Episode 2

The dirty details of owning a successful brand with Ryan Meegan, CMO @ DUDE Wipes

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Ryan Meegan, CMO of DUDE Wipes, spills the beans on owning a successful brand centered on toilet humor's secrets.

This week, we’re getting bold with Ryan Meegan, CMO and Co-Founder of DUDE Wipes. This affectionately named brand scored a $300k investment on Shark Tank with Mark Cuban, and they bring plenty of potty humor and authenticity to their hilarious marketing.

First up, Ryan Meegan shares how fully embracing their bold and brazen attitude is what makes DUDE Wipes so compelling. That snarky sense of humor is the key to keeping their brand fun, relevant, and competitive. Ryan highlights why other brands should hone in on what makes them tick and go all in fearlessly.

Next, he shares how confidence (sometimes to a fault) has been key for DUDE Wipes, from their early Shark Tank pitch to clapping back at haters on social media. Ryan has always believed in himself and his vision 100%, even when others hadn’t seen it yet.

Finally, we discuss how the word “dude” is a mindset that invites everyone to try their products regardless of gender. In fact, 30% of their purchasers are women. So as long as you have a butt and can laugh along with the brand, everyone is welcome.

What you will learn in this episode is about the dirty details of owning a successful brand from Ryan Meegan:

  • Embracing the potty humor behind DUDE Wipes’ marketing
  • Ryan Meegan’s advice on risk-taking for other CMOs
  • How confidence (sometimes to a fault) and a competitive spirit have supported Ryan’s success
  • Dealing with being met with a lot of no’s initially
  • “Dude” is a mindset open to all genders
  • The challenges of growing a small business during a pandemic
  • How having a sports mindset positively influences day-to-day decision-making in business

The Dirty Details of Owning a Successful Brand: Full Episode Transcript - Ryan Meegan’s Introduction

Hello. Welcome to the Question Everything podcast. I'm Ashley Walters, your host, and today, I have a very special guest, Ryan Meegan. So Ryan actually grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago before attending college, where he earned a degree in marketing and huge respect as a basketball player. We'll have to dive into that a little bit, but now he applies his sports mindset at the office as the CMO and Co-founder of Dude Wipes, the coolest part. Ryan and his fellow dudes earned a $300,000 investment from Mark Cuban on Shark Tank. And after years and years of exponential growth, dude Wipes has officially hired their first agency of record, which is why he's sitting down with me today. How are you, Ryan?

I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.

Yeah, thanks for being here. So it's been a wild ride since you and I have gotten to know each other. We first met in the pitch that Pete Carter led Yep. When you guys put a search out for a new agency of record. Since then, we traveled to the Universal Studios Road Roller Coasters.

Yep.

It's been a wild ride, so my favorite thing to do.

That's right. What have you been up to?

Want to know more about the dirty details of owning a successful business? Read our blog post: Best clean, pants down.

Ryan Meegan: The Dirty Details of Owning a Successful Brand — A Wild Ride & Exciting Ventures with Dude Wipes

Yeah, I mean, really, just Q4 is kind of a wild ride for us. It's, it's one of our busiest quarters of the year. Dude wipes are a very giftable item. So, you know, we're kind of just sitting back right now and watching, you know, how Amazon goes and how our, you know, top brick and mortar retailers are, are performing as well. And this is, you know, kind of a time we, I don't wanna say, kick our feet up, but we like to watch the clock a little bit and see, you know, how sales are doing because this is when usually a lot of the fun happens. So yeah, doing that. And then really frankly gearing up to, to kick off with you guys, we're super excited about that.

As I said on a call last week, I'm starting to get a little ravenous 'cause I'm so excited to be working with you guys. And I really feel like it's just gonna be like jet fuel for this dude wipes thing that we got going that people typically love and always creates a bunch of noise in and of itself. And adding you guys to the mix is really exciting. So we're, we're gearing up for that. I know we have some big meetings coming up next week. You guys are coming to Chicago, so yeah, we're gearing up for that. And yeah, just getting ready for the holidays and, yeah, just having some fun.

Awesome. It is an exciting time. So tell me, does everybody in your family get dude wipes, like in their stockings?

They do not.

Ryan Meegan shares the story about having dude wipes with his family: 

Yeah. They do not. My sons have been promising people, dude wiper one thousand, the bidet. Yes. So, I found myself passing those out in the neighborhood recently. I love it. It's funny, they'll go to some parties and be like, do you you have a dude wiper 1000? And like little kids are like, what is that? You know? So they're obviously hooked on it, but it's one of those things I forget the saying, but it, my mom always says it 'cause she laughs 'cause she buys her own dude wipes. Yeah. And it's like the whatever, the shoemaker's children have no shoes or whatever. Like we, yeah. We have dude wipes around here, but it's not as prevalent as you would think. So. Okay. So yeah,

Well, for the record, everybody in my family is getting them, so I've got you covered.

Awesome. We appreciate that.

Yeah, that's okay. When questioning everything, we like to pull up a handy game board. Yes, you've been part of our CQ session before, so this is going to feel familiar. We have 12 questions on here. We'll get through as many as we can today. But really, the power and the risk are all in your hands. So, go ahead and pick your first question.

Discover the revolutionary product by Ryan Meegan that proves why "WET THINGS CLEAN BETTER THAN DRY THINGS."

Ryan Meegan: The Dirty Details of Owning a Successful Brand — Dude Wipes' Risk-Taking Journey & Tips for CMOs

Let's do number three.

Okay. Number three. This is so true of Dude Wipe. So, if you don't know the Dude Wipes brand, you're totally missing out. Follow them on Twitter and Instagram. And even their co-founders on LinkedIn post some incredible content. And so the question here is, it can take guts to embrace the potty humor of the Dude Wipes brand. How do you balance this, and what risk-taking advice can you give to other CMOs listening to this podcast?

Ryan Meegan’s advice to other CMOs: 

So when we started Dude Wipes, we really knew that we had to go all in on the potty humor to be as authentic as possible. You know, I think people, when, when it really comes down to it, I think Guy guys especially get really open with each other in their group, their, you know, best friends group of, you know, talking about, you know, those situations and whatnot. So that's the kind of strategy that we used to be as authentic as possible and really funny. Like, at the end of the day, we really wanna make people laugh and be super authentic. So, walking that line of really almost risque messaging and branding is kind of the cornerstone of our brand. And it's what made us who we are and why I think we are an attractive brand to people who ultimately end up becoming customers.

And really, we're like a badge of honor, which is almost what we see. You know, if you're a dude wipe guy, you talk about it loud and proud. So that's what we say our customers are doing, and I think it's really because of this risk-taking and really talking very bluntly about potty humor. So, I would encourage other CMOs to really, whatever your brand is, really find what makes the brand tick and what makes your customers tick. And really go after that and hone in on it, and you know, be proud of it. I think that will really get your customers to be more on board with your brand. And, as I said, it's if they're wearing your brand as a badge of honor, almost so to speak, that they're customers for life. So I would really try and like hone in on what that exactly is and take full advantage of it. And that's what we do.

Hashtag TED Talk. That was, like, incredible. That's great advice. I couldn't agree more. Talk a little bit about the amazing ad that you had up at the soccer game with the Nod to Cincinnati

Ryan Meegan talks about sponsorship with New York City Football Club: 

We sponsored, for those that don't know, New York City Football Club dude wipes are on the sleeve of their jersey. And we have an LED board at all their home games, like right on the pitch. So we finally stumbled upon what if we got the home and away fans really involved. What if we came up with something that, like, almost talked, talked a little smack to the away team and something that is familiar with their fan base and their city and whatever? So Cincinnati came to town and we decided to have a little fun at Skyline, their chili that all you guys love in, in Cincinnati. And we just basically sat on, on the LED, you know, anybody having Cincinnati Chili tonight, you know, get some dude wipes and, you know, that's, you know, pretty much par for the course of, of what we do, you know, super funny, engaging, relevant, authentic, and I think a lot of people got a kick out of it. So we had fun with that. That was the first time we tested doing that. And then now next year, we're gonna look at doing that a lot more with, you know, whatever opposing fan base comes to town and, and see if we can, you know, catch lightning in a bottle again and get people talking on social media.

We went crazy here in Cincinnati when we saw it. It was going everywhere, all over Twitter, definitely all over our office. Actually, Ryan just got married, and as a little wedding gift to Ryan, we sent him Skyline Chili to his hotel room for his honeymoon.

Right. Which is perfect. We appreciate that.

Oh, it's so true, though. I love the test-and-learn mentality that you guys embrace as well. You know, you can take these small calculated risks, and if they pay off, like you said, great. We do it again next year, we amplify it, we make it bigger. Mm-Hmm. And if it doesn't, it is a learning opportunity, right?

No, a hundred percent. And we take the approach, too, that we go rapid-fire with stuff. Do, do, you know, singles and doubles are great. Every once in a while, you'll hit that home run or grand slam that'll go nuts, but the singles and doubles are good, too, so there's nothing wrong with that.

Great advice. 

Discover the revolutionary product by Ryan Meegan that proves why "WET THINGS CLEAN BETTER THAN DRY THINGS."

Ryan Meegan: The Dirty Details of Owning a Successful Brand — Embracing Authenticity & Confidence with Dude Wipes

All right. Back to the game board. Pick a number.

Four, okay. What is one piece of advice that you'd give to pre-Shark Tank, Ryan? So, if you guys don't all know, Dude Wipes was actually featured on Shark Tank, Ryan, you were there on set. Mm-Hmm. You got to experience the whole process on both days, right? Yep. And Mark Cuban ended up being the big investor. You can see the episode and lots of clips online on YouTube. But now that you've been through that process and you've far exceeded anybody's, you know, hopes and dreams and goals for the brand already, what would you tell yourself before you got to Shark Tank?

Ryan Meegan's answer to what he would tell himself before he got to Shark Tank: 

Honestly, I would tell myself exactly what I told myself, and that was just who you are. Like everyone is uniquely different and we're here because of who we are. You know, who, you know, Sean's personality, my personality, Jeff's personality. That's like what got us on the show. So just do that, you know? And if you try to, you know, go way too, try hard or be some something or someone you're not, it's probably not gonna work. And it's gonna come off as unauthentic. So I was just telling myself just to calm down and be who you are. And that's what makes us special. And ultimately, it paid off for us.

That's great. And I think you're still telling yourself that today. I think it kind of goes back to your brand and the potty humor and how you show up in the world. It's like that's our filter for what good creative is. Is it authentically us? Yep. And if the answer is yes, then give it a shot.

Totally.

Good advice. One of our core values at Curiosity is to be you under the same premise. Just be a good human and be who you are. Yep. Be your authentic self. We celebrate that

Exactly. And then that's going to come out in the brand and, you know, in our case, Shark Tank. Mm-Hmm. It came off, too, to the Sharks and the audience at home at large, which is obviously super important. 'cause they were ultimately going to be, hopefully, customers of ours.

Were you nervous at all? Maybe he won't like us, he won't get us, or they won't pick us.

Do you have any? No, no. I think we're confident to a fault, almost. And that's always been the case, and I have emails telling off buyers from 2014 when we didn't have a leg to stand on and just telling them like, you're nuts. Like, you're missing the boat here. You know? And we had nothing going for us. So I think we're confident to a fault, but I'd rather be that than, you know, than otherwise. And I think that's really helped us.

That's great. All right. I think we have another one. Let's see. Okay, you picked three and four. What's the next one?

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Ryan Meegan: The Dirty Details of Owning a Successful Brand — Leveraging Outspoken Personalities for Brand Success with Dude Wipes

Will I go with you? Seven.

Okay. Lucky number seven. Okay. You've mentioned Sean. Sean is one of your co-founders. He's the acting CEO, and he's very outspoken on social media. What would you say about the perks or challenges of his very outgoing, dynamic personality? I know he has ask sessions, ask Sean something sessions. Yeah. He's constantly lighting a fire under that entrepreneurial market on LinkedIn. Yep. So talk to us a little bit about that.

Ryan Meegan talks about what are the perks or the challenges of being a very outgoing and dynamic personality: 

Yeah, I think it's great. I mean, ultimately, it's a shining kind of spotlight on what we're doing and, you know, how well we're performing. I'm a little bit more shyer of a guy, so sometimes, you know, when certain number numbers are posted and things like that, it's like, oh my god, you know? But ultimately, I think it's great for the brand, and he's speaking for us. And honestly, like I said confidence to a fault is, is what our traits are. So he's, he's spitting facts out there for us to be honest. And I think when some people and some other brands trying to ride our coattails you know, maybe think they're a little bit closer to us than they are, perhaps. So I don't mind those, those jabs in their face that they're not even close. So I love it.

Has he ever said anything when you're like, all right, I'm the CMO, you're gonna have to walk that back a little bit, Sean, or do you just let 'em go?

Oh, we just let 'em go. Yeah. Honestly, I don't think I've ever had a conversation with him about LinkedIn, so it doesn't bother me. That's awesome.

All right. Next number,

The next number, number nine.

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The Dirty Details of Owning a Successful Brand — Finding Inspiration in Music & Personal Identity with Dude Wipes' Ryan Meegan

Number nine. That's my favorite number two.

Okay. I was born on October 9th, so I'm a nice guy.

There we go. You once said everything, I'm not made me everything. I am on Twitter. I don't know if you remember this, but shine some light on this quote. What does it mean to you?

Ryan Meegan about finding inspiration in music: 

I'm really big into music, and music inspires me, especially certain lines and a lot of past music that I've listened to and have listened to; I'm like, what are they talking about here? You know, like I'm, I'm, I now in the country and stuff like that. But, like, I grew up like a rap-in R&B guy, so like Drake and things like that. When they're, they talk about things that they've experienced, especially on their ComeUp. It inspires me to really think about what exactly they mean by that. And, it gives me motivation, and it also sometimes hits me like, holy cow. I'm going through that right now. Mm-hmm. You know that I never thought I would because of, you know, the rise of the company and whatnot.

So, this quote, in particular, is really just celebrating who I am. You know, I  really don't have ever changed who I was. It's just kind of celebrating my personality, and this is what makes me, me, X, y, Z, and then everything that falls outside of that is not me. And I don't have an issue with that. I'm proud of who I am, and some of my character traits, and that's what they are. So I think that's just kind of speaking boldly about it that I don't care if I'm not into X, Y, Z, or whatever, but, you know, this is what makes me me, and I'm always gonna be who I am. So yeah, it was a long time ago that I threw that on there, but I think it still holds true.

That's great. It's the Ryan brand pyramid. I think we could write one for you, what's on the inside of the triangle and what's on the outside

Exactly.

Discover the revolutionary product by Ryan Meegan that proves why "WET THINGS CLEAN BETTER THAN DRY THINGS."

The Dirty Details of Owning a Successful Brand — The Drive of a Sore Loser in Entrepreneurship with Dude Wipes' Ryan Meegan

I know you love sports, and you hate rollercoasters. Those are two big ones.

Ryan Meegan revealed how being a big-time sore loser became a lit for him to be successful:

Yep, exactly. I should have told you guys to bring this up, but I'm a sore loser. I'm a big-time sore loser. And I'm actually proud of that because I think that is really what has always lit the fire in me to be successful. And you know, there's probably been not, not so pretty of moments growing up sometimes being a sore loser, but I really ultimately think that hating to lose is, is better than, than wanting to win because it will drive you to, to where you want to go. And that's, that's always been, you know, part of my, part of my personality. Like, even with my sons, we play Candy Land or Uno, and I'm taking little shortcuts that they might not realize because I wanna win.

I don't care if it's just the three of us sitting in there. I wanna win. They know that, and their mom knows that my wife, and she calls it out. But even just a little stuff like that, I hate to lose. So for everybody out there, I think that's, you know, innately a trait that, you know, you may or may not have. Some people have it, some people don't. But I think it's a huge aspect of trying to become successful, which is just always wanting to win and hating to lose.

You're speaking to my soul. I deeply believe in that. Any disc or strengths finder or anything competitive is always my number one. I hate losing. Yep. I would more than love to win it. But you can learn a lot in, in your failures, you know, I've always tried to like figure out what can I learn in these situations, but I'm totally with you, and I love operating from that, like, underdog fire in your belly. I've got something to prove mindset. I've been like that my whole life, too. And I think there's a connection between a lot of entrepreneurs who feel like that and operate like that in their success.

No, I completely agree. I think it's a kind of an X factor trait that, you know, like I said, if, you know, some people have it, some people don't. If you're satisfied with what I like to this point, like some of you asked me the other day, like, when did you guys like know you made it? And I really don't think we have any yet. I'm still my eyes on many more prizes. So you know, we're with all the big wins we've had over the years, we've always been kind of just like, all right, you know? Cool. That's sweet. Enjoy it for 24 hours, maybe less, and we're on to what's next.

When you think back to the loss that you've had in business, is there one that is still just you off? 

Ryan Meegan’s answer is, “When you think back to the loss that you've had in business, is there one that is still just you off?”: 

That's a good question. I don't know if there's one in particular, but I think we had a lot of humble beginnings of a lot of noss. Mm-Hmm. And we always had the mindset that, like, these are gonna be yeses one day. Like I said, you know, like that, that one, I think it was like a convenience store distributor or something, and I was like, you're a clown like this, you know, what, how are you missing this boat? You know? So there were a lot of those. But they all kind of added up, and we just knew we had just to take our time, stay in the saddle, and, you know, slowly build a brand, and those would all become yeses. And now they all are all yeses. So, I think we heard no from everybody, which made me feel off at the time. But you know, we just kept going and knew eventually the tables would turn. So I would say it was kind of a combination of a lot of them.

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Ryan Meegan: The Dirty Details of Owning a Successful Brand — Dude Wipes' Approach to Gender Equality and Embracing All Users

Yeah. That's great. All right, let's pick another number.

How about 11?

11? All right. Let's talk a little bit about gender equality. We know you have, you're all in on, dude, the dude brand. We know that men love dude wipes. So men are at your core, and we've talked a lot about authenticity and knowing who you are. So you tap into that a lot. Yeah. Have you thought about women? Is there a duet wipe on its way? What do you guys think about gender?

Ryan Meegan’s approach to gender equality and embracing all users of Dude Wipes: 

Yeah. I mean, obviously, it speaks to dudes off the top of the surface, but really, we definitely define a dude as a fun, lovely, fun-loving, happy, outgoing person and highlight the person. There's no gender there. It's a mindset. And, you know, we know plenty of women that love our products. They're 30% of our purchasers. And we, we truly think that and embody that. We're not totally focused on men as it may look like we're, we're open to anybody and everybody that receives the brand well and just has fun. So there's no, you know, gender priority here. It's just, you know, dude is just a super fun, infectious word that we know plenty of women and men use, and whatever race and all that stuff you are, it doesn't matter to us.

Ryan Meegan: So, that's really how we go about it. And I think, you know, that speaks volumes to what we've been able to do and, and the number of emails we get, honestly, from women that are asking questions about, Hey, like, you know, I had, I had this going on, or that going on, or whatever. Meaning they're implying and telling us that they're, they're user, they're purchasers, they're users, and they love it. And, you know, we, we try to address those things just as much as we do to men. So there's really no priority there.

Everybody's welcome. 

That's right.

For any woman out there who's thinking about using dude wipes—and if you haven't, we've been using 'em in our house—I absolutely love them. So does my husband. I think once you get them in the house, it's for everybody. My kids love them. I often wonder why in the hell I ever used toilet paper to begin with. The experience is so bad.

So, exactly. Oh, and another thing I'd like to add to a shout-out to women is that I think when it comes to purchasing and using products, women don't really have any ego, whereas men do. So they're fine to just, you know, buy it for the household and use it and, and love it, and it's okay. They don't care, you know, I'm sure they appreciate the packaging and the funniness and whatever, but like, whereas men, you don't really see them wanting to use a pink package, and they'll probably get all macho and say, oh, I'm not using that, you know, whatever, blah, blah, blah. So, you know, a big shout out to women who kind of just put their ego aside and buy it for their husband, boyfriend, kids, or whatever. And they just kind of go with the flow. So I think that helps us, and we have a lot of respect as well.

That's right. All right, back to the game board. I think we can squeeze in a couple more.

Discover the revolutionary product by Ryan Meegan that proves why "WET THINGS CLEAN BETTER THAN DRY THINGS."

Ryan Meegan: The Dirty Details of Owning a Successful Brand — Lessons Learned and Challenges Faced by Dude Wipes on the Rise

Oh, wow. Five.

Let's go. All right. So, what are some challenges of growing a small brand that's grown pretty quickly? Do you ever feel any pressure to expand beyond the wipe?

Ryan Meegan’s answer to does he feels any pressure to expand beyond the wipe: 

I think we did. And it wasn't our wheelhouse, and we learned that quickly. We went into deodorant, both spray and regular, and body wash, and some of those just didn't work. It is a crowded market, you know, you're going up against the, the old spices, the axe, the men's dove care of the world who have that, you know, whole market on lockdown, and it wasn't the right place for us. So we actually learned this over Covid when, you know, the toilet paper shortage was going on, and wipes were in huge demand. And we said, you know what? Forget these other things. These line extensions are not us. It's a tough, tough space to play in. And it was a huge lesson learned for the brand going forward: hey, we need to get focused back on our core competency here, which is flushable wipes.

We have some other wipes as well. Now we've come out with dude bombs, which are toilet spray and a bomb that is an odor eliminator, which we're really excited about as well. But things on the toilet are kind of our space. And, it's not as crowded of a market we can do and be ourselves therewith from a marketing and messaging perspective and get back kind of to that core fun that makes the dude brand. And so, you know, that was a big lesson learned that, you know, we felt pressure. We thought, you know, let's come up with dude, everything, you know, and it just wasn't realistic. So we learned that pretty early on a few years ago. We're happy we did, and you know, now we're back to who we are over the last couple of years.

And in terms of challenges of, of growing exponentially, I mean, I think there was no greater test than COVID, you know, with just from a pure demand standpoint with wipes, you know, we, we found ourselves in that position, and luckily our manufacturer was there to rise to the challenge as well. And, you know, they increased manufacturing for us by about 30 or 40% to keep up with some of the retailer requests. And we passed the test, luckily, and it was great. And the cool thing is that we saw a lot of new to the category users that, like you said before, like, you know, people tried it because there was no toilet paper, and they're like, oh my God, this is life-changing, you know? So, yeah. We took full advantage of that, and they're staying with the category, so 75% of people who try it stay with the category. So yeah, I think you need a key manufacturing partner to help make those growth spurts possible. And luckily, we do. And we were able to take advantage of it.

Discover the revolutionary product by Ryan Meegan that proves why "WET THINGS CLEAN BETTER THAN DRY THINGS."

Ryan Meegan: The Dirty Details of Owning a Successful Brand — Dude Wipes' COVID Loyalty and Continued Growth in the CPG Market

That's great. You guys definitely have a positive COVID story and a lot of CPG brands. Do, you know, at the end of the day, how have you guys maintained that loyalty that you saw, you get this huge uptick, you know, some brands, it went away, they had a fast drop after, you know, production picked back up and things. How have you guys been able to hang on?

Ryan Meegan talks about COVID Loyalty and Continued Growth in the CPG Market: 

Yeah, I think the big thing is just being able to keep stock. As I said, some brands weren't able to keep up with that or got in the crosshairs of whatever was going on in Europe or Asia. Luckily, our stuff's made here. And, and we really just, you know, the best ability is availability, they say, right? So, we were available, and obviously, people loved the brand on top of a great product that we have. So once they got on board, I think they were just hooked, and we got lucky. It really accelerated the growth. You know, we were building pretty well year by year, but Covid just took it to another level by getting so many more people into the funnel.

Yeah. And I think I read a quote somewhere that said, dude wipes will never be able to sustain the growth that they saw during Covid and Covid. That couldn't be further from the truth, right?

Yeah. E exactly. We've pretty much doubled each year, and that's a fantastic thing. So we're, we're super happy about that.

Discover the revolutionary product by Ryan Meegan that proves why "WET THINGS CLEAN BETTER THAN DRY THINGS."

Ryan Meegan: The Dirty Details of Owning a Successful Brand — Bringing the Sports Mindset to Marketing

Hmm. Kudos. All right, let's do one more. What do you think?

Maybe good old number two.

Let's go. All right. I know you're a huge sports fan, right? I will not be able to go toe to toe with you on sports, for sure. But let's talk a little bit about keeping that sports mindset, how that influences your day-to-day job, and some of the decisions that you make.

Ryan Meegan bringing the sports mindset to marketing: 

I think you mentioned a good, good word earlier, competitiveness. You know, I think it just keeps a daily competitive mindset of just competing, you know, like I think Mark Mark's got a good quote out there as, like, business is the best sport because it's 24/7, 365. So I think it's waking up daily and just being in the mix of our own little market niche and competing against those people. But also, the bigger opportunity for us is that you know, only 30% of US households have flushable wipes. So toilet paper is a hundred percent, so it's such a big opportunity daily, and we're just trying to have fun and get people into the mix of using our brand.

And you know, as I spoke about earlier, a lot of people say it's life-changing once they do. So just trying to get more wipes into more people. We, we say wipes to butts, is what we're trying to accomplish around here. And there's a huge opportunity to do that. So yeah, I love sports. Anything and everything pretty much all day drives my family crazy, but it's just what it is. And it's also kind of a getaway for me. You know, just to take my mind off things. And, you know, there's a lot going on in the dude world, and it's all great. But it's also cool to shut down for a little bit and step away and just, you know, throw a game on and get into that where I'm probably, you know, may, may or may not have some money on it or it's one of my, my teams, that I am, you know, rooting for to the death. And it drives me nuts. Sometimes I say, like, I hate that I like sports so much 'cause it makes my life miserable most of the time. 'cause, you know, it's very rare that your team wins it all, right? But it's, it's amazing. It's everything. So I love

That. Yeah. All right. Predictions. Who's gonna win the World Cup?

Ryan Meegan’s thoughts about whose gonna win the World Cup: 

As I was just walking here, I noticed Brazil is looking pretty good. It was a tough one for the States the other day. Yeah. I thought they might have one, maybe one more win in them. But they had a really good run. But yeah, I would say the way Brazil's looking is they're they're pretty tough.

All right. What about the Super Bowl?

Ryan Meegan’s thoughts about whose gonna win the Super Bowl: 

Super Bowl? That's a tough one. There is so much parody in the NFL year-to-year. I don't know. Do you think your Bengals are going back, man?

I hope so. I don't know if I'm gonna put any money on it.

I honestly don't know. I think it's literally up for grabs. The Eagles are like, I think, 10 or 11 and one, and there is still something about 'em that I don't know if they're gonna go all the way, but we'll see. It should be interesting. See.

All right. Well, Ryan, it was so awesome having you on. Thank you so much for your transparency and for giving us just such an authentic look. And whoa, I just froze. So we'll redo that. Thanks for that, Christian. Thank you so much for being here. I personally learned so much, and I'm just so grateful for your transparency and your authenticity. And I think, you know, just sharing how important it is just to know who you are as a brand even, and even as a CMO, as a marketer, and just to stick to it, you know, make some decisions and know what's in and what's out of bounds. And when you do that, you can take some calculated risks. You can test and learn your way into those big moonshot kind of opportunities.

No, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. It was it was a lot of fun.

Awesome. I can't wait to see what's next for you.

Likewise, together.

Yeah, that's right. Together, All right, we'll talk soon. 

All Right. Take care. Thanks.

Bye.

BIO

Ryan Meegan

Ryan Meegan grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago before attending college where he earned a degree in marketing – as well as earning major respect as a basketball player. Now, he applies his sports mindset at the office as the CMO and co-founder of DUDE Wipes: a male-targeted flushable wipe company.

The coolest part? Ryan and his fellow Dudes earned a $300,000 investment from Mark Cuban on Shark Tank. After years and years of exponential growth, DUDE Wipes has officially hired its first agency ... which is why he's sitting down with us today.

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