Since participating as a semifinalist in New Beverage Showdown 16 two years ago, Ashi Jelinek, founder and CEO of kids beverage brand KidsLuv, has managed to stay busy. From expanded distribution to new product positioning and refreshed packaging to a new flavor rolling out next month, KidsLuv has been focused on growing across the board.
This month, the brand rolled out its vitamin-enhanced kids beverages packaged in resealable Tetra Pak cartons into 1,668 CVS locations and 423 Walmart stores across 30 states. Both stores will carry 4-packs of its two flavors, Flying Fla-Mango and Starstruck Coconut. Jelinek said the distribution announcement was a long time coming, after first being approached by Walmart at BevNET Live Winter 2018 and meeting with CVS soon afterward.
“I think a lot of the times from the outside you see that brands just end up in stores, but I think the inner workings of how that goes down and how long that takes, a lot of the time that’s not talked about or looked at,” she said. “This has been kind of something in the works for a long time.”
The brand originally planned to announce the expanded distribution, along with a new Orange Peach flavor launching in May, at Expo West.
Jelinek said that partnering with Walmart was key in “gaining access to more families,” while a push into the pharmacies was also a priority for the brand.
“I always felt the pharmacy channel was a really important channel for KidsLuv to be able to make the play on the vitamin aspect in the product, and to be able to be in a channel that serves health and wellness,” she said.
She said there’s been increased awareness of KidsLuv during the pandemic, as the drink is in a “unique position” because of its nutritional content. In response, the brand has been working to optimize its e-commerce presence. As field marketing has come to halt due to the pandemic, Jelinek has had to find other ways to drive consumer trial, mainly relying on getting coupons placed in stores.
Jelinek said KidsLuv has also been focusing on expanding distribution on the West Coast, in more natural and independent stores, as well as into online vitamin retailers.
The product’s vitamin content is now being featured more prominently after undergoing a name change and packaging refresh. Previously labelling itself as a “juice infused water,” KidsLuv will now be known as a “vitamin enhanced beverage.” The brand is also expanding efforts toward sustainability with new packaging for its 4-pack, which will feature word search puzzles focused on environmental education to utilize a part of the package that’s typically thrown away.
Because the beverage is a cross between a zero sugar juice alternative and a pediatric vitamin supplement, Jelinek said she found that KidsLuv’s original “juice infused water” positioning was confusing to both consumers and buyers.
“After getting more and more consumer feedback, I realized that that confused people. People didn’t know, and buyers too, and rightfully so. You don’t know if it’s a juice or is it a water? What is it and what are you doing? Going to events and talking to moms, it was very clear that [vitamin enhanced beverage] made more sense to them.”
She said that the switch to the new name has also been a selling point for buyers, simplifying the process of explaining its differentiation as a drink offering vitamins and zero sugar hydration. That uniqueness is especially necessarily in the kids beverage category, which continues to be crowded with protein-enhanced drinks along with fruit flavored water, from legacy brands Apple & Eve (Cool Waters) and Juicy Juice (Juicy Waters) along with offerings from Hapi and Rethink.
“[The kids beverage] space has been a little bit dead for a while in the sense that, I think that there’s the big flavored water play. We’re not that,” she said. “There’s been reluctance to take us in because people just don’t know what it is.”
Ideas for possible line expansions have come from meeting with moms from parenting affiliate groups and getting feedback on what they’re looking for in their kids’ beverages, Jelinek said. Looking ahead, KidsLuv is aiming to expand into more demographics. In 2021, the brand will look at streamlining the product’s vitamin content beyond simply being a multivitamin, possibly “beyond beverage in terms of health and wellness” with vitamins and supplements.
Whatever format future products may take, Jelinek is looking to do her part to help push the kids beverage category in a more disruptive direction.
“I have not seen that much innovation,” she said. “And I’m always surprised by that. It’s one of those things where you wonder, you know, why isn’t that happening?”