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Sitting down with BBI last week while in NY for BevNet Live conference, Smith said his long run doing fresh-squeezed drinks at fests has enabled him to fine-tune balance of tartness and sweetness while cultivating promoters who're often able to get brand into related venues - 20 bars at Lollapalooza, for example. He's tapping that network for seed capital and entrée into on- and off-premise accounts, initially in Texas but with Chicago a likely possibility too, given Lollapalooza presence. Sweet Leaf Tea cofounder David Smith, who's rolling out High Brew Coffee, is equity partner offering expertise, said Courtlyn (who's no relation). Co has been enlisting DSD partners to help brand get out to retail.
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Connection with branding expert Fleishman, whose Purely Righteous Brands will work either as consulting or outsourced marketing resource, as at Chameleon, was forged at year-earlier BevNet Live, and Greg was formally recruited to help to "take the Chameleon brand and vibe to sort of a 360 wraparound . . . elevate the look and feel and core things about who we are," Campbell recalled. Greg, who'd earlier had key staff roles at Kashi Foods and Sambazon, brought in Bex Brands to assist with design.
By Fleishman's account, key objectives were to balance masculinity of brand and, with provenance playing key role in coffee biz, turn up Austin vibe a bit more. That led to updated look that draws on Austin street art, retaining chameleon icon but adding "mosaic-esque esthetic." That would make brand "more disruptive on the shelf, to literally sparkle." Back label details co's Austin roots. (Note that it's one of at least 5 packaged cold-brews emanating from foodie mecca, including High Brew, Kohana, Cuvee and Third Coast.) Among more tactical changes, old pack never specifically noted that it's ready-to-drink version, so that was clarified to better differentiate RTD from Chameleon's bottled concentrate. Since not all rivals direct source their coffee, that was spelled out clearly. Also devised was tagline, "Coffee made for makers," that ties into dynamism of Austin seat. New look was designed to serve as "visual identity system" extending across all consumer and trade touchpoints, even tap handles. "Whole 360 experience," Campbell said.
Campbell didn't deny "this was a hard process." After all, brand had gotten co this far, so it was "very emotional to make this leap." But new direction "resonated and made sense," and Chameleon brass felt confident it had enlisted right partners in task. As for accelerated timetable, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing from Fleishman's perspective. "It forces you to make decisions, to go to whoever's been there and done that before," he said. "Chris knows we had a lot of experience around the table." Balanced against that were the new investors, who had strong opinions of their own that had to be considered.
Among pragmatic tips Campbell and Fleishman offered, they said it made a difference to invest in good mockups to convey new look to trade partners and other key constituents. And 5-page PowerPoint presentation rationalizing change was effective in winning over "left-brain people." Asked what kind of shelf life to expect from new look before it's time to move onto next iteration, Campbell replied that he'd bought a million labels. So there's no fixed timetable for next revamp. Overall, project represented "hard decision, emotional, but absolutely right," Campbell said.
Daley Aboard to Manage Supply Chain; Brand into Publix In separate conversation, Chris told BBI he's just fortified exec team with addition of svp supply chain Stuart Daley, who'd previously worked at Lily of the Desert copacker in Dallas after runs at extract maker Blue California and Dr Pepper Snapple. On retail front, brand has cracked Publix grocery chain, which is picking up all three 32-oz concentrate flavors as well as one of RTD entries.
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Beverage Business INSIGHTS
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In Great State deal, beer volume mostly went to New Hampshire Dist. New Hampshire acquired about 1.2 mil cases of beer and 600K of NA and will be about 6 mil cases all in, New Hampshire prexy Chris Brown told Insights Express. New Hampshire Dist will sell over half of A-B volume in state. Mass NA biz split mainly between Polar and ice cream operator Dari Farms so far.
Reed's Joins Migration to Dari Farms Reed's Inc said its Reed's and Virgil's natural CSDs have been picked up by Dari Farms for 7 counties in eastern Mass as successor to Great State's Blue Coast operation. Reed's thus joins migration of brands orphaned by Blue Coast that's already included Sparkling Ice and Voss Water. "In seeking a new distribution partner in this region, Dari Farms came highly recommended by the largest ACV supermarket players in the Northeast," explained Neal Cohane, REED's svp of sales and marketing.
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Mutant drew straightforward praise from Herzog's unidentified c-store contacts: one said entry "could be a game changer" and another believes it "should do very well in the CSD doors." Over 80% expect to place Mutant in CSD door, meeting MNST's goal of garnering entirely incremental shelf space. Tho green-colored, citrusy liquid clearly targets Dew, most retailers believe entry will displace smaller/underperforming CSDs rather than Dew, Bonnie reported. That said, many expressed concern about $1.99 price point that reps trade-up from CSDs but discount to Monster energy drinks. They believe brand could hit $200 mil in sales within 2 years.
Hydro, which will be packed in Invento's clear PET can, drew more reservations from c-store operators. Pkg design drew predictable kudos but several respondents worried that bev positioned as hydration drink should be resealable. They were divided as to whether price point works or is "out of line," in words of one. And lotsa concerns expressed about who is target consumer and how premise will be communicated. (Bonnie notes that these comments were received before MNST sales reps have had chance to communicate precise launch plan.) "Given initial skepticism, we think this could be on a slower growth trajectory than Mutant," Herzog notes.
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Tho Aloe Gloe so far has focused on Southern Calif and NY metro, all serviced via Coca-Cola Refreshments bottling network, Dino told BBI today that co will launch in NorCal via CCR on Jul 18. Only remaining outside DSD partner, LA's Haralambos Beverage, which played key role in getting brand started, will have exited remaining territory by end of year. Brand also has presence in other parts of country at Kroger, Safeway and Walmart, serviced by broadline distributors, and claims to be in 20K doors all told. Tho Sarti will build sales and marketing teams at Aloe Gloe, brand will continue to be serviced at national accounts by LA Libations. Among new team members is marketing vp Laura Sauls, a vet of Zico who was recruited from most recent job at Boxed Water Is Better. Also in marketing mix for Aloe Gloe is Relativity Media LLC, with whom Stepper has had longstanding relationship as movie producer and in other roles.
Technically it's not KO's first investment in Aloe Gloe: recall that co, via VEB, has had minority stake in LA Libations, which owns part of LA Aloe LLC, Aloe Gloe's owner. But it's first direct stake, and it brings Coke a board seat, which is being taken by VEB's new marketing vp, ex-Sprite exec Kimberley Paige. Meanwhile, Sarti has been replaced in coo/cfo role at LA Libations by Paul Phillips.
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06/22/2016
Dunkin' Donuts Greenlights In-Store Cold-Brew Foray: LA, NY Next Week, National by Summer
Recall that SBUX similarly started with test in handful of stores before rolling in-store item out nationally last summer, supported by extensive signage, ads and promos that even rivals credit with broadly boosting awareness of fledgling sector. Once it was clear consumers were embracing less-harsh - and pricier - form of iced coffee, Seattle roaster moved on to bottled version, which has launched in Seattle, Portland, Ore, and Denver areas. But don't necessarily expect Dunkin' to follow in that path: due to franchisee opposition, Dunkin' still doesn't offer any of its coffees in RTD form, tho it has substantial biz outside its stores in whole-bean and pod formats. Over years, Dunkin' has appeared reluctant to rush too hastily into trends that might detract from its down-to-earth, brand-of-the-people image. But it's claiming success with Dark Roast coffee and espresso innovations of past year, and both its food and bev menus have been moving in more culinary direction, partly to recruit younger visitors. On cold-brew front, Dunkin' hasn't ruled out adding nitro version, as Starbucks recently has in its stores.
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06/22/2016
Dunkin' Donuts Greenlights In-Store Cold-Brew Foray: LA, NY Next Week, National by Summer
Recall that SBUX similarly started with test in handful of stores before rolling in-store item out nationally last summer, supported by extensive signage, ads and promos that even rivals credit with broadly boosting awareness of fledgling sector. Once it was clear consumers were embracing less-harsh - and pricier - form of iced coffee, Seattle roaster moved on to bottled version, which has launched in Seattle, Portland, Ore, and Denver areas. But don't necessarily expect Dunkin' to follow in that path: due to franchisee opposition, Dunkin' still doesn't offer any of its coffees in RTD form, tho it has substantial biz outside its stores in whole-bean and pod formats. Over years, Dunkin' has appeared reluctant to rush too hastily into trends that might detract from its down-to-earth, brand-of-the-people image. But it's claiming success with Dark Roast coffee and espresso innovations of past year, and both its food and bev menus have been moving in more culinary direction, partly to recruit younger visitors. On cold-brew front, Dunkin' hasn't ruled out adding nitro version, as Starbucks recently has in its stores.
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Beverage Business INSIGHTS
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06/21/2016
Black Medicine Iced Coffee Hits Nearly Double Its $1 Mil Crowdfund Target; Fast Raise, Says CircleUp
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