• 😴 Wake Up! AMASS, De Soi Mastermind McLachlan Revives Afterdream
• 🚚 Spirits Distro: Mission Hits Milestone, Carbliss Hits Gas
• 🥇 The 1st Look at 1st Phorm

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a hot spot for brand-influencer partnerships, but in 2024, one such partnership emerged as the undeniable “winner” of the two weekend-long festival: prodigious social media personality Alix Earle and Poppi. 

Much like Earle’s other work with brands, the lucrative “Coachearla” activation reportedly boosted the prebiotic soda brand’s sales by 200% during the festival. The collaboration offers a glimpse into the evolving influencer economy and what it takes for CPG brands to break through. Here are some key relationship-building practices from Poppi’s partnership with Earle: 

Authenticity is key: Earle gained her following on TikTok by posting get ready with me (GRWM) videos, during which she would discuss her personal life while preparing for a night out. It was only fitting that she announced her investment in Poppi with a GRWM video last May.

• To date, the TikTok video has garnered over 12 million views and 373,000 likes.
• “For me, [investing in Poppi] is something that’s really exciting instead of just taking a million different brand deals for a bunch of different sodas,” said Earle in the video.

Content should feel like an experience, not an ad: The aforementioned “Coachearla” activation, which included a series of photos and videos showcasing Earle’s stay in a Poppi-branded house, drove more than 50 million impressions in the first three days, per Influencer Intelligence. 

• The 360-degree campaign, which featured Poppi can-shaped pool floats to “Coachearla”-branded towels, promoted the brand’s Lemon Lime flavor. 
• On Poppi’s Instagram page, posts featuring Earle secured a 2.6% engagement rate, compared to the brand’s average rate of 0.48%. 

Recognizing fruitful opportunities: Coachella was the event that put Poppi’s partnership with Alix Earle on the map, but it isn’t the duo’s only successful collaboration. The influencer starred in Poppi’s “Soda Thoughts” Super Bowl LIX commercial earlier this year, which was separate from her 2025 contract with the brand, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

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Before you ask, it’s not deja vu: you remember Afterdream as a low-dose cannabis spirit from AMASS Botanics and master distiller Morgan McLachlan back in 2021. Now McLachlan is reviving Afterdream in a reimagined form, this time aiming to complement rather than mask some of the bitter terpene notes.

Afterdream promises an “uplifting buzz,” as McLachlan aimed for “an effect that was pleasant and approachable for everyone,”; with that in mind, there’s two versions -- 2mg THC/4mg CBD (8oz) and 5mg THC/10mg CBD (12oz) -- to choose from.

“Where were you during the CosMc’s Era?,” future historians will no doubt ask. But will anyone remember McDonald’s brief experiment in a beverage-focused small-format concept restaurant? After launching in 2023, the fast food giant announced that all five CosMc’s locations will shut down in late June.

The test did produce some tangible results: CosMc’s-inspired flavors “will be landing at McDonald’s as part of the upcoming US beverage test,” part of a sharper focus on drink service as part of a new category team structure revealed in March.

In this month’s distribution news, Mission Craft Cocktails reaches a major milestone, RTD Carbliss continues its push through the Midwest, a spirits veteran makes a big play, and more. 

📦 Mission Craft Cocktails, the 20-40% ABV, ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails made from Southern California ingredients, have moved into 240 Total Wine & More locations beginning this month. The move accelerates the company’s mission to deliver 5% of sales donated to help fight food insecurity and fund 1,000,000 meals by the end of this year.

🗺️ Meanwhile, another cocktail company, Wisconsin-based Carbliss – a fast-growing zero-carb, zero-sugar RTD making its way across the Midwest – has added Kentucky as its 15th state. 

🍍 Jumex Hard is also making moves: following expansion across six Southwestern states, Grupo Jumex and AriZona Beverages are rolling out Jumex Hard nationwide in Walmart stores. 

Foley Family Wines & Spirits (FFWS) is moving into ready-to-drink. The group owned by a Sonoma wine and hockey mogul announced that it has launched a commercial partnership to import and manage sales from SABÉ Beverages (SABÉ), a wine-based RTD company with products made in The Netherlands.  

The cocktail’s early traction in convenience stores was part of the attraction for Foley; the 13-15% ABV cocktails are already available in a handful of states, but will roll out with Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits nationally later this summer and fall.

We finally got a peek at what 1st Phorm’s new energy drink, created in partnership with Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI), will look like as the brand shared images of next month’s upcoming launch on social media last week. 

🥊 Nutrition brand 1st Phorm announced in January that it would be developing a functional RTD line with ABI and Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White.

🇺🇸 Stack3d reported that the beverages will be similar to a previous energy drink play from 1st Phorm, with 200 mg of natural caffeine from green tea, nootropics and zero sugar in each can. Flavors will include Grape Smash, Orange Fury, Blue Blitz and a rocket pop-styled SKU called Screamin’ Freedom.

How does a small brand making cashew butter and protein brownies net a $1 million order from Costco? Elavi co-founder Michelle Razavi pulls back the curtain on working with the national club chain in the latest episode of Taste Radio.