Coke Zero School Shout Out Rallies Fans to Show Their School Spirit and Receive Free NCAA® March Madness® Live Access, Plus Chance to Win Trip to the 2012 NCAA Men’s Final Four®

The new products include juice blend Tropical Green and also Pink Grapefruit.

The company also recently introduced a probiotic coconut water in a quart size.

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Anheuser-Busch today announced plans to increase production capacity at its Metal Container Corporation (MCC) facility in Arnold, Mo., an investment estimated between $70 million and $80 million, to increase production and create at least 20 new jobs at the facility. The Arnold facility produces aluminum cans for Anheuser-Busch and soft drink makers. This expansion, planned for completion in 2013, will add approximately 100,000 square feet to the warehouse and production areas, maintaining the more than 100 current jobs.

“The expansion of our Arnold MCC facility is one more example of our company’s dedication to the state, contributing to the economic stability of the region,” said Luiz Edmond, president of Anheuser-Busch InBev North America. “Through our strong partnerships with state and local leaders, we have been able to bring this valuable investment to our hometown.”

The facility expansion is made possible through a property tax abatement program in collaboration with the City of Arnold and Jefferson County. The bond program is designed to encourage business recruitment and expansion and provides incentives for a variety of industrial projects. Missouri Quality Jobs, the state’s Department of Economic Development program that helps create and maintain valuable jobs, also contributed incentives to this project.

“Anheuser-Busch and Metal Container are long-standing contributors to the region through good-paying jobs and taxes, and the City of Arnold is proud to invest in companies that invest in our community,” said the Honorable Ron Counts, Mayor, City of Arnold. “We’re excited that A-B will be adding positions and helping us report to the region that through the Missouri’s Chapter 100 Bonds program, Arnold is ‘Open for Business.’”

The project is part of Anheuser-Busch’s October 2011 announcement to invest $1 billion in its facilities nationwide over the next three years. In 2010 and 2011, more than $5 million was spent to modernize the Arnold can plant, which improved efficiencies and reduced its environmental impact.

Metal Container Corporation, a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch, supplies more than 45 percent of the brewer’s beer cans and 55 percent of its lids for the U.S. market. The operation also produces cans and lids for major U.S. soft drink companies, including PepsiCo. and Monster Beverage Corporation. Can plants are located in Arnold, Mo., Jacksonville, Fla., Mira Loma, Calif., Newburgh, N.Y. and Windsor, Colo. Lid plants are in Oklahoma City, Okla. and Riverside, Calif.

Based in St. Louis, Anheuser-Busch is the leading American brewer, holding a 48.3 percent share of U.S. beer sales to retailers. The company brews the world’s largest-selling beers, Budweiser and Bud Light. Anheuser-Busch also owns a 50 percent share in Grupo Modelo, Mexico’s leading brewer. Anheuser-Busch is a major manufacturer of aluminum cans and has been a leading aluminum recycler for more than 30 years. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the leading global brewer, and continues to operate under the Anheuser-Busch name and logo. For more information, visit www.anheuser-busch.com.

Portland, OR – February 21, 2012

“The PoP Shoppe is thrilled to be partnering with our new distributors in the northeast,” said VP of Sales Paul Richards. “The millions of PoP Shoppe fans in these territories can now enjoy a taste of their childhood, and we’re excited to introduce our sodas to younger consumers.

The PoP Shoppe story began in 1969, when two entrepreneurs began selling soda in a unique variety of flavors, at independent PoP Shoppe retail outlets. Customers would return their empty bottles each week in recognizable, red PoP Shoppe-branded crates for a refund, and then pick-up fresh bottles for their families. Over the next several years, The PoP Shoppe was operating over 1000 stores in North America. In the early 1980’s, The PoP Shoppe closed its doors, largely due to competition from private label grocery brands. Gone are the stand-alone PoP Shoppe depots but you can find tasty PoP Shoppe sodas at premium grocery and convenience stores throughout the US.

For more information on The Pop Shoppe, visit their Webby-winning website www.ThePoPShoppe.com.

BALA CYNWYD, Pa., Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/

Independently, Skinny Water® is quickly expanding its popular beverage line, which is now available in all 50 states, along with the rapidly increasing demand among retailers for the products. As a result of this agreement, Skinny Nutritional’s line of Skinny Water® zero-calorie enhanced beverages will be exclusively manufactured and distributed by Cott to selected new and existing customers through its retail channels, providing increased scalability for the Skinny Water® brand.

This agreement spans beverage production, raw materials procurement, research and development, freight management and retail inventory management. The agreement comes on the heels of Skinny Nutritional Corp.’s addition of many new regional distributors and new chain store authorizations in 2011.

“We are extremely excited to announce this strategic relationship with Cliffstar,” said Michael Salaman, CEO of Skinny Nutritional Corporation. “This agreement allows us to do business with some of the largest retailers in the country and concentrate our resources on marketing and sales. We will be closely working with Cliffstar to introduce and aggressively market Skinny Water throughout the territory. As demand continues to rise, our retail channels are becoming increasingly aware that the concept of ‘Skinny’ works everywhere.”

“We are excited to support Skinny Water in their continued growth,” said Mike Gibbons, President of Cott’s U.S. business unit. “We think that ‘Skinny’ is an exciting brand and the company’s mission to provide healthy beverages is right in tune with today’s marketplace. Cott is very careful when selecting new beverages to take to market, so considering Skinny Water’s exceptional taste and zero-calorie characteristics it was an easy decision, which we believe will resonate with health-conscious consumers.”

The Skinny Water® lineup features eight great-tasting flavors, including Acai Grape Blueberry (Hi-Energy), Raspberry Pomegranate (Crave Control), Lemonade Passionfruit (Total-V), Orange Cranberry Tangerine (Wake Up) and as part of its ‘Sport’ line: Blue Raspberry (Fit), Pink Citrus Berry (Power), Kiwi Lime (Active) and Goji Black Cherry (Shape). Every bottle of Skinny Water® has key electrolytes, antioxidants, and vitamins and has zero calories, sugar, and sodium, and no preservatives, with all natural colors and flavors.

About Skinny Nutritional Corp.

Headquartered in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., Skinny Nutritional Corp., the creators of Skinny Water®, a zero-calorie, zero sugar, zero-sodium and zero-preservative enhanced water with key electrolytes, antioxidants, and vitamins. Skinny Water comes in eight great-tasting flavors that include Acai Grape Blueberry, Raspberry Pomegranate, Orange Cranberry Tangerine and Lemonade Passionfruit, and as part of its ‘Sport’ line: Blue Raspberry, Pink Citrus Berry, Goji Black Cherry, and Kiwi Lime. Skinny Nutritional Corp. also expects to launch additional branded products, including Skinny Smoothies®, and other Skinny branded beverages. For more information, visit www.SkinnyWater.com and www.facebook.com/skinnywater.

About Cott Corporation

Cott is one of the world’s largest beverage companies focusing on private label and contract manufacturing. With approximately 4,000 employees, Cott operates soft drink, juice, water and other beverage bottling facilities in the United States, Canada, the U.K. and Mexico. Cott markets beverage concentrates in over 50 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.cott.com.

Hershey had already owned 49 percent of  mix1, which produces a line of protein-based sports/meal replacement drinks, after paying $5.8 million for a minority stake in the company in February 2011. Hershey’s investment in mix1 was widely viewed as a play to bolster its position in the beverage industry after tiptoeing into the space with reGen, a cocoa and protein-based sports beverage.

Hershey took a major step toward consolidating its investment in mix1 in July 2011 with the hiring of Brian Murphy, an executive with Hershey’s health and wellness strategy group, as CEO. Murphy replaced John Burns, who remained the chairman of mix1’s board of directors.

mix1 referred inquiries for this story to Hershey executives, who could not immediately be reached for comment.

Super Premium Soda Maker Makes New Appointment in Western PA

TETERBORO, N.J., Feb 21, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Boylan Bottling Company (Boylan) today announced that it has added Full Circle Distributors LLC (Full Circle) to its network of distribution partners for Boylan super-premium sodas.

“We have conducted a strategic review of our distribution network, and have determined that changes are necessary, in some cases, so that we can capitalize on the consumer demand for our brand, and the growing market for super premium sodas,” said Martin Kelly, President & CEO of Boylan. “After thorough analysis, we determined that Full Circle, of New Kensington, PA, is the right partner for us in the western Pennsylvania market. They have demonstrated a strong commitment to our category, and a focus on customer service across all classes of trade that will allow us to bring our hand-crafted, bold flavored sodas to more thirsty consumers, through more outlets, throughout their service area,” added Kelly.

Full Circle is an independent, direct store delivery distributor of non-alcoholic beverages, focused on providing western Pennsylvania retailers with premium brands, and the newest non-alcoholic beverage offerings. From their facility in New Kensington, PA., Full Circle services twenty counties with brands from more than 18 different suppliers. “We are extremely excited to add Boylan to our product portfolio. It is an authentic brand, with a great flavor line-up, and really positions us well in the super premium soda category. We are looking forward to achieving strong growth with the brand,” said Mark Slepak, President of Full Circle.

This is the second significant change for Boylan that is impacting the western Pennsylvania market. In January, Boylan announced it had reached a production and supply agreement with Castle Co-Packers LLC to support demand for its product on the east coast.

About Boylan

Boylan Bottling Company has been making sodas in small batches since 1891. Our Sodamasters use home grown recipes, pure cane sugar, the highest quality ingredients, and glass bottles to insure freshness and proper carbonation. We are proud of our bold, flavorful sodas, and we hope you enjoy them. Cheers.

About Full Circle

Full Circle Distributors was established in 2010 to introduce healthy beverage and snack options to Western Pennsylvania. With an emphasis on the highest quality products delivered through focused DSD service, Full Circle Distributors is positioned to introduce and grow beverage and snack products in a well-recognized and influential market.

SE Texas Budweiser distributor among elite group to carry new Modjo Hydrate Elite^™ natural coconut water infused sports drink and Modjo forLIFE^™ the award winning line of Functional Beverages

SUNRISE, FL – February 18, 2012 –  Cellutions, LLC, the leading maker of new age dietary supplements and beverages (www.modjolife.com) today announced that New Braunfels, Texas distributor Tri-City Distributors, L.P. will join a growing list of other Texas State distributors in taking on the innovative and award winning Modjo lifestyle products Modjo Hydrate Elite™ and Modjo forLIFE™.

“Each year there are countless NA beverages introduced into the market and we must carefully choose to partner with only those unique products that are of relevance to our customers and that are, in our opinion, are a sure bet to succeed in our market. The Modjo line of natural beverages not only provides healthier options but addresses real consumer needs.  From school kids to the working mom and dad, Modjo Hydrate Elite and Modjo forLIFE have them covered,” said Boyd Anderson, Vice-President and General Manager of Tri-City Distributors.

Recently introduced Modjo Hydrate Elite is the ultimate hydration beverage; the FIRST all-natural thirst quencher infused with real coconut water and fortified with sea salt. Modjo Hydrate Elite is the perfect balance of electrolytes required in a contemporary Sports Drink that’s crafted for the serious athlete and right for everyone and any activity.  Modjo Hydrate Elite was also recognized by Convenience Store News as the Best New non-carbonated beverage in 2011.

Coconut water is the purest liquid on earth, second only to water, and with the addition of 99.9% pure sea salt, Modjo Hydrate Elite has created Formula 125 – the perfect blend of electrolytes, vitamin C and all natural flavors and colors needed to achieve an amazing isotonic with a great smooth taste. Modjo Hydrate Elite is available in the most sought after flavors including, Lemon Lime Ice, Orange Rush, Island Punch and Blue Crush.

More than one year ago Cellutions introduced Modjo forLIFE™, a breakthrough line of functional beverages that are available in four great tasting flavors, Grape Pomegranate, Simply Citrus, Island Punch and, coming soon, Lemonade-Green Tea. Modjo forLIFE is a powered by natural ingredient and is led by its anti-aging and rejuvenation formula that includes Resveratrol which has been shown to have anti-aging properties as reported in several clinical studies from leading universities and research centers. All four Modjo forLIFE flavors are caffeine free and loaded with vitamins and antioxidants. Modjo forLIFE was recognized by Beverage Innovation, CSP Retailer and voted by Convenience Store News’ as the 2010 Health and Beauty Product of the Year.

More than four years ago, Cellutions launched Modjo Synergy^®a patented and all-natural hangover prevention supplement. Modjo Synergy tablets were the first in a series of Modjo branded lifestyle products launched by Cellutions which was formed in 2002. After Modjo Synergy® the company introduced Caffeine Free, Modjo Life Natural Energy^® Shots.

“Tri-City is a business leader in its community and we are very proud to be able to count this organization among our growing distributor partners in the Great State of Texas. Our goal is to set the standard for great tasting functional beverages and to be first to market. And, it’s great to have a partner like Tri-City that understands that to keep its competitive edge that it must constantly strive to offer its customers new and innovative products,” said Cellutions founder and President Victor H. Diaz.

ABOUT CELLUTIONS, LLC and the MODJO brand of Products

Founded in 2002, Cellutions LLC is an international lifestyle company dedicated to increasing the well-being and the quality of life of consumers. Its MODJO line of premium consumer products are crafted with a cost-no-objective approach in order to guarantee a line of natural products that actually work as promised. Cellutions is passionately committed to unrestrained innovation. Innovative formulas such as the ground breaking anti-aging matrix PURE4MANCE™, the 100% caffeine-free energy Matrix NRGMAX™, and REVIBE® its patented hangover prevention matrix, are the results of this tireless dedication to discovering new and exotic ingredients and formulating supplements that are of relevance to the consumer. For more information on Cellutions, LLC and its Modjo® line of premium functional beverages and dietary supplements, please visit www.modjolife.com or call Johanna Bing at 1800 MODJO 4U ext 202.

February 20, 2012, East Hartford, CT -

“We are very excited to align ourselves with Magnolia Pictures and the Goon movie”, Hockey Soda Beverage Company’s President Joe Bonfiglio said. Hockey Soda® Energy coincides with the look and feel of this movie as well as our demographics. Goon is a great launching pad for our product.”

Magnolia Pictures with Hockey Soda® Energy are currently running weekly contests on their social media outlets. Weekly winners receive various Goon movie items and cases of Hockey Soda Energy. “We have seen a spike in sales through our social media efforts, Bonfiglio said. It’s been fun reading all the comments from our followers and fans who are excited about our product and the upcoming release of Goon.”

Goon will be available On Demand, February 24th and in Theatres March 30th. Hockey Soda® Energy is in various locations throughout the U.S. with plans for distribution in Canada by late 2012.

About Hockey Soda Beverage Company, LLC

Hockey Soda Beverage Company, LLC was founded to launch the first ever 8.4 oz Hockey Energy Drink. Hockey Soda® Energy is a fully carbonated cola-citrus blend, giving Hockey Soda® Energy a unique soda flavor versus the tart, fruit-like taste of most energy drinks. It contains L-Glutamine which studies have shown can minimize breakdown of muscle and improve protein metabolism. For athletes Glutamine may help protect the immune system from overtraining stress.

Although Hockey Soda® Energy is a beverage brand made with the hockey player in mind and those living the hockey lifestyle, our drink has grown in popularity and currently endorsed by professional athletes in Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Hockey League (NHL).

For more information, please visit www.hockeyenergy.com or like us on facebook, www.facebook.com/hockeysoda.

Fans to #Hash it Out in Support of Their Favorite Flavor for Cash Prizes and Daily Giveaways

While Barq’s cans and labels will maintain their distinctive silver sheen, Coca-Cola, which purchased Barq’s in 1995, pays homage to the brand’s heritage in New Orleans, Louisiana and Biloxi, Mississippi. Barq’s was founded by Biloxi Artesian Bottling Works in 1898, and the new design features the addition of a diamond pattern similar to the one used in the original Barq’s packaging. Barq’s labels will keep its familiar slogan, “It’s Good. Since 1898.”

“We think the new design presents a cleaner, simpler look that captures the brand’s essence in a way that will ultimately resonate with both dedicated Barq’s fans and those who are new to the brand,” said Christina Manganaro, senior marketing activation manager, Coca-Cola North America.

Here is Coke’s press release announcing the new design:

New Barq’s Package Design Serves Up a Fresh Look with Bite

ATLANTA, Feb. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Like any true classic, Barq’s keeps it fresh while staying true to its roots.

In its first redesign in more than 20 years, Barq’s root beer is unveiling a completely new look to pay homage to the brand’s Gulf Coast heritage and classically crisp, bold flavor. The new design will be featured on all of Barq’s packaging and is currently rolling-out nationwide.

While the cans will maintain their distinctive silver color, the new look features a diamond pattern reminiscent of the drink’s original 1898 12 oz. glass bottle packaging, which is still available in the Gulf Coast area. Additionally, the label helps celebrate the brand’s 114-year history by keeping the simple slogan “It’s Good. Since 1898.”

“When a beverage as beloved as Barq’s undergoes a significant packaging evolution, we have to remain true to the brand’s heritage and tradition while ensuring the brand is relevant to today’s consumers,” said Christina Manganaro, senior marketing activation manager, Coca-Cola North America. “We think the new design presents a cleaner, simpler look that captures the brand’s essence in a way that will ultimately resonate with both dedicated Barq’s fans and those who are new to the brand.”

Barq’s traces its heritage back to New Orleans, Louisiana and Biloxi, Mississippi where the beverage was founded and first produced by Biloxi Artesian Bottling Works. The brand was later purchased by The Coca-Cola Company in 1995. Since then, the sarsaparilla-based root beer has maintained its trademark bold flavor and caffeine kick reflecting the brand’s well-known tagline “Barq’s has Bite.”

About The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world’s largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands. Led by Coca-Cola, the world’s most valuable brand, our Company’s portfolio features 15 billion dollar brands including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply, Georgia and Del Valle. Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, ready-to-drink coffees, and juices and juice drinks. Through the world’s largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy our beverages at a rate of 1.7 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that reduce our environmental footprint, support active, healthy living, create a safe, inclusive work environment for our associates, and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate. Together with our bottling partners, we rank among the world’s top 10 private employers with more than 700,000 system employees. For more information, please visit www.thecoca-colacompany.com or follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/CocaColaCo.

To use the parlance of the entrepreneurial world, you can just plain call it disruptive.

At least, that’s what the founders of Indianapolis-based uFlavor hope that you’ll call it, before you start drinking a soda that you — or someone whose taste in beverages you’ve come to enjoy — have designed. The basic idea? Put a bottling plant inside a small machine, and let everyone start contributing flavor and ingredient combinations.

The company, founded by a pair of young engineers and a veteran technology entrepreneur, ultimately hopes to offer a way for consumers to design their own drinks, name and label them, and then offer them to anybody who wants to buy them (potentially with even a small amount of money going to the combination’s creator). Right now in a web-based “Beta” version (http://www.uflavor.com) that is shipping drinks designed by Zappos founder Tony Hsieh, among others, the eventual goal is to allow users to pick their own flavor combinations, their own labels and their own names, and also to allow those combinations to be accessible from vending machines around the country.

Already, some roller derby teams have created products, along with Zappos' Tony Hsieh.

The ultimate idea is to create a system where a single drink can be made and bottled, either on the spot or via direct-to-consumer shipment.

“We knew we’d need to be able to produce drinks in a quantity of one,” rather than the traditional runs of thousands of bottles for a brand, said Nathan Altman, one of the two high school friends behind the company. “That’s what we spent the last three years developing and prototyping. We want to take that and expand it beyond prototype.”

To get attention for the idea, Altman and partners Mike Mitchell and Michael Cloran recently took their prototype flavor mixing machine — using a set of 42 base flavors developed at FONA that can be used to “paint” an even wider range of tastes — on a bus around the country, stopping at tech-coverage media hubs like Mashable and Fast Company. They recently added Activate Drinks co-founder Burke Eiteljorg as an investor, according to Altman.

“It’s been an exciting time, especially being able to pull together the right group of people,” Altman said. “Everything from the right partners to the right disciplines and fields.”

While the company is currently trying to market its service as a way of offering corporations and brands an alternative to trinkets like custom-labeled water bottles, the ultimate goal remains the consumer model. The set of raw materials for customization by users is akin to a software platform, say its tech-centric founders, and from that platform they expect thousands of combinations to arise — some good, some bad, but some that will eventually become so popular that they “trend up” to other users.

Such a phenomenon has already been played out on a smaller scale with the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine, which offers consumers the chance to create their own flavor combinations from Coke and Coke-affiliated brands. Last year, a social media campaign created a set of crowdsourced flavors for the Freestyle machines.

Altman said he isn’t concerned about the Freestyle.

“They make us look less crazy,” he said. “We’ve been following them over the past several years, and it’s a benefit for us that they are doing it, but I don’t know if Coke would ever go to the extreme of where we are.”

Right now, one of the most extreme parts about uFlavor is the pricing: the introductory four-pack, featuring flavors designed by Hsieh (“Happiness Delivered” — a blueberry flavored water), chef Neal Brown (“317″ — a clementine/vanilla soda), SEOMoz founder Rand Fishkin (“Link Juice” — a coffee-flavored energy drink) and Zaarly CEO Joe Fishback (“Zaarly Pop” — a grape and apple soda) — goes for $15 (shipping included) and cases are going for $59. The

Currently, products are only available in 12 oz. glass bottles, although the eventual idea is to be “packaging agnostic,” Altman said.

While still very much a niche category, the number of hemp-infused drinks on the market appears to be growing with brands including Chronic Ice, Chillo, Hi*T, and C+ Swiss finding some success via innovative marketing and positioning as well as new inroads to retailers through small and mid-sized distributors.

Here is Greenlight’s press release announcing the new flavors and line extension:

Greenlight Beverages to Refresh Alternative Drinks Market

Greenlight Beverages, maker of Chronic Ice health tea, will expand its market presence with three new flavors next month and will add additional healthful drinks in the future.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) February 15, 2012 — Greenlight Beverages is poised to make a splash in the alternative drinks market. The maker of Chronic Ice, an all-natural health tea made with green and black teas, cane sugar, and hemp seed powder, will introduce two new tea flavors and a soda next month. This is just the start of Greenlight Beverages’ foray into the new-age beverage market.

“People are looking for an alternative to the artificial drinks that dominate the mainstream market,” noted Jamal Weathers, a co-founder of Greenlight Beverages. “Consumers are thirsty for a great-tasting drink that naturally gives them a boost of energy.”

Chronic Ice is a health tea, and the nation’s first premium hemp beverage. It is made with organic sugar cane, whole-leaf green tea, black tea and hemp seed. Each serving of the antioxidant-rich, healthy tea is free of preservatives and high-fructose corn syrup. It has been tested with oncologists and enjoyed by celebrities like Cee Lo Green, Goodie Mob, Drake, and boxing champion Floyd Mayweather.

The Lemon Classic flavor of Chronic Ice is now available in stores around California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington State, Washington DC, and Florida. Two new flavors of Chronic Ice hemp iced tea will be introduced next month: The Grape Escape and Peach Perfection. Greenlight Beverages will simultaneously launch its first soda, Chronic Ice Ginger Ale, made with real ginger extract, cane sugar, and hemp seed powder. With the launch of the new varieties, all flavors of Chronic Ice will get a completely new packaging design that expresses the hemp beverage’s refreshing-now-and-healthy-later benefits.

Chronic Ice was developed by Kush Boys and Chronic Candy, but will be solely associated with Greenlight Beverages with the launch of the new flavors and can designs. Greenlight Beverages will focus exclusively on healthful drinks, and plans to introduce additional brands to the alternative beverage market in the future.

For more information about Greenlight Beverages, visit greenlightbeverages.com or call (888) 557-3332.

About Greenlight Beverages

Greenlight Beverages is a Los Angeles-based company focused on bringing healthful drinks to the alternative beverage market. Greenlight Beverages is proud to present Chronic Ice, the nation’s first premium hemp beverage. Made with green and black teas, hemp seed powder, and pure cane sugar, Chronic Ice is the perfect alternative to the chemicals and corn syrup found in other drinks.

Dr Pepper Snapple itself expects sales to grow modestly this year with expectations on the low end of its long-term 3-5 percent target and earnings of $2.90 to $2.98 per share. Herzog concurs with DPS estimates and expectations based on several factors including the company’s forecast of a mild increase of 2-2.5 percent in its pricing mix, as well as a manageable 2-3 percent bump in commodity costs (as compared to an expected 7 percent hike for Pepsi and a 3.5 percent increase for Coke.)

Overall, DPS saw a 1 percent decline in fourth quarter sales of CSDs and a 6 percent drop in its non-carbonated beverage portfolio. Sales of 7UP, Crush, Sunkist, Hawaiian Punch and Mott’s, each declined by double digits partially as a result of price increases. Yet while DPS saw a number of its beverages struggle in the fourth quarter, the company was buoyed by a 2 percent increase in volume of its flagship Dr Pepper brand and increased distribution and sales of Dr Pepper TEN and Sun Drop. Additionally, the company’s tea and juice portfolios outperformed industry trends.

The launch of Dr Pepper TEN, a new 10-calorie version of Dr Pepper marketed to men, has proven to be a successful one for DPS as the brand deepened its footprint in both the convenience and grocery store channels. Herzog is optimistic about the long-term growth of the “Ten” platform and believes that the company’s roll-out of a core line of 10 calorie products will be very successful for DPS. Moreover, Sun Drop continues be a bright spot for DPS as the citrus drink contributed approximately 2 million incremental cases of sales volume in the fourth quarter and 9 million cases overall in 2011. Sun Drop is now the number two brand in the citrus category and is responsible for nearly 43 percent of the overall growth of the category during the year.

DENVER, CO–(Marketwire – Feb 16, 2012)

Bob Yates, CEO of Pulse, said, “We are pleased with the acceptance rate of Cabana with distributors across America and we are starting to experience increased re-orders in those areas where the product has officially launched in stores. We are in the process of signing a number of large regional supermarket and C-Store chains as well as international distribution. With our ever expanding distribution network our soon to be launched flagship beverage Pulse® NutriPurpose™ brand will receive ‘red carpet’ distribution as the majority of our distributors have indicated they desire to add Pulse® to their product line-up.”

Gusto Distributing, based in Helena and Great Falls, Montana, is a diversified beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverage distributor. Gusto distributes over 20 well-known beverage brands throughout Montana. Bonni Lewis, North American Sales Manager for Gusto, said, “We decided to order Cabana IMMEDIATELY after receiving samples. The product is phenomenal and the flavors are outstanding with great retail price points and margins for the retailer and distributor. We are excited to have a lemonade brand that is appealing and delicious.”

Farrell Distributing is a wholesale beverage distributor with offices and warehouse facilities located in South Burlington and Rutland, Vermont.

Details of the Company’s business and agreements can be found as part of the Company’s continuous public disclosure as a reporting issuer under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) EDGAR database.

About The Pulse Beverage Corporation (OTCBB: PLSB)
The Pulse Beverage Corporation is an emerging growth beverage company that manufactures, distributes and markets Cabana™ 100% Natural Lemonade and is preparing to “red carpet” its flagship beverage product PULSE® NutriPurpose™ brand originally developed by a major healthcare company. For more information: www.pulsebeverage.com or email info@pulsebeverage.com.