Beer Marketer's Insights
Comparing federal stats about alcohol availability to a recent study about alcohol-related harm revealed a surprising result to the New Zealand Herald. Over the last 10 years, alcohol available for consumption (similar to US measures of supplier shipments and a "proxy for consumption") declined by 12.3%, while "instances of alcohol overdose deaths and alcohol use disorder in New Zealand have increased," the paper found. That contradicts the public health mantra that availability and consumption have a linear relationship to harm: that is, decrease consumption and harm will drop too.
This wk, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a program in partnership with the executive branch of the European Union, planning to spend €10 mil (just over $10 mil) "to increase awareness among the public and policy-makers of the links between alcohol consumption and cancer risks." It follows the mid-Nov announcement of a $15-mil program called RESET Alcohol, designed to drive WHO-backed alcohol policies and research in 15 countries, mostly in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Both funds will work to build the "capacity" (i.e. people, govt and nonprofit infrastructure) to support public health policies that typically focus on reducing alcohol-related harm by reducing consumption.
Deal has dropped. Keurig Dr Pepper said it's set partnership with Nutrabolt spanning broad range of brands including C4 Energy, with KDP investing $863 mil for 30% stake in Austin-based supplement marketer via preferred equity with 5% coupon rate. Deal is anticipated to close by year-end and transition to occur in 2023, tho KDP is warning investors it won't be material to results until the following year. KDP indicated that its purchase price will net out at $740 mil once anticipated cash tax benefits are taken into account. Long-term deal of unspecified duration will give KDP rights to distribute C4 Energy in "vast majority" of KDP's company-owned DSD territories, with one exception likely to be NY, where partner Big Geyser typically maintains long-term grip on brands and which in any case has been one of standout markets. Nutrabolt is carving out specialty, health club and fitness channels as well. While we'd wondered in earlier story whether investment would be focused on RTDs specifically or Nutrabolt as a whole, announcement makes clear that it's in parent co, meaning KDP become indirect player in supplement biz. It cited as key brands not only C4 Energy but C4 Pre-Workout and Xtend. KDP's 30% stake will lag only that of co's founder/ceo, Doss Cunningham.
Is the energy drink carousel about to take another spin? We've been hearing from several sources over past 2 days that Keurig Dr Pepper may have a deal to onboard C4 Energy brand, giving it fast-growing and already sizable entry in segment where it's been taking incubation approach with A Shoc. From what we hear, it's investment and distribution deal along lines of KDP's recent Athletic Beer move, tho it's unclear to us whether investment is in C4 parent Nutrabolt or in just the RTD line, following pattern of Anheuser-Busch in its own deal with Ghost supplement maker. It will send another shock thru beer distribution network, tho it should be noted that KDP coverage via its own bottling network is not completely national. Several major partners like Honickman Group and Polar are already KDP-aligned, of course. Announcement could emerge as soon as today, we hear. C4 has been doing about $300 mil in tracked retail sales over past 52 weeks.
After nearly 22 years at Love Coca Cola/Dr Pepper, evp/gm Joe Harrison is retiring. "Love Bottling has been such a great company to work with (with) its family culture," he posted. Joe had served at Pepsi and Aramark before landing at Love . . . Neon-blue bevs just became more feasible after FDA published new CFR expansion for spirulina extract to include bev category, opening door to ingredients like GNT's Blue Beverage Solution . . . Smile Compostable Solutions said it signed a "material" sales agreement with copacker Pod Pack Int'l to produce Smile's commercially compostable, plant-based and carbon-neutral Keurig-compatible coffee pods. Recall that after changing course from plan to establish mfg footprint in US, Smile has been seeking production partners (BBI, Sep 27) . . . Sip Fresh chain has opened its first franchised store, in La Jolla, Calif, with more on the way. The 5-year-old Calif-based retailer of handcrafted juices has been on rapid expansion jag, just moving out of C
Toronto-based Flow Beverage said it's signed deal that will put boxed water brand into over 1,000 Starbucks locations across Canada starting in Jan. Gigaroaster is picking up both core Flow Alkaline Spring Water entry and Flow Strawberry Rose flavor extension, both in 500-ml packs . . . Splash Beverage has recruited 9 DSD partners in Southeast to support growing presence in region of its Tapout hydration & recovery drink. Establishing footprint from Virginia south to Florida are Alabama's Allstate Beverage, Florida's Southern Eagle, Burkhardt Sales & Service, Goldring Gulf, Bernie Little, Suncoast Beverage, Stephens Distributing, Daytona Beverage, and Tennessee's Ajax Turner . . . Chicago-based Tiesta Tea is opening branded kiosks for its loose teas in all 71 Fresh Thyme stores across 10 heartland states. The so-called Tea-Osks contain a selection of bulk loose leaf teas sold by the ounce, along with tea infusers, loose leaf teas in reusable tea canisters and matcha green tea sourced directly from Japan.
Sans, a canned alc-alternative brand launched by reality TV actor came away the big winner from BevNet Live Showdown competition yesterday afternoon - tho one of judges wondered whether it's too good to be niched for just those occasions.
In highly competitive energy segment where even star-studded newcomers like Zoa may struggle to get in right zone, Ghost Energy seems to have enjoyed smooth sailing so far as joint venture with Anheuser-Busch. (Zoa, of course, is Molson Coors-aligned.) At BevNet Live yesterday cofounder/ceo Dan Lourenco offered absorbing story on how co evolved from broadly targeted supplements brand to canned energy drinks - growth journey that brand has diligently chronicled itself thru online episodes it posts on YouTube, as interviewer Brad Avery noted. Here are some lessons we distilled from wide-ranging conversation.
BrewDog UK Ad Banned "Branding Fruited Beer as 'One of Your Five a Day;'" Lost B Corp Status
Tuff week for BrewDog UK as co lost its B Corp certification and got an email marketing message flagged by UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for being "misleading," reported The Guardian, Independent and City A.M. among others. BrewDog email sent Jul 20 headlined its fruited Hazy Jane IPA variants as "one of your five a day," referencing UK gov'ts recommendation "to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day," noted the Independent. While BrewDog aimed for "playful" and recognizably "tongue-in-cheek-marketing," ASA ultimately banned messaging and asked for co to "ensure that their future ads did not misleadingly imply" alc bevs count toward fruit and vegetable intake.
A few more small breweries shut down amid continued economic headwinds. In Macon, GA, the Macon Beer Co announced their final day will be Dec 11, closing after 6 yrs citing "rising inflation and supply chain issues," per social media post. In PA, Marysville-based Liquid Noise Brewing will permanently close in Dec after opening shortly before the pandemic. And in Des Moines, IA, 1717 Brewery Co closed last weekend following 4 yrs in biz.