Beer Marketer's Insights
Coca-Cola is taking equity from gaming platforms into broader marketing realm by releasing ad featuring virtual soccer star Alex Hunter for use on specialized packaging and retail partnerships in US and overseas, KO announced today. Fictitious rising star Hunter is featured in computer-generated spot told within "The Journey: Hunter Returns" story viewable on PlayStation 4, Xbox and PC versions of Electronic Arts' popular FIFA 18 electronic game, with plot that includes player's signing by Coke as ambassador behind its restaged Coca-Cola Zero Sugar. Spot contains more than passing resemblance to classic Mean Joe Greene spot from 1970s, tho that one didn't conclude with athlete and young fan posing for selfie. Among perches where the ad will land will be newly installed robotic sign in Times Square, Coke said. Game is being released later this month, as anticipation builds toward next World Cup in summer 2018.
Energy drink volume edged up a mere 0.7% last 4 wks thru Sep 9, which included Labor Day holiday weekend, in key convenience store channel, per Nielsen data reported by Wells Fargo Securities. That's a tad down from also-tepid 1% gain for segment for 12 wks. Avg prices edged up a bit to +1.2% for 4 wks. Monster Energy fared better, gaining 5.6% (down a bit from +6.2% for 12 wks) on avg price gain of 0.4% in c-stores last 4 wks. Red Bull volume trends improved to +2.5% on small (-0.2%) price dip last 4 wks. Still, it outgrew slowing category too. Among share losers, Rockstar slowed its volume decline to -3.6% (vs -4.2% for 12 wks) with avg prices unchanged at +2.2% last 4 wks. PepsiCo energy brands including Amp continued their steep descent, falling 21.8% on modest (+0.7%) avg price gain for 4 wks.
Nestle sent tremor across show floor on opening day Thurs when it announced deal to acquire majority stake in Blue Bottle Coffee, putting it squarely in third-wave coffee realm at sales multiple that some calculate may have exceeded 10X. But Swiss-based giant captured attention for another reason, too: staffers from new Nestle USA hq in nearby Arlington, Va, were swarming upstairs exhibition area where many new brands are clustered, dispatching teams who peppered exhibitors with questions, particularly those in coffee and tea realms, several reported. One exhibitor in tea space recalled being approached by nine teams of 5 each from Swiss giant, while another said visitor with Nestle badge told him co had dispatched 65 staffers to show. Partly under pressure from activist investor, Nestle seems to be on deal-making and innovation jag, making new-product showcase in its backyard a tempting target. Earlier this year Nestle USA decamped from longtime base in Glendale, Calif, to Arlington.
Never heard of skyr? You likely will soon. Even as locally based marketer of Icelandic-style skyr smoothies called B'More Organics undertakes rebranding and retail expansion, probiotics leader Lifeway Foods used Baltimore's Expo East to throw hat into the ring with nondrinkable Organic Skyr, offering promise of awareness boost for nutrient-rich yogurt style. Organic Skyr was part of bevy of innovation from Chicago-based Lifeway, including attempt to disrupt cottage cheese biz with hi-protein version containing 20 bil probiotic cultures per 5-oz tub and, on bev side, co's first plant-based protein entry, the vegan Plantiful protein drink. Lifeway first. Plantiful, packed in 24-oz plastic bottles, is formulated from organic and non-GMO pea, hemp and rice protein to tune of 16 g per serving, along with 5 vegan kefir cultures. It breaks in 4 flavors, Cocoa Bean, Madagascar Vanilla, Tropical Mango and Coconut Cream. Final formulation had occurred just a week before show and price was still TBD tho it likely would fall somewhere in $4.99 range, said sales dir Chris Vander Laan. Package prominently declares "Dairy-Free," in further departure for publicly traded dairy player. Co also used Expo East presence to highlight Lifeway Elixir Organic Probiotic Beverage, a sparkling probiotic tonic that was co's first non-dairy probiotic entry. Elixir, which debuted earlier this year at companion Expo West in Mar, is packed in 12-oz clear glass bottles and employs organic coconut water base, with cane sugar as key sweetener, bringing items in 45-50 calorie range per bottle. Initial flavor lineup of Tangerine, Hibiscus, Ginger and Elderberry aims at refreshment, in contrast to most probiotic entries on market. As for Lifeway's Organic Skyr, it's packed in traditional single-serve tubs, boasts 14 probiotic cultures, including 2 strains associated with Icelandic style, and contains 18 g of protein. It debuts in 5 flavors.
Natural Products Expo East was awash in coffees, cold-brewed and otherwise. Among fledgling trends we spotted were sparkling coffees, those with citrus notes and abundant use of cacao nibs as flavoring agent. Here's roundup of some that we managed to visit.
Sign up now for the 2023 Beer Insights Spring Conference! This year's event hosted by BBI parent Beer Marketer's Insights will be held May 17-18 at the Four Seasons, Chicago, including an evening welcome reception on May 17 and a full day of programming May 18. So far, program includes: a fireside chat with Mark Anthony Brands' recently appointed cco David Barnett; a data deep-dive with IRI executive vp of bev alc Scott Scanlon; the latest on distributor M&A with OMAC Beverage Advisors' managing partners John O'Connor and Sean McLaren; a craft brewer panel including Stone Brewing ceo Maria Stipp and Allagash sales dir Naomi Neville; a panel of alc bev legal experts with Lehrman Beverage Law's senior counsel Art Decelle, Hinman & Carmichael partner Rebecca Stam
Not every day that a story mostly concerned with market trends, biz decisions and even 3-tier distribution issues, quoting execs and financial analysts, heads up the Health/Science section of the NY Times. But so it went this wk as paper headlined that "Big Soda's Alcohol Drinks Worry Health Experts." It breaks little new ground, updating readers on expanding "4th category" RTDs and converging bev categories and rehashing concerns about big NA players entering alc bevs shared throughout 2022 by industry advocates, competitors and members of public health community. Tho it includes few specific concerns linked to these products in particular, the article relies instead on broader concerns about alcohol, its impact on health and mortality.
Mass Bay Brewing is entering the THC bev game with Harpoon Rec Weed, riffing off its Rec League beer brand with item that plays at lower, sociability-enhancing end of THC spectrum. Both the recipe and its development process are departures. Rather than climbing learning curve in-house, Mass Bay teamed with THC bev specialist Novel Beverage, which operates plants in Scarborough, Maine, and Salisbury, Mass. (Remember, THC bevs must be made in the states in which they're sold - in this case, just Mass to start.) As for recipe, Rec. Weed is brewed like a session ale but minus the fermentation, so that co doesn't later have to remove any alcohol. Process starts with green tea base and some added sugar, then cold steeping of Citra and other West Coast hop oils and passionfruit puree before THC is added to liquid base and carbonation added. Result is "hop-forward yet approachable beverage with 5 milligrams of THC" and 3 g sugar per 12-oz slim can (25 calories). SRP is $6.99. Now that recreational cannabis is legal across much of Northeast, "we saw not only high demand for a THC-based beverage, but an opportunity to experiment in a way that would uniquely leverage our strengths in the beer world," per Mass Bay co-founder/ceo Dan Kenary. This is Mass Bay's 2d cannabev after Long Trail Brewing's non-alc CBD seltzer, available at its taproom and distributed in Mass, Vt, RI, Conn and NJ.
Keurig Dr Pepper delivered a strong close to 2022, keeping volumes stable even as pricing soared, and it said it anticipates another 5% of net sales growth this year amid easing inflation as it continues to build out what its chmn/ceo Bob Gamgort now likes to call the "Modern Beverage Company." Judging by comments in investor call this morning, modernity move means things like going deep in energy and intensifying push to sate iced-coffee occasions that younger consumers crave.
POLICY: Siding with ABA on Speech Issue, Appeals Court Nixes SF Reg on Warning Labels for Now
Score one for American Beverage Assn in its game of whack-a-mole vs proliferating soft drink taxes and restrictions: it's convinced a US appeals court to grant a preliminary injunction vs San Francisco ordinance mandating health warnings for soda. Three-judge panel from 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that plaintiffs ABA, Calif Retailers Assn and Calif State Outdoor Advertising Assn "were likely to succeed with their claim that the ordinance was unjustified and violated commercial speech under the First Amendment," Reuters reported today. So it granted injunction and sent case back to lower court. As Reuters reminded, ordinance that passed in June 2015 requires advertisers within city to include warning statement that drinking high-sugar bevs contributes to obesity, diabetes and tooth decay.