After months of having to keep secrets 🤫 (due to some important patents we wanted to file first while no one had us on their radar), our startup is excited to announce to the world some major updates as we head into the new year. 🎉🍾

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These include the announcement of our first institutional round totaling $2.1 million in seed funding, new patents/technologies, new advisory board members, a bigger vision for who we are and what we want to become, and finally… the transition of Thrive+® to Cheers®! 🥂

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Rather than share it all in one extremely long blog-post, we decided that it would be a far more enjoyable experience if we shared everything that we have going on over a few smaller posts. And so, in this first post we’ll focus on the most pressing matter for our customers, which is our transition to the brand name Cheers®, the reasons behind it, and what they can expect over the coming months.

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A Big Vision Needs a Big Name

In the life of every startup company there’s that moment of realization of what exactly the company’s mission and vision is. In the beginning, when we picked the name “Thrive+” we thought that we would eventually make products that existed in a few different categories ranging from alcohol-related health products to general multi-vitamins.

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However, as time went on and our business progressed, we realized that what we do best (and frankly what we care about most) is creating products designed to make the consumption of alcohol a healthier, happier, and better experience over all. With this realization came the need to begin building a brand that was specific in representing who we are, what we do, and what we want to see in the world.

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For the first time, we were able to sit down with fresh eyes and begin imagining the future of what we wanted to create. Ultimately, what we found after months of soul searching is that we wanted to build a company around the vision of “fun, responsible, and health-conscious alcohol consumption”. And so, to do this, we recognized that we needed to focus on 1) making the best possible products that support that vision through the benefits they offer and 2) building a brand that puts our products and our customers in the correct light of being responsible and health-conscious consumers of alcohol.

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We knew that “Thrive+” was no longer a fitting name for us. We needed something that better reflected the company we wanted to build. We needed something that was iconic (think “Apple”) and could stand the test of time.

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Deciding on Cheers

After searching through literally hundreds of names, it wasn’t until an executive team trip to Ireland and during a tour of the Guinness factory in Dublin that the perfect name revealed itself to us. During a beer tasting of freshly poured Guinness, the Guinness employee leading the tasting yelled “slàinte!” and a room of a few hundred people yelled back “slàinte!” This was their way of saying “Cheers!” in Ireland.

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In Irish Gaelic, “slàinte” literally means “good health”. In fact, in most languages, the customary toast or equivalent of saying “cheers” literally means “to health”. Examples include: “¡Salud!” (Spanish), “γειά” (Greek), “ به سلامتی” (Persian), “Santé” (French), “Zum Wohl” (German), “Prosit” (Latin), and many more. Maybe it was the beer talking to us… but what could be of more perfect significance for a company focused on “fun, responsible, health-conscious alcohol consumption”?

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Granted, “cheers” in English does not mean “to health”, but it does share a universal significance with every other language and culture. Alcohol is a pro-social drug that has brought people together through the ages (seriously though, scholars often credit alcohol with the formation of civilization). For us, “cheers” is that quintessential moment of recognizing you’re sharing a special moment with others. It can be said: “Cheers!” Or, “cheers” can merely be raising a glass towards another person. Either way, “cheers” is the universal saying/symbol of recognizing that you’re sharing the moment with someone else. “Cheers” is the outward expression of alcohol’s magical ability to bring people together to enjoy the present, remember the past, and hope for the future.

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We wanted our brand to tap into that rich, as old as humanity itself, universal meaning of what it means to say (or do) “cheers” while drinking an alcoholic beverage with friends, family, or even strangers. Moments like that are what we want our products to help enable, our brand to make more common, and what we want the spirit of our company to be about.

For us, "Cheers" is the perfect brand name for four primary reasons:

1. Health & Happiness are core pillars of our company, and “cheers” literally means “to health/happiness” in most cultures across the globe.

2. The act of saying “cheers” recognizes alcohol’s power to bring people together—which is something we want to promote.

3. Because “cheers” is so prevalent when buying / drinking alcohol, you will think about us any time you see or hear the word. And Cheers® is good for you, so we want you to think of us!

4. It’s a one-word name that looks good, sounds good, and is happy.

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While we know you have grown to love “Thrive+” (we did too), we know that you’ll grow to love “Cheers” even more. Our team is obviously already in love and can’t wait for tens of millions of Americans just like you to start using it.

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A Brand Makeover to Match

When picking the name Cheers®, we realized that not only did we need a new name, but we needed an entire brand makeover to match. Over the next few months you will start experiencing a lot of changes as we transition into Cheers®.

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Our colors will change, our logo will change, our website will change, our overall look and feel will change, we will launch new products, we will make improvements to our current products including new eco & budget-friendly packaging, vegan capsules, and will even add scents/flavors to our products so that they’re more inviting to take after having consumed alcohol.

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It’s an exciting time to witness. There will without a doubt be growing pains as we go through all the changes over the next few months. But we have the best, most passionate customers in the world and so are excited to bring you into the loop of everything we have going on. Thanks so much for all the support over the past year.
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Until our next big announcement… Cheers!

—Brooks Powell, Founder of Cheers®