Beer Marketer's Insights
Exclusive Insights at Beer & Beyond at the Half 2020 Coming Up Wed, Aug 12, Sign Up Now !
A heckuva lot happened in the first half of 2020. And heck, that was before Coca-Cola shook up bev and beer industries with news it was getting into hard seltzer biz! Unpack the most important stories and understand how the US beer biz navigated these wild times - and the role that non-alcoholic brands can play in generating consistent growth - during Beer & Beyond at the Half 2020. On Aug 12, join this mid-year review webinar from Beer Marketer's Insights to dig into key metrics and crucial developments in US beer, presented by Benj Steinman. You'll also get a timely update on the innovations and opportunities in NA bevs from Gerry Khermouch, editor of Beverage Business Insights. Listen as Benj and Gerry discuss the increasing overlap between the beer and beverage worlds and pose your own questions to these experts. All in an action-packed 90 minutes, Wed 8/12 at 1pm ET, for just $200 per attendee. Sign up your whole team and save: multiple-re
Stephen Curry is latest hoops guy to penetrate into bevs with his participation in $13 mil Series A round of Oxigen oxygenated water. Terms weren't disclosed but Oxigen founder Blair Bentham told CNBC the round represented 20% of co, implying enterprise value of $65 mil. Six-year-old brand claims to be in 45K retail doors including Kroger, 7-Eleven and CVS. Curry, whose image already is plastered all over DrinkOxigen.com, said he plans "to make sure that people understand the benefits that the product brings to you beyond just the taste." Of course, the late Kobe Bryant made big mark at Body Armor and Bucks phenom Giannis Antetokounmpo recently stepped in as investor and endorser for Ready Nutrition and its protein waters (BBI, May 28) . . . Sanzo, which is bringing Asian flavors like calamansi and lychee to sparkling water, has closed out seed round at $1.3 mil, per founder Sandro Roco, co's Filipino-born founder, who's based in NY. Investors included Away founder Jen Rubio; Adobe Creative Cloud evp Scott Belsky and Boba Guys cofounders Andrew Chau and Bin Chen; we'd reported 2 months ago that 2PM founder Web Smith was in (BBI, Jun 8).
JDE Peet's rode its CPG biz to relatively stable first half even as pandemic wreaked havoc on its substantial out-of-home biz, all told reporting a 2.9% sales decline to 3.24 bil euros. The recently IPOed assemblage of JAB's coffee holdings like Peet's, Jacobs and Senseo said its core European CPG biz grew by 3.7% to €1.65 bil and its Peet's unit grew 1.8% to €450 mil, in earnings report issued earlier this week. That was enough to offset declines of 3.1% in its Latin America/Middle East group, 1.1% in its Asia Pacific group and 29.8% in out-of-home (foodservice) segment. Most severe hit to OOH was in Apr and May, with signs of recovery well advanced by Jun, so JDE brass is hopeful worst might be behind it. Counting OOH sales that are dispersed among other operating units like Peet's, channel all told comprises about one-quarter of total JDE Peet's sales. Adjusted earnings before income taxes (EBIT) rose 9.1% to 642 mil euros in first half.
BellRing Brands suffered 14.1% drop in net sales to $204.2 mil in its 3d fiscal qtr as on-the-go consumers stayed home and retailers worked off inventory accumulations from prior qtr. But St Louis-based co's key growth driver - Premier Protein RTD shakes - continued to build momentum, entering more households and retail stores and winning early acceptance of Premier Protein with Oats extension. Operating profit dropped 42% to $30.6 mil, in part because elevated cost of the milk used for protein base.
In feature in ad trade The Drum, Body Armor cofounder/ceo Mike Repole is sticking to his target of unseating Gatorade as sports drink leader by 2025, thanks in part to power and focus of distribution system of part owner Coca-Cola. So when will Coke purchase the entire company? Repole's reply: "In the next five years, Coke will buy us 100% or I will buy them 100%. I haven't decided yet."
MDC-owned agency Anomaly continues to make inroads into Coca-Cola biz, now adding US creative account for flagship Coca-Cola trademark, Adweek reported. That ends 15-year run on brand by Wieden & Kennedy, which retains duties on brands like Sprite and Vitaminwater. Anomaly, just coming off launch of food-themed campaign behind Coca-Cola dubbed "The Great Meal" that shows Covid shelterers cooking for each other, first got under big red tent in 2016 by winning Diet Coke account held by Droga5, then added Minute Maid a year later. KO didn't comment on report . . . Body Armor, which has adeptly worked the presences of athlete endorsers like late Kobe Bryant, Mike Trout and Megan Rapinoe, has added 7 new athletes to roster: Trae Young, Christian McCaffrey, Sabrina Ionescu, Kemba Walker, CeeDee Lamb, Drew Lock and Ronald Acuna Jr, Forbes and other outlets reported. The 7 were to conduct a live Zoom chat today at 4 pm ET.
Milk makers' marketing arm, MilkPEP, has ditched its famous moustaches in favor of TikTok in return of "Got milk?" campaign that aims to keep in the fold consumers who rediscovered item as they retreated to staple items during pandemic lockdown. This time, celeb endorsers like Olympic skating icon Katie Ledecky and ordinary folks are asked to get creative in showing "what I got." Milk moustaches make only occasional, and often ironic, appearances in resulting efforts.
Celsius Holdings scored 44% growth in North American sales in its 2d qtr, as declines in locked-down gyms and specialty nutrition channel were more than outweighed by gains in large-format stores and online, offering further evidence that Celsius energy line by now has taken on broader role than just as a pre-workout entry.
A heckuva lot happened in the first half of 2020. And heck, that was before Coca-Cola shook up bev and beer industries with news it was getting into hard seltzer biz! Unpack the most important stories and understand how the US beer biz navigated these wild times - and the role that non-alcoholic brands can play in generating consistent growth - during Beer & Beyond at the Half 2020. On Aug 12, join this mid-year review webinar from Beer Marketer's Insights to dig into key metrics and crucial developments in US beer, presented by Benj Steinman. You'll also get a timely update on the innovations and opportunities in NA bevs from Gerry Khermouch, editor of Beverage Business Insights. Listen as Benj and Gerry discuss the increasing overlap between the beer and beverage worlds and pose your own questions to these experts. All in an action-packed 90 minutes, Wed 8/12 at 1 pm ET, for just $200 per attendee. Sign up your whole team and save: multiple-r
The massive Int'l & Healthcare Packaging Expo known as Pack Expo that was scheduled for Chicago's McCormick Place from Nov 8-11 has been reluctantly called off for first time in 6 decades by organizer PMMI: The Assn for Packaging & Process Technologies because of ongoing pandemic. Show was anticipated to include 2,500 exhibitors and draw 45,000 attendees. Instead, PMMI Media Group is launching live, web-based Pack Expo Connects 2020 on Nov 9-13, promising "live chats, live product demos and equipment and engaging educational opportunities" including popular Innovation Stages feature. Info at PackExpoConnects.com.