Confidential — Prepared exclusively for Vaquero Snacks
Partnership Opportunity

Build the Brand Behind the Beef.

Vaquero Snacks has the product, the story, and the distribution. What's missing is the cultural infrastructure to turn 8,000 accounts into a movement. We've built that before.

Prepared By AstraBrava, LLC
Prepared For Chip & Ruben — Vaquero Snacks
Classification Confidential
The Opportunity

A Retail-Ready Brand That Needs a Cultural Engine

You've got 8,000 accounts, a Sprouts trial, and a Walmart rollout on the horizon. Your founders blend Navy SEAL discipline with authentic vaquero heritage. The bones are strong. But bones need muscle.

8,000+
Retail Accounts
6
Team Members
2
Pepsi Alumni Founders
1yr
In Market

The Gap

Distribution without brand infrastructure is a ticking clock. Every week on Sprouts shelves without a defined visual language, content system, and cultural positioning is a missed conversion. When Walmart comes knocking, the question won't be "can you fill the shelf?" — it'll be "why should the consumer reach for you?"

What We Heard

Four Walls That Need Doors

In our discovery conversation, four core challenges surfaced. Each one is solvable — but they compound when left unaddressed.

01

Category Confusion

Consumers understand beef jerky. They don't understand carne seca. Without a clear education strategy, you're fighting for attention in a category you haven't defined for the consumer yet.

02

No Brand Identity System

No photography, no stop-motion, no product content, no defined visual language. The brand exists in distribution but not in the consumer's imagination.

03

No Content Engine

No in-house creative team, no campaign structure, no social presence that tells the story. Distribution earns the shelf. Content earns the hand.

04

Untold Founder Story

A Navy SEAL and an authentic Mexican vaquero. Horses & heroes. Pepsi alumni. This isn't just a snack company — it's a narrative goldmine that nobody's mining.

Why AstraBrava

We've Built This Playbook Before.

AstraBrava took another culturally rich CPG brand from zero brand infrastructure to full cultural activation — retail expansion, media partnerships, content engine, and community presence. The parallels are striking.

The Playbook in Numbers

A culturally rooted CPG brand with retail distribution but no brand infrastructure. No creative team, no campaign structure, no cultural positioning. Sound familiar?

AstraBrava developed the foundational brand blueprint, built content from the ground up, activated cultural partnerships across music, media, combat sports, and community, and drove expansion across 90 retail locations.

90
Retail Locations
15+
Campaign Videos
15+
Creator Partners
5
Activation Verticals
Phase I

Cultural Blueprint & Brand Identity

Developed the foundational strategy, brand voice, and cultural positioning. Established key media relationships.

Phase II

Content Ecosystem & Talent

12+ campaign videos, talent partnerships across combat sports and music, micro-influencer UGC pipeline.

Phase III

Retail Expansion

Culturally grounded marketing drove distribution across 90 locations in the leading Hispanic grocery chain.

Phase IV

Experiential & Scale

Street teams, event activations, B2B collaborations — capturing content at every touchpoint.

"Culture isn't something you study from behind a cubicle. It's something you consume, feel, and breathe."

AstraBrava Activation Principle
What We See

The Vaquero Opportunity

This isn't a marketing problem. It's a cultural positioning opportunity. The brand has everything it needs to own a space — it just needs the infrastructure to claim it.

Where You Are

  • 8,000 retail accounts
  • Powerful founder story (untold)
  • Category education gap
  • No visual identity system
  • No content production
  • Sprouts trial in progress
  • Walmart rollout pending

Where You Could Be

  • Defined brand identity & visual system
  • Founder narrative as brand weapon
  • "Jerky vs. carne seca" education engine
  • Content library ready for retail
  • Cultural activations driving trial
  • Strategic partnerships activated
  • Walmart-ready brand presence
Our Approach

Culture First. Shelf Second.

We don't start with ads. We start with meaning. When consumers understand who you are and why you exist, the product sells itself. Here's how we'd think about building the Vaquero brand engine.

Brand Foundation

Define the identity system, visual language, and brand voice. Establish the positioning that separates Vaquero from every jerky on the shelf. Make "carne seca" the thing consumers reach for, not the thing they skip over.

Identity Voice Positioning Visual System
🎥

Content Engine

Build the storytelling infrastructure — product photography, short-form video, stop-motion, founder stories, educational content. Not one-off assets. A system that compounds.

Photography Video Stop Motion UGC
🌱

Cultural Activation

Activate in the spaces where your consumer already lives — ranch culture, rodeos, charreria, outdoor events, Latino food culture. Not rented audiences. Earned ones.

Events Ranch Culture Partnerships Community
📚

Category Education

Turn the "jerky vs. carne seca" confusion into a competitive advantage. Educate consumers on heritage, craft, and taste difference. Make the category yours before anyone else claims it.

Education Storytelling Heritage Differentiation
🤝

Strategic Partnerships

Identify and activate the brand partners, media relationships, talent alignments, and community organizations that amplify credibility and drive velocity. The right co-signs change everything.

Media Talent Retail Support Co-Marketing
📊

Retail Readiness

Ensure every touchpoint is Walmart-ready. From shelf-talkers to in-store activations to digital retail media — when the buyer says go, you're not scrambling. You're launching.

Walmart Prep In-Store Retail Media Sell Sheets
Cultural Verticals

Where the Vaquero Brand Lives

Every great brand lives where its consumer lives. These are the cultural spaces where Vaquero Snacks has a natural right to play — spaces we know how to activate.

🏇

Rodeo & Charrería

Heritage home base

🐎

Ranch Culture

Lifestyle & identity

🏋

Fitness & Protein

Functional positioning

🎖

Military & Veterans

Founder authenticity

Outdoor & Camping

Use-case alignment

🍴

Latino Food Culture

Heritage & education

💪

Combat Sports

Toughness narrative

🎗

Horses & Heroes

Nonprofit synergy

Engagement Model

How We Work

AstraBrava operates as an extension of your team — not a traditional agency. We're operators, not consultants. We build, produce, activate, and measure. Here's the general shape of how an engagement unfolds.

Phase I

Foundation

Brand identity, positioning, visual system, and strategic roadmap. Define the voice, look, and cultural lanes. Build the toolkit that everything else runs on.

Phase II

Build

Content production, campaign concepts, education strategy, and partnership development. Create the assets and relationships that fuel growth.

Phase III

Activate

Cultural activations, retail support, experiential marketing, and scale. Deploy across every touchpoint where the consumer lives.

"We don't rent cultural credibility. We build it, and our clients inherit the equity."

AstraBrava
Leadership

The Team Behind the Work

Carlo Sebastian Alcala

Co-Founder, AstraBrava

Leads strategy-to-execution across culturally rooted brand initiatives. Architected multi-layered activation frameworks spanning music, media, retail, and community. Deep relationships across TelevisaUnivision, combat sports, and the Latino entertainment ecosystem.

Bruce Ramos

Co-Founder, AstraBrava

20+ years in music tech, digital monetization, and revenue operations. Former SVP Digital Monetization at Del Records. Supports strategic planning, partnership development, and operational oversight across all engagements.

Ready to Build the Brand Behind the Beef?

We'd love to dive deeper into the Vaquero opportunity. The next step is a strategy session where we lay out the specifics — tailored to your timeline, budget, and goals.

Schedule Strategy Session →