Beer Marketer's Insights
Cincinnati-based Hoist isotonic brand is building its presence in Southwest this coming spring with entry into HEB chain in Texas and Fry's, Bashas', AJ's and Food City chains in nearby states. It said it's also added its 6th Circle K region, so-called Grand Canyon business unit. To build DSD distribution, co said it's recruited SW regional sales mgr and will "partnering with several of the crown jewels within the Anheuser-Busch system as well as some heavyweights within the independent realm," per sales vp Ben Schmidt. In the mix are Bud houses Hensley in Ariz, Nevada Beverage and L&F in Texas, along with unaligned New Age house in Denver and Dynamo in Texas. Announcement also cited inroads into military bases with MGH powdered hydration line. Hoist, which counts former Aquahydrate exec Hal Kravitz and former Sparkling Ice exec Kevin Klock among its braintrust, is natural sports drink that mimics density of human bloodstream for maximum efficacy. It's among several other indie brands like Roar and Halo that are riding in wake of Body Armor in disrupting isotonic sets dominated by Gatorade and Powerade.
CANNABIZ: Harney Tea Quietly Joins Ranks of Grower-Producers on Semi-Secret 4-Acre NY Farm
Harney Tea, the Millerton, NY, co that plays across spectrum of loose, bagged and RTD items, has quietly entered ranks of integrated cannabis bev players with affiliated co called The Hemp Division. On social media the co describes operating 4-acre, 7,000-plant farm that grows core ingredient for "body-relaxing, mood-elevating CBD infusions" that "deliver a cool, calm & delicious experience like no other." At TheHempDivision.com, entries branded with THD monogram with similarities to Harney logo include glass-bottle "wellness elixirs" like Cruise (with green tea & honey base and 25 mg of CBD), Recover (organic tea, 22 mg), Siesta (chamomile, 18 mg), Focus (yerba mate, 5 mg) and Refresh (cranberry, green tea & coconut, 8 mg). A trio of hot-tea sachets also is available, as are salves, lotions and tinctures. Website lists the brothers Michael and Paul Harney as cofounders, but doesn't otherwise identify the co as associated with Harney Tea, and Rural Intelligence news site noted when items started appearing locally near Millerton last spring that "Harney & Sons appears to be going out of their way to keep the new line, The Hemp Division, a secret despite the fact it's being sold throughout our and their communities." Co hadn't responded to BBI's request for comment either, so we bided our time to approach the Harneys in person at recent Fancy Food Show in SF, where it would be harder for them to stay mum. But stay mum they did, acknowledging that they're only player with growing license in NY so far, but politely declining to discuss effort any further. On non-infused side, co-founded by their late father John Harney has carved out presence at retail and in hospitality, operates shops in Millerton and NY's Soho nabe and operates its own DSD in city. Its packaged teas include canned nitrogen tea and highly caffeinated American Buzz bottled subline.
Family farming operation in NJ's Watchung Mountains has moved further downstream with water-soluble hemp technology it's co-developed via a line of canned bevs called Kalo Hemp Sparkling Water that will target Northeast region in coming months. The grower, Hillview Farms, has played in hemp space for a decade now, working with joint venture partner Infusion Biosciences, a biotech co, to develop proprietary extraction process whose water-soluble process makes for cleaner-tasting drink and brings out array of vitamins and minerals from hemp plant, too. Infusion Biosciences' Aqueous Phytorecovery Process yields cannabis solution it calls Infuz2O. (Among its licensees is Alkaline Water's A88 Infused Beverage Division, while Sproutly Canada has acquired rights to Infuz2O for that market as it develops bev suite for Moosehead Breweries.)
Non-alc bevs have been increasingly featured as part of A-B's annual brand plans each of past few yrs, as co aims to "disrupt" space behind Hiball, Teavana and brands in development. Goal is to grow NAs by 80% in US this yr, A-B Beyond Beer sales vp Sanjiv Chhatwal shared at co's annual SAMCOM distrib meeting in Houston last week. Hiball grew 28% nationally in 2019, but there's "much more we can still do," said Sanjiv. That starts with "the way we define" the product. "Sparkling Energy Water" was "too confusing," so A-B will "simplify" descriptor on cans to "Energy Seltzer." That's "clear, simple and easy way to communicate what we are," he added. With zero cals, zero sugar and organic caffeine, new tagline is "clean energy, no compromise," co shared. This yr Hiball is "restarting marketing nationally," including digital and sampling support. Then, too, glass-bottle Teavana tea brand devised as jv with Starbucks grew 24% in food channel last yr, but distribution is still "very low," Sanjiv acknowledged. Goal is to "ramp up distribution" and "execute the chain mandates" with new programming to drive displays, promo packs and more. All in, "we are the challengers in non-alc" and need to have "insurgent mindset" with "hunger to win," said Sanjiv.
NorCal-based Surreal Brewing has been expanding its non-alcoholic beers nationally, mainly via direct-to-consumer and direct-to-retailer efforts, with pitch that you can enjoy full-flavored hazy IPAs and porters at a fraction of the calories of conventional alcoholic offerings. "Proudly serving the lowest calorie line of craft non-alcoholic beer made in the US," banners website.
As CBD bev players finetune their positioning in crowded space facing continued regulatory uncertainty, LA-based Vybes is looking to carve out role as higher-dosage entry that comes closer than rivals to offering efficacy that users can feel. Toward that end, co is sticking with glass bottle that may be kinder to retaining liquid's potency than aluminum cans, while looking to set example by posting certificates of analysis (CofAs) from its rigorous testing and by increasing effort to educate distributors and retailers on distinctions to be made among CBD bev brands, its founder Jonathan Eppers told us last Thurs. Co also is undertaking study to self-certify CBD as GRAS (generally recognized as safe), an effort he anticipates will be concluded by Q2. From there, he hopes to move on to safety study. It's also building out flavor range, with Blackberry Hibiscus launching imminently (via unidentified teamaker in Northern Calif who actually brews the hibiscus, founder said). It joins flavor lineup of Blueberry Mint, Peach Ginger and Strawberry Lavender.
Retired LA Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, who died with his 13-yr-old daughter Gianna when their helicopter went down outside LA en route to travel basketball tourney, had carved out somewhat polarizing identity built in part on his intensity. Even as a teenage rookie, "he was going to outwork them all," recalled his biographer, Roland Lazenby, in interview yesterday on MSNBC. That apparently was how Bryant approached his post-playing career, in winning Oscar for animated short he developed on his basketball career and in studying bev trade alongside vets Lance Collins and Mike Repole at Body Armor, where he'd become 3d-largest shareholder prior to Coca-Cola acquisition last year. In his role there he wrote and directed brand's first national TV ad, which aired during NBA playoffs in 2017. He was aligned with partners who, counting past successes with brands like Vitaminwater, Fuze and Core Water, have similarly obsessive approach, with Repole even naming one of his thoroughbred horses Outwork. In text yesterday afternoon, Lance termed him "a magical force for the company," adding, "He was 6 foot 6 but he looked up to Mike Repole." Bryant had expressed similar sentiment to BBI a few years ago during appearance at NACS c-store show, saying he felt he was learning about business from the ground up via role at Body Armor.
Guayusa-Based Clean Energy Play Mati, Launched by Duke Undergrad in 2012, Says It's Closing Doors
For a few years, it was an entrepreneurial feel-good story. It started in 2012 when Duke Univ student Tatiana Birgisson, seeking healthy way to stay up while studying for finals, started brewing her own highly caffeinated tea from guayusa in a 10-gal pasta pot and infusing it with fruits under brand name Mati Sparkling Organic Energy Drink. It was popular with her dorm mates and before long she was competing on Shark Tank and at Google Demo Day, where Mati got judges' nod over 11 tech rivals. Eventually co pulled in millions in equity and debt investments and was being produced at 30K-sq-ft company-operated plant in NC, looking to build from regional base in Southeast to national presence as clean-energy play. But there have been signs that things were unraveling over past coupla years as Birgisson moved on, and dream came to abrupt end a coupla days ago, when co tersely announced to consumers "that Mati will be closing down operations in the next few weeks." No further reason was given, but ceo Eric Masters, a former Coca-Cola bottled water exec, told News & Observer, "We have been evaluating our options over the past weeks and months and kind of realized this is where things are headed. We made tremendous progress in the past year turning the company around, but it is a very crowded market with a lot of new entries and deep-pocketed competitors." Mati website lists Whole Foods, Earth Fare, Sprouts Farmers Markets, Fresh Market and WeWork as among its customers.
PepsiCo is looking to broaden target for its Tropicana OJ brand beyond just kids with national TV campaign dubbed "Sip Your Sunshine" that celebrates the brightness that a sip of OJ can bring to members of whole family. Ad called "Breakfast Across America" that broke earlier this week depicted diverse range of consumers in suburban and urban settings consuming the brand, every glass of which "has a million little sips of sunshine," per voiceover. "What we want to do is connect with a group we call vibrant families. Specifically it's adults, and this includes millennials without kids," marketing dir Mike Levy told Marketing Daily, adding that brand now is targeting even split among genders rather than being highly female-centric. Inaugural campaign from agency Cramer Krasselt, which won acct last year, is being bolstered by stunts like Midtown NY event on Wed in which actress/comedian Ellie Kemper greeted dawn of Manhattanhenge, day when sun rises in perfect alignment with city's street grid, to blinding effect for pedestrians and motorists. At popup near city's Bryant Park, she proffered free OJ and breakfast sandwiches to surprised passers-by.
There's not much Shawn Conway doesn't know about Peet's Coffee after spending past decade in roles overseeing coffee & tea dept, R&D, product development, logistics, sourcing, QA and roasting plant operations. Now he's gotten bump up from coo to ceo, filling vacancy created by anticipated elevation of prior ceo Casey Keller to broader job as ceo of newly created JDE Peet's entity, which combined JAB's Jacobs Douwe Egberts and Peet's holdings ahead of anticipated IPO later this year (BBI, Dec 17). Conway's prior role, in turn, has been filled by another long-term Peet's exec, Eric Lauterbach, who's taken prexy/coo role after nearly a decade running co's consumer div. (Eric also sits on board of Peet's Revive Kombucha holding.)