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The expo hall of any major marathon will feature a slate of familiar hydration powder and sports drink makers handing out samples or selling products.

While Gatorade, Nestlé’s Nuun and Athletic Brewing remain the most active beverage sponsors, (per data-tracking from SponsorUnited), smaller drink makers are using a growing interest in run clubs and community fitness groups to mine similar brand awareness building results.

After sponsoring the Pittsburgh Marathon, emerging energy brand VALR decided to partner with local run clubs in target regions. The strategy has built momentum for the nitrogen-infused energy drink while also supporting retail launches in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida.

“Run clubs are perpetual. Every single weekend, we are part of their lives and part of their routine that will further expand into other occasions where they’re using energy drinks,” said VALR Brands CMO Jonathan Kander.

Run clubs are becoming prime opportunities for brands to drive trial among captive audiences and collect data for developing a strategic foothold in retail. The micro-influencer events also offer an alternative to larger-scale sponsorships with a low-cost barrier to entry that can breed high-ROI via organic social media traction.

Run clubs are “hyper-targeted” and “authentic” activations, said Jack Shannon, founder and CEO of brand activation platform Recess. “You are facilitating a partnership with that community and the leaders of these communities, who are effectively endorsing the product by sharing it with their group.”

Read the full story to learn how brands are using run clubs and tech to target new distribution regions.

BevNET's annual Best Of awards honor companies, brands, individuals, products, ideas and trends from across the dynamic and ever-changing packaged food landscape. Categories include Best New Product, Rising Stars, Person of the Year and more. 

The submission portal is now open through Friday, October 24, 2025.

Click here to learn more and submit your nominations.

Fall is just around the corner and brands are rolling out seasonal selections. No surprise there is a glut of pumpkin-spiced populating store shelves, but some brands are taking the changing of seasons into different flavors. 

Take the return of Zevia’s Salted Caramel seltzer or 5-hour Energy’s Cranberry Lime and Gingerbread Snap shots as a sign of the seasonal times. All the while, GURU is still hanging on to the last bit of summer sun with its latest Tropical-inspired SKU. 

🆓 Check out the full list of new sips on BevNET

While Hollywood is busy reanimating the decaying corpses of everything we once loved (et tu, Spinal Tap?), here’s a reboot that we can get behind: Eric and Kristen Rogers, two of the original cofounders behind pioneering Massachusetts THC seltzer brand Levia, are back in control of the brand.

• The duo has reacquired the rights which were sold to multi-state operator Ayr Wellness for $20 million ($10 million cash + shares) in April 2021. 
• While the brand’s other co-founder Troy Brosnan called the Ayr sale a “mistake,” Kristen Rogers spoke warmly of her time running Levia under the MSO. 
• The brand continued to pump out eye-catching flavors under Ayr’s ownership but chafed against an infrastructure that impeded the speed required of the exploding beverage space. 

“I think really it was one of those situations where everyone sort of understood that to be more successful, we needed to be a little bit more nimble and pivot when we could pivot, and that's really hard for large companies,” said Kristen.

What’s next for Levia as an indie once again? Read the full story on BevNET.

A distribution transition and new innovations helped propel GURU to its first profitable quarter since going public in 2020.

• The Canadian energy drink brand posted positive net income of CAD$1.3 million, up from a CAD$2.2 million loss in the same time last year.
• Canadian sales jumped up 35% since moving to a direct distribution model with regional distributors
• U.S. sales benefitted from ecommerce and natural channel bumps.
• Flavor innovation was also a strong driver, as were variety multipacks intended for the club channel, which proved to be big movers.

Insiders can get the full earnings breakdown on BevNET.

It’s not the best of times for the fast food business – unless you’re Taco Bell, that is. The Mexican-ish restaurant chain is expanding its beverage-centric Live Más Café concept with two new California locations (San Diego and Irvine). 

They’ll be slanging over 20 made-to-order bevs including Refrescas, specialty coffees and a seasonal frozen drink called the Caramel Apple Empanada Chiller. That might not be your thing, but when you are targeting $5 billion in beverage sales by 2030, you get creative. 

And why wouldn’t you? The original Live Más Café location has driven a 40% sales jump, and it is selling an average of 300 specialty beverages a day, the company said. By the time Taco Bell completes its goal of adding 30 Live Más Cafés (within existing restaurants) by the end of this year, we can only imagine what will be on the menu. 

Related Reading: Why Soda Trends Are Shaping Strategy From Pepsi to Taco Bell