Founded in 2016, Gunna Drinks is a soft drinks line that has previously only been available in the UK market. Positioning itself as a “better made lemonade,” the brand is now working on expanding into the U.S. with five uniquely flavored varieties. 

We sampled three of the five flavors, including Ginger Rebel (sparkling ginger lemonade), Turtle Juice (sparkling tropical lemonade), and Pink Punk (sparkling raspberry lemonade). The products are made with a blend of sparkling water, juice (4-7%), and natural flavors, and are enhanced with a blend of eight vitamins and minerals (with 30% RDA of each). Gunna is sweetened with a blend of stevia and 13 grams of sugar. 

All three flavor profiles are far from the run of the mill CSD fare.  Said to have been inspired by cocktails, the products have a bitter herbal note that’s reminiscent of the aromatic bitters. However, they still very much drink like a soda, too, with a good amount of sweetness and well-executed fruit flavors. 

Each of the three SKUs feels like it has its own identity. Ginger Rebel has notes of lemon, lime, and ginger with a slight bitter finish. Thanks to the addition of lemon and mango juices, Turtle Juice has a heavy tropical fruit flavor and feels like a play on a daiquiri. Pink Punk, contains raspberry and lemon juices, has a flavor that’s very true to name and also a light herbal note to the finish.

The added vitamins and minerals don’t seem to impact the flavor, which is a good thing, and they certainly could help the brand compete against other functional mid calorie sodas.  In contrast to many of the other mid-calorie CSDs that Gunna will be competing with on the US market, which often use prebiotics and promote fiber content, their approach of using vitamins and minerals could be more intuitive to the mainstream market. 

On the packaging and branding side of things, Gunna has an aesthetic that we’d describe as colorful, bold and playful.  Each can features an illustration of an animal – a turtle for Turtle Juice, a flamingo for Pink Punk, and a monkey face with sunglasses and beanie for Ginger Rebel. This definitely sets the tone for a drink that’s trying to be fun rather than serious. The name of the SKU sits on top of the illustration, while beneath it is the Gunna logo in a slightly stylized block font. 

There’s text at the bottom for the product description, which features the word “sparkling” in small text and the flavor description, e.g. “Raspberry Lemonade,” in much larger text beneath it.  What gets confusing is that directly beneath this is even smaller text, which states that the product is “flavored soda.”  It definitely makes us question whether Gunna should bother with the sparkling lemonade bit, especially since the flavor profiles of these drinks feels pretty far from what an American consumer would consider to be lemonade.

The last element on the can is at the very top, with the words “Immune boosting & planet positive” (along with a globe icon and heart icon) repeating around the length of the label. While we feel that immune boosting is a nice, light way to express the drink’s functionality, the phrase “planet positive” seems a bit too ambiguous in an era where almost every company is trying to speak to their climate initiatives.  Their back of can explanation (they “remove 2 grams of carbon for every 1 gram we create”) feels a bit more appropriate.

Still, we really like the look of the package.  It definitely feels unique and has an appearance that should stand out as the design aesthetic is quite different from other products in the category.  

Overall, we really like what Gunna brings to the mid-calorie CSD category. The flavors are enjoyable and memorable and there’s something fun about both the liquid and branding that’s a nice contrast to many of the brands that are simply trying to recreate CSD stalwarts.  We think a bit of refinement is in order, but the brand feels very much like it’s ready to make a splash in the U.S. beverage market.