Challenger Brands: Part III

Which challenger brands belong to the Aqipa portfolio, and why are they special?

This is the last installment of our 3-part challenger brand series. So far, we have learnt why retailers should not only focus on A-brands in part 1, and how to identify challenger brands in part 2 . This final part is about Aqipa’s role in growing both challenger brands and retailers.

Listed below are the four most recent examples of new challenger brands we believe in.

JLab, a TRUE DEMOCRATIZER: Being the strongest growing headphone brand in our portfolio as well as the US market leader for TWS headphones below 100 USD, this American brand does not only offer fantastic product quality, outstanding packaging/POS presentation and unmatched value for money, but they also have a highly determined management team with a clear strategy (retail first, online second) and the ambition to become a number one brand in Europe as well.

Aarke, an ENLIGHTENED ZAGGER: Driven by a passion for design, Aarke is on a mission to (re)define the home appliances industry. In a category forgotten by the design community, Aarke merges made-to-last quality, premium materials and a unique design approach. Aarke products are created for life. Their design is iconic and, more importantly, long-lasting. Aarke is proud to engineer durable, aesthetically pleasing products. They believe in repairing over replacing, like a classic car or an old watch, passed down from generation to generation.

eMeet, a FEISTY UNDERDOG: With Zoom conferences exploding and hybrid work situations becoming the new norm, everyone has experiences where a better speaker phone, more noise reduction in the background (yes, you can hear those screaming kids and barking dogs) or a more professional looking wide angle webcam for a sales pitch would have gone a long way. While long-term players dominate the market, this champion from China has succeeded in becoming a serious contester by offering high quality high tech products at unbeatable prices and attractive retailer margins.

Milo, a DRAMATIC DISRUPTOR: The start of Milo alone was a disruptive process. Instead of launching with selective retailers, the team around CEO Peter Celinski, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Loose Cannon Systems, decided to launch with a target community of skiers and surfers on Kickstarter. And what a launch it was: The action communicator wearable device reached $ 1 million in pre-orders before a single person had even seen the device live.

Aqipa will be the exclusive launch partner for Milo in Europe and help grow this revolutionary new gadget. Made for adventure enthusiasts, it integrates a variety of patented world-first features to deliver high-quality natural conversation, packaged in a simple and beautiful design. At the core of Milo sits the proprietary MiloNet™ wireless networking protocol for reliable voice distribution over a highly dynamic ad-hoc mesh network.

Unlike open-source mesh protocol alternatives, MiloNet™ is efficient with air, tolerates packet loss and provides proactive routing and latency control. “Our mission is simple; we want to make shared adventures better by connecting people,” says Celinksi. “We believe Milo is the first of its kind and in building it, we have established an all-new category – we call it The Action Communicator.”

Interested in being part of these exciting stories? Are you prepared to stand out with challenger brands and serve your customers with better solutions in every category?

Then get in contact with us at Aqipa: challenge.accepted@aqipa.com

#wegrowbrands

Catch up on parts one and two.