Founded in 1891, craft soda maker Boylan Bottling has proven it knows a thing or two about maintaining a national beverage business. And in revamping its sparkling fruit drink line MASH, it’s aiming to do it a second time.
Last week, Boylan announced a rebranding and new format for MASH, moving the product from proprietary 16 oz. plastic bottles to 12 oz. slim cans. As well, the products have been reformulated to remove artificial coloring and the line has been reduced from six flavors to four, with the updated offering featuring Ripe Mango Blood Orange, Pomegranate Blueberry, Grapefruit Citrus Zing and Watermelon Lemon Lime.
It’s a big change for MASH, which launched in 2008 as a lighter indulgence drink built around “smashing” together different fruit flavors. Each can contains 60-70 calories and is sweetened with fructose and sucralose.
According to Boylan Bottling COO Chase Slepak, MASH has been a small but profitable business for the company, however it has consistently struggled to break out beyond its cult favorite status in independent New York City delis and bodegas, where it has been serviced by DSD house Big Geyser. Outside of New York, the brand is sold as a grab-and-go beverage in quick service restaurants and in “very, very limited grocery” accounts with fewer than 10 distribution partners, Slepak added.
“I’ve heard multiple people refer to it as a bit of a sleeper brand,” Slepak told BevNET today. “The liquid is great, but it just never really had mass appeal outside of the Northeast and in a few secondary markets.”
One big issue holding MASH back, Slepak said, was also what some at the company saw as its greatest strength: the unique squat plastic bottle. While the bottle design helped to entice consumers, it was difficult for retailers to fit onto glide racks, took up more ambient shelf space, and made multipacks impossible to produce – effectively killing any chance for the brand to grow in conventional grocery stores.
Although moving into a canned format risks robbing MASH of a defining visual difference, the switch also has some big benefits beyond simplifying logistics. Aluminum packaging gives MASH a boost in its sustainability bonafides, while also giving it more flexibility in use occasions; the company noted that the new design has a “mocktail” feel, better positioning the product as a mixer or non-alcoholic alternative in addition to basic refreshment.
The cans have already begun rolling out to stores in New York through a prelaunch with Big Geyser and the company will support the rebranding this summer with a marketing campaign focused on bodegas, including point of sale displays and branded trucks. For a company that traditionally keeps its ad expenses as minimal as possible – it spends next to nothing annually to promote the core Boylan soda brand – the increased marketing support reflects a big investment in MASH.
According to brand and insights manager Cassidy Meyer, the new campaign will kick off in August and will bill MASH as “the second best thing you’ll find in a bodega” – second only after the bodega cat, of course.
“It’s really targeting that younger consumer that likes the tongue-in-cheek self aware brand attitude,” Meyer said. “We know we’re not Coke or Pepsi, we’re not the functional beverage that will make your life 100 times better. We’re just a really good product that’ll go great with the sandwich that you’re grabbing.”
Boylan will also support MASH with new hires on the sales and marketing team, while Slepak noted that the brand has restructured its national accounts team to focus more on expanding MASH outside of NYC, with new distribution partners coming online this summer including a bigger push into Massachusetts.
“We’re in a unique situation where for a lot of the country it’s not a refresh, it’s a new product,” Slepak said. “For legitimately 90% of the U.S. it’s a new brand, but for that 10% legacy market where we’ve been very successful, it’s a refresh. So our strategies are very different, kind of by geography and market given those unique challenges.”
While MASH’s rebrand reflects a big step towards modernization in terms of its brand identity and format, Slepak noted that the upgrade further differentiates it from the classic-styled Boylan craft soda brand. While Boylan is aiming to be more active in making consumers aware that it is the maker of MASH, the company simultaneously will look to carve separate paths for the two brands while going to market, opening itself up to the option of signing new distributors or accounts that may only carry MASH without also taking on Boylan soda and vice versa.
As for whether or not MASH’s refresh suggests any clues for the future of the classic Boylan brand, Slepak said there’s innovation in the pipeline, but we’ll need to “stay tuned.”