Davids Tea, which in ongoing pivot from being tea retailer to CPG player, lost some traction in Q2 even as it continues to prep innovations that might boost its relevance with an RTD in the works. Montreal-based co suffered a sales decline of 18.7% to $15.2 mil for period ended Jul 30. In Canada, where Davids still does majority of its biz (84.2%), sales dropped 14.7% while off 35% in US, which accounts for 14.7% of total revs. Co had net loss of $4.8 mil in qtr compared to net income of $75.5 mil a yr ago. Q2 sales dropped "primarily within our online channel," said ceo and chief brand officer Sarah Segal, "mainly due to an uncertain macroeconomic environment dampening demand in the short-term and the effect of restructuring to a new business model." On conf call (per Thomson Reuters transcript), she added that "after successfully navigating through this Covid-19 pandemic, we are coping with additional headwinds, notably mounting inflationary pressure and recessionary fears that are affecting consumer habits and possibly discretionary spending in North America." As post-pandemic buying patterns continue to shift from online to in-person purchases, "the silver lining is that sales from wholesale and brick-and-mortar channels improved during the same period to partially offset the overall revenue shortfall," noted prexy, cfo, coo Frank Zitella.

Railway companies and their unions have reached a tentative deal that may avert a supply-chain-complicating strike. After a long night of talks with US gov't officials mediating, President Joe Biden announced today that tentative deal will go to union members for a vote. He hailed the deal in a statement for avoiding a shutdown and as a win for all sides. "These rail workers will get better pay, improved working conditions and peace of mind around their health care costs: all hard-earned," Biden said. "The agreement is also a victory for railway companies who will be able to retain and recruit more workers for an industry that will continue to be part of the backbone of the American economy for decades to come."

California yesterday filed antitrust lawsuit vs Amazon that claims that co's penchant for penalizing vendors who allow their other retailers to charge lower prices stifles competition and means consumers pay more, not less, for their items. Tho suit is limited to Calif, where Amazon serves around 25 mil customers, "if it succeeds it could have a broad impact across the country," as NY Times reported. "If you think about Californians paying even just a little bit more for every product they purchased online over the course of a year, let alone a decade, which is what is at issue here, the collective magnitude of harm here is very far-reaching," AG Rob Bonta said at news conference announcing case. "The 'everything store' has effectively set a price floor, costing Californians more for just about everything." In mechanism that may be familiar to bevcos that sell on Amazon platform, vendors can find themselves obligated to pay a "true-up" to Amazon if a rival platform, say, Walmart.com, charges lower price that Amazon then matches at cost to its anticipated margin. Complaint filed in SF Superior Court argues that practices violate California's Unfair Competition Law and Cartwright Act, state's primary antitrust law, and seeks remedies that include ending the anticompetitive behavior and paying penalties.

This week in 1979, AdAge reported that while Philip Morris got much credit for its Miller mktg prowess, new ads for Lowenbrau "may turn out to be a likewise-classic mistake," mag noted. For new Lowenbrau ads, Miller chose to take on an American brand of beer, namely Michelob. Decision was called "wasteful," with mag adding that Miller "blew it." Miller didn't have much choice at that point, tho, given that it stopped advertising Lowenbrau as an imported beer following competitor and consumer complaints. "Isn't it a shame the name Lowenbrau no longer represents a truly great German beer?" wrote AdAge.

The 6th Circuit's decision to uphold a Michigan law barring out-of-state retailers from shipping alc bevs to in-state consumers in Lebamoff case "is good law," fed judge in Ohio District Court wrote this wk, ruling in favor of state defendants. That "strikingly similar case" is "binding" ("of course," as OH also in 6th Circuit), "controlling and dispositive," judge wrote. So they awarded summary judgment to OH AG and Wholesale Beer & Wine Assn of OH, upholding the "substantively identical" OH law.

After prolonged talks and plenty of cage rattling, freight rail companies and unions reached a tentative agreement to avoid a potentially crippling strike that could've begun Friday. Workers agreed not to strike as contract heads to union members for a ratification vote. And deal averts a shutdown of critical supply chain network, accounting for about a third of all US freight, second only to trucking, NY Times reminds. Agreement also reached within a day after Amtrak canceled all long-distance passenger trains, many of which run on tracks operated by freight carriers, to avoid possibility of stranding riders. Amtrak said it's "working to quickly restore canceled trains."

Monster-owned CANarchy portfolio is makin' beer distribution changes in MO, INSIGHTS learned. CANarchy moved to AB network statewide from Major Brands/Breakthru, according to source. MO is a relatively small mkt for CANarchy. After surpassing 70K cases statewide in 2020, it declined tuff double-digits in 2021 and thru 1st half of 2022, according to state data. But move likely viewed as a bit of a blow with Monster gearing up to unleash The Beast Unleashed FMB late this yr among other future alc bev endeavors (see Aug 5 issue). So all these years later after losing Monster non-alc brands, some additional AB distribs will now get a crack at Monster alc bev brands. Go figure. Another interesting angle - CANarchy ceo Tony Short has history with Major Brands, including 7-year stint as exec vice president there from late 2010 to Aug 2017, according to LinkedIn. Tho recall, Major Brands was fully acquired by Breakthru in early 2022.

Guinness is bolstering its football roster yet again, inking multi-year deal with Bengals star QB, Joe Burrow, to join forces on community service project alongside "the original 'Joe Cool,' legendary quarterback Joe Montana," Diageo Beer Co announced. Recall, Guinness began workin' with Joe Montana when it inked 7-yr deal to become Notre Dame's official beer in Aug 2020, leading to multiple ads featuring Joe as co looks to make both pro and college football a bigger emphasis for Guinness brand. Perhaps similar progression on marketing will take place with Joe Burrow. Tho initially, this new collab is part of Diageo Beer Co's goal "to get Americans to pledge more than one million service hours to support their communities through the Guinness Gives Back program." Both Joe Burrow and Joe Montana "will help elevate our pledge of service to get the national attention and commitment our country deserves," noted DBC cmo Jay Sethi. Guinness is "approaching" $3 mil in donations to charities since "onset of the pandemic," on top of donating over 50K loaves of bread to Maryland Food Bank during peak Covid, co highlighted.

Budweiser kicked off its FIFA World Cup sponsorship this morn with a global advertising campaign called "The World is Yours to Take," launching in 70+ countries including the US, "the most in the brand's 146-year history," per release. Campaign's central ad features "international football icons" Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr and Raheem Sterling, showing those players in a soccer stadium tunnel before leading a diverse group of fans toward the pitch. It's meant as a "global rallying-cry for fans" and an "evolution" of Bud's "Yours to Take" platform launched earlier this yr (see Apr 28 issue). Ad developed with Wieden+Kennedy, which lost creative account for Bud Light but still has major relationship with ABI, including Budweiser global.