There’s evidence all around us – whether it’s watching someone gush over the sleek design of a new phone and then seek out the perfect hand-carved, petrified-jungle-wood case to put it in or the proliferation of farmers markets in big cities – people are looking for, and need, realness. There is a powerful urge to get in touch with what they believe is a more “real” world and it’s leading us to a place where signs of realness take on greater value.
According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the company is applying for a patent for a high-fiber concentrated product that can be made with artificial sweeteners and turned into a variety of frozen beverages, both carbonated and non-carbonated.
Fuel cost is a major deterrent to our national recovery. I see and hear how it impacts our beverage universe. Yet, there are no clear answers or policies to address the spike and no coherent way to bring it down.
A couple of interesting brands debut in our spotlight category this month: Starbucks Refreshers, which seem to be pulling in convenience and grocery. Also appearing in the rankings is Body Armor, which is close to $6 million here but is likely showing equal growth in uncharted, up and down the street channels. Still, after a long year-plus of pushing, the numbers have to come in as something of a vindication for its founders.
According to Center for Public Integrity reporter Dave Levinthal, an expert on lobbying and lobbyists, the flock of nine skilled operatives from the top-tier Podesta Group represents a move that will take an “all-of-the-above” approach to trying to work the levers of power in D.C. at a time when politicians – particularly Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) have been holding regulatory agencies’ feet to the fire when it comes to investigating their concerns about the beverages.
It’s been proven time and time again that in blind taste tests, under equal conditions, the average person is rarely able to distinguish between tap water and bottled water. So if taste isn’t why consumers are drawn to high-end water brands, what is it? Like a fancy car, it’s the packaging, and not what’s under the hood (or bottle cap), which most people crave. In the $10 billion plus world of bottled water, branding is everything. And for premium waters, everything begins with the bottle.
The country's largest supermarket company has formed a strong internal strategy under VP of Natural Foods Mary Ellen Adcock to try to remake itself in the minds of natural and organic consumers as a place where they can go to discover new, on-trend drinks and other products, partnering with L.A. Libations on the beverage end.
John Lenore & Co. – which has distributed Monster for the brand’s entire existence – will no longer carry it as of April 1. The energy drink volume sales leader is moving to a pair of wholesalers affiliated with Anheuser-Busch, including an AB-owned affiliate in the south half of the city and Markstein Beverage Co. in the north.
For the first time since 1997, Pepsi will introduce a new bottle shape next month. The brand will also debut new graphics, according to Ad Age.
As one of a handful of companies that pioneered the acai drink category, Sambazon is well aware of the competitive advantages gained from innovating with on-trend ingredients, but perhaps more importantly, how best to package and market new and innovative beverages. The company's strategy aligns mounting consumer demand for healthy and natural drinks with a variety of daypart uses while leaning on Sambazon’s positioning as a marketer of Amazonian “superfoods.”
Looking to bolster operating efficiency and customer service at the local level, PepsiCo today announced that it will transfer several bottling franchises with two of its largest bottling partners, Pepsi Bottling Ventures LLC (PBV) and the Honickman Group's Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of New York (PCNY).
Whether launched by ethically-minded consumer groups or opportunistic attorneys looking for a big pay day, lawsuits have become a source of significant concern for beverage companies. As much of the recent litigation revolves around misleading statements in the branding or labeling of a product, beverage marketers need to be keenly aware of the hot-button phrases or words that are often cited in these lawsuits.
They might have been doing well, but some of the best-performing young beverage brands on the market have recently enacted significant changes. From packaging formats to brand identity, these companies altered their approaches and cite the risks they took as key catalysts to growth.
In this video filmed on-location at Expo West 2013, BevNET CEO John Craven spoke with Honest Tea co-founder and TeaEO Seth Goldman about Honest Splash and why the company chose to launch with an exclusive deal at Target, and how the brand fits into Coke’s bottling and distribution system. Goldman also dished on the response and interest in Honest Fizz from retailers and distributors at the show, and spoke about recent accelerated growth within the company’s core tea line.
