Viral TikTok Star Doggface208 Now Has His Own BeatBox Flavor: Cranberry Dreams

When the world went into lockdown last spring, everything from music festivals to tech conferences came to a halt. All of a sudden, we became our own bartenders and pastry chefs, and we were more tuned into our social media accounts than ever before. Then, like a shining beacon in a dark room, Nathan Apodaca—better known as Doggface208—skateboarded while singing Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” and drinking Ocean Spray cranberry juice before posting it on TikTok. The video garnered over 4 million views and 950,000 likes in just 20 hours, and just like that, the world found a new social media hero in the midst of a global pandemic. Now, boxed booze brand BeatBox Beverages has tapped Apodaca to be the marketing champion of its Cranberry Dreams product, which debuts next week. Campaign imagery will feature Apodaca to be displayed in-store and on the brand's social media; meanwhile, Apodaca will promote the rollout on his own hefty socials. The new addition joins BeatBox’s lineup of six beverages: tropical punch, fruit punch, pink lemonade, peach punch, fresh watermelon and blue razzberry. Like the others on the roster, Cranberry Dreams will be available at most Kroger’s nationwide, as well as Circle K and other select retailers. By the end of this year, BeatBox will be in over 20,000 retail locations. BeatBox’s products are marketed as a wine/cocktail ingredient designed to be consumed on its own or mixed into a punch. The colorful brand line aims to separate itself from the vast array of hard seltzers that have gained in popularity during the pandemic’s absence of bars and large gatherings. At 11.1% ABV and 130 calories, BeatBox drinks are at the higher end compared to lower alcohol hard seltzers. Taken together, those attributes have helped the brand stand out. But now, as the world seeks to return to pre-Covid-19 lifestyles, BeatBox is ready to handle any turn the business faces. This isn't a one-off pay-to-play kind of thing with Nate [Apodaca]. Nate is really a partner in this product.Zech Francis, investor and head of partnerships and business development, BeatBox BeatBox, based in Austin, Texas, has typically relied on music festivals and other mass gatherings to generate its marketing buzz. But as live events are only gradually starting to return, a more traditional brand alliance with a celebrated spokesman seemed like the best path, BeatBox's executive team explained. After all, Apodaca’s association with the joy of non-spiked cranberry juice sparked a sensation with an established marketer. To BeatBox’s executive team, the partnership with Apodaca is the marriage of two outsiders trying to raise their mutual star power even higher. “We’re not just slapping Doggface on our header card and on our social media pages,” Hanna Swanson, vp of marketing at BeatBox, told Adweek. “This is something we really wanted to collaborate with him and his team on.” Swimming—and investing—with the sharks BeatBox Beverages was founded 10 years ago by Justin Fenchel, who is now CEO of parent company Future/Proof, along with COO Aimy Steadman and CMO Brad Schultz while the trio attended business school at University of Texas. The city’s global influence as a musical hub remains a central part of BeatBox’s brand identity. “The whole reason we started this company in the first place is we love bringing people together, having fun and parties, especially music festivals,” Schultz said. But broadcast television is what gave the company its first big break. That moment came in 2014, when the founders appeared on ABC’s long-running Shark Tank startup competition show. BeatBox ultimately landed lead shark Mark Cuban as an investor. Now, as the pandemic ebbs in many parts of the U.S., BeatBox is hoping to return to its festival and party-sponsoring roots—and this campaign with Apodaca is the bridge to that next marketing phase. Austin's global influence as a musical hub remains a central part of BeatBox’s brand identity. “This isn’t a one-off pay-to-play kind of thing with Nate [Apodaca],” said Zech Francis, a BeatBox investor and head of partnerships and business development, adding that the viral TikTok star has been involved in product development from the flavor to the packaging, which features his own tattoo. “Nate is really a partner in this product. There’s an ongoing revenue share with him. This is an ongoing flavor he’s going to be tied to.” Cranberry star power mix For Apodaca's part, he was attracted by the seeming ubiquity of BeatBox; the combination of collective star power in a boozy juice container struck him as irresistible. “You see [BeatBox] everywhere,” Apodaca told Adweek. “They’re on TikTok too. People are promoting them everywhere. The drink is spectacular. To be involved with something like that—as big as this—is going to be everywhere … I come with a flavor. It’s just awesome to put a new flavor out there with my name attached to it.” The impact of Covid-19 on BeatBox’s business “exposed a lot of our strengths without showing our hand too much,” Swanson said. The brand’s marketing team is just five members, which means they were able to turn it around on a dime. “Our typical plan of festivals was thrown away,” Swanson. “The digital pivot and reaching out to our consumers on social were something that came very easily to us.” Campaign imagery will feature Apodaca to be displayed in-store and on the brand's social media; meanwhile, Apodaca will promote the rollout on his own hefty socials. From in-person to virtual BeatBox’s marketing team endeavored to tie in the relevancy of what was happening on social media with a real-life product—all at a moment when real-life was halted on so many fronts. They set out to form significant partnerships with influencers and celebrities, and Apodaca’s name kept coming to the top of the list of ideal collaborations. Ultimately, his famous viral video led Francis to bring the two worlds together. Everything came to fruition—from idea to signing a deal to hitting into market—in the first two quarters of 2021. By the beginning of June, the new Cranberry Dreams flavor was ready to hit the shelves. “If you look at the landscape of any influencer or celebrity out there, there isn’t anybody that has a flavor assigned to them,” Francis said. “When you think of Doggface, the impetus for this is like, ‘Doggface, cranberry, skateboarding guy and good times.’ It made it a very fluid, easy decision when it came to [the] product development side, too.” The brand also threw a virtual house party with DJs and streamed it alongside acclaimed electronic music magazine Mixmag, with people from all over the world tuning in. “With the vibe that I bring," Apodaca said, "and then [the fact that] BeatBox sells itself—it’s going to be a smash hit for the summer.” How a Viral TikTok Led to the Transformation of Ocean Spray’s Business