When REBBL launched in 2011, plant-based functional beverages were still a niche category with little consumer recognition. A decade later, the brand now finds itself turning to innovation in order to bring in new shoppers and stake out space within a mainstream beverage marketplace that has embraced plant-based with open arms.
Last month, REBBL announced it has added immunity support to its best performing SKUs, including Reishi Chocolate, Turmeric Golden-Milk, Vanilla Protein and Dark Chocolate Protein. Now, as the brand prepares to add an additional product line later this summer, REBBL is also debuting a brand refresh with new labels intended to be more appealing and drive trial.
“It’s evolutionary, not revolutionary,” CEO Michele Kessler told BevNET this week. “It’s really fresh. We want our current consumers to still be able to find the REBBL that they love, but we think it updates the brand and we’re excited about that.”
According to Kessler, who joined REBBL in 2019, the company had been working on both its new look and adding more functional benefits to its drinks prior to the pandemic. In the case of immunity, an internal survey found 87% of consumers sought out immunity-boosting products, but the brand had struggled to find an ingredient that worked with its beverages (Vitamin C, for example, degraded during the production process while others had a negative impact on taste). They ultimately settled on baker’s yeast beta-glucan, a clinically-backed ingredient that benefits the body’s white blood cell response to disease that is also flavorless.
The new packaging calls out immunity on the relevant SKUs, while other flavors include statements that they “Support Wellness.” Immunity, however, will play an important role in broadening REBBL’s position within the mainstream retail environment, Kessler noted, and it arrives at a time where the brand’s other functional ingredients are becoming more well-known among shoppers.
“The [functional beverage] category is becoming more mainstream,” Kessler said. “Consumers are getting increasingly familiar with reishi mushroom, ashwagandha and a lot of key ingredients that REBBL’s had for a long time.”
Coming out of COVID, REBBL also aims to strike at the negative impacts the pandemic had on consumers’ physical and mental health by emphasizing wellness and encouraging them to return to an active lifestyle. With ‘immunity’ providing the anchor for its messaging, the brand has launched digital and social media campaigns that include ads on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest, as well as Amazon promotions, that seek to rally consumers to become their “healthy, active selves again.”
“As the New York Times recently stated, many people are feeling somewhat joyless and aimless this year; a state of stagnation they term ‘languishing,’” Kessler said. “There will be a reinvigorated focus on staying, or getting healthy, and consumers will seek a stable equilibrium by incorporating exercise into their routines and eating right.”
As foot traffic declined in stores last year and category resets were delayed for months, REBBL’s grab-and-go business was strained by the pandemic. Kessler said the company avoided laying off any employees, and while headcount has remained flat over the past 15 months the company focused on promoting employees from within to address the challenges posed by the pandemic.
According to IRI, REBBL products classified under weight control, nutritional liquid and post-workout drinks were up 42.6% in MULO to $2.1 million in the 52-week period ending March 21. However, sales of its coffee drinks had fallen 35.9% to $1.3 million.
Since 2020 ecommerce sales have “skyrocketed,” Kessler said, noting the online channel has also allowed REBBL to provide more customization options for its consumers via build-your-own variety pack offerings. As well, the company’s 32 oz. multi-serve format experienced a boom last year as shoppers pantry loaded. Today, the overall business is up double digits not just from 2020, but 2019 as well, she added.
REBBL is currently available in retailers including Whole Foods, Sprouts, Natural Grocers, Safeway/Albertsons, Fred Meyer, King Soopers, Ralphs, H-E-B, Wegmans, Meijer, Hannaford, Stop & Shop and select Target stores. Kessler noted that the natural channel still comprises the bulk of REBBL’s business, but the brand has continued to add new conventional retail accounts and has focused on going deeper within those stores with additional product lines.
A new functional line is set to launch later this summer. Kessler said it is intended to broaden the brand’s appeal in the mainstream market and will include immunity benefits in addition to other functionalities. A formal announcement is planned for next month and the drinks will launch into Whole Foods by early August.