The Archer Hits Its Target
I was wrong about incremental innovation.
Those of us in the startup space tend to thumb our nose at incremental innovation. Those small, gradual, slightly better improvements to an existing product or category feel uninspired, unexciting. Lackluster.
Sure, incremental innovation keeps business chugging along, but they definitely lack the romantic appeal of bold, world-changing breakthroughs. That sudden flash of genius. We think it “less than.” Beneath us, even.
Instead, we’re endlessly fascinated by the lone entrepreneur toiling away in some remote garage, battling the system, surviving false starts, succeeding against the odds. That’s the story we want. The story we want to be.
We’re startup snobs. Go big or go home.
After years of anniversary-ing last year’s launches, a frequent beauty biz tactic, I plead guilty! Mea Culpa.
Last week at the Fast Company Innovation Summit, I had a chance to rethink my opinion.
Enter Archer Roose Wines.
Full disclosure: I walked into the session biased. I’ve always been a fan of Elizabeth Banks. Invincible. Hunger Games. Love. So, when she & Archer Roose Co-Owner, Founder & CEO Marian Leitner-Waldman took the stage, I was already leaning in.
And as Archer Roose’s Chief Creative Officer, she’s Pitch Perfect (sorry, couldn’t resist. Her irreverent, non-fussy ethos runs straight through the brand’s creative work, evident in the launch commercial that’s anything but cliché. She’s not a celebrity slapping her name on some label. She’s in the room, part of the ideation, actively shaping the brand.
But back to the incremental challenge to a legacy category.
Canned wine. Yawn. Or so I thought.
We’ve already traded the sexy pop of the cork for the ease of a twist-off cap. There’s wine in a box. The liquor store shelf is stacked with hard cider & canned cocktails. What’s one more can?
Here’s the thing: wine suffers from an image problem. It’s often stodgy, snooty, marketed with pretentious rules, dense jargon, & price tags built to intimidate the uninitiated. Hawking vintage, region, terroir, label, bouquet, grape quality. An entire vocabulary designed to keep you guessing “Hey, I’m no sommelier. Do I swirl and sniff before I sip?”
Leitner-Waldman & Banks took on that entire posture.
Not the product. Because Archer Roose is a quality wine. Their Rosé, for example, is made with organically grown grapes from the heart of the Pays d’Oc region in France, one of the largest winemaking regions in the world. Their Chardonnay hails from Côtes De Gascogne, France, a region celebrated for its crisp, aromatic white wines.
Instead, they challenged the conventions. They redefined how wine is positioned & sold. How it can be experienced.
Leitner-Waldman created Archer Roose because she wanted a great glass of wine without committing to a full bottle. That’s it. That’s the whole enchilada. No opening ceremony. No pressure to finish the bottle. No guilt-tripping cork staring back at you from the counter three days later. No half-drunk bottle oxidizing in the fridge.
It’s also a quiet nod to anyone who wants to control how much they’re drinking - the use case the wine world rarely designs for.
& in solving that one problem, they opened the whole category up. Made it GenZ-able.
On stage, Leitner-Waldman & Banks walked the audience through how they’ve paired entrepreneurial instinct with bold storytelling to move canned wine from a novelty item to premium category. A shift most brands in this space have yet to pull off.
The moves that made it work:
Distribution as disruption. Partnerships with JetBlue & Breeze Airways put Archer Roose in front of a captive audience at 30,000 feet, turning “airplane wine” - historically an insult - into an actual discovery channel. Accessible over exclusive. Lifestyle over occasion.
Occasion, not competition. Rather than fight legacy wine brands head-on, Archer Roose went looking for white space: the “places wine hasn’t been.” Concerts. Hikes. Boats. Beaches. Flights. Anywhere a glass bottle is cumbersome, breakable, or flatly against the rules. The result? A 41% growth in a category that’s otherwise declining.
Humor over hierarchy. The Archer Roose website skips tasting notes & technical wine-speak almost entirely, leading instead with humor & an invitation to join the Wine Club. It’s a direct answer to the formality & gatekeeping that keep younger drinkers & lapsed ones at arm’s length.
& the category’s gatekeepers noticed anyway. Archer Roose took top honors at several award shows including this year’s Sommeliers Choice Awards, presented by Beverage Network. Turns out you can crack the code & crack a can.
So, as far as incremental innovation goes, apologies. I’m reformed. & to answer the obvious question: Wine not?
Next time you’re debating incremental vs. disruptive innovation, give me a call. We can open a can & have a conversation. I’m buying.
Best,
Robin