Once Overlooked, Female Consumers Now Driving Growth in Energy Drinks

Extreme sports. Dirt bikes. Bikini models. Those images have been such longtime mainstays of energy drink marketing that for many consumers they’ve become synonymous with not just a single brand, but the entire category. So it may not be surprising to learn that most of the $17.5 billion in annual energy drink sales has, traditionally, come from young, male consumers. But that’s beginning to change.

In recent years, brands like CELSIUS and Alani Nu have seen triple-digit sales gains with much of the growth being credited to women entering the energy category consistently for the first time. John Fieldly, CEO of CELSIUS, told BevNET that the brand’s gender breakdown is roughly 50/50 male/female, while Alani Nutrition reported its consumer base as being 95% women. Meanwhile, the new wave of fitness energy brands such as C4, ZOA, and A Shoc – to name just a few – have similarly tailored their innovation and marketing to forgo old category standards like high sugar base formulations and aggro advertising.

But although there have been numerous attempts throughout the years to launch and market energy drinks for women, with varying degrees of success, why are those consumers only coming into the category now?

The emergence of better-for-you energy products is certainly one of the key drivers of the trend, but it’s not happening in a vacuum, said Taylor Foxman, a beverage industry advisor and founder and CEO of The Industry Collective. The energy brands resonating with women today are tapping into the same cultural trends as other fitness and leisure brands targeting female consumers.

“Think about any of the other products that are out there, even just on the leisure side, when it comes to Lululemon and Alo [Yoga] and Athleta,” Foxman said. “All these brands are primarily catered towards women that are interested in that space. So there’s obviously a market for it, and I think over the last few years, with those products in particular, some of the marketing efforts, the influencers that they’ve tapped to represent their brands, the flavor profiles, are just very appealing to women.”

A Marketing Evolution

In 2008, an academic report in the Journal of American College Health argued there was a link between energy drink consumption and a “toxic jock identity” that placed emphasis on hypermasculine behaviors. The New Yorker, in 2015, alleged energy drink marketing “preys on male insecurities” and concerns around the objectification of women have long plagued the category. Shifting away from that type of messaging, while being careful to avoid pandering, has been vital for making women feel comfortable within the space.

“The way I look at it is there’s a lot of women representing the same need from their beverages as men do,” said Bourcard Nesin, an analyst at Rabobank. “Historically, Monster was ‘Unleash the Beast’, Red Bull did a better job of being kind of gender neutral, saying it ‘Gives You Wings’ and things like that, but there was always this very violent, masculine marketing around [the category], so for a lot of reasons, that might turn people off.”

The brands resonating with women today, meanwhile, have emphasized themes of health and performance along with connections to highly visible female influencers from the sports, fashion and fitness worlds. While Red Bull leaned hard into extreme sports and high octane occasions in its advertising, the images and videos from brands across social media today, according to Mari Lee, VP, commercial marketing at C4 maker Nutrabolt, are “aspirational, but relatable.”

Lee, who began her beverage industry career at Red Bull in 2001, suggested that the pandemic – when almost all consumption and workout occasions shifted to the home – was more fuel on the fire for women entering the category, particularly as exercise companies like Peloton saw sharp uptick in sales and engagement and people turned to functional drinks to deal with constant stress; “It was a time when different aspects of our lives blended together and required a lot of balancing. Women needed to make a lot happen and energy drinks fueled that. COVID was the catalyst, but I don’t see this trend slowing.”

The continued rise in better-for-you beverages gave brands like C4 and CELSIUS a stronger opportunity to connect with women seeking a cleaner formulation and personalized – or at least gender neutral – messaging.

“I think the consumer needed something different,” Lee said. “And, I don’t know, if they just wanted to see some more representation or community, where it felt like ‘Hey, we need energy too.’”

Nesin suggested that the change in tone may even help bring more men into the space, noting that he personally is often turned off by the messaging of established energy brands, while products like CELSIUS and ZOA are speaking more to men previously left in the cold.

At CELSIUS – which reported retail dollar sales up 118.9% year-over-year to $549.9 million in the 52-weeks ending September 10, according to NielsenIQ – Fieldly said the company makes an effort to not just be a male or female brand but to focus on an inclusive message of “living fit” that has been bolstered by brand activations with Soul Cycle and Barry’s Bootcamp, among others.

“Fitness, being a mega trend, when you look at where it has gone over the last five to 10 years, I mean, even athleisure wear – that didn’t even exist 10 years ago, it was called ‘gym clothes.’ Now it’s a whole category,” Fieldly said. “The whole industry has evolved. So I think that’s what you’re seeing now, that this mega trend is here to stay and CELSIUS is on the forefront of leading that.”

Packaging innovations have also been significant. A trend towards smaller 12 oz. cans compared to the larger 16 oz. offerings that have made up the bulk of the energy drink set, are more appealing to women, Lee said. For C4, she noted the company has introduced a smaller format in its Smart Energy line – which will show at the upcoming NACS show in Las Vegas next month – as the product’s callouts for increased focus have made it more popular for female shoppers.

Label designs have similarly made a difference. Bonnie Shah, CMO of beverage incubator L.A. Libations, noted that the packaging of brands like Alani Nu and CELSIUS have a more specific feminine bent, particularly when compared with the trade dress of brands like Monster. She said products like CELSIUS’ Vibe line, with its bright colors, helps to bring in female shoppers.

“I just find it to be extremely approachable and very sophisticated,” she said. “Women aren’t really associating themselves with monster trucks, so it’s like ‘This makes sense for me. This is sophisticated, this is clean.’”

Launched in 2018 as a powdered supplement sold in GNC and Vitamin Shoppe stores, Alani Nu released its ready-to-drink energy line in 2020 and has rapidly scaled the line nationwide. The brand was co-founded by fitness influencer Katy Hearn and her husband Haydn Schneider and has primarily focused on organic marketing campaigns to grow awareness since its launch.

IRI reported that sales of the RTD line in MULO and convenience stores were up 263.5% to about $271.8 million in the 52-weeks ending August 7. Alani Nu is currently sold in about 65,000 doors nationwide, primarily in MULO accounts including national retailers such as Kroger and Target, and will begin focusing on expanding its presence in convenience and independent accounts in the coming months.

“Throughout our years of training women and building a fitness following on Instagram, we were able to get a better understanding of what women were looking for in their fitness and nutrition programs and products,” Hearn told BevNET in a statement. “We could see there was a clear gap in the sports nutrition market. Women were being ignored as consumers in the supplement space, and we wanted to help fix that. Our goal was to create products that our community would find appealing, approachable and effective.”

While CELSIUS’ Vibe packaging evokes a colorful vacation scene, Alani uses pastel colors and fruit imagery alongside flavors like Mimosa, Tropsicle and Hawaiian Shaved Ice. However, the products are also careful to avoid suggesting that it’s only meant for a single gender, which leaves room for the brand to market more directly to men in the future.

But the rise of women in energy is also occurring as functional innovations have blurred traditional category lines. Shah noted that prior to the fitness energy trend, women primarily sourced their caffeine from coffee, tea or soda. Those categories have also experienced upheavals in recent years as cold brew makers have positioned themselves as energy drink alternatives and functional brands like Pop & Bottle and caffeinated seltzers like AHA have vied for the caffeine occasion.

Shah said she believed many of those functional products have strong potential to build large, loyal consumer bases in natural and specialty, but innovations like mushroom coffee may struggle to breach the mainstream the way fitness energy brands have. Foxman suggested that while these products are creating more crossover with the energy “need state”, consumers are largely using them in different ways.

“I definitely see other companies that are in similar synergistic categories in beverage also looking to leverage the female demographic, but also in unique different ways,” Foxman said. “Some go for the morning moment, for example, some are a workout occasion. And so I think there are various moments in time, actually, that these brands can target women where they’re not necessarily cannibalizing one another at all, but still trying to own that moment with that demographic.”

Meeting the Consumer At Home and In Store

According to Fieldly, CELSIUS is prioritizing merchandising and in-store activations, noting that the brand’s distribution deal with PepsiCo will give it access to 50-60,000 new coolers. As well, Pepsi services 61% of U.S. colleges and universities, greatly expanding a channel where CELSIUS already performs well.

Foxman noted that as these brands have gained traction, there’s been an increase in store displays and branded coolers, which helps to draw in consumers who may have previously ignored the energy drink set.

“[New energy brands] are focused on finding organic brand advocates online through TikTok, and Instagram, but in terms of traditional retail presence, I am now seeing some of these companies – I saw CELSIUS, for example – that have standalone displays, in stores, which obviously are going to attract more interest, more eyeballs, and more engagement.”

Mike Pengue, CEO of ZOA, noted that the brand’s national marketing (including Super Bowl and Olympics ads) focuses on healthy, plant-based ingredients has led to an incremental 840,000 households purchasing the brand, of which 70% included women. Even co-founder and actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has been known for appealing to both genders while Pengue noted co-founder Dany Garcia has also been active in promoting the brand.

“What’s also great about that is that it doesn’t mean the other guys aren’t still growing,” Pengue said. “The base category is still growing at 7%. So all of this is incremental users coming into the segment, coming into the category, and having really all boats rising.”

Recently, energy drink sales were up 12.3% in the two-week period ending September 10, per NielsenIQ, and although CELSIUS and C4 (+126.6%) were reporting rapid growth, the multi-billion dollar brands like Monster (+13.3%) and Red Bull (+7%) were still going strong. So even as messaging and innovation begins to favor a more gender neutral market, do these companies need to adjust to keep up?

Perhaps not. Foxman suggested that the brand identities for some of the established leaders are so entrenched that it might seem inauthentic to suddenly pivot. Lee offered that – at least in Red Bull’s case – its products and messaging have always had more of a broader appeal than just male consumers. As well, Monster has often partnered with female athletes like Ronda Rousey and Kaitlyn Farrington.

But even if the major players aren’t radically adjusting their messaging, they have been broadening the scope of their innovation. Monster last year released its own 12 oz. can line for the first time and created the more gender neutral True North Pure Energy Seltzer line featuring cleaner white-background branding without any callouts to the Monster brand. Meanwhile, Red Bull has found regular success through its seasonal flavor innovations under its Editions line that has included flavors like Tropical, Strawberry Apricot and Dragon Fruit.

Shah suggested that when it comes to their core messaging, however, those brands may take the attitude that “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

“Maybe those brands are just going to be more masculine led … and maybe women just shift this way, and those brands can still exist,” she said.