• 💰 Post Malone Invests in Poppi
• 🤳 PRIME, Feastables Link Over Lunchly
• ☕ Onyx Farms A Fresh Look
• 🧑‍💻 Ketel One's QR Coded Products
• 🚚 Baldor Opens New Facility
• 🐇 Getting To ‘Yes’ Meant Going Down The Rabbit Hole… And Pitching 1,000 Investors

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Do you need “rapid” hydration, or just a “boost”? Whatever the case, Gatorade is aiming to please.

The Pepsi-owned sports drink giant this morning revealed Gatorade Hydration Booster as the latest arrow in its quiver, this time as its “first electrolyte powder developed specifically for people’s everyday lifestyles.” Yes, the high priests of sports drinks have finally looked down with benevolence on us mere mortals, blessing us with 100% daily value of essential vitamins A, B3, B5, B6 and C.

While it may seem redundant to some, Gatorade argues that Hydration Booster plugs an important gap in its portfolio, and it’s not “more electrolytes.” The product “will show up within new lifestyle and wellness spaces” and feature “prominent women at the intersection of sport and lifestyle,” according to marketing copy, a tacit acknowledgement that Gatorade is looking to make inroads with female consumers. It’s also a chance for Gatorade to plug its new stainless steel Overtime Bottles, the brand’s attempt to take on those ubiquitous Stanley tumblers. 

The move reflects another recent phenomenon: powdered products are young and sexy now, raising the bar for legacy players to keep up. Non-RTD hydration is an easy target for brands to establish a foothold for a full suite of other products, as it translates easily across audiences like gamers (GHOST), metal heads (Liquid Death), middle-school kids (PRIME), wellness seekers (waterdrop) and everybody else (Liquid I.V.); that’s not to mention younger names like Drip Drop, The Absorption Company and Waterboy. 

In that sense, Gatorade Hydration Booster is actually notable as the brand’s first standalone powder release (no RTD version), positioned and visually designed to deliver something that drink mixes from the flagship line, Gatorlyte (for “intense sweat moments”) and Propel (for the “modern exerciser community”) currently do not.

There’s gold in that powder, too: dollar sales for the sports drink mix category grew 33.7% ($1.4 billion) in the 52-week period ended Sept. 6, according to data from MULO data from Circana. 

As noted in the release, “Gatorade was a pioneer in helping to popularize electrolyte powder,” and it doesn’t want to start losing now. Gatorade Hydration Booster launches today in 6-count boxes ($.99 each) in three flavors – Strawberry Watermelon, Tropical Mango and Citrus Berry. 

Catch Up On Other Recent Moves: Gatorade Launches Water

This week, prebiotic soda brand Poppi announced that Grammy award-nominated musician Post Malone has joined the company as an investor and brand partner. 

⏪ The partnership comes after the “Circles” singer’s public break up with traditional soda. During his appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” in 2023, Post Malone said he lost weight by cutting out the bubbly beverage and monitoring his sugar intake. 

🥤 Poppi is debuting a custom 12 oz. can of its Wild Berry flavor, labeled “Posty’s Soda,” exclusively available at Kroger. Each can has 25 calories and 5 grams of sugar. 

💭 “We’re on a mission to revolutionize soda for the next generation, and who better to help us usher that message than global superstar Post Malone who has such an impactful, personal story to share,” said Allison Ellsworth, co-founder and chief brand officer at Poppi, in a press release. 

⭐ In other celebrity partnerships news, Spritz Society has released a new spritzer flavor, Lemon Iced Tea, in collaboration with “Southern Charm” reality star Craig Conover. 

It's the collaboration none of us saw coming, but can’t say we are too surprised to see on our feeds. This week, MrBeast and Logan Paul threw their likeness, and respective CPG brands, behind a new joint venture aimed at producing better-for-you lunch kits for kids, known as Lunchly. 

🍕 The Lunchables-like products come in three varieties – Fiesta Nachos, The Pizza and Turkey Stack Em’s – each containing crackers, cheese and a protein along with a miniature Feastables bar and a bottle of Prime Hydration. 

💬 What they said: “This move is different than more traditional partnerships… platforming through partnerships is one thing, creating a co-branded joint venture and jumping aisles together is a totally different game.” - Amrit Richmond, founder of Indie CPG

Stay tuned for a deep dive into the launch of Lunchly later today. 

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Arkansas-based Onyx Coffee Lab is looking to class up the retail coffee set with its latest packaging revamp, unveiling a new box featuring “interactive cards” with details about the coffee’s origins and scan codes that link to interviews with the farmers.

🧑🏿‍🌾 Onyx creative director Niki Weegens said in a press release that the redesign is intended to “create a stronger connection” between consumers and the farmers and manufacturers who produce the coffee.

♻️ The new packs also now include a transparent, resealable bag to help keep the beans fresh. The bags are made from “eco-friendly materials that align with the brand's ethos of responsible sourcing and environmental stewardship,” the company said.

This month, Ketel One Family Made Vodka is releasing its QR-coded Espresso Martini and Cosmopolitan bottles. The on-pack QR codes provide accessibility and inclusivity for blind or low vision consumers by identifying the RTD cocktails and gaining information about the products using apps that support the visually-impaired like Be My Eyes or Envision.

💬 When consumers use their phone to scan the bottles using an app, it will reveal the product category and the physical distance from the user through text-to-speech.

🤔 The app also detects key information including product details, specific allergens and can even provide recipe suggestions. The Diageo-owned brand claims it is the first spirits company to use this technology.

Baldor Specialty Foods announced today it has brought a new 100,000 sq. ft. warehouse online to support its growing operations in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

🧊 The new facility will house over 7,000 products and includes 35 dock doors as well as refrigeration and frozen storage capabilities. The site is located in Lanham, Md., only 12 miles from D.C. and within close proximity to major highways. 

🧑‍🏭 Baldor said the new infrastructure will allow it to increase delivery efficiencies and support local workers with the addition of 140 employees and plans to hire for additional roles including drivers and warehouse staff.

🗣️ What they said: “We knew we needed a facility that could match the pace of our growth and support our commitment to getting our customers the best products as efficiently as possible. At the same time, we wanted to maximize product sales for our vendors, and bring on more local farmers and producers, while also increasing career and salary opportunities for our employees. With this move, we believe we have hit the trifecta.” - TJ Murphy, CEO and owner of Baldor Specialty Foods

Kaveh Zamanian, the founder of Rabbit Hole Distillery, talks about how his passion for whiskey became an entrepreneurial journey, how he assembled a team of industry veterans early into the development of the company, why he credits a strong social support network as key to his career transition and pitching 1,000 investors over the course of two years and how he got 110 to say “yes.”

Listen to the episode now.