How much does your packaging matter?

Consider this: Hiball Energy used to be sold in glass bottles, and the company grew slowly. Then it switched to aluminum cans and sales exploded — reaching $40 million in annual revenue, and then getting acquired by one of the world's largest alcohol brands.

But before Hiball's team could change its packaging, they first had to do something even more important: They had to challenge their most fundamental assumptions about their brand — and abandon ideas they once thought were sacred.

That is the hardest work of all. And if you can do it, you're on your way to growth.

Here's what happened.

At first, it was a practical decision: "We were trying to get on cocktail menus," says Dan Craytor, who at the time was Hiball's VP of business development.

The brand launched in 2005, just as people were drinking a lot of Red Bull vodkas. Hiball founder Todd Berardi saw an opportunity to elevate that — creating a higher-quality energy drink with no sugar or sweeteners, which people could mix with a variety of alcohols. Mixers were often sold in squat glass bottles, so Hiball did the same.

This turned out........

© Entrepreneur