National Target wine buyers relied on the premier centralized B2B global digital catalog to discover, research, and select diverse suppliers.
New York, NY – October 31, 2023 – The first-of-its-kind Diverse Powered Brands™ in-person pitch day was a resounding success. Launched in April 2023, Diverse Powered Brands is the premier centralized B2B global digital catalog providing a seamless, easy, and informative way to discover diverse suppliers across all beverage alcohol and non-alcohol categories, all on one platform.
Diverse suppliers include BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), Disabled, LGBTQIA+, Veteran, and Women. Qualifying suppliers are companies that have diverse owners, companies that are third-party certified, brands that are diverse-led, and/or brands that are diverse-made.
Prior to the event, Target wine buyers vetted diverse suppliers within the Diverse Powered Brands digital catalog to select thirteen suppliers to attend the “Diverse Powered Brands Pitch Day” at Target Headquarters in Minneapolis. The event was organized and hosted by Diverse Powered Brands as one of the benefits for annual subscribers in the B2B digital catalog. Participation in the Diverse Powered Brands Pitch Day came at no charge to these brands.
“Gartner predicts that 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur through digital channels by 2025 making digital product catalogs a necessity to deliver the digital options buyer’s demand,” said Deborah Brenner, Founder of Diverse Powered Brands. “Diverse Powered Brands serves as a hybrid sales tool that adds tremendous value to the three-tier system and hosting this first-ever pitch day with a retailer like Target is just one way we are delivering as being an accelerator and disruptor for diverse suppliers in beverage alcohol.”
A private room was set up for suppliers to pitch to the Target wine buying team which included Katy Edison, Associate Buyer, Buyer, Wine & Spirits; Brandon Hoffmann, Planner, Wine; Jenn Holterman, Director, Wine; Alexis Stamm, Regional Wine Buyer, West Coast; and Matt Theisen, Regional Wine Buyer, East Coast.
While each supplier was pitching, the other brand representatives in attendance networked with executives from Diverse Powered Brands, Women of the Vine & Spirits and Wholesaler Representatives from Johnson Brothers, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and Republic National Distributing Company.
Out of the thirteen suppliers chosen to participate in the pitch day, Target has selected seven that are Women-owned, Black-owned and AAPI-owned.
Placements in Target stores range based on each supplier; one supplier was selected for placement in 1 store in their local market, while another was selected for placement in roughly 43 stores in two states.
“Target is fortunate to have a very diverse guest base that values newness and innovation. A digital catalog, like Diverse Powered Brands™, is an incredible tool for our buying teams to use to find products that our guests are looking for,” said Jenn Holterman, Director, Wine at Target. “Target is working on ways to champion diverse vendors and become a leading retailer for diverse and female led brands – this is such an incredible tool and partnership to help us do that!”
Only subscribers to Diverse Powered Brands were considered for the pitch day. To be discovered by buyers for other Diverse Powered Brands Pitch Day opportunities, diverse suppliers are encouraged to sign up today.
To learn more about Diverse Powered Brands, visit diversepoweredbrands.com.
Qualified suppliers can sign up here.
Qualified buyers can sign up for free access here.
Wholesalers and investors will be granted access in Q1 2024.
Target and Diverse Powered Brands will announce the brand names and where to find them in January 2024.
About Diverse Powered Brands™
Diverse Powered Brands is the premier centralized B2B global digital catalog connecting diverse suppliers, buyers, supplier diversity managers, wholesalers, and investors across the entire beverage alcohol and hospitality industry. Diverse Powered Brands provides a seamless, easy, and informative way to discover diverse suppliers across all beverage alcohol and non-alcohol categories all on one platform. To learn more and sign-up visit diversepoweredbrands.com.
Industry Quotes
Allied Beverage Group – Sara Harmelin, Vice President, Digital & Innovation
“Diverse Powered Brands is a game changer that will surely boost the sales of diverse brands in our portfolio. Never before has there been a centralized platform like this to empower our suppliers to tell their unique stories, our salespeople to drive growth, and buyers with the tool they have been needing to easily source diverse brands.”
Breakthru Beverage Group – Gus Bozzo, Executive Vice President, National Accounts
“As a wholesaler, Diverse Powered Brands is a great tool for us now to help our suppliers build their marketing and promotional approach around important attributes like appellation, origin, and scores, and to also go beyond that and address a much wider, more social level of importance for our consumers and our community.”
Costco Wholesale – Chad Sokol, Vice President / General Merchandise Manager, Wine / Liquor
“We’ve had supplier diversity initiatives in place for quite a while, but they were pretty much focused on suppliers reaching out to Costco to be part of that program. Whereas Diverse Powered Brands is going to be such a great resource for our buyers to be proactive in looking out to the supplier base. This is going to put a lot more power in the hands of the buyers. It is going to be such a great tool.”
Diageo North America – Jeanine Dooley, Head of Inclusion & Diversity
“With Diverse Powered Brands Deborah is creating an opportunity to bring suppliers, wholesalers, and buyers together. She is ‘making space’ for diverse suppliers and brands to be discovered. I believe this change will drive collaboration across the industry and is exactly what consumers are looking for.”
J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines – Cynthia Lohr, Co-Owner / Chief Brand Officer
“We see that consumers want to align with brands they feel a deep affiliation with. Diverse Powered Brands mirrors our complexion as wine and spirits makers, owners, buyers, growers, ambassadors, and sellers. It is the first initiative of its kind to empower alcohol beverage decision-makers to purchase from brands they know will resonate with their audiences. This is the new face of the alcohol beverage industry, and we expect it will be widely embraced.”
LibDib – Cheryl Durzy, CEO
“LibDib is thrilled to partner with Diverse Powered Brands to provide our Makers with increased visibility to Buyers throughout the country. Deborah and her team have done an amazing job building relationships with businesses that want these brands. Just one customer lead is worth the annual fee. All brands with diversity in their heritage should be a part of this important platform.”
Republic National Distributing Company – Erika Hopkins, Vice President, Culture, Social Responsibility & DEI
“We’re proud o the recent strides the BevAlc industry has made to expand and promote the variety of voices that make up our industry. Diverse Powered Brands represents another step toward investing in, uplifting, and amplifying underrepresented voices. RNDC is a strong supporter of diversity across the BevAlc industry, and we’re committed to highlighting our diverse supplier partners on eRNDC, our responsive e-commerce platform, as a way to educate our customers on these brands’ unique stories.”
Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits – Jennifer Chaplin Tolkin, Vice President, Family-Owned Brands
“Identifying and providing opportunities for diverse-owned brands is a top priority at Southern Glazer’s. In addition to our own initiatives, and those of many of our colleagues in the distributor, supplier and customer tiers, Diverse Powered Brands is one more fantastic tool in the toolbox of an industry working hard to uplift and empower entrepreneurial, diverse-owned brands to achieve their dreams of commercial success.”
