Bang’s rapid market share gains this year have generated heated industry discussion about the fate of Monster and disruption within the energy category. Coca-Cola bottlers, meanwhile, are rolling out Monster’s answer, Reign. Coke owns about 19% of Monster and its bottling system handles nearly all of the brand’s U.S. volume. Since Reign’s late March debut, BD has spotted the product mostly in the convenience channel. Photos of cooler placements are from a Pilot outside Orlando, a QuikTrip outside Atlanta and a 7-Eleven in New Jersey. We also found a significant activation at the Georgia Institute of Technology campus near Coca-Cola headquarters in downtown Atlanta.

Bottler View. To get a broader view of the rollout on the ground, BD reached out to a number of Coca-Cola bottling system executives. One mid-west bottler said Reign is a welcomed addition, saying Bang “has had the category all to themselves” for about a year in the region. Customers, including in convenience and grocery, placed orders for 5,000 cases of Reign in the first week, which was double a typical product launch, the person said. As BD has heard previously (BD 2/15/19), fitness clubs are taking Reign where they previously wouldn’t stock Monster, according to the bottler, who plans also to go after GNC stores where Bang is sold. Another Coke system bottler, in the west, has faced competition from Bang for about two years. Armed now with Reign, the bottler has sold the drink into about a third of its energy customers so far, a pace the person was pleased to see. Sales teams are discussing the product as a “performance drink” rather than an energy drink. The goal at convenience has been to avoid cannibalizing Monster cooler space. The bottler is foregoing cooler space in favor of ice barrels and shipper displays on the floor in stores where it can’t get non-monster cooler space, the person said. “If someone doesn’t want to do it incrementally, we’re probably going to hold off for a while,” the executive said, adding that driving consumer trial is an emphasis. “Repeat will be the real answer, and it will be June or July before we know if Reign has impact and slows Bang down.”

Product Details. Bang is sugarless and contains an amino acid called creatine that is said to help build muscle mass. Flavors include Rainbow Unicorn and Sour Heads. Reign also has zero sugar and calories. Like Bang, Reign contains branched-chain amino acids, which are said to increase performance and muscle development. Unlike Bang, Reign contains no creatine, an ingredient that is subject of a lawsuit Monster filed last year taking issue with Bang’s claims about its “super creatine” ingredient. Bang owner Vital Pharmaceuticals (also known as VPX) recently filed a lawsuit of its own, saying Reign infringes on a trademark and illegally mimics Bang’s trade dress (BD 3/29/19).

Data. In retail data through late March (table), Bang volume had reached 6.2% of the U.S. energy drink category. The brand won less than 1 point of share in the same period a year ago. Analysts this week quoted four-week IRI and Nielsen data that showed the brand had accelerated to almost 9% of the market by dollars through the first week of April. The overall Monster trademark, meanwhile, had shed almost 3 share points of volume this year through late March. That was driven by a 4-point market share loss for core green Monster Energy. Rockstar, and to a lesser extent Red Bull, also lost share.

Perspective. Bang’s success has come in large part because it has bridged the gap between greater function and fun. While Bang is positioned for workout enthusiasts as an energy drink with elevated function and a healthier ingredient panel (BD 1/1/19), the company’s marketers have employed the same vivid neon color palette, hyperkinetic graphics and scantily-clad models common within the category. Compare that to Celsius, another up-and-comer in the healthier energy segment, which has taken a more mainstream approach to its positioning and marketing as a fitness-driven and higher-functioning product.

Distribution. Bang, with much of its distribution concentrated in the convenience/gas channel in the West (BD 3/29/19), is chipping away at other Monster markets as well, most recently signing distribution deals in New York and Philadelphia. In Texas, a source recently saw fully wrapped Bang delivery vehicles in Dallas, and a driver told the person that the brand self-distributes in that market. BD notes that Bang’s surging performance coincides with the hiring one year ago of Sam Wilson, the former senior director of national sales and distribution for Red Bull. In metro Atlanta, we found Bang on a Kroger shelf in metro Atlanta and in a Red Bull cooler with a placement that seemed more guerilla than planned.

Analyst Reaction. Analysts have recently raised the volume on concerns that Monster is threatened by an emerging crop of energy drink competitors purporting to offer more functional, healthy or natural versions. In addition to Bang, products including C-4, Uptime and Celsius were among those cited as examples. Analysts also cited a new energy drink launch by Amazon under its Solimo private label line of products as a risk to Monster. Then came this week’s announcement by Keurig Dr Pepper that the company has taken a minority stake in Adrenaline Shoc, a new sugarless energy drink with yerba mate, green coffee caffeine and guarana. KDP also will distribute the product, which was developed by Lance Collins, founder of Fuze, Nos and Core. As if to underscore the shift happening within the energy category, Collins told the Wall Street Journal, which first wrote about the KDP deal, that he eliminated energy drink “ingredients that you can’t pronounce” like inositol and taurine.” Both ingredients can be found in Nos, which Collins developed and sold to Coca-Cola in 2007 as part of a deal for Fuze tea. Monster has since taken on Nos as part of a 2014 deal that gave Coca-Cola expanded Monster distribution rights in the U.S. and abroad. In a report this week, analysts at EvercoreISI said they are “skeptical that Reign will become a meaningful brand for Monster three years out” by adding “incremental sales on a sustainable basis,” even though the brand might boost the company’s sales in the near term. Wells Fargo analysts, citing store operators from the bank’s ongoing Beverage Buzz retailer survey, said there are early signs the Reign’s similar packaging look to Bang may be confusing customers. Analysts at Macquarie see upside for Bang as it fills in distribution white space. “BANG already has 90%+ ACV and 10%+ share in its mature markets,” the analysts wrote in a report last week. “However, we expect distribution gains to continue as it leverages its success story with retailers in markets where it has less exposure.”