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Monster Beverage yesterday paraded before Wall Streeters an unusually rich array of innovation in store for 2026, including broadening of female-friendlier 12-oz cans, new female-targeting brand called FLRT and Reign Storm line that's been restaged as simply Storm. FLRT seems clearly intended to offer alternative to explosively growing Alani Nu and Bloom Energy brands even as thermogenic Storm line carries packaging cues that are reminiscent of Celsius rival. Tho much of presentation trod familiar ground, here are 3 takeaways we gleaned from that event, which we monitored remotely, as well as fireside chat this afternoon at Morgan Stanley conference, also monitored remotely. Deep Bench of Next-Gen Leaders Tho he couched it in joking way at both events, CEO Hilton Schlosberg made it clear his team would rather not do events like these. But by keeping his own remarks minimal, he had a chance to showcase depth of executive team, in implicit rejoinder to concerns of investors who'd worried about succession planning as brand's founding troika of Schlosberg, Rodney Sacks and Mark Hall advanced into their 70s. The other presenters all are roughly a generation younger: chief growth officer Rob Gehring, chief commercial officer Emelie Tirre, EMEA chief Guy Carling and Asia Pacific CCO Philippe Wothke.|There May Have Been Some Skirmishes Years Ago, but Relations with Coca-Cola Are Tite Today "Proud of our relationship with The Coca-Cola Company," Hilton proclaimed early on, in vow that was echoed by others, speaking both about KO and its indie bottlers. Relationship with bottlers "has never ever been stronger," Carling said of EMEA region. Recall, MNST has had its share of frustrations over the years with KO, some of which spilled into the open: its unsuccessful challenge to KO's ability to launch a Coke-branded energy drink (which failed on its own anyway) and its devising of extensive suite of coffee entries for partner, only to have them dropped in favor of soda giant's acquisition of Costa Coffee, which itself now is going by the boards. But given the way brand is banging on most cylinders both in N Amer and overseas, there's no reason to question claim.At Morgan Stanley event, former Swire Coca-Cola leader Gehring noted that past friction had been with TCCC not the bottlers, with whom relations always were healthy. But the points of friction have been undone so that "the relationship is better than it's ever been," with Monster an integrated part of the biz plan and strategic meetings occurring at the cos' highest levels.Innovation: Not Just Flavor Extensions but New & Revamped Platforms For those not invited to attend in person and sample the items directly, info on new entries was limited. Zero-sugar FLRT brand employs 12-oz sleek cans in overtly girly graphic style featuring daisy icon and positioning as "vibrant energy" in inaugural flavor lineup of Strawberry Fling, Guava Lava, Berry Tempting and Sunset Squeeze. It's due in Mar with exhortation, "Meet your new crush in a can." As noted, that seems like clear attempt to play in space so adeptly plied by Alani and lately Bloom Energy, which are strategically tied to PepsiCo and KDP respectively. Tho some in energy segment have wondered to us whether branding might be viewed by some target consumers as patronizing, Schlosberg noted pointedly that it was devised by team with heavy female representation, including Tirre herself. So if it doesn't pan out, that can't be blamed on a bunch of overly caffeinated guys having a go at creating their idea of a chick drink.Then there is migration of Reign Storm to new identity as Storm, due in May. It's far from trivial tweak: recall that Reign was launched as performance-energy rival to Bang Energy before that brand - partly at MNST's hands - spiraled into bankruptcy and became part of broader Monster portfolio. So with Celsius heavily in mind, time was right to break Storm of its direct Reign ties for new identity providing "energy for life," dispensed in 12-oz sleeks with Celsius-like white background and naturalistic fruit renderings and, at can bottom, "burns body fat" in reference to brand's thermogenic formula. Flavor range is Guava Strawberry, Tropical, Valencia Orange and Harvest Grape. Of course, MNST brass didn't publicly offer this as a rationale for migration. "Much more aligned with where the consumer is going," is all Gehring had to say on the matter.Also with a nod to unlocking incremental opportunities, including among females for whom non-resealable 16-oz cans are a gulp too big, MNST is expanding range of 12-oz extensions of its 16-oz brands including Wild Passion and Blue Hawaiian offerings for Monster Ultra zero-sugar subline.Plenty of basic flavor extension activity going on too. Core 16-oz Monster adds Strawberry Shot in regular and zero-sugar versions while Juice line adds Voodoo Grape. Reign Total Body Fuel adds Watermelon Sour Gummy. Monster Zero Sugar, which attempts to mimic full-calorie core entry's flavor more closely than Ultra, adds Lando Norris entry to ride driver's ascendancy. (Unlike the rest of innovation, devised in US, this one emerged from European biz.) In its 16-oz guise, Ultra itself adds Punk Punch. And in time for celebrations this summer of America's 250th anniversary will be LTOs from Ultra (Red White & Blue Razz) and Juice (Strawberry Lemonade), both in 16-oz vessel. Like rival Celsius, Monster has been surprisingly late to play the LTO game.Tho not our purview here, MNST hasn't given up on alcoholic offerings offered by its Monster Brewing arm, even tho many of its launches have followed familiar boom-splat cycle of beyond-beer innovations. The inno slate included 3 all-new lines on top of various extensions to its existing FMBs and craft brands. That includes first spirit-based RTD with Just Vibe vodka-based hard refreshers, a 4.5%-ABV line starting with Pineapple, Wild Berry, Lemon Lime and Grapefruit flavors. There's "a story in every sip," tagline assures. And the more sips you take, the better the story gets, we presume.New beer brands are both on strong side, clocking in at 8% ABV. First there's BFC Tex-Mex cerveza & lime lager, featuring green, white and red colors of the Mexican flag and classified at top of can as "heavyweight class." (BFC nomenclature was first adopted years ago for short-lived 32-oz can for core Monster brand, back in days when brand was aligned with Anheuser-Busch.) Other new line, Stunt Double Strong Lager, is branded with retro colors and tagline "Pure. Liquid. Courage."Meanwhile, Beast FMB line is getting extended into 10% ABV range with The Beast Perfect 10, available in 19.2-oz stovepipes across Mean Green, Scary Berries, Tikki Terror and Gnarly Grape flavors. Blind Lemon hard lemonades will get new "liberty pack" at 6% ABV and "harder" 9%-ABV "liberty lemonade" in 24-oz cans. (More on alc innovation at MNST in our sibling letter Insights Express earlier today.)During innovation discussion, MNST execs made it clear they're willing to winnow sku's that aren't performing. "We're always looking at optimizing as we trim the tail of our sku count," as Gehring put it. They showed slide that indicated that items collectively generating $68 mil in sales were retired in Q3.

Monster Bev Ready to Roll with Female-Friendlier FLRT, Storm Entries; Showcases Next-Gen Leaders; Things Copacetic with Coke

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