Adam Lowry: Method to Success [Entire Talk]

TL;DR

Method built its early success by making sustainable cleaning products desirable rather than asking customers to accept sacrifice. Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan combined environmental science, chemical engineering, product design, and brand marketing, then validated their idea through persistent store pitches, hands-on merchandising, and sales data before pursuing larger retailers and investment.

Transcript

without further Ado I am going to send it straight over to Adam take it away all right thank you Heidi and thanks everybody for having me thanks for coming um I'm going to tell you a little bit about the story of method today and I'm going to try I'm going to bounce around to a couple of different topics that I think are interesting in the way that... Read More

Key Insights

• Method's founding opportunity was the gap between growing consumer interest in home styling and a cleaning category characterized by similar products, designs, and communications. Lowry and Ryan believed that introducing distinctive design, personality, and sustainability could create a compelling alternative within that established category.
• Sustainable products often failed to attract mainstream customers because their core proposition demanded sacrifice. Lowry observed that environmentally responsible brands commonly offered products that cost too much, looked unattractive, performed poorly, and needed to be hidden, making sustainability feel like a burden rather than a desirable benefit.
• Method's mission was to rid the world of dirty, a phrase that connected the visible mess being cleaned with concerns about the chemicals used for cleaning. Lowry's chemical engineering background helped him examine product formulations and ask whether cleaning products themselves could be considered dirty.
• Method's product strategy emphasized scarce qualities within the cleaning category, including fun, elegant design, personal imagery, and connections between home care and personal care. The founders treated these qualities as the nucleus of a business idea rather than positioning environmental responsibility as the customer's required sacrifice.
• Method's early capital allocation prioritized the customer-facing product. The founders invested their life savings, a small five-digit amount, and spent more than half of it on the mold for an elegant, bullet-shaped bottle, while reducing photography, staffing, and other expenses through personal labor and borrowed resources.
• Method's first retail breakthrough came through persistence and improvisation. After about a year of repeated store pitches, Molly Stone's offered aisle space if products arrived within four hours, so the founders assembled homemade cleaner, bottles, printed labels, funnels, paper towels, borrowed wine cases, and a basic invoice book.
• Method's first revenue was $68 on February 28, 2001. That small sale provided a real retail starting point, after which the founders grew distribution from one store to about 20 stores while personally delivering inventory, counting sales, correcting shelf facings, and improving merchandising.
• Method used store performance data to determine whether early enthusiasm represented a viable business. After obtaining syndicated information about typical grocery-store cleaning-product sales, the founders compared it with their own results and concluded that the business had meaningful potential, even though they had exhausted their initial funds.

Questions & Answers

Q: How did Method identify an opportunity in cleaning products?

Method identified an opportunity by combining several observations. Cleaning shelves showed a sea of sameness in product propositions, designs, and communication, while consumers were becoming more invested in styling and caring for their homes. Lowry also questioned the chemicals used in conventional cleaners. The founders concluded that sustainability, elegant design, personality, and fun could differentiate a cleaning brand.

Q: Why did Adam Lowry leave climate science to build a company?

Adam Lowry wanted to reach people beyond the audience already concerned about environmental issues. At the Carnegie Institution, his work produced scientific journal articles and contributed to efforts such as the Kyoto Protocol, but he felt that this output primarily reached an engaged audience. Business offered a way to bring environmental ideas into everyday products used by a much broader group.

Q: Why did Method reject sacrifice as a sustainability strategy?

Method rejected sacrifice because Lowry saw sustainable brands asking customers to buy products that were unattractive, expensive, ineffective, brown, or suitable only for hiding under a sink. He could not identify a historically successful brand built around sacrifice as its core proposition. Method instead sought to make environmental responsibility part of a desirable, premium product experience.

Q: How did Method finance and design its first product?

Lowry and Ryan put their life savings into Method, which Lowry described as a small five-digit amount. They used more than half of that money to build the mold for their first bottle, a simple and elegant bullet-shaped design. Because this decision limited their remaining budget, they handled modeling, photography, product development, and other work using their own labor and available relationships.

Q: How did Method get its first product onto a retail shelf?

After roughly a year of store pitches and repeated rejection, a manager at Molly Stone's in Burlingame offered Method space on aisle five if the founders delivered products within four hours. They had no finished inventory, so Lowry prepared cleaner while Ryan collected prototype bottles. They printed labels, gathered packing supplies and borrowed wine cases, then delivered the improvised first order.

Q: What was Method's first revenue and when did it occur?

Method's first revenue was $68, earned on February 28, 2001, when its products reached a shelf at Molly Stone's in Burlingame. The founders created the inventory under a four-hour deadline using homemade product, prototype bottles, inkjet-printed labels, and borrowed cases. That initial shelf placement became the starting point for expansion to about 20 stores during the following year.

Q: How did Method manage retail operations during its earliest stage?

The founders personally handled the physical work of retail distribution and merchandising. Each morning, they loaded products into a truck borrowed from Lowry's parents, drove to stores, refilled shelves, counted bottles to estimate sales, corrected product facings, and tried to improve merchandising. This routine gave them direct knowledge of how their products performed and appeared in stores.

Q: How did Method determine that its early business had potential?

Method obtained syndicated data describing how cleaning products typically sold in grocery stores. The founders compared those benchmarks with the sales they observed across their growing group of stores and concluded that their products were performing well. That evidence persuaded them that the concept could become a real business, although their original funds were depleted and additional investment was needed.

Summary

This video features the founder of Method, Adam Lowry, discussing the story behind the company's success as a business focused on positive social and environmental change. He explains how frustration with existing cleaning products led him and his business partner to create a brand that offers innovative, sustainable, and aesthetically pleasing products. Lowry discusses the importance of innovation, storytelling, and creating a culture of evolution within the business.

Questions & Answers

Q: How did the frustration with existing cleaning products inspire the creation of Method?

The founders of Method, Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan, were frustrated with the lack of high-quality, aesthetically pleasing, and sustainable cleaning products on the market. They saw a sea of sameness in the cleaning category and realized there was an opportunity to create a brand that offered something different.

Q: What motivated Adam Lowry to leave his job as a climate scientist and start Method?

While working as a climate scientist, Lowry realized that his work was only reaching an audience that was already concerned about environmental issues. He wanted to reach a wider audience and make a bigger impact. Additionally, he was frustrated with the sacrifice-based proposition of existing sustainable brands and saw an opportunity to create a brand that offered both sustainability and high-quality products.

Q: How did Method differentiate itself from other brands in the cleaning category?

Method focused on design, sustainability, and performance to differentiate itself from other brands in the cleaning category. They created aesthetically pleasing products that people would want to display in their homes, rather than hide under the sink. They also developed more sustainable packaging and ingredients, while still maintaining high performance.

Q: What challenges did Method face when trying to get distribution in stores?

Method faced challenges when trying to get distribution in stores, as they didn't have a large budget for sales staff or traditional marketing. They had to pitch their products directly to store managers and faced many rejections and doors being slammed in their faces. However, they persisted and eventually secured distribution in a few stores, which allowed them to prove the potential of their business.

Q: How did Method's innovation model allow them to create positive change in the world?

Method's innovation model focused on creating innovations that were adopted by consumers. They aimed to make sustainability more convenient and accessible for people, rather than creating innovations that made it harder for consumers to adopt sustainable practices. By creating innovative, sustainable products that people actually wanted to buy, Method was able to create positive social and environmental change.

Q: How did storytelling play a role in Method's success?

Storytelling played a critical role in Method's success by allowing them to connect emotionally with their customers. They created stories that highlighted the problems with existing cleaning products, positioned Method as a solution, and invited customers to join the movement against dirty. By telling compelling stories and engaging their customers, Method built a strong emotional connection with their brand.

Q: Can you give an example of a story Method used to promote their brand?

One example of a story Method used was their "Jug Free America" campaign, which aimed to highlight the wastefulness and messiness of traditional laundry jugs. They created a spoof video and campaign that positioned jug-free laundry as a more convenient and sustainable alternative. This story helped Method build awareness, engagement, and participation in their movement against dirty.

Q: How did Method's innovation in laundry detergent change the industry?

Method's innovations in laundry detergent, such as their triple-concentrated and small-sized bottles, challenged the convention of bigger is better in the industry. They focused on creating convenient and sustainable options for consumers, rather than wasteful and unnecessarily large jugs. By creating compact and concentrated laundry detergent, Method was able to reduce waste and have a positive impact on the industry.

Q: How did Method's innovative refill format contribute to sustainability efforts?

Method's innovative refill format allowed customers to reuse their existing Method bottles by refilling them with the product. This significantly reduced packaging waste and the overall environmental footprint of the product. By providing a more sustainable and convenient option for customers, Method was able to further its sustainability efforts and make a positive impact on the environment.

Q: How did Method's storytelling and innovation model lead to customer participation and engagement?

Method's storytelling and innovation model created emotional connections and invited customers to participate in their movement against dirty. By creating stories that resonated with customers and showcasing how Method's products could solve their problems, customers felt a sense of ownership and became advocates for the brand. This participation and engagement helped Method spread their message and build a loyal customer base.

Takeaways

Method's success as a business focused on positive social and environmental change stems from their innovative approach to product design, sustainability, and storytelling. Their focus on innovation allowed them to create products that revolutionized the cleaning industry, while their storytelling efforts helped build an emotional connection with customers. Method's commitment to sustainability and their willingness to evolve their business model has positioned them as a leader in their space, constantly pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved through business as a force for good.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Adam Lowry left climate science because its work mainly reached people already concerned about environmental issues. He wanted to engage a broader audience through business. With brand marketer Eric Ryan, he identified an opportunity to replace unattractive, expensive, poorly performing sustainable products with cleaning products designed around quality, elegance, personality, and fun.

• Method began with the founders' life savings and a commitment to premium product quality. More than half of their available money funded a mold for the first bottle, forcing them to economize elsewhere. They modeled, photographed, labeled, pitched, delivered, and merchandised the products themselves while operating from a 200-square-foot San Francisco office.

• After roughly a year of rejected pitches, Molly Stone's gave Method shelf space on February 28, 2001, provided products arrived within four hours. The founders improvised production and delivery, earning $68 in initial revenue. They subsequently expanded to about 20 stores, gathered sales evidence, sought investment, and pursued Target despite a discouraging first meeting.