Bruce Jacobson is the new President at Constellation Brands-backed sports drink makerBioSteel.
Jacobson brings a long track record in beverage alcohol; prior to BioSteel, he had been chief operating officer at Milwaukee-based Press Premium Alcohol Seltzer, joining the brand shortly after Constellation Brands made a minority investment in 2020. In the role, Jacobson “led a team in scaling the business to achieve profitable growth while balancing its entrepreneurial spirit and identity,” according to a press release.
Prior to joining Press, Jacobson spent 17 years at Constellation, including four years as Chief Commercial Officer. He’s not the only former beer veteran to make the transition, either; Curtis Smith, a former Constellation GM in the West Central, now heads BioSteel’s distribution network.
“Bruce will be an invaluable addition to the company’s leadership team as BioSteel continues to grow at a record pace by challenging the status quo in hydration,” said David Klein, CEO of BioSteel’s parent company Canopy Growth, in a press release. “With deep experience building brands, driving profitability, developing distribution strategies, and leading cross-functional teams, we are confident that Bruce will complement and enhance the capabilities of the current leadership team and further advance BioSteel’s standing in the market.”
Created by former NHL player Michael Cammalleri and John Celenza in 2009, BioSteel has accelerated growth since its 2019 acquisition by Canopy Growth, the Canadian cannabis producer of which beer and spirits giant Constellation is a majority shareholder. In recent years the sports drink brand has inked sponsorship deals with high profile pro teams (Los Angeles Lakers, U.S. Soccer Federation) and next-generation stars like NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes and NBA All-Star Luka Doncic, while delivering eye-catching sales growth.
In contrast to category dominators Gatorade and BodyArmor, all BioSteel SKUs contain zero sugar and are packaged in a 16.7 fl oz. Tetra Pak.
As he steps into the non-alcoholic side of the beverage business, Jacobson said his past experience helping develop internal beer brands like Corona at Constellation is relevant to his new role at BioSteel.
“[Those brands] were in much of the same type of situation — really strong, authentic brands that stand for something that’s differentiated in the category, and that just needed to gain the attention of distribution, retailers and consumers to be able to emerge,” he said.
“I see a lot of parallels, although I’m under no illusions,” he added, “It’s going to be a different industry.”
While praising the brand’s current team, Jacobson said BioSteel will also seek to apply lessons from its growth in Canada to the U.S. market, starting with the introduction of a new 500mL 4-pack entering over 2,200 Walmart stores this month.
With distribution in place via over 200 Constellation-aligned DSD houses and a target of adding 15,000 new retailers by the end of 2022, Jacobson said BioSteel has the mechanics in place to move the product, which it expects to accelerate through marketing and awareness building.
“For us, it’s going to be about leveraging the great relationships that Mike and John have built with athletes and teams and leagues across the sports environment, and when you do that, you’ve got the ability to show credibility to the consumer,” he said. “When they understand the credibility from a professional sports athlete standpoint — where it came from and the authenticity of this brand — we see consumers adopting it.”