Beer Marketer's Insights
RESEARCH: LRBs Grew 3.2% in '16, for 4th Year of Improvement, Reports Beverage Marketing Corp
Last year brought the strongest performance in liquid refreshment bevs in several years, growing 3.2% to 32.9 bil gals, Beverage Marketing Corp reported. That continues the annual improvements seen in years since relatively flat 2013 (-0.1%), with 2014 up 2.2% and 2015 up 2.9%.
CSD volume dropped 4.1% (vs -3.2% for 12 wks) last 4 wks thru Apr 8 in Nielsen all-channel data reported by Morgan Stanley's Dara Mohsenian. CSDs and bevs in general were hurt by Easter timing this year, as same 4-wk period a yr ago included holiday. CSD prices edged up to +1.9% avg last 4 wks. Coca-Cola CSD volume declined nearly double from 12-wk trends. KO off 4.4% as avg prices were up solid 3.7% last 4 wks. PepsiCo CSD volume trend improved slightly but still down 4.7% on small avg price decrease of 0.6% for 4 wks. Dr Pepper Snapple volume was down 1.4% on avg price gain of 1.1% last 4 wks.
Talk about deliberate: tho they'd been created by time of core entry's rollout 3 years ago, WTRMLN WTR only is debuting line of functional blends now that brand has become familiar, colorful fixture in natural and specialty channel. The line dubbed BLNDS, natch, has moved co beyond core uncut WTRMLN WTR flavor and WTRMLN LMN lemonade that debuted last summer, in trio of vowel-challenged flavors: WTRMLN GNGR (ginger lemon), WTRMLN LME (lime) and WTRMLN TRT CHRRY (tart cherry), starting with exclusive at Whole Foods thru Jul. Like core sku, blends make virtue of employing both flesh and rind of watermelons. They're line-priced with core entry. A portion of sales will benefit retailer's Whole Planet Foundation. NY-based co featured blends at recent Expo West, where recently recruited ceo Christine Perich was on hand, beer vet who's still learning intricacies of biz but planning to use her experience from New Belgium Brewing (Fat Tire) to scale up without sacrificing quality. Christine said
Settling pump-and-dump charges brought by the SEC, Marley Coffee cofounder Shane Whittle seemed to blame his subordinates, saying, "Among the lessons I learned was that when building something on passion and big vision, entrepreneurs must properly vet professionals and work with a skilled management team to ensure that all laws and regulations are vigorously complied with. That is crucial for all entrepreneurs to build a sustainable and successful business: a lesson I have certainly learned through this experience and have implemented in all my current business undertakings." Nevertheless, tho he didn't acknowledge wrongdoing, Whittle agreed voluntarily to pay $250K fine and repay over $1.8 mil plus interest in funds that Jammin Java received. He's also agreed to accept decade-long ban on involvement with US penny stock offerings and on being dir or officer of publicly traded company in US. US District Court entered final judgment last week, resolving events that occurred in 2011. Note that whole bean marketer Marley Coffee is separate co from entity behind Marley-branded RTD entries . . . New-age bev vet Art Carey has signed onto Treo Brands, marketer of organic birch water launched by Bobby Golden, son of Snapple cofounder Hymie Golden. Art joins team that includes Snapple vets like Brian O'Byrne setting strategy and Rich Libonate running sales. Brian's partner at Inov8 Beverages, former Snapple chief Mike Weinstein, is advisor, too. "It's like being home," Carey said of Treo meetings. Art's resume includes stops at Snapple, AriZona Iced Tea, Hydrive (launched by Weinstein and O'Byrne) and Nth Degree, low-glycemic sports drink based out of NY. Art told BBI co is being deliberate in mapping out hybrid distribution strategy, recently signing Abraham Food as partner in NYC for up and down street . . . Publicly traded True Drinks Holdings, which markets Aquaball line of kids' drinks, has recruited Jim Greco as ceo, bringing in a level of expertise as biz scales up, said current ceo Kevin Sherman, who'll retain prexy role at Irvine, Calif-based co. Greco, 59, has served as prexy/ceo of Pilgrim Holdings, and earlier served in exec roles at eatery chains Sbarro and Bruegger's . . . Count Karen Wiernik among Hormel Foods execs who've made seamless transition to operating a protein shake brand. Wiernik, who joined Hormel in 2004 as brand mgr in meat products marketing, had segued to sr mktg mgr for Specialty Foods in 2013 before being assigned to newly acquired Muscle Milk brand. Now she's being elevated from sr dir of innovation & biz development for Muscle Milk parent CytoSport to svp marketing.
The FDA has read the riot act to small fresh-juice maker in Brooklyn operating as Jus Bar LLC, issuing extensive warning letter that cites numerous instances where the co's website positions its juices and shots as "intended for use in the cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease," thereby holding the co to a higher standard of drug marketers. Jus Bar is best known for shot called Jus by Julie that's penetrated Whole Foods chain, among others (BBI, Jan 28 2016). Challenged on grounds that they're unapproved or misbranded new drugs are its Almond Breeze, Sweet-Spin, Cran-Orange Crush and other flavors of its Blended Juice line and its Kava, Turmeric and other flavors of its Booster Shot line. Also cited on those grounds are co's soup and broth entries. As for Jus Bar's product labels, FDA criticizes co for failures such as offering "juice blends" that fail to state % juice content or, in case of Almond Breeze, don't contain any juice at all. Jus Bar was given 15 days to respond to letter dated Apr 5.
Celsius Holdings formally announced launch of extension called Heat that packs huge payload of 300 mg of caffeine along with 2,000 mg of L-Citrulline for what it promises is "supercharged workout." New entry, which co brass had briefly mentioned on recent quarterly earnings call a few weeks ago (BBI, Mar 31), launches in Inferno Punch, Blueberry Pomegranate and Cherry Lime flavors in 16-oz can upsized from 12-oz packs of core line. For now, strategy is to confine entry to endemic channels like fitness chains and local studios (along with club stores) while gauging reception with view to broader launch in 2018. The "trainer's grade" item is viewed as appealing most to athletic trainers, body builders, military personnel and endurance athletes, per CELH. Launch follows debut earlier this year of first all-natural version of Celsius, as co works to broaden reach of brand and crack more retail channels.
Coca-Cola made further progress in its N Amer refranchising initiative by signing definitive agreements with its largest indie bottler, Charlotte-based Coke Consolidated, to expand its territory in parts of Ohio and to acquire a bottling plant in Twinsburg that are currently operated by KO's in-house distribution arm, Coca-Cola Refreshments. The territory includes Akron, Elyria, Toledo, Willoughby and Youngstown. The deal anticipated to close later this month advances a letter of intent signed in Feb 2016, tho, in keeping with the continuous horse trading that the refranchising seems to entail, the partners are not following up with a provision to include CCR's Wheeling and Fairmont, W Va, territory too. Meanwhile, KO and Coke Consolidated continue working to conclude other planned transitions, including a broad territory swap in parts of the South and Mid-South and a Coke Consolidated expansion around Cleveland. Cleveland has been handled by another indie Coke house, Abarta, since 1905. KO separately is working to complete a territory swap in parts of Tenn, Ala and Fla with Coca-Cola United.
Retired from LA Lakers, future hall-of-famer Kobe Bryant evidently has more time for creative pursuits. So Body Armor investor/endorser has written, directed and narrates 60-second ad breaking tomorrow night on NBA Playoffs that reps sports drink's first national TV effort via tagline, "Obsession is natural," flagging drink's all-natural formulation.
Core trademark continues to build momentum, with Core Hydration bottled water entry quietly expanding within Dr Pepper Snapple distribution network to 30 states now, and co coaxing strategic partner into taking Core Organic Enhanced Water sibling along for the ride, too. And after long gestation period, LA-based co founded by Fuze creator Lance Collins is ready to add Core Organic Energy subline now, offering blend of organic caffeine and antioxidants as alternative to conventional energy brands. A sparkling water entry is planned for next year. Behind scenes, meanwhile, Core continues to invest heavily in mfg capacity, with view to leapfrogging Evian as #3 premium bottled water in US this year. Brand could reach $80 mil in sales, not counting club channel, Collins told BBI in discussion last night, in just its 3d year (and only its 2d since national rollout in 2016). That's comparable, Lance stressed, to where Bai was in its 6th year. And that's despite considerable amount of sales having been left on table in Mar when production failed to keep up with surging demand.
Coca-Cola's Smartwater brand will continue to ride longstanding affiliation with Jennifer Aniston for its spring campaign, this go-round portraying electrolyte-infused bottled water as actress' indispensable companion across her varied daily activities. The campaign shot by Tom Munro for Chandelier Creative agency claims to capture 4 "real-life, candid moments of Jennifer Aniston's forward-moving journey" as she heads up canyon with her dog or makes red-carpet entrance. Ads are shot in black-and-white with exception of blue highlights on bottle of Smartwater. One of images pushes year-old Smartwater Sparkling extension. Ads will run in print, outdoor and digital/social platforms, KO indicated . . . Coca-Cola has pulled plug on stevia-sweetened Coca-Cola Life in UK, a victim of poor sales since 2014 launch, Drinks Business Review reported. Story noted that, after Coke reduced mix of packages last year, sales plunged 58%, per Grocer Review. So KO now will tilt efforts to Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, which launched last Jun and already has surpassed Classic Coke in sales. As elsewhere in world, ads will highlight total Coca-Cola franchise, which in UK also includes Diet Coke.