Be realistic in your positioning, claims and posturing. Retailers and distributors have a long term, largely successful game plan. Be realistic in approaching them, and help guide them to where you think your brand should be.
Earlier this year, coconut water company Jax Coco debuted a new line of kids’ drinks, which are packaged 110 mL wedge cartons. The brand is available in five varieties, and we elected to review the banana, chocolate and original flavors, all of which are nicely formulated. While the packaging could definitely use some work, Jax Coco has a good deal of runway with the new products.
It’s possible to thrive in this industry as a solo act, especially with a can’t-miss brand. However, as Honest Tea co-founders Barry Nalebuff and Seth Goldman indicated in their discussion Wednesday, partnerships can offer entrepreneurs advantages that just can’t be found alone.
More than 50 percent of consumers say they’re actively pursuing a healthy lifestyle and avoid sugars, according to a recent joint study by market research groups Mintel and Nielsen. However, when it comes down to the final decision, these consumers buy sweetened products at the same rate as other segments.
In a move that ties Coke’s Venturing and Emerging Brands group tightly to one of its most valuable service providers, the brand incubation unit today purchased a minority stake in L.A. Libations, which has handled much of the go-to-market and channel expansion strategies for many of VEB’s products.
The Coca-Cola Co. announced Tuesday that it will raise its stake in Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. from 10 percent to 16 percent. The raise will make Coke the largest shareholder of the K-Cup coffee brand.
Well-known for its low-calorie line of bottled cocktails, Skinnygirl last year introduced a new brand of five-calorie sparkling waters called Skinnygirl Sparklers. Developed in partnership with AriZona Beverages, the products are made with 5 percent juice and sweetened with honey, sugar, Ace-K and sucralose. With clean and minimalist packaging, Skinnygirl has made good use of its brand equity, although it’s certainly hard to say how it will translate to a ready-to-drink non-alcoholic product.
Who are the most powerful people in the beverage business? What are the trends, concepts, companies that wield it most effectively? We’ve given it quite a bit of thought lately. While we have trouble with rankings – we’re a bunch of writers, after all – we’ve decided to put them in an order we can all understand.
A former employee of Millenium Products Inc., which owns category-leader GT's Kombucha, has filed a putative class action lawsuit against the company, alleging various forms of unjust treatment to employees, according to Law360.
With literally dozens of brands in a still nascent category, getting a clear snapshot of the overall coconut water segment is a rather difficult task. Instead, we decided to look at three brands in various stages of development – Vita Coco, Zola and Minoku – and how they approach sustained demand for coconut water in terms of sales and distribution strategy, innovation and marketing.
Just a few last highlights about the BevNET Live program as we enter the weekend.
Even with rising sales figures, Monster Beverage Corporation remains focused on repairing its image over touting its permanence at the top of the energy drink market.
Rau is a cold-pressed and raw cacao beverage that is sweetened with monk fruit. From a flavor perspective, this product tastes very much like raw cacao (like what you’d find in a cacao nib). There’s a nice “chocolate” flavor to it, but, like cacao nibs, it does have a bitterness that will take some getting used to.
Supported by surging demand its Silk brand of almond milk products, WhiteWave Foods today reported that net sales of its North America plant-based foods and beverages platform rose by 13 percent in the first quarter of 2014. Sales of Silk Almondmilk drinks soared by 52 percent in the first four months of the year, as compared to the previous period in 2013, the company said in a statement.
