Four years ago, Health-Ade Kombucha took its first step into the emerging functional soda set with the launch of its prebiotic Health-Ade Booch Pop line. Now, after discontinuing that product last year, the company is hoping to revamp the concept with a new take on the category, dubbed SunSip by Health-Ade, that’s even less kombucha and more soda minded.
Available in Cherry Cola, Raspberry Lemonade, Root Beer and Strawberry Vanilla varieties, SunSip is made with prebiotics, vitamins and minerals and is sweetened with monk fruit, fruit juice and 5 grams of sugar per 12 oz. can. The drinks are rolling out now nationwide to Whole Foods Market locations and are also available online direct-to-consumer. The line retails for $2.49 per can.
The California-based kombucha maker initially launched Health-Ade Booch Pop in 2020 as a kombucha-based entry into the better-for-you soda category, later rebranding the line to Health-Ade Pop. Following the appointment of Chris Lansing as CEO in 2022, the company opted to discontinue Pop last year, with SunSip now taking over its role in the Health-Ade portfolio.
According to Health-Ade CMO Charlotte Mostaed, SunSip – like Pop before it – aims to broaden the brand’s appeal to a wider variety of consumers beyond the “hardcore health enthusiast” by providing an option for people who dislike the taste of kombucha, while also providing their main consumer base with another beverage that fills a unique need state from their core offerings. It’s a target the company has been chasing for years now, and other recent moves like the launch of its core kombucha line in cans and partnerships with the Los Angeles Dodgers and iHeartRadio have further signified the brand’s need and ambition to bring in untapped consumer bases.
“We found that kombucha consumers drink over six types of beverages per week, that are non-alc and non-water, and so that’s a really big opportunity,” Mostaed said. “One of those is kombucha, but many of the other beverages that they’re drinking are for different need states … so there’s clearly an opportunity to provide more than just kombucha to our most loyal, healthy consumers.”
Much of the design of SunSip – both the inside and outside of the can – was guided by learnings from the Pop line, she said. While Pop had high repeat rates, driving initial trial was still difficult for the brand. In order to make those first-time sales, SunSip looks to smooth over some of the points of confusion Pop experienced, including the move from a slim can to a traditional squat 12 oz. soda can, which Mostaed said better signifies a CSD drinking occasion. As well, the drinks use a light touch of sugar and monk fruit, as opposed to more polarizing zero calories sweeteners like stevia and erythritol.
The brand itself, meanwhile, aims to communicate a “sense of joy,” Mostaed said. SunSip takes precedence on the front of the can as the brand name, while the master brand of Health-Ade is included as a smaller top rim call out on the front label.
“This branding choice comes through hours and hours of consumer research talking to thousands of consumers about what they’re looking for and what resonates with them,” Mostaed said. “What we learned is that we wanted to have a really strong brand identity for SunSip that helps them understand the ethos and the positioning and usage occasions that we’re cueing.”
The functional soda category, and in particular gut-health friendly pre- and probiotic sodas, has become a fast rising mainstream trend in recent years, led by brands like Poppi and Olipop which offer consumers a full flavored but healthier alternative to traditional CSDs. With Booch Pop in 2020, Health-Ade was initially among the first existing brands to extend its business into the trend, but in 2024 it’s far from the only one these days. Numerous brands – including fellow kombucha makers like Humm, Revive and Cove to name a few – have introduced their own takes on the gut health soda line over the past several years.
But Health-Ade is confident that SunSip will stand out among the crowd. Its use of B and C vitamins and Zinc give the drink added immunity and energy boosting benefits, Mostaed said, and consumer testing found that initial purchase intent outranked several major prebiotic soda competitors while 74% of consumers said they would buy SunSip in addition to kombucha.
“We’re really excited about those two things because, again, every beverage that consumers add into their lives, especially for health-interested consumers, they’re looking for ways to round out their nutritional goals,” she said.
Unlike Pop, SunSip is not shelf-stable. At the time of its original launch Health-Ade believed that introducing Pop as a shelf-stable line would open up more opportunity to expand its footprint in stores, but Mostaed said that the company has found it prefers to compete in the high-visibility cooler space where more discovery occurs. While that has its own challenges, it’s a part of the store Health-Ade is familiar with and making SunSip a refrigerated line will also ensure a higher flavor quality.
At launch, Mostaed said SunSip will be available in Whole Foods nationwide, but otherwise the company is aiming to focus mostly on building the brand in New York and California. The brand is partnering with women’s surf and skating group GrlSwirl to promote SunSip and the company will have activations at GrlSwirl’s events, as well as employing a traditional influencer marketing model and a paid media campaign.
For its broader business, Health-Ade unveiled a new 2024 nationwide campaign last week called “Thrill Your Gut.” Developed with marketing agency Funday, the omnichannel campaign includes paid social ads on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, digital and out of home ads.
According to market data firm Circana, sales of Health-Ade’s refrigerated kombucha products in U.S. MULO and convenience retail were up 14% to over $128.3 million in the 52-week period ending December 31, 2023, maintaining its position as the second largest American kombucha brand, while its smaller Plus line grew 512.6% to $5.2 million. The entire refrigerated kombucha category, in the same period, grew just 4% and category leader GT’s was up 5.2%.