FROM CONCEPT TO COMPLETION

fromCONCEPT to COMPLETION

January 2021: Co-founders Spina and Sievers had seen the rise of hard seltzers, led by brands like White Claw and Truly. But they noticed that as other brands followed, there wasn’t much differentiation across the board. The duo wanted to bring something new to the market based on how consumer tastes were shifting, and the concept and name behind PRIMER was born.

February 2021: Under the guidance of Randy Hughes, former brewmaster at La Crosse-based City Brewing, potential flavors were narrowed down to the category’s top sellers: 2 black cherry and mango. The team later ran its first test brew and began workshopping the formula.

April 2021: After receiving positive feedback on samples given out to friends, family and bars, the team conducted more testing, specifically on the three-ABV system. “Momentum was building, and we knew we had something,” said Sievers.

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PRIMER hard seltzers

It’s safe to say that modern-day drinking habits are a far cry from those of yesteryear. Hard seltzer is the new lite beer, cocktails come in cans, and whiskey is having a moment. But as consumer preferences evolve, another trend is gaining traction: non-alcoholic beverage consumption.

With careers in the beverage industry spanning more than 10 years under familiar brands like Pabst Brewing Co. and White Claw, Anthony Spina and Matt Sievers saw this shift as an opportunity to develop a new product suited for “everyone and every occasion.” They launched Milwaukee-based PRIMER electrolyte-charged hard seltzers as the category’s first brand to offer a selection of three alcohol by volume (ABV) levels in one package. Each nine-pack of PRIMER contains three 12-ounce cans at 0% ABV, 5% ABV and 8% ABV.

March 2022: You can find PRIMER at local retailers in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan.

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Summer to fall 2021: PRIMER’s formula was adjusted for flavor continuity among the three ABVs. The team got to work on crafting its brand vision, 2022 sales forecast, package design and go-to-market strategy. Then came two more pilot brews, a website launch and a write-up in Forbes, followed by sampling at retailers and bar-restaurants.

IS YOUR COMPANY CELEBRATING A MILESTONE ANNIVERSARY IN 2022?

ANNIVERSARIES

The Horton summer picnic Sponsored Content

celebrating

YEARS

in business

The Horton Group N19W24101 Riverwood Dr. Waukesha, WI | 53188 TheHortonGroup.com 800.383.8283 ANNIVERSARIES

Above: a mural in the Waukesha office Left: Horton ‘Big Brother’ volunteers Sponsored Content

Left: Julie Tolan (Co-Owner) and Jane Schroeder (Business Partner/Coach)

THE HORTON GROUP, one of the largest privately-held insurance brokers in the United States, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The company will commemorate this milestone by celebrating the past, and using it as a reason to transform and make the changes to align the company with their future goals.

“Fifty years is a remarkable feat, considering many businesses barely make it 10 years,” said Dan Horton, Chief Executive Officer. “We are excited to use our ‘golden anniversary’ as a ‘golden opportunity’ to celebrate everything we’ve accomplished while ushering in change.”

The company was founded in 1971 as an eightperson agency as a single location in Orland Park, Illinois. Since then, The Horton Group has successfully transitioned from being a founder-run organization to a scalable enterprise. Today, there are approximately 400 employees located in six states across the Midwest, specializing in insurance, employee benefits and risk advisory solutions.

The Horton Group has had a presence in southeastern Wisconsin since 1998, after acquiring the Laub Group in Waukesha. After conducting business in the Milwaukee area, the owners observed that many Wisconsin-based businesses

shared the same hardworking, service-oriented values as Illinois, and were inspired to expand to more areas in the Midwest. “Our strong culture keeps us together as the economy ebbs and flows,” Dan Horton said. “It is certainly a challenge to maintain a sense of ‘togetherness’ during these unprecedented times, but we were able to make it work through new apps, websites and virtual gatherings.” celebrating The Horton Group expanded their digital footprint by hosting a wider variety of webinars and rolling out a new digital program for open enrollment. Internally, they’ve made training resources easily accessible online, and implemented new communications YEARS platforms to keep everyone connected. And most impressively, despite an economically challenging in business year, they experienced significant growth in 2020: they welcomed 79 new hires, promoted 45 employees and secured hundreds of virtual insurance renewals and benefit open enrollments for customers. “This is a special place to work because everyone prioritizes our community and our clients,” Dan Horton said. “Even in a year as challenging as 2020, we were still able to come together and think of innovative ways to achieve success. I look forward to seeing what lies ahead for us.” n

Year of Founding: 1986 Number of consultants: 50 924 E Wells St #408 Milwaukee, WI | 53202 LAUBER-PARTNERS .com 414.273.8060

Above left: Mark Wiesman (CEO/CoOwner) and Julie Tolan (Co-Owner) Above right: Mark Wiesman (CEO/CoOwner) and Scott Rasmussen (President) Since 1986 Lauber has provided experienced leadership in times of growth and change for its clients. John Lauber founded the firm as Lauber CFOs and sought to bring the value of an experienced CFO to businesses of any size by providing part-time CFO services. Over time, Lauber added interim services as well as executive search for permanent full-time senior financial leaders.

Lauber has always sought to help clients grow their organizations and navigate challenges by bringing deep insight and expertise that can make an immediate impact on their organizations. In 2017, Julie Tolan and Mark Wiesman acquired Lauber CFOs. They rebranded the business as Lauber Business Partners, Inc. to allow for expanded service offerings.

They added human resource services and expanded the executive search services to include other c-suite positions beyond finance.

“We immediately recognized the tremendous reputation of the firm, its experienced consultants and the many strong relationships it enjoys,” said Wiesman. “While many still see Lauber as a ‘finance firm’, HR now represents almost 20% of our business and we also have several other rapidly growing service lines.”

As Lauber listened to clients and prospects, they continued to hear clients asking, “How can we grow?” This led to the development of a growth planning service line that helps its clients put strategic growth plans in place for their organization. Lauber is deploying the same methodology it offers its clients

LAUBER PROVIDES A BROAD RANGE OF SERVICES TO DRIVE CLIENT SUCCESS for its own growth planning. Fundamentally, business is about talent – how to provide it, how to attract it, how to retain it and how to optimize it. Sometimes Lauber provides talent on an outsourced basis, like it does in finance and HR. Other times it helps clients build out their internal talent pool. Recently, Lauber launched several coaching offerings and a recruiting process insourcing (RPI) service line. The battle for talent is only becoming more intense. One way to deal with this is to grow your organization’s talent to be more effective, both individually and as a team. Lauber provides coaching expertise through various delivery models to align talent development needs with organizational goals, creating a competitive advantage with increased productivity and job satisfaction, and a healthy and engaged culture. Lauber saw its clients struggling to find the right talent and in February 2021 added the recruiting process insourcing service line. Lauber manages the recruiting process on its client’s behalf by offering a scalable, fixed-fee and flexible RPI model that provides organizations a dedicated recruiter that works exclusively on filling its positions. Like its fractional consultants, Lauber becomes a part of its client’s team. “Bringing critical expertise and insight to our clients to help them optimize their success through times of growth and change is our mission,” said Tolan. “We are excited to be able to do this now with such an integrated offering of services.”n With a little bit of creativity, you can turn your anniversary from just another date on the calendar into an opportunity to share your story – and celebrate your success with BizTimes’ exclusive audience. It’s a chance to talk about why you started your business in the first place, where you’ve been, what you do, what makes you different, and what your plans are for the future. You can thank your employees and clients who’ve helped you reach this milestone.