Like many other beverage brands, sports drink maker NOOMA saw its numbers soar in early April. For three weeks, online sales of its organic coconut water-based electrolyte drink spiked to new highs, as consumers shifted into pantry stocking mode during the early days of the COVID pandemic.
“We were kind of talking back and forth and we were a little optimistic, thinking this is our great marketing efforts finally taking hold,” said Jarred Smith, a former hockey player who co-founded the brand alongside his brother Brandon in 2013. “A couple days later, we realized this was stock-up buying in a way that we had never seen before.”
Those numbers have since leveled off, but the Smiths are eager to use the momentum generated during recent weeks as fuel for NOOMA to move into new use occasions and product categories in the months ahead. Since late 2019, the Cleveland-based brand has been quietly seeding Organic Pre Workout Energy, its first line extension, online and in select retailers.
The debut of Organic Pre Workout Energy takes NOOMA into a new use occasion while reinforcing the brand’s key tenants of organic ingredients, efficacious formulations and no added sugar. Available in Tangerine, Lemon Lime, Dragon Fruit, Pineapple Mango and Orange Ginger, each 12 oz. can contains 15 calories and 120 mg of caffeine sourced from green coffee bean extract. Along with shifting the brand into a new use occasion, the product also expands its health and wellness credentials with the addition of organic adaptogen extracts, including maca, ginseng, ashwagandha and cordyceps.
NOOMA’s Organic Pre Workout Energy joins a growing cohort of low/no sugar energy products designed for fitness and athletic performance, a group that includes Bang, Celsius, Reign, FitAID and Nutrabolt’s C4.
“It’s not a learning process for us,” said Smith, though he noted that the brand was limited in its ability to innovate by looking exclusively at organic ingredients. “The core principles of the brand extend to all the products. Having different products helps us to be able to go into different places that may be opening up [sooner].”
While NOOMA is expanding its product range, the company’s retail strategy has narrowed. Over recent years, the brand has found traction mainly in natural retailers, including Whole Foods and Fresh Thyme. But for the new line, brick-and-mortar is a secondary priority. Smith acknowledged that while velocities for grab-and-go placements have plummeted, the brand is “not necessarily an impulse buy” either; meanwhile, sales at boutique gyms and fitness centers have taken a big hit and uncertainty lingers over how that segment might recover and reopen safely.
The urgency for the brand to secure new distribution at stores and on-premise is dwarfed by the opportunities to both sell and market NOOMA online, Smith said, particularly as it prepares to follow the release of Organic Pre Workout Energy with other innovations later this year that appeal to different consumers and retail channels.
“We are really on the page of [thinking of] how we can acquire a new customer in the most cost effective and long-lasting way possible,” said Smith. “We didn’t pull back out of retail, but we put a lot of focus on to ecommerce in terms of building that relationship.”