Beer Marketer's Insights
Yuengling's expanding its presence in professional soccer with new sponsorship agreement with Alejandro Zendejas, currently a winger for Liga MX Club América, co announced. That follows Jun agreement for its first ever Major League Soccer sponsorship with Tex-based Austin FC. "Zendejas will represent the brand [Flight] via social media, engaging point of sale materials and personal appearances" co shared.
MD & WA File Motions to Dismiss Dormant Commerce Clause Cases, Plaintiffs Claim Evidence Needed
States facing legal challenges to open up direct-to-consumer (DTC) shipments from out-of-state suppliers pushed back, hoping fed cts will dismiss the suits. In motions filed last mo, Maryland and Washington took different tacks to brush aside similar claims. And the same legal team behind each complaint offered similar responses: states must offer evidence to support their claims, so it's too early to dismiss the suits.
Bud Light & Miller (Family) Neck & Neck YTD in Numerator Data; Mich Ultra & Busch Still Gainin'
Bud Light share losses look similarly steep in Numerator data measuring consumer purchases in omnichannel mkt both in-store and online. But it's Miller brand fam gaining most of all in this dataset. In fact, Bud Light and Miller brand family are neck and neck YTD in period from Feb-Jul 2023 as Bud Light lost 2.1 share to 11.4 while Miller gained 1.5 share to 11.2 vs year ago. That's slightly larger than Coors family's 1.2-pt gain to 10.3 share in this dataset. Tho keep in mind, Coors Light/Coors family is bigger than Miller and gaining most among domestic lager brands in Circana and Nielsen-tracked off-prem channels this yr. Another noticeable difference between Numerator and tracked scans, both Mich Ultra and Busch are gaining share YTD in Numerator data. Mich Ultra gained 0.3 pts to 9.8 share and Busch up 0.6 pts to 5.9. Editor's note: this brief report shared with INSIGHTS lists these 5 brands as "top 5 parent brands by sales," suggesting Modelo and Corona aren't in Numerator's top-5 YTD.
Bill Gates Snags ~$95 Mil of ABI Shares
Bill Gates is betting on beer. After buying nearly $1 bil worth of shares in Heineken Holding earlier this yr, the prominent billionaire snapped up 1.7 mil shares in ABI valued at roughly $95 mil thru the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Stock was reportedly bought around same time the brewer reported latest quarterly earnings, with shares down 1-2% since then (down ~6% YTD after slight bump this morn). Move generated plenty of media buzz as Bud Light parent co ain't just any brewer and Bill Gates ain't just any billionaire.
As good as Constellation's beer biz performed in summer scans, its keg supply has been a different story. "Due to additional disruptions to keg production, which were necessary to ensure optimal quality levels, weekly production volumes have not been at the levels we expected," Constellation wrote in note this wk to Gold Network partners. That resulted in "inflated allocations" despite STZ using "conservative estimates," and "while production has resumed, we are experiencing past-due orders against our order caps and want to be transparent with you around next steps and a recovery plan," co added. So STZ's making several adjustments to give distribs "a clearer view" as makes up for past-due order volumes.
Spirits "Returning to a More Normal State" of Growth, Sez B-F Chief; RTDs "Extremely Important"
After taking share of alc bevs for over 20 yrs and accelerating during the pandemic, spirits category is now in the process of "returning to more of a normal state" of growth, Brown-Forman prexy/ceo Lawson Whiting shared alongside exec veep/cfo Leanne Cunningham at Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference earlier today. US spirits growth rate is "back in the mid-single-digit range," he said. That's even as trends look softer in initial all-channel reports and top suppliers including B-F, Diageo and Pernod Ricard are comin' off more challenging qtrs in US. Tho spirits trends accelerating lately in tracked off-prem channels, improving to volume up 5.5% YTD thru Aug 19 in NielsenIQ data.
What will Molson Coors do to make sure it keeps current mkt share gains, Barclay's Lauren Lieberman asked Molson Coors ceo Gavin Hattersley today at Barclay's Global Consumer Staples conference. First, Gavin pointed to "additional marketing," noting "some of that was planned." But he then pointed to making sure retailers "understand what's happening in the marketplace." And retailers "understand very well," he added, also noting chains' "reset process reflects that." While Gavin pointed to 20 chain retailers which already had fall resets in works 1 mo ago (on MC's 2d qtr conference call), "closer to 40 retailers…have now made their fall reset," which is "somewhat unprecedented," according to Gavin. Molson Coors "will benefit from that a little this year, but the real benefit of that shelf reset will be next year."
For coffee chains like Dutch Bros, in-store-crafted energy drinks have become a crucial part of cold-bev mix that has risen as high as 90% at Dutch Bros (BBI, Nov 29). That trend is inspiring other coffee chains to up their game, as QSR mag recently reported. It offers glimpse into activities at fast-growing Ellianos Coffee, Ziggi's Coffee and Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii chains. For two of them, concentrate from Lotus Plant Energy has been at heart of effort.
Rowdy Mermaid, one of last key kombucha players to stick entirely to cold-chain product line, has finally blinked. It's launching Good Moodsoda, positioned as a low-sugar functional soda infused with 200 mg of stress-relieving ashwagandha extract, as its first shelf-stable offering, in classic soda flavors Orange, Grape, Lemon Lime and Cola. To insure bioavailability, line employs KSM-66 version of core ingredient. With sweetener combo of cane sugar and stevia, entries come in with 4 g of sugar (20 calories). Packed in conventional 12-oz cans with smiley-face graphic, new entry is breaking at natural channel players like Natural Grocers, Lassens, Fresh Thyme, Fresh Market, Bristol Farms, Market District, Mollie Stones, as well as at conventional chains like Hy-Vee, Jewel Osco, Woodmans and United Supermarkets.
Icelandic Glacial has pulled in major round of new capital and converted debt that will support co's plan to double capacity at its plant at Iceland's Olfus Spring while broadening range of packaging formats, stepping up innovation and undertaking first concerted marketing effort in brand's two decades of existence. LA-based co was sparse on details tho raise is believed to be well into the tens of millions of dollars. That money is comprised of equity from existing investors like founders Jon and Kristjan Olafsson and Blackrock and the new investor, an investment holding co based in Liechtenstein. "Along with the new share issuance, the existing investors, including the Icelandic founders and funds managed by Blackrock's US Private Credit team, converted and reinvested the majority of their existing debt into equity to remain as significant shareholders in the company to together strengthen and support the growth of the business with the new incoming majority shareholder," per announcement this morning. As part of the raise, founder Jon Olafsson cedes his chmn role to Johan Dennelind and takes on new role as global brand ambassador. Swedish Dennelind is longtime telecom exec, most recently running Telia, which operates in Sweden and Finland. Pitchbook lists Icelandic as having previously raised $75 mil, but that's believed to understate investment to date.