Out with the polar bears, in with the showgirls. On Tuesday, Coca-Cola launched an interactive campaign centered around its Super Bowl ad, which displays cowboys, badlanders (a biker gang), and a bus full of showgirls in the middle of the desert.
Hoping to swarm distributors, the maker of Killer Buzz Energy drinks is actively seeking an acquisition of one or two beverage companies - and could spend upwards of $10 million to do so. “There’s no cap and no floor,” said Jeremy Friedman, director of marketing for Killer Buzz. “It’s more about opportunity than the size of the investment. If an opportunity warranted a $10 million acquisition, that number is not too high.”
COGO, a new line of coconut milk smoothies, was the runner-up in New Beverage Showdown 4 at BevNET Live Winter 12. In our review of the two of COGO’s four…
Just in time for the Super Bowl, Kraft is adding a sports-centric SKU to its fast-growing MiO line of liquid water enhancers. MiO Fit, which was announced Tuesday in a press release, contains electrolytes, B vitamins and zero calories, and enables consumers to turn water into a sports drink. MiO Fit currently offers two flavors, Berry Blast and Arctic Grape, and is sold in two bottle sizes: 12 or 18 servings per bottle (along with 8 oz. of water per serving).
In an online plea, Oogave co-founder Gannon Merrell said the company needs to raise $500,000 to be able to reach positive cash flow in the next 18-20 months – or else it will have to liquidate.
ZUN founder Brian Stearns is pulling out of the energy and brain boosting business altogether, announcing that the brand is reinventing itself “as an all-natural ‘kid friendly’ beverage.”
Honest Tea recently launched Honest Fizz, a line of zero-calorie sodas. The four-SKU line, which uses stevia and erythritol as sweeteners, impressed the panel with formulations that showcase full flavors…
NASCAR driver Bobby Grewohl shaved his head and endured his first makeup session today in New York City. It was a bit of a change for the small-town racer. “My head’s shiny,” Grewohl said. “They’ve got to dim it down a little bit.” After a photo shoot, Grewohl, the Hollister, Calif. native, joined representatives of 989 On Demand, a hydrating enhanced beverage with its functional ingredients stored in a mix-to-drink cap, for a guerilla marketing effort in the city streets.
Two of the largest tart cherry producing states, Michigan and New York, had terrible yields in 2012, the result of an early spring heat wave that encouraged blooms 5 1/2 weeks early -- and put the tender blossoms, as well as the juice company's own prospects, at the mercy of the snow and ice that followed. Cheribundi was forced to adapt, and did so by re-branding its products.
The company issued a statement that called the DAWN report, which included information that energy drink-related emergency room visits had doubled in the U.S. from 10,068 in 2007 to a total of nearly 21,000 in 2011, "highly misleading and does not support any conclusion that energy drinks are unsafe for consumers."
On Thursday, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) joined an effort by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) to push the FTC to begin investigating the marketing practices of energy drink companies. The move, while not a full strategic pivot, as the agencies often work on parallel tracks to ensure consumer protection, represents something of a strategic recalibration from the two senators’ previous attempts to force the FDA to take a harder look at energy drinks.
Made in Italy, Frizz Coffee is a sparkling and sweetened coffee drink. While this is certainly a niche product (it has no dairy and it’s sparkling -- two things that Americans don’t seem to like when it comes to coffee), it has definitely hit the nail on the head for what it is trying to be.
With the consumer in mind, Odwalla has redesigned its packaging for the first time in six years. The healthy beverage and bar maker, owned by the Coca-Cola Co., Inc. says it has tried to remove much of the clutter from its bottles and proceeded with a cleaner look and a color-coded system that matches caps with drink segments.
Over the last three days, the American Beverage Association (ABA) has published three separate statements countering a recent Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) report which found that the number of emergency room visits involving energy drinks more than doubled from 10,068 in 2007 to 20,783 in 2011. The ABA called the report inaccurate and “more sensational than substantive.”
