Battle Bars Rebrand Backs Off the Skull, Puts Function Forward

After eight years in the market, crispy protein bar producer Battle Bars is ready to capitalize on the era of “peak protein” with a fresh new rebrand launching next week.

The Chicago-based protein bar brand’s comprehensive brand refresh includes redesigned packaging and reformulated bars that cut each serving from 220-240 calories down to 190, while also upping the protein content from 17 grams to 20 grams and increasing fiber to 7 grams per bar.

The refresh also swaps out erythritol, which has come under fire over the last year for potential health impacts, in favor of allulose.

According to founder and CEO Alex Witt, the changes come as the brand seeks to broaden its appeal with mainstream consumers, in particular women, who make up roughly 70% of the company’s demographics. To accomplish that, Battle Bars partnered with creative agency Raindrop, which developed a new look for the brand that removes the skull from its logo, while also mounting a new marketing campaign that better highlights the health benefits of the product.

“We focused on it being a protein and fiber bar, so it’s smaller and more compact and easier to eat,” Witt said. “We want you to be able to finish this bar in 60 seconds or less and feel like, ‘Damn, that was awesome.’”

Witt said that with the refresh, Battle Bars “has stopped talking about how cool Battle Bars are” and pulled back on its founded-by-veterans story to focus on selling consumers on what the product will do for them.

“We have a cool veteran story, but you know what, man? Everyone’s got a story to tell. And when they get to the bottom of our funnel in marketing, then they can learn about the cool stuff we do and how we give back to [veterans charity] Folds of Honor and all the things we’ve done for charity and in the veteran community. But the biggest thing that we needed to do was tell people what we do for them.”

To get the message out, Battle Bars has enlisted MMA fighter and actor Ryan Bader, a partner in the business, for a new video ad that will play on YouTube and other digital platforms beginning this fall.

An Embattled Journey

Witt, a Navy veteran who served in Iraq, founded Battle Bars in 2018. The decision to start a CPG brand, he said, came after the sudden death of a friend he served with in a shooting at a civil rights protest.

At the time of the shooting, in 2016, Witt was working at a supply chain logistics company, but his friend’s death sparked him to become the face of a campaign to raise money for the family, including several TV appearances. That episode led to the soul-searching that served as his “push to do something else,” he said.

“I needed to do something more impactful,” Witt said. “If I can sit on TV and talk for five minutes and make an impactful statement, then maybe I can make a product that I love and tell these guys’ [from the military] stories while doing it.”

The result was Battle Bars, and being a Navy man he naturally designed the brand’s identity around his own veteran background. While Witt says he knew nothing about CPG at the time, his background in supply chain logistics proved pivotal in establishing the business and the brand grew its footprint to over 5,000 doors nationwide, including 1,200 7-Eleven accounts.

As in a war zone, plans do not always go as expected in the CPG world. Witt said that Battle Bars suffered manufacturing setbacks, costing the startup $200,000 in a lost deposit, and Witt had to cash out his 401k to save the business.

Now, Witt said he’s focused on having maximum control over the business and its growth. Battle Bars has since vertically integrated, investing in its own manufacturing site in Florida.

The brand has also scaled back its distribution, currently selling in roughly 3,000 doors across the country, with the bulk of the business now being through ecommerce DTC. Witt said the downsizing in footprint has been a beneficial decision, noting that the business had struggled to adequately market to and serve each location.

He noted that controlling margins is vital for the business and he ultimately wants Battle Bars to be a 70% ecommerce operation. But he’s bullish that with the renewed focus the brand can put its full weight behind each partner.

“Those retailers that we’re in, I want to support the living shit out of them.,” Witt said. “I want them to know that we got their backs every step of the way. They need signage? We got you. You need promos? We’re going to give you a great promo plan or a rebate plan. We want great media exposure and content for your signs or for your videos or for the gas stations. Like, we got you.”

In brick-and-mortar, the brand is available in all Lifetime Fitness clubs and will be in select c-store chains, he said.

To support the new initiatives, Witt said the business has raised $1.5 million from a variety of undisclosed investors.

Moving forward, Battle Bars is also expanding its team, with a new COO joining soon, Witt said. Witt serves as CEO and CMO of the six-person team, with contractors performing many duties. The brand has also brought on a retail and channel profitability lead and a VP of finance and production management.

On the brand side, Witt said Battle Bars plans to lean more heavily into partnerships, including a teamup with Barstool Sports and its Stella Blue Coffee line to create a Dark Chocolate Espresso Bar made with Stella Blue coffee grounds. The sports media business, which has an increasingly larger role in CPG, has committed around $400,000 for a media campaign to promote the collaboration.