribution, secure prime shelf space and run effective promotions. Put simply, Peters says FDM aims to take brands from \u201csmall to significant,\u201d or from the farmer\u2019s market to grocery shelves nationwide and beyond.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe partner with brands to help them navigate and become part of the 15% that do make it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Having the Right Partner Can Be a Game Changer<\/h2>\n
Bare Bones, a nutrition company that launched in 2013 with a line of cooking stocks packed with protein and amino acids, is one of the 15%.<\/p>\n
CEO and Co-founder Katherine Harvey saw a gap in the market for nutrient-dense, specialized stocks like bone broth.<\/p>\n
Sales hummed along. Then Harvey and her team identified an interesting trend \u2014 their customers weren\u2019t just cooking with their signature product, they were drinking the broth for its flavor and protein. To better serve them \u2014 and expand distribution into new channels \u2014 in 2019 Bare Bones created a to-go version.<\/p>\n
But expansion requires capital, and while raising money from investors is almost always a challenge for startups, women founders often have a tougher road to travel. \u201cThere’s this perception that female-founded companies aren’t going to be as successful when the data says otherwise,\u201d Harvey explains. \u201cFemale-founded companies are actually much more successful, but the rate at which they’re funded is a lot lower than you would expect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Enter FDM.<\/p>\n
The company \u201cwent out of their way to talk about my brand to investors and to introduce me to investors,\u201d Harvey says. \u201cIt’s been incredibly helpful because this is a relationship-oriented business.\u201d<\/p>\n
An introduction from one male to another male about a woman founder \u201chelps grease the wheels a little bit,\u201d Harvey says. \u201cIt shouldn’t be this way, but I am grateful for men who advocate for women.\u201d<\/p>\n
It Takes a Village to Build a Brand<\/h2>\n
Men continue to have an advantage when it comes to raising funds inside startups, despite data that show women entrepreneurs often outperform their male counterparts, according to a 2023 Forbes<\/em> piece. Fewer than 25% of all deals went to women-founded companies in 2023, according to numbers published in TechCrunch<\/em>.<\/p>\nThat\u2019s a landscape FDM and other like-minded players in the industry are trying to change.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s no secret the industry has an abundance of middle-aged white men,\u201d says FDM\u2019s Peters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can acknowledge there are some opportunities, some networks and some advantages that are more available to male founders. We would be oblivious to say that isn’t there, but I think those situations are the exception, not the rule today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Further, Peters says growing awareness and increased effort across the industry are helping elevate women- and minority-owned businesses. Such efforts are \u201ccreating a community that shares ideas and connections, and amplifies successes.\u201d<\/p>\n
For instance, FDM can help emerging companies identify the right investors, like-minded buyers and retailers that share the same values, a critical lever for early-stage companies to get their products in front of the right consumers.<\/p>\n
Moving the Needle<\/h2>\n
It worked for Clara Paye.<\/p>\n
Founder and CEO for UNiTE, a pioneering company on a mission to bring diversity into wellness with a line of gluten- and soy-free protein bars in bold flavors such as bubble tea, churro and baklava, Paye says women face a certain level of unconscious bias. Potential partners tend to ask, \u201cWho\u2019s actually behind you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Paye, who also is founder of (included), one of the largest collections of BIPOC founders in food CPG, says she has \u201ca million other examples\u201d of how that bias played out as she built her brand.<\/p>\n
Things changed when UNiTE partnered with FDM.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe entire time I’ve had FDM as my outsourced sales team, they’ve been able to remove barriers,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd a majority of the people who work there are women. I don’t feel like the only woman in the room, and we’ve always had super-supportive managers.\u201d<\/p>\n
FDM\u2019s support helped UNiTE grow distribution from zero to some 900 stores in its first year. The brand\u2019s food bars are now in roughly 3,500 stores, with representation in top retailers like Target, The Fresh Market and Sprouts Farmers Market.<\/p>\n
\u201cFDM helped us to connect with the right buyers \u2014 buyers who were also aligned with our mission to increase representation \u2014 by getting us in front of the right people at the right time,\u201d Paye says.<\/p>\n
FDM\u2019s Peters says the company\u2019s key differentiator is its talent.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of our special sauce is we hired the insiders,\u201d Peters says.<\/p>\n
FDM\u2019s workforce is composed of more than a dozen former category managers, people who have spent most of their careers in CPG. They\u2019ve sat \u201con the other side of the desk\u201d and know what gets buyers excited. That\u2019s insight they bring back to brands \u2014 not just in sales but in administration and distribution.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had this great product, but operations is a very different thing,\u201d says Nicole Cardone, CEO and cofounder of Fruitful Brands, an umbrella company that owns and manages frozen dessert brands SorBabes and Fudgy Pop.<\/p>\n
After initial explosive growth thanks to a successful licensing agreement, the brand was hit hard by the pandemic and repercussions from an expiring contract. Cardone and her team had to reassess the company\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went to FDM and said, \u2018We have this long, storied history of distribution. What can we do with this?\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cAt the time we were still traumatized from going through this big boom and bust and almost losing our business. FDM believed in what we were doing so much and said, \u2018We’re going to help you get there. You just need a team behind you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s a tough, crowded, noisy retail marketplace out there, and it can be a hard, uphill battle for new brands \u2014 particularly those with women founders \u2014 to break into their respective categories. And once they break through, they face challenges to maintain, expand their businesses or even survive. \u201cSome 85% of brands fail. It’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2810,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"mrktblog-category":[43],"class_list":["post-2811","mrktblog-posts","type-mrktblog-posts","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","mrktblog-category-people"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
How Advantage Helps Women-Led Brands Break Through<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Women founders face unique startup challenges. Here\u2019s how Advantage Solutions and FDM are helping diverse brands grow and thrive.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/www.youradv.com\/advantage360\/how-fdm-sales-empowers-and-enables-new-brand-growth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Advantage Helps Women-Led Brands Break Through\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Women founders face unique startup challenges. 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