The Role of Authenticity in the Success of a Brand with Lou Panaccione

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network with great shows like Marketing Against the Grain. Today, we'll be breaking down the role of authenticity and the success of a brand. To drop these value bombs, I brought Lou Panachon into EO Fire Studios. Lou is the co-founder and CEO at UFOS, the global leader in active recovery footwear. He is responsible for setting the company strategy and delivering shareholder value for all stakeholders of UFOS and for building the brand and company culture based on its mission.

0:36to make you feel better. And today, Foundation, we'll talk about this amazing story of Ufos. We'll talk about establishing a company's mission and how you should focus on that. And we'll talk about authenticity, why it's valued and the role it plays in the success of your brand, and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Lou and our sponsors. Business Made Simple, hosted by Donald Miller, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Business Made Simple takes the mystery out of growing your business with episodes like how to get out of your day-to-day operations without crashing your business.

1:12Listen to Business Made Simple wherever you get your podcasts. Many EO Fire listeners have launched franchises in a variety of industries outside of food, and Fran Bridge Consulting has guided them to these premier opportunities. The founder, John Ostenson, has done more placements than any other in the country. Sign up for a free consultation with John or get a free copy of his book, Non-Food Franchising, at FranBridgeConsulting.com. Lou, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Hey, John, and hey, Fire Nation.

1:51This is Lou. And yeah, no, I'd love to share something that from personal experience that I believe about becoming successful that most people may disagree with. That thing is that you need a lot of money to be successful or to start off a business. Lou, that was a fantastic way to start the episode. I hope you were taking notes, Fire Nation, because we're talking about the role of authenticity and the success of building a brand today. And you have an amazing story, Lou. I mean, I've been doing my research. I've been checking it out. So give us the quick and skinny. What is the story behind UFOS?

2:34UFOS is the opposite of what is in most footwear, especially when you look at athletic footwear. Athletic footwear is designed to really maximize your performance. So the foams and the materials used in those are all about, you know, running faster, jumping higher. The basis of them is a resilient foam. UFOS is the exact opposite. UFOS comes from this theory of impact absorption, which is a slow rebound versus a resilient springy rebound. That slow rebound is really more consistent with what the natural surfaces in the world are made of versus the hard, unnatural surfaces that we have to stand on.

3:30And so UFOS really is providing that benefit that you get if you were, say, barefoot on a natural surface. And so that was kind of the premise that we had when we started UFOS was to put people more in that natural state as if you were barefoot on a natural surface where it's absorbing the impact, less stress on your feet, less stress on your joints, less stress on your body. Uh, so it's providing a, you know, kind of a, you know, more of a, of a comfort protection benefit than a performance benefit. I love all of this for a lot of reasons. I will tell you, I put a lot of steps on these two feet of mine.

4:15I have a three-year-old golden retreat, a golden doodle. Um, he's about 65 pounds. He needs a lot of walking, a lot of, a lot of running. So we have a great opportunity for him to just run on our street, which is a cul-de-sac. And so three miles in the morning, three miles in the evening, I am out pounding the pavement. And that adds up, I will tell you. And when I chatted with Lou about a month ago to see if he was the right fit for the show, which of course you can already tell he was. Here we are today. He was so kind to say, I'm going to send you out some UFOs. And he did that. And now I'll tell you straight up.

4:50I walk with these things every morning and every evening. and it's just like I'm no longer pounding the pavement. I'm like floating on the pavement. And what I even liked more that you sent me, because I live in Puerto Rico and I'm always walking around barefoot, which is fine, it's good. But when I'm outdoors, like I'm stepping on all these little mini rocks and stuff like this and I've always hated sandals. They just don't really work well for me. And the sandals that you sent from UFOS have been amazing. I love them. Now I wear them every day around my backyard, around my pool area, no longer stepping on rocks and like screaming, ouch and like having like Gus wondering, that's my dog, wondering what went wrong with me.

5:26So just wanted to kind of give a little personal shout out that like I've had fantastic experiences with it. And I really love that we're learning more about this story. And Lou, I want to kind of move into the history of the footwear industry because it's a pretty fascinating one. And it actually built the foundation for you starting UFOS. So walk us through that. Yeah, my experience in the footwear industry is really on the athletic side of it. I worked for 20 years, this is prior to my UFOS experience, with a couple big companies in the industry, Nike and Reebok. And great companies, I mean, the footwear industry obviously has done a lot of fantastic things, but it goes back to what I said earlier.

6:12It's all kind of based on the premise of performance and maximizing performance, which is fantastic. But when you think about, you know, most people that are wearing these athletic shoes, they're not necessarily wearing them for performance. They're wearing them for comfort. They're wearing them for, you know, protection from the heart and natural surfaces. And there's some inconsistency with the way, a performance product needs to be designed and with a way of design of a product that's going to protect you from the hard unnatural surfaces. So UFOS is coming from the exact opposite of what these performance shoes have.

6:58And, you know, we're trying to mimic the natural surface. So, So, you know, no other athletic footwear company or company in the footwear industry is really looking at it from that perspective. You know, they're coming at it from the standpoint of, you know, improving your performance, you know, when you're active. And that's not necessarily where everyone is, you know, is what everyone's doing when they're using this product. So, you know, like I said, I love what's happened in the performance side of the industry, but we're creating a whole new market with what we're doing with UFOs. We're calling it recovery because it's, you know, we don't want people to be confused that our product's not for performance.

7:52It's got this slow rebound versus this resilience. What I love about what Lou has done, Fire Nation, is he identified a void in the marketplace. He said, you know what? This is an underserved area of the market. I can become the number one solution to this real problem. This is critical, Fire Nation. This is key. Can you become the number one solution to a real problem in this world, like a real pain point? Like the fact that I've dealt with plantar fasciitis before, and I literally hate waking up in the morning sometimes because I know I want to step out of bed and be in pain. And then that's a real pain point, both literally and figuratively.

8:29and Lou is pioneering a solution to that real problem and becoming, if not already have become, the number one solution to that problem. How can you do that in your business as an entrepreneur, as a business owner? We're gonna be talking about mission, authenticity, and so much more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. We all want the same things for our business, more leads, faster sales, and better insights so we can serve our customers at the highest level. One thing we all don't want to waste time and money trying to figure these things out. So what's the solution? A CRM that's easy to set up and customize.

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10:53So Lou, we're back and we got to hear your story, which was amazing. The history of footwear and that you were a part of that as well and how that really built the foundation for you starting UFOS and continuing on in this journey. You believe in the importance of establishing a company's mission and even more importantly, keeping your eye on that prize, keeping the focus directed to that company's mission. Tell us more about that. Yeah, so I think that's the foundation of a business, right, is what is your mission? And in our particular case, we set the mission before we even started selling product.

11:34And it was based on what our product was doing in the eyes of the people that were testing it, what we were hearing from them. And our mission is very simple. It's to make people feel better. And, you know, it's important, I think, to have that connection with what you say your mission is and what people are experiencing. uh so you know we wanted it to be not just about what the product was doing but the way we were you know uh living as a company and any kind of interface that that we had with our customer or the world in terms of you know when people thought of ufos you know it it needed to relate to that company mission in making people feel better.

12:27So, you know, it had to be in our product. It had to be in the way that we operate. You know, it had to be in any kind of interaction that we had with people. And, you know, if you said it like we did before we even started selling the product, you know, and it's important to keep coming back to it as the company grows and as your business grows, you know, it'll be a foundation that, you know, the people you hire, the new products you introduce, the marketing that you do, anything that you do as you're growing that business, if you make that, those decisions on how you're going to do it that are tied to your mission, you know, people will always make that connection between, you know, the experience that they have with you and what you're saying.

13:22And that's powerful. That's powerful. You know, I know I saw it early on with UFOS. We did a lot of, and we still do, expos, you know, where we, you know, can get face to face with the consumer and introduce them to our product. And I know, So, you know, one of the first expos I did, it was around the Boston Marathon. And no one knew UFOs. This was about three or four months into the business. And I remember I was trying to explain it to people, what we did and what it was. And looking at people's faces as I was telling them, and you could tell it wasn't connecting. and you know eventually i had to say well what's your size try this on soon as they stepped stepped on it the words that i said made sense and and and uh you know i think what what you just said earlier john about your experience with it you know i think you know you wouldn't be able to relate to some of the things that you know i was saying about you know you know you know putting you as if you were barefoot on a natural surface and, you know, some of those other things, you know, yeah, they're words and you relate to some degree, but not the same way as, as after you experience, you know, stepping on our product, you know, it's, it, it, it's hard to explain a feeling.

14:51So, you know, that's, you know, that the best way is, you know, you know, try this. And that's, you know, making that connection between trying it and what you tell people. If those things come together, that's powerful. I think that's a great way of putting it, Lou. It's hard to describe a feeling. So, when you have something so amazing, Fire Nation, that's such a great solution to such a real problem, how do you get that solution in front of people? How do you have them experience it? Because one thing that I found over interviewing 3 ,800 plus entrepreneurs over the past decade, people will beat a path to the doorstep of the number one solution to their problem.

15:37If somebody is talking to a friend and they say, man, like I just played pickleball last night. I woke up this morning like, man, my heels are hurting right now or like my feet are tender. The friend's going to be like, oh, well, you probably have some form of maybe plantar fasciitis or some form of inflammation down there, you need UFOS. Like there's no better marketing than that. UFOS did not necessarily pay for that incredibly free organic recommendation or referral. And if they really are the amazing solution that Lou is building, then that's the thing that's going to happen over and over again.

16:11Just mini micro conversations happening tens, hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands of time, every day, week, month, year, around your product, your service. And Lou, now more than ever, authenticity is valued. Talk about the role that authenticity plays in the success of a brand. It's been critical for us, John, and it ties to everything we do. A couple examples I'll give is what we call our influencers that represent us in our current marketing campaign, which is called Movers. We don't tell them what to say. You know, everything that they say about UFOS is based on their personal experience.

17:04And they're all influences for us and in our mover campaign because they experienced UFOS. They, you know, had an experience that translated to something meaningful in their life. And, you know, they're talking about it, you know, in our marketing campaigns. From that authentic point of view, it's not, you know, we're telling them to say a company line or, or, or this is what our product does. And, you know, we're not even, we're not even, you know, you know, you know, using them in a way that a lot of other companies use influencers by, you know, big contracts and things like that. They're wanting to work with us.

17:52And in some cases, they've invested in the company as well, too, because they believe in our product and what we're doing. So that's, you know, from a marketing standpoint, that's been critical for us, you know, coming from that authentic experience that people have and telling their stories. You know, and the other side of it, you know, with our mission to make people feel better has led to, you know, our mission and our cause to support, you know, cancer research and cancer treatments. You know, we've got a program that we call Project Pink, and it came out of, you know, experience that we had with one of our first employees who was, you know, very healthy woman in her 50s, you know, with four young kids and a family.

18:51and she was leading our marketing efforts and diagnosed with cancer out of the blue. And it ended up being fatal. And, you know, over the four years from the time she was diagnosed to the time that she passed away, she wanted to keep working with UFOs. And, you know, we said, how can we help you, right? And she said, well, you know, I want to raise money for Dana-Farber, which was where she was. And, you know, so Project Pink came out of that. She created a program, you know, one of the parts of Project Pink where we would donate and we still do it, a percent of our sales, you know, from Ufos.com to Dana Farber.

19:39Uh, and, uh, you know, she started the program was right as we were, you know, starting our, our, our ufos.com business. Uh, I remember it took us, uh, you know, about two years to generate our first donation, which was$84 ,000. Uh, you know, it's, you know, we were proud of it. I remember we went there, we made the donation, uh, fast forward to present, you know, we're up to$3.4 million that we've donated from that program that, you know, Duncan Finnegan is her name that she created. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2019, but the program continues on, and I know she's working with us behind the scenes to kind of help it grow.

20:31But that's, it all ties back to authenticity. We wouldn't have created that, that, that program if it wasn't for the fact that we were a mission driven company, you know, with a mission to make people feel better and that Duncan needed that, you know, at that point in time, that's, there wasn't much else we could do to help her. Right. You know, but, but, but, but we, we could do that. And to Duncan's credit, that's a program that's, that, that's got, legs that'll be part of UFOS forever. I love these type of stories, Fire Nation. You can see when you tie in your mission, when you're authentic in what you do, it just reverberates outwards.

21:12And I loved hearing your story, Lou, hearing the history of footwear and which you did and your pioneering within it and the foundation that it built for UFOS today. Again, we talked about the company's mission, the importance of that, being authentic as a brand, which helps with your consumers, of course. Lou, of everything we talked about here today, what is the one thing you want to make sure our listeners walk away with? Anything's possible. If you've got something that you believe can make a difference in the world, you don't need a lot of money to get that started. You just need to take that first step.

21:55And, you know, once you get going, you'll figure it out the next step and the next step after that and the next step after that. And it may seem overwhelming that you can create a business from an idea, you know, which is nothing at that point in time. But but you can as long as it's the right product and you believe in it, you know, and it's a differentiated business idea that can make a difference in the world. you know that's that that that's you know that's the important thing how can fire nation connect with you what is the best way for them to learn more about ufos any call to action you have and then we'll say goodbye best thing would be go to our website ufos.com oofos.com and you can see all about ufos you can connect with us would love to would love to help make you feel better Fire Nation, at the end of the day, what are we all trying to do as humans?

22:52Feel better. You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with LP and JLD today, so keep up that heat. The links for everything we talked about today are at eofire.com. Just type Lou, L-O-U in the search bar. The show notes page will pop up with links again to everything. Or just directly check out ufos.com. Feel better, Fire Nation. If you're in any kind of a warm climate like me, definitely get those sandals that they have there to die for. And Lou, I want to say thank you, brother, for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today.

23:29For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Thank you for the opportunity, John. I appreciate it. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Lou for sponsoring today's episode and Fire Nation's successful entrepreneurs accomplish big goals. That is why I created the Freedom Journal to guide you in accomplishing your number one goal in 100 days. And we're talking step by step. Visit thefreedomjournal.com. I'll catch you there or on the flip side. Business Made Simple, hosted by Donald Miller, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals.

24:04Business Made Simple takes the mystery out of growing your business with episodes like how to get out of your day-to-day operations without crashing your business. Listen to Business Made Simple wherever you get your podcasts. Many EO Fire listeners have launched franchises in a variety of industries outside of food, and Fran Bridge Consulting has guided them to these premier opportunities. The founder, John Ostenson, has done more placements than any other in the country. Sign up for a free consultation with John or get a free copy of his book, Non-Food Franchising, at FranBridgeConsulting.com.

24:42Thank you.