The exploding popularity of pickleball in the US has created a gold rush for beverage companies looking to capitalize on the sport, which is a miniaturized version of tennis played with a hollow plastic ball, oversized ping-pong-like paddle, and bespoke set of rules. A large part of the appeal of pickleball is the democratic nature of the game, which proponents say draws a diverse group of players from across the spectrum of age and athletic ability. That reach, coupled with the social nature of pickleball, is good for consumer packaged goods brands, too, say Pennsylvania craft beer brewers and beverage co-packers Joe and Abby Feerrar. The husband-and-wife team is launching what they believe to be the first non-alcoholic ready-to-drink beverage created with pickleball players specifically in mind. “Dink,” named for the shot that is a staple of the small-court game, will debut this weekend at a pickleball event...

Coca-Cola’s BodyArmor is jumping into the fast-growing rapid hydration sports drink segment with a new product called Flash I.V., the company has confirmed to BD. BodyArmor filed for the Flash I.V. trademark in January and will ship the product in the US regionally early next month by way of some Coca-Cola bottlers, BodyArmor CEO Federico Muyshondt said in an interview. The company will take the product nationwide in January of 2024. The emerging rapid hydration market, being forged by brands including Grupo Pisa’s Electrolit, PepsiCo’s Gatorlyte, and Abbott’s Pedialyte Sport, has reached between...

Coca-Cola’s BodyArmor is jumping into the fast-growing rapid hydration sports drink segment with a new product called Flash I.V., the company has confirmed to BD. BodyArmor filed for the Flash I.V. trademark in January and will ship the product in the US regionally early next month by way of some Coca-Cola bottlers, BodyArmor CEO Federico Muyshondt said in an interview. The company will take...

The exploding popularity of pickleball in the US has created a gold rush for beverage companies looking to capitalize on the sport, which is a miniaturized version of tennis played with a hollow plastic ball, oversized ping-pong-like paddle, and bespoke set of rules. A large part of the appeal of pickleball is the democratic nature of the game, which proponents say draws a diverse group of players from across the spectrum of age and athletic ability. That reach, coupled with the social nature of pickleball, is good for consumer packaged goods brands, too, say Pennsylvania craft beer brewers and beverage co-packers...

PepsiCo will roll out a logo update for its flagship Pepsi trademark this fall, the first such redesign in 14 years. The company’s in-house design firm, led by SVP and Chief Design Officer Mauro Porcini, forged the design over three years. Pictured below, the new logo and “visual identity system” is intended to convey four key messages, Porcini and Pepsi CMO Todd Kaplan told BD in an interview:...

Natural Products Expo West was nearly back to pre-pandemic form this year with more than 3,000 exhibitors and 65,000 attendees. The show, held last week in Anaheim, California, hosts the vanguard of consumer health and wellness trends, mostly in packaged food and beverage. Had you been at Expo West in 1999, you would have seen bottled organic tea brand Honest in its infancy, a dozen years before Coca-Cola would eventually acquire the company in full from co-founder and fair trade tea evangelist Seth Goldman. While many brands at the show will fail, they often still represent trends that will one day go mainstream and generate meaningful growth, usually at premium pricing. As a result, Expo West is a magnet for strategic companies, private equity investors, distributors, and retailers looking for the next big trend or growth brand. With all of this in mind, BD walked the show floor — 10 football fields in size — for three days, spending most of that time in the “Hot Products” zones, where the smallest and newest companies exhibit. Here’s what caught our attention:

Liquid I.V., the powdered water enhancer acquired by Unilever in 2020, is closing in on $1 billion in net sales, according to the company. The brand will reach the milestone in the “near future,” the company said, while declining to define that timeframe. The “hydration multiplier,” which promises to hydrate as much as 2.5 times faster than water and is used by some consumers as a hangover remedy, is the largest single-serve drink mix brand on the market with a...