Vital Pharmaceuticals, the maker of VPX sports drinks and supplements and Redline and Bang energy drinks, is wrapping up a busy year. In 2016 Vital, which does business as VPX Sports, launched a range of new products, increased its social media presence and expanded distribution of its brands, all of which led Gene Bukovi, the company’s Vice President of Beverage Sales, to predict the highest sales for the company in four years.
In a call with BevNET, Bukovi said that rising demand for VPX’s energy drinks is driving growth for the company, which had previously focused on its sports nutrition business. He called Vital “more of a beverage company now than ever before.”
“We’ve got our feet back underneath us,” Bukovi said. “We went through a soft transition from a company that was mainly a sports nutrition company to this point where our beverage sales have been increasing by double digits, triple digits with some of the new products.”
Although Bukovi did not share sales data, he pointed to the launch of several new Bang varieties, including cotton candy, ‘Sour Heads,’ ‘Star Blast’ and black cherry vanilla, as propelling growth.
“I feel like Sour Heads put us on the map,” he said. “Because now we have a flavor with a unique name that hits. Everybody loved it.”
Meanwhile, the company this quarter relaunched its VPX Protein Rush shakes with chocolate and cookies & cream flavors, and redesigned the packaging of its Redline energy shots line.
The new products have benefitted from a boost in social media marketing. VPX has placed significant focus on Instagram, Bukovi said. VPX now has as many as 80 paid Instagram celebrities, some with millions of followers, who help promote the Bang brand.
On the distribution side, VPX works with about 200 wholesalers across the country for Bang, including several beer wholesalers affiliated with MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch, Bukovi said. In some markets, VPX is self-distributing; the company is managing distribution of its products in Southern California, which it had re-entered in January. Vital is also expanding Bang’s retail presence with new placement in QuikTrip, 7-Eleven and independent C-stores.
To support the growth of Bang, VPX has added new sales representatives for the brand, including some former Red Bull employees. Bukovi added that he is in the process of hiring new sales staff for the Mid-Atlantic, the Northeast and the Rocky Mountains.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “I’m able to bring on the level of talent we need to move forward in the future. The key is distribution, and we’re not going to wait around for it. My objective is to have 100 vans on the road in specific markets, we’ll circle, fill in the pockets where we can and add a viable, top distributor.”