Hiball extended its year-old Alta Palla Sparkling Fruit Juice line with Sparkling Waters entry that aims to break out from multipack morass dominated by subpremium brands like La Croix. New line is being offered in 16-oz cans that swap the brilliant color palette of the 12-oz cans used for the sparkling juices for a white background to flag the zero-calorie recipe. Initial flavor range is Wild Berry, Peach, Grapefruit and Lemon Lime, all using USDA Organic-certified flavors. Depending on retailer, they'll be priced $1.29-1.49, but promo'd at 99 cents. In c-stores, stylish look and 16-oz can format should break thru in a sparkling water set that's "not pretty," said cofounder Todd Berardi. (Like other Hiball packs, this one was designed by Berardi's wife, the graphic designer Alyssa Warnock.) Meanwhile, on distribution front, Hiball is taking further step into DSD with recruitment of Haralambos Bev in LA and Lenore in San Diego as partners, with one key retail partner, Ralph's, now being transitioned to DSD.

NY-based matcha player MatchaBar, which has used base of matcha teahouses as launching pad for RTD line, has teamed with label supplier DWS to undertake "bottle as billboard" initiative. Under campaign, each flavor will get 2 sets of copy along lines of "Apple Ginger Matcha can win an argument at 140 characters" or "Mint Matcha stays cool in hot yoga" or "Original Matcha has been gluten-free since 1204." Meanwhile, RTD line developed with help of incubator MetaBrand has pivoted to straightwall 10-oz bottle. And after building base of cafes in Bklyn and Manhattan, co was due to open first LA café this past weekend, in Silverlake District. Tho small, brand launched by Fortgang bros has made considerable noise in burgeoning category, drawing lines down block to pop-up store in Tokyo and otherwise bringing refreshing spirit to staid, ceremonial powdered-green-tea category, much as American craft brewers have done in gleefully violating European strictures on how beer is to be made.

Making its inaugural Expo West appearance under new mgmt team, crossfit mainstay Kill Cliff showed updated can graphics, new flavor and exhortation to "Kill the Quit" as part of new marketing direction. Not visible at Expo booth: the co's year-and-a-half old line of cold-brewed coffees, dropped by new team as unneeded diversion in very crowded segment.

Mamma Chia offered just a smattering of new products at Expo West, but promised far more robust innovation pipeline in near future, even as co has decided to drop Granola Clusters in brutally crowded nutrition bar segment. At Expo, co showed trio of new entries in core Chia Vitality Beverages line: Lemon Iced Tea, Blueberry Pomegranate and Ginger Lime. But that's just tip of iceberg, founders Janie and Lance Hoffman promised, now that cohesive team has been assembled to buttress expertise. Latest addition is former Hain Celestial food scientist Brenda Wienckowski, in as dir of R&D (tho Janie was quick to stress that longtime collaborator Grace Venus remains critical part of innovation activities). She joins team that was augmented last fall by Clorox vet Ken Vargha as evp sales & marketing (BBI, Sep 26). Enhanced team will be focusing on stepping up new items in all 3 remaining lines, including guayusa-based Chia Energy Beverages line and pouched Chia Squeeze line. Carlsbad, Calif-based co is proceeding, Janie emphasized, from solid financial base, generating positive cash flow and not having had to resort to capital raise for years.

Obviously, judging by avalanche of media coverage, rumor we picked up on Expo West show floor on Fri morning turned out to be true: Kevin Klock has abruptly departed position as prexy/ceo of Talking Rain, on eve of launching $37 mil ad campaign under theme "Be Not Bland" and announcing acquisition of yet-unidentified brand. During our weekend scramble covering Expo West we haven't yet been able to detect reason for surprise development, and Talking Rain staffers manning booth for Sparkling Ice essence subline said they'd heard nothing officially so far about why, tho it was completely unexpected. Preston, Wash-based co issued statement saying Kevin is being succeeded in interim by cfo Marcus Smith, 3-year Talking Rain vet who'd held similar posts outside bevs at Mobisante and publicly traded SonoSite. Marcus was among Talking Rain team that recently met in NY with media, outlining ambitious marketing and acquisition plans (BBI, Feb 22). BBI editor spent quite a bit of time with team that day and didn't detect any signs of stress at all. As for acquisition, that was to be part of effort by Klock to make good on longstanding assurances to DSD network that he would be bringing them other broadly appealing brands to help them grow, tho whether deal is happening now, or even might have been focus of dispute between Klock and private ownership group, isn't known at this time. Klock has been frequently lionized for taking sleepy regional Ice brand in 2011 and growing it to well beyond half-bil by 2015, tho co has struggled to fully monetize achievement. While in NY, co brass had said they hadn't ruled out IPO effort.

Coca-Cola is offering pina colada flavor with "zero regrets" in its Vitaminwater Zero subline, offering pineapple coconut flavored entry dubbed Reset. With complement of vitamin C and B and potassium, Reset rolls in 20-oz bottles line-priced at $1.59.

Produce giant Dole debuted non-GMO tropical blends called Jaya packed in 8.4-oz slim cans that will hit shelves in Jun in trio of flavors: Pineapple, Passion Fruit & Carrot; Pineapple & Mango, and Pineapple & Banana. They're made with 100% juice from concentrate with no added sugar. Booth staffers said pricing hasn't been set yet. Nor did they know origin of evocative-sounding brand name.

Determined to show retailers and distributors that their rollup co is on way to becoming innovation powerhouse, Denver-based New Age Beverage unveiled 3 new product platforms at Expo West.