• ✈️ (Liquid) Death from Above
• 🛒 FTC: Albertsons Deleted Texts in Kroger Case
• 🪴 Illinois Now A Battleground For Hemp Bevs
• 🍸 Uncle Nearest Acquires Square One 
• 🍺 Pabst Takes El Jimador National
• ⛪ Church Launches Accelerator

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Giveaway loyalty promotions are a mainstay of CPG marketing, but anyone who’s followed Liquid Death knows not to expect that brand will just offer T-shirts and lava lamps. Instead, the canned beverage maker is looking to give one lucky shopper an honest-to-god two-seat L-39 Aero Jet.

💀 Consumers can enter the sweepstakes by purchasing cans of Liquid Death. Alongside the FAA-certified jet, named the Dehydrator, the winner will also get six months of free hangar space, a branded helmet, a cockpit cup holder and, of course, a year's supply of Liquid Death.

🎟️ The sweepstakes dredges up memories of the ill-fated 1996 ‘Pepsi Stuff’ giveaway campaign, which featured a TV ad jokingly offering a $37 million, military-grade Harrier jump jet for the bargain price of just 7 million Pepsi Points (which could be purchased directly from the company for around $700,000). 

🧑‍⚖️ That ad led to a lawsuit when a man attempted to make good on the offer, only for Pepsi to refuse. Pepsi ultimately won the lawsuit after a judge agreed it was an obvious joke, but the case became a cautionary tale and later was the subject of a 2022 Netflix docuseries, Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?

📺 Giving away a plane seems to have been on Liquid Death CEO Mike Cessario’s mind for some time. Over a year ago he posted on LinkedIn about the Pepsi campaign, suggesting the spectacle could have helped them win the fabled ‘Cola Wars’. 

💬 “The brand love and cultural buzz/magic that would have been generated for Pepsi would have blown away any $50M tv campaign they could have run. An incredible corporate act like that would have trumped anything Coke could or would ever do,” he said.

The latest update in the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s ongoing review of the merger between Kroger/Albertsons was definitely not on our bingo card this week. The federal regulator is alleging Albertsons execs deleted text messages related to the case. 

⏪ During in-house administrative proceedings on Friday, the agency said it has been trying to retrieve text messages and notes made by witnesses in the case. The FTC called the messages “highly probative of issues in the case.” 

🤔 Albertsons’ refusal is “particularly concerning,” the complaint states, because at least two executives deleted text messages for nearly a year after the grocer was required to retain documents. The missing texts allegedly suggest some individuals questioned claims Kroger made about the merger’s consumer benefits. 

📝 Kroger produced “hundreds of pages” of annotated hard copy documents from meetings attended by Stuart Aitken – the retailer’s chief merchant and marketing officer and a preliminary witness for both sides – but is now refusing to provide any additional materials.

👀 Kroger defended itself by claiming the FTC has had more than a year to build its case while the grocer only has the discovery period – which ends in three weeks – to create its defense. 

Catch Up Quick: Kroger/Albertsons Add 166 Stores and Support Assets To Updated Divestiture Plan With C&S.

Two bills introduced to the Prairie State’s legislature aim to limit the amount of THC allowed in hemp-based consumer products like tinctures, ointments and beverages to 0.5% THC per serving.

⛔ If passed, the Hemp Consumer Products Act would also put in place a requirement for a 25:1 ratio of total cannabinoids to THC in hemp products, boxing out nearly all Delta-8 and Delta-9 THC beverages. 

📜 The Illinois bill is just the latest in a number of states cracking down on hemp-derived THC products. A similar law was put into effect in Virginia last year and Connecticut, Florida and New York have all passed legislation that put strict limits on THC level in hemp products.

🙅🏼 Industry groups like the U.S. Hemp Roundtable and the Hemp Beverage Alliance oppose the measure and are calling it a “bad bill” that will limit opportunity for the adult beverages to safely make it to consumers.

🐸 Hemp D9 brands have had some success fighting state restrictions. Last November, Cycling Frog successfully blocked New York state’s initial plans to halt the sale of hemp-derived THC-infused products, but the fight is still ongoing.

Uncle Nearest's CEO and founder Fawn Weaver is one step closer to her goal of building the first spirits conglomerate in America founded by a woman or person of color. 

🌱 The country’s largest Black-owned distillery widened its reach across spirit categories with the announcement yesterday it has acquired Square One Organic Spirits.

🆕 Founded in 2004, Square One was one of the first to produce USDA certified organic spirits, and now adds its line of vodkas, mixers and RTDs to Uncle Nearest’s portfolio.

🔊 Weaver hinted that the company appeared poised for more deal making while at the Craft Brewers Conference last month, teasing an acquisition of a craft spirit brand – one that attempted to stay small but ultimately would be sold to Uncle Nearest. 

Read the full story on BevNET.

Pabst Brewing has taken its El Jimador Spiked Bebidas tequila-inspired flavored malt beverage (FMB) national, in just one of its several beyond beer innovation expansion plans for 2024.

The El Jimador FMB was created as part of Pabst’s joint venture with Brown Forman. The 5.9% ABV offerings come in four flavors – Lime Margarita, Grapefruit Paloma, Orange Sunrise and Pina Coconut.

Pabst CEO Paul Chibe told our sister site Brewbound last month that the El Jimador brand is historically the No. 2 tequila brand in Mexico and boasts a “high-degree of awareness with Hispanic consumers.” He added that the FMB is performing well in “Hispanic-leading accounts.”

Insiders can access more details here.

After closing the book on his last beverage project, Suja co-founder Jeff Church is launching a CPG Accelerator program this fall, the entrepreneur announced on LinkedIn this week.

🍬 Church’s CPG Brand Accelerator will be entirely online, beginning in September and meeting every other week throughout the Fall on Zoom.

🖥️ The program is now seeking four more brand founders to fill out a total of seven slots. Applicants are encouraged to reach out to Church directly.

🧑‍🎓 This is Church’s first time running an accelerator program, but the seasoned CEO has years of experience running brands firsthand, including as co-founder of NIKA Water Company and Rowdy Energy.