“ok.-” Energy Drink is a full-calorie energy drink that is made in Switzerland. Although the product's 16.9 oz can offers a point of differentiation from most other energy drinks, the rest of ok.-'s branding and formulation offers little in the way of innovation and significant separation from the pack.
With two days to go before the Natural Products Expo West conference opens in Anaheim, BevNET has received advance notice of four new product line introductions from different high-profile entrepreneurial beverage companies.
With an eye on growing demand for protein drinks, Maverick Brands has introduced a new protein-infused line to its Coco Libre brand of coconut water products. Coco Libre Protein is a blend of organic coconut water and 20 grams of whey and milk protein isolate. The line comes in four flavors - Chocolate, Vanilla, Coffee and Almond - and is packaged in 11 oz. PET bottles.
It was PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi that famously coined the word “drinkify” in reference to the company’s plans to turn some of its snack products into new and innovative beverages. Along the same lines, Nooyi’s CEO counterpart at Mamma Chia, Janie Hoffman, will look to build upon the rapid growth of her brand by – in essence – “snackifying” the company’s line of whole chia seed and juice blends.
Faced with a class-action lawsuit alleging that the company’s ties to disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong resulted in false advertising, FRS today issued a statement furiously denying the claims and vowing to fight the case.
We're gearing up for New Hope Natural Media’s 33nd annual Natural Products Expo West show held this week at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. Co-located with Engredea and Nutracon, Expo West along with its sister show Expo East, are the leading venues to see and sample all-natural and organic products. As always, BevNET.com will be on hand to cover and report on the beverage-related exhibitors at the show – over 150 in total this year.
As new juice cleanse brands continue to emerge, companies are stretching to find niche appeal with varying formulations and marketing messages. Z.E.N. (Zero Effort Nutrition) Pure Pressed, which markets a line of juice cleanses that are packaged as multi-bottle daily regiments, is one such company, and while we found the products enjoyable from a flavor standpoint, the branding needs significant refinement.
Citing a trove of medical research funded by the company, Monster Beverage Corp. today issued a lengthy statement denying responsibility for the death of Anais Fournier, a 14 year-old Maryland girl whose family blamed her death on the consumption of Monster Energy drinks.
Rob’s Really Good Beverages will debut Rob’s Fizz, a line of zero-calorie sparkling drinks, at this week’s Natural Products Expo West show in Anaheim, Calif. The new products follow the company’s transition last year to an entirely zero-calorie portfolio of drinks. The three-SKU line is sweetened with a blend of erythritol, monk fruit extract and organic stevia extract.
Soma beverage, which has made Metromint for the past several years, is being fully folded into the portfolio of Crystal Geyser, a longstanding spring water company and stablemate in the portfolio of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co.
Miami-based Opreme Energy bills itself as a product that was "developed using only the finest ingredients with 50% less sugar than most energy drinks." While we applaud Opreme for using a lower calorie formulation, the brand - like many others in the jam-packed energy category - offers little in terms of true differentiation from competing products.
It had to happen: there's a class-action lawsuit evolving in U.S. District Court, Central District of California over misleading marketing and advertising practices by functional beverage company FRS over former spokesman Lance Armstrong.
Attention grocery and convenience store retailers: you may soon find yourself having a face-to-face meeting with the celebrity rapper, actor, and fashion maven known simply as “Diddy.” In short, he wants to sell you water. On Wednesday, Sean “Diddy” Combs and actor/producer Mark Wahlberg took the stage at a recent press conference to officially announce their involvement in enhanced water brand AQUAHydrate and their roles in driving business strategy and retail development of the brand.
Spartos is a line of all-natural, protein-infused waters that recently underwent a packaging revamp. As the sports/nutrition beverage category continues to embrace protein as an added ingredient, the company has done a good job with formulation, although it might want to go back and take another shot at improving its labels if the brand is to have a chance at success on the market - which we think it does.
