We have all been in this business for some time and have seen our share of ED come and go. But my question to the board is what have you seen, heard or have implemented, that has made a difference in getting these drinks sold, to distributors, retailrs and eventually consumers?

Is it free goods? Equipment? What works?

For one thing, just a cool name does not seem to work anymore.
But then, 'red yellow tail monkey' sounds interesting.

The best plan is to have a drink that's GOOD.
haha.

You must have a drink that is different. There are too many RB knockoffs out there. A different formula that the consumer will recognize as different is important. Furthermore, an Energy Drink MUST provide energy. The cool name and graphics may get them to buy it once but the energy, or the "function", of the drink will have to be present for them to buy it again.
Monster is basically RB with a differtent flavor, but what they did was take the Pepsi approach to Coke from 100 years ago: Twice the product for the same price. Now it is harder to do because that trick has been played out. Almost everyone is in 16oz now. There must be some differentiation to your product other than just the same ingredient profile with a different marketing demographic approach, i.e. Throwdown.

Also, don't try to be gimmicky. There are plenty of failed energy drinks filling the shelves over at Big Lots with silly names and silly can graphics.

Like greg says, the drink must provide energy. At this point in the game, I don't think you can just throw a bunch of sugar and caffeine in a can and call it an energy drink.

And you need to differentiate yourself from the rest of the me-toos out there. Some drinks have went after extreme sports types, some use celebrities, and so on.

The market leaders (with the exception of RB) are constantly evolving, with new flavors that attract more people to the energy drink segment. You won't be able to just throw one thing out there and make a billion dollars. You also need to know the distributors you are signing up with, so your drink won't be something that gets pushed down to the bottom of their list.

OK, so lets say we have a great name, different package, different formula(Taste is great). Now we go to the distribution network what do they want, what works?

As an example we are selling at $18.00 per case of 24 retailing at $1.50 to have the price difference. then we are giving away one counter top cooler for every pallet purchased?

Of course we have sticker, sell sheets, poster, web-site, free sampling alotment? What else does it take?

Has anyone seen this piece on the today show last week?


http://video.ivillage.com/player/?id=191381&ivNPA=1&sky=ggl|ivl|vi|today1||s#videoi d=194164

Originally Posted by bigbottom

Has anyone seen this piece on the today show last week?


http://video.ivillage.com/player/?id=191381&ivNPA=1&sky=ggl|ivl|vi|today1||s#videoi d=194164

You come on here and ask for legitmate advice on how to best sell your ED into the markeplace and then waste my time having me check out a video about Nicole Kidman being pregnant and that Train wreck better known as Britney Spears???????????????????????

Greg,

To the right of that nicole video is the video clip called the "buzz on caffeine". You seem very quick to jump, maybe you should lay off the caffeine man! Follow the link to the right second clip down and walla there it is. Finally some one trys putting a positive spin on ED drinks, Moderation my good man!

Originally Posted by bigbottom

Greg,

To the right of that nicole video is the video clip called the "buzz on caffeine". You seem very quick to jump, maybe you should lay off the caffeine man! Follow the link to the right second clip down and walla there it is. Finally some one trys putting a positive spin on ED drinks, Moderation my good man!

I thought I was watching a dog and pony show.....I didn't realize I was an unwilling participant.
If you wanted me to jump through hoops to watch the freaking video you should have told me up front that the video you linked to was not the video you intended for us to watch but was merely fodder to pass the time until I figured out to peruse the site until I found something remotely having to do about the beverage industry.
Or , you could have just linked to the CORRECT video instead.

Do you wish to try again????????