LAW AND POLICY
Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. will add
142 hybrid electric trucks to its fleet, giving the company the largest hybrid
electric truck fleet in North America. The Midwest Coca-Cola Bottling Co. will
add 10 hybrid trucks to its fleet. • Ball
Corp. said it intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 16 percent
in the next four years. The manufacturer of beverage cans and bottles said the
goal for cutting emissions is based on a 2002 baseline and will occur through
improved energy efficiencies. For more, click here.
PEOPLE
Go Fast Sports and Beverage Company hired Kevin Conrad as Executive Vice
President and Director of North American Sales and Distribution. Conrad
previously worked as Vice President of Sales and Distribution for Rockstar Energy and a managing director
for Southern Wine and Spirits.
DISTRIBUTION
Cabela's, an outdoor merchandise retailer, announced a multi-year agreement
making PepsiCo Foodservice its
exclusive beverage supplier. • Clearly
Canadian Brands is pleased to announce it has received its first orders
from Bulk Barn, Canada’s Largest Bulk Food Retailer with 113 stores across the
country. • Guayaki announced a new
distribution partnership with Exclusive
Beverage Distribution that will cover New York City and Nassau and Suffolk
counties in N.Y. The company also announced several other new distribution partnerships:
John Lenore & Company (San Diego
County, CA), Prestige Sales LLC
(Orange County and Southern Los Angeles County, CA), Classic Distributing & Beverage Group (Central Los Angeles
County, CA), Allied Beverages, Inc.
(San Fernando Valley and Santa Barbara County, CA), Triangle (Heimark) Distributing (Palm Springs / CA desert area), Underdog Distributing (Las Vegas, NV), Spike Beverage (Arizona), U.S. Foodservice (Utah), Dominic's - (Hollywood area - sells
to major movie and TV studios and sets), Southwest
Traders (7 western states - servicing smoothie chains and coffee houses), Café Moto - (400 independent coffee
houses in San Diego), Groundworks - (250 independent coffee houses in LA area) • Attitude Drinks
Incorporated announced that their flagship brand, Vis Viva is now authorized in over 200 Duane Reade drug store
outlets in the New York metro area. •
Reed's, Inc. announced that it has formed an expanded partnership with
Ralphs Supermarket Chain, a division of Kroger. Ralphs will carry Reed's full
product line throughout its 215 locations. Reed's, also formed an expanded
partnership with Sprouts Farmers Market. Sprouts committed to carrying the full
line of Reed's and Virgil's natural sodas throughout all of its 26 locations. •
Skinny Nutritional Corp. announced a
distribution and promotional partnership with Freedom Valu Center. All Freedom stores in the Twin Cities market
will now offer all five Skinny Water flavors.
PROMOTIONS / APPEARANCES
Daunted by the high cost of hosting a wedding, 23 year-old
hairdresser Kelly Gray put her last available bridesmaid spot up for sale on
eBay. Dr Pepper Snapple purchased
the spot for $5,700. However, the company felt Kelly deserved more for being so
creative and surprised her by upping their bid to $10,000 after the auction had
ended. • New York Yankee Mariano Rivera, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim outfielder
Torii Hunter and rapper/hip hop artist Talib Kweli will celebrate All Star Week
at a Purple Beverage-sponsored event
at the Pink Elephant in New York City. • New Jersey's Fort
Dix recently received 29,000 bottles of
Fyxx Hybrid Energy Drink to energize the men and women stationed there. • Evian Natural Spring Water continued
its integration in digital placement with this week's release of Top Spin 3,
the third title in the Top Spin series of tennis video games published by 2K
Sports. Evian also debuted the Evian Royal Spa Cannes -- an offshore pop-up spa
to treat the celebrities and VIPs at the Cannes Film Festival. • Hat Trick Beverages announced the
corporate sponsorship of Melanie Roach, 2008 US Olympic weightlifter in the
women's 53 KG division. • The National Park Foundation announced plans
to direct donations from The Coca-Cola
Company to help enhance land and water trails through community
partnerships with the national parks. • Rudy
Nutrition, Inc. announced that Notre Dame Football legend and founder of
Rudy Beverage Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger made an appearance at South
Bend Chocolate Café located nearby the College Football Hall of Fame. The café
is the first retail outlet in the area to stock their shelves with the beverage
in the South Bend area. • POM Tea will take its message to the masses this summer with the
POM TeaMobile Tour -- a 10 market sampling trek across North America that runs
from June 26 through Labor Day. • The Gatorade
Company, in partnership with RISE Magazine, announced German Fernandez of
Riverbank High School (Riverbank, Calif.) as its 2007-08 Gatorade National Boys
Track & Field Athlete of the Year. • Crayons All Natural Beverage Company announced the
results of its inaugural “Pink Lemonade Brigade,” a nation-wide lemonade stand fundraiser where kids support
a charity of their choice. The one-day event raised more than $156,000 for
charities. • Skinny
Nutritional Corp. held a launch event in Minnesota where they gave away free (zero
dollar) tanks of gas. • BAWLS Guarana
kept thousands of music-loving geeks bouncing to the beat at Nerdapalooza - the
largest nerdcore music festival in the Southeast.
MISCELLANEOUS
The World of Coca-Cola once featured water ponds filled with costumed entertainers,
but a drought in Georgia forced the museum to replace the ponds with greenery
and flowers
