I thought it was going to be Fanta – but I guess I didn’t have the data.
Dan White and co. over at Coke’s New Revenue Streams operation hinted during a BevNET Live interview a month ago that there was more to come for Coke in the alcohol space, and now we’ve got yesterday’s announcement that the company is launching some alcohol-enhanced products under the Fresca Mixed brand in a tie-up with beer, wine, and spirits giant Constellation.
They’re playing with a hot hand: Coke-owned Topo Chico’s hard seltzer, put together with Molson Coors, has been the leader of the pack when it comes to recent attempts across the industry to create growth via a joint venture between beer and soft drink companies. Hard Chico seems to have a resonance that could actually make it a third player behind leaders White Claw and Truly as the category continues to winnow the weak and concentrate share.
But Coke also has apparently established an internal blueprint for getting extra leverage out of the smaller brands that managed to survive the Great Odwalla Purge of 2021. We’re seeing them in the extension of popular legacy brand Fresca and cult-y hit Topo Chico into new businesses.
In other words, by clearing out the closet full of clutter, it looks like Coke’s been able to find some pieces that can really add to a new outfit.
I thought Fanta made sense because, combined with tequila, it’s half of what a lot of us call a “quickie Margarita” – I bet it still happens. But for now, why Fresca? One clue lies in the press release, which cited findings by Bev360, a little-known suite of brand health tracking tools developed internally at Coke in the past few years, incorporating internal consumer panels, data from IRI, Nielsen, and plenty of other sources of supplier and retailer information.
Now, big data isn’t the only hand on the wheel at Coke or Constellation, for sure – they’re both so big that there are going to be lawyers and supply chain conditions, corporate hurdles, battles for budgetary oversight and more playing roles in any new product decision.
But the tip of the hat to Bev360, and not a single data provider like a SPINS or IRI, got me thinking – there are a lot of data tools out there, they’re getting cheaper, and here’s a place where the entrepreneurs can match the big companies, especially since they don’t have to wrestle with the complicated decision hierarchies that encumber large organizations.
Data means that entrepreneurs can make their own fast decisions with a little bit more certainty and precision, dialing in consumer types for marketing events, portfolio adjustments, innovation and route to market. It can be especially valuable at a time of supply chain upheaval – knowing which of your products and points of distribution are most valuable on a sales and COGS basis lets you know clearly where to put your resources.
If you don’t believe me, know that even the accountants are pushing brands to spend money to use data to locate opportunities for innovation and opportunity.
“For smaller, more nimble organizations with strong balance sheets, there is opportunity to invest in ubiquitous and affordable data tools for better decision making, identifying blank spaces and evaluating marketing efforts,” said Karen Galivan, a tax partner and consumer products senior analyst with RSM U.S. LLP, a middle market accounting and advisory firm.
Look at the growth of companies like Essentia, where the data played an enormous role in determining strategy and tracking its success. Look at the growth of tools like CRISP and other operations trackers.
That’s not to say that entrepreneurs shouldn’t go with their guts and ignore their ability to identify white space. Entrepreneurs are able to walk the aisles and surf the web and generally ideate. But data helps the confirmation, the defraying of risk, the ability to bring retailers and investors on board, to enhance a premise and target characteristics for a consumer set. The results are showing that the juice is worth the squeeze, even if it’s a Fresca.