We’re less than a week away from BevNET Live Winter ’14 and with it, the eighth edition of New Beverage Showdown, BevNET’s signature beverage brand competition. Sponsored by Venturing & Emerging Brands, an operating unit of Coca-Cola North America, New Beverage Showdown is designed to identify the most innovative and scalable new beverage brand from a slate of beverage entrepreneurs.
This time around, we’ve made a couple of adjustments to the voting structure for New Beverage Showdown, in which attendees and livestream viewers will have a direct role in the judging process.
As in past years, each leg of New Beverage Showdown will feature a judging panel comprised of individuals with deep and varied backgrounds in the beverage industry. In previous competitions, audience voting (via text and phone call) was implemented as a way to assist judges in their decision-making.
For New Beverage Showdown 8, audience votes will be weighted by attendance, aggregated and the final tally utilized to pick the top brand in the semi-finals and a newly created award of “Audience Winner” in the finals.
The competition’s “Audience Winner” will receive a free ticket to a future BevNET Live conference (a $1,399 value). The ultimate winner of New Beverage Showdown 8 will be chosen by our final round judging panel and receive $10,000 in cash and prizes.
The New Beverage Showdown semifinal round is currently scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 8, concluding at 9:30 a.m. The group of six finalists will be announced at 12:35 p.m., with each presenting during the day on Tuesday, Dec. 9.
Semifinal Round Judges:
- Duane Primozich, Managing Partner, Boulder Brands
- Chuck Muth, Senior Vice President – Sales, Venturing & Emerging Brands
- Mark Rampolla, Founder, ZICO Coconut Water
- John Craven, Founder & CEO, BevNET
Final Round Judges:
- Rebecca Messina, Senior Vice President – Marketing, Venturing & Emerging Brands
- Patrick Posey, Vice President of Sales, Bristol Farms
- Ken Sadowsky, Executive Director, Northeast Independent Distributors Association; Senior Beverage Advisor, Verlinvest
- Greg Fleishman, Co-Founder & CEO, Purely Righteous Brands
- John Craven, Founder & CEO, BevNET
If you haven’t yet registered for BevNET Live, don’t wait another moment! There are just a handful of seats remaining and the conference will sell out!