Videos

In sports, timing and vision are important. So in September, 2009, when Mark and Jon Sider, a pair of highly competitive athletes and brothers, thought they saw a niche of white space in the sports drink category, they went for it. Despite the category’s domination by Gatorade, the brothers felt that the category had room for an all-natural product and that coconut water was the key to its creation. Less than a year later, Greater Than hit the shelves.

It’s been a breakout year for Bai and its line of coffee fruit infused beverages. The brand started 2011 on a torrid pace, generating a substantial amount of interest at the Natural Products Expo West show in March and widespread acclaim for its flavor profile and clean, sharp packaging. Additionally, in recent months, Bai developed partnerships with powerful regional DSD distributors from some NIDA affiliates and also the Honickman Group, getting it access to a number of key markets in the Northeast, Southeast and West Coast.

In tiptoeing its way through a label refresh, Honest Tea might want to consider publishing a book about the experience. The company could call it, “How to Win Friends and Not Alienate Your Fanatic Consumer Base.” Though Honest Tea initiated redesign plans nearly three years ago, the company only recently – and quietly -- launched a new label design for its PET line of bottled tea and Honest Ade products. Seth Goldman, the President and “TeaEO” of Honest Tea, explained that as the company made the recent move into national distribution with Coca-Cola, the line needed a bigger visual impact on store...

Beverage entrepreneurs love to tweak their brands, overhauling packaging and marketing with abandon. But it’s hard to make the changes without a direct objective. Not so for Honeydrop Beverages – a brand of honey-sweetened juices and teas – which went into the redesign process with a clear objective: while the company had found some success within the natural foods channel, founder and CEO David Luks knew that greater growth would require an eventual transition into the mainstream market. Luks understood that a new look had to precede such a move.

With over 170 exhibitors showcasing their wares, beverage companies were represented in full force as the 2011 NACS show stormed into Chicago. Packed to the walls with energy shots, juices, teas and sodas, this year’s show featured the usual outrageous promotions (“Meet Snooki from Jersey Shore!”) and over-the-top booths (scantily clad models, immense media screens, a waterslide – yes, a waterslide. You read it right).

With more than 100 beverage-related exhibitors and over 20,000 attendees, Natural Products Expo East returned to Baltimore after a three year stint in Boston. While Expo East lacked the thunderous atmosphere that Expo West enjoyed earlier this year, the show did feature a number of new and innovative beverage companies introducing products in growth categories like tea, coconut water and aloe juice, as well as several rebrands and repackaging efforts - most notably by Honest Tea.

Over the last nine months, Zola, which makes of a line of bottled Açaí and other superfruit juice products, completely redesigned its labeling, introduced two flavor line extensions, and launched…

About a month ago, I had the opportunity to sit down with PepsiCo’s Massimo d’Amore to discuss the role of entrepreneurial beverages and innovation within the Pepsi portfolio.  I stumbled…

Maybe we should be angrier. After all, it was at the December, 2010 BevNET Live that  Arnulfo Ventura, founder of the aguas frescas drink Bonadea, took part in the live…

As the coconut water category continues to expand, ZICO, one of the first companies in the space, has emerged as a strong category player whose sales and distribution have drastically…