• 🌊 Flow Profits Even as CPG Biz Slips
• 📈 Nielsen: Non-Alc Bev Accelerates 
• 💰 Campari Continues M&A Streak
• ⭐ BelliWelli Claims ‘Hot Girls Need Fiber’

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Sweet-toothed consumers in need of caffeine have no shortage of options as of late. Co-branded licensed candy flavors have become an increasingly popular item in the energy drink set and that sector is getting larger as Nutrabolt’s C4 announced today a partnership with Hershey’s for a new line of products featuring flavors built around the confection giant’s portfolio.

The performance energy drink maker is debuting three Jolly Rancher flavored RTD energy drinks (Blue Raspberry, Green Apple and Watermelon), as well as Bubble Yum flavored preworkout powder and two protein powder mixes, in the style of Hershey milk chocolate and Reese’s.

C4 is one of several energy drink makers to introduce co-branded candy and snack flavors, having previously launched Skittles, Starburst and Popsicle drinks. Others in the category like Ghost and RYSE have also embraced the trend with open arms, Ghost in particular acting as an out-front leader.

According to Nutrabolt global chief commercial officer Kyle Thomas, these nostalgia-inducing flavors can drive between 60% to 65% incremental sales to the energy category, providing benefits to both the beverage producer and the license holder, which gets their logos in more parts of the store.

“That’s something that is appealing, obviously, to the retailer,” Thomas said. “And I think that’s what you’ve seen over the last couple of years; the growth from performance energy as a whole, what we would call Performance Energy 2.0, is driving 80% of the category growth, and then out of that is these flavor collaborations that drive a ton of incrementality into the space.”

Consultant Joshua Schall noted that co-branded products aren’t necessarily a new trend in CPG – just look at the cake mix and cereal aisles. However its emergence in energy has been more recent. Ghost has a commanding “head start” in driving the trend, he noted.

“The importance always on these flavor licenses is that you obviously get to leverage an extremely high visibility, high awareness brand,” Schall said “It’s something that a consumer has a connection with, has a memory of, has a moment in their life that they’ve had and they want to relive that – or they both kind of have confidence that it’s going to taste a certain way.”

Want to know more? Check out the full story on BevNET for all of the details.

Flow Beverage Corp. touted its most profitable quarter to-date as its co-packing business drove 5% net revenue growth to CAD$13.8 million for its Q3 2024 earnings report this week.

🏭 While co-packing, up 62% year-over-year, benefited the business, Flow is still working to reverse losses of its core CPG water line, which fell 15% in the quarter.

💲 Flow CEO Nicholas Reichenbach said the company has made moves to return the Flow water brand to growth by Q1 2025, and the double-digit revenue decline reflects an exit from unprofitable channels.

🎶 But production is booming, it would seem. The company said it expanded its contract with its largest co-packing customer, BeatBox Beverages, with a six-year CAD$213 million deal.

Read the full story on BevNET.

BevNET’s annual “Best Of” Awards commend companies, brands, individuals, products, ideas and trends from across the ever-changing beverage industry landscape. The highly-anticipated awards show will take place in Marina del Rey, Calif., during BevNET Live Winter 2024 on December 8-10, 2024.

BevNET’s Best Of 2024 Awards are currently open for nominations and you may submit as many nominations as you’d like, either for your own company/product or a company/product you find deserving. 

The deadline to submit nominations is Friday, November 1.

Click here for more information and to submit a nomination. 

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The weather may be cooling off, but beverage sales are heating up. Non-alcoholic beverage sales growth modestly accelerated as volume growth declines improved in the two-week period ending Sept. 7, according to Goldman Sachs Equity Research’s latest analysis of NielsenIQ retail scanner data. Here’s the top-level view: 

💵 Overall, dollar sales growth was up 1% year-over-year in the two-week period (+0.4% for four-weeks) as volume growth declines improved to -1.7% (versus -2.2% for four-weeks) and pricing growth was up 2.6%.

⚡ Energy drinks inched up 0.7% in the two-week period (largely flat in the four-week period). Category leader Monster Energy, excluding Bang, saw sales fall 3.6% and volumes fall even further, by -5.2% (-4.8% in the four-weeks). Meanwhile, Red Bull (+4%) and Celsius (+6%) both posted single-digit dollar sales gains.

🥤 Sports drinks fell 4.4% in the two-week period (-6.4% in the four-week period), with PepsiCo (-4.8%), The Coca-Cola Company (-2.3%) and PRIME (-38.8%) all reporting sales slides. CSDs fared better, with sales climbing 4.6% (+4.5% in the four weeks) and volumes increasing 0.5%. Coca-Cola outperformed the category, growing sales 5.7% in the two-week period. 

A full data recap will be available on BevNET later today. 

Campari Group has made another move on brown spirits, and its CEO is moving on after five months at the top.

🤏 The group announced Monday it took a minority stake in the holding company behind Scotch whisky brands Bunnahabhain, Tobermory, Scottish Leader and Black Bottle for $92.3 million.

🥃 The whisky brands were previously owned by South African drinks group Distell. After Heineken took over Distiell for $2.56 billion last year, the Scotch brands were separated from the rest of Distell’s portfolio and kept under newly-formed Capevin, the holding company behind Bunnahabhain distiller CVH Spirits. 

🗺️ The acquisition follows the purchase of cognac brand Courvoisier earlier this year, for which the group is expected to share a relaunch plan for 2025 at the end of 2024. Campari hinted in the past that it was still looking for M&A opportunities that would expand its premiumization journey in the U.S. and Asia.

🗞️ In other news, Matteo Fantacchiotti announced today he has stepped down as CEO, due to “personal reasons,” according to a release. Chief financial and operating officer Paolo Marchesini and Fabio Di Fede, general counsel and business development officer, are filling in as interim co-CEOs, and the search for a successor has already begun.

💕 After going viral with its “Hot Girls Have IBS” campaign, gut health-focused snack brand BelliWelli is back with a new slogan: “Hot Girls Need Fiber.” The new campaign, which includes a hot pink billboard in the Los Angeles area, showcases the brand’s recently launched Daily Fiber + Probiotics Powder. 

🫖 Pure Leaf is spilling the tea with television personality Martha Stewart in its latest digital campaign, “Martha’s Little Helper.” In the confessional style exposé, Stewart credits Pure Leaf’s Unsweetened Iced Tea for keeping her revitalized and unveils where she stores her secret stash. 

🥤 To appeal to consumers seeking new twists on their favorite beverages, Pepsi has debuted a crafted beverage offering, DRIPS by Pepsi. The DRIPS by Pepsi truck will pop up in NYC for select weekends and events in September. It will carry a variety of beverage combinations, including Pepsi Forever S’Mores, Starry Berry Basil and Lipton Mango Horchata.

🐮 Farmer-owned organic cooperative Organic Valley has created “The Greenest Ads,” which feature aerial photography of pastures where its cows have shaped the word “Buzz-Worthy” and the letter “B” into the grass by their grazing. The Greenest Ads can be seen from planes flying over farms in Md., Minn. and Wis. 

⚽ Guayakí Yerba Mate has announced a new partnership with the Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC). According to an announcement, the partnership marks the first time a mate brand has collaborated with an American soccer team.