At our Future Smarts conference last December, I spoke of the growing Hispanic population in the US and the opportunity it presents for beverage companies. Just a few months later, it’s now clear that Hispanic consumers are pulling back on their spending, as we detail starting on page 3 of today’s newsletter. If this change persists, it could at a minimum force companies to adjust their marketing, product, and retail strategies. At worst, it could lead to lower growth in the coming years given the importance of this demographic group. We’ll keep tracking the trend.
Meanwhile, I traveled to Las Vegas earlier this month to speak at BevTech, a conference hosted by...
Laura and I again served as judges for a high school “Beverage Expo,” where students created hypothetical non-alcoholic beverage brands and concepts. Think science fair for budding entrepreneurs.
Each group conducted research, picked a target market, created a logo and prototype, and set pricing. They pitched their products to volunteer “investors” like us during Shark Tank like presentations. The investors handed out $1,000 mock checks. Teams that raised at least $5,000 earned an A.
We last participated in 2023. The expo is an interesting window into the teen mind from a beverage perspective. This year there were 30 teams, about half of which pitched energy drink brands. Here are some observations:
— Product names included SereniTea, Fizzin’ Tea, Summer Sip, Aura Sipstation, A-Plus, Blitz, and Georgia Peach.
— Alani Nu was one of drinks mentioned most as a competitor by energy drink teams. One student said females at the school gravitate to Alani Nu’s bright package colors and lifestyle vibe, while Celsius is associated more with fitness and athletics.
— Many entries were positioned as health-conscious. Several incorporated “fitness influencers” in their marketing plan. “Athletes” were a common target audience, even though this Atlanta-area Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics school doesn’t have sports teams.
— Mango was a popular flavor this year, like one brand called Viva Mango.
— While matcha was popular two years ago, we saw only one matcha product this time and it was an energy drink.
— The students generally prefer tea that is sweet and bottled, rather than unsweet or canned. After all, they are in Georgia, the home of Southern sweet tea.
— A common trend is to ask for a sip from another student’s drink. The low-tech way to avoid lips touching the can or bottle is to employ a “waterfall” technique, whereby the drink is poured into the mouth without touching or being touched by the recipient. One team had a solve for this problem — a sports cap spout.
We just released the 30th Edition of the Beverage Digest Fact Book, detailing 2024 all-channel sales results across the US non-alcoholic beverage industry. Unlike the quarterly retail data published in BD’s newsletter, this data set covers ready-to-drink packaged and fountain drinks across all channels, including retail stores and foodservice outlets.
Today’s special issue is a top-level view of that annual all-channel Fact Book report. It provides a snapshot of the intense competition within the U.S. non-alcoholic beverage business. The following newsletter pages cover major beverage companies, categories, trademarks, and brands. It’s a quick reference guide to how the biggest players are performing in liquid refreshment beverages, with an emphasis on carbonated soft drinks...
My wife and I got away late last month for a vacation to Southern Italy’s Amalfi Coast. I was taking some time off but couldn’t help making a few casual beverage observations.
First, when it comes to carbonated soft drinks, Coca-Cola appears to dominate the region. From the small local market near our Airbnb rental in tiny Conca dei Marini, to the trendy restaurants in mid-size Sorrento, there was always a Coke for sale. We didn’t stumble on a Pepsi until we hit a market in the much larger city of Naples.
While this was no formal survey, the disparity actually makes sense to me, knowing something about Coca-Cola’s and PepsiCo’s global strategies. PepsiCo’s global beverage expansion strategy has historically focused...
Coca-Cola is learning once again what it’s like to have a target on its back as the world’s largest soda maker. In less than a month, the company has faced threats against its flagship cola and its super successful dairy business, Fairlife.
Back in mid-2023, I wrote about a group called Save Tab Soda. They were cajoling Coca-Cola to revive the saccharin-sweetened diet cola that was discontinued in 2020 after almost 60 years on the market. Save Tab Soda went so far as to buy billboard space near Coke’s Atlanta headquarters to beg, “Please bring it back.” I referred to the Save Tab effort as quixotic. I still think it is.
That said, the tenacity and dedication of this band of hardcore fans and its followers is impressive. Just this past December, the group sent me a spiral bound 2025 Dreaming of Tab Calendar, with images of Tab in various holiday settings. They also shared “market research” and a survey of 206 people that they used to predict an initial market opportunity of almost $43 million should Tab return...
Heading into Super Bowl weekend, we’re taking a deeper look at Throne Sport Coffee, a brand minority owned by Kansas City Chiefs Quarterback Patrick Mahomes. He’ll face off Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles in search of a fourth Super Bowl ring. Catch that story on page 5.
Meanwhile, we’re excited to have just released our newest territory map book — The Keurig Dr Pepper System. A key feature of this new resource is a map of KDP’s company-owned distribution network, which covers 80% of the US population, according to KDP. We are referring ...
Happy New Year! To kickoff 2025, I’ll tell you about a few emerging brands that intrigued me in 2024. I don’t review or endorse products, and I won’t now. But I do taste lots of new drinks annually, so standouts jump out at me. Foremost, that means delivering on taste, which these products do. While each promises functionality, I won’t vouch for their efficacy or eventual market success. I also won’t judge their pricing, which can be rich. In short, these products offered an interesting proposition and ended up tasting surprisingly good — to me at least. So, here we go:
We’ll close out the year on Monday with our annual Future Smarts conference in New York City. And I can’t wait to see what comes out of the program we've assembled.
I love the conversation we generate during the course of the day, with discussion threads that weave through the speaker sessions. Points from an earlier session often find their way into a later interview as dots are connected. The impact of consumer stress on industry growth, practical implications of technologies such as Ai, the competition for soft drink market share, and expectations for the new presidential administration will be some of those threads.
We’ll start the day with executives from Coca-Cola, Keurig Dr Pepper, and PepsiCo before convening our annual analyst panel to riff on what they’ve heard that morning. Bottlers from both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo will layer in their perspectives. And we will fold in a wholesaler’s view of the retail landscape with UNFI’s CEO. Olipop’s co-founder will provide some emerging brand and category spice. And Boston Beer’s former CEO will stir the pot in the best of ways with a view across beer and non-alcoholic beverages.
Future Smarts attendees will head into 2025 with a complete view of the most urgent industry topics, as voiced by smart industry insiders. It’s great to get a helping of clarity right before we all wrap up a busy 2024.
Like last year, we’ll host a welcome reception on Sunday for all registered attendees. I love that the evening is so anchoring, helping to deepen industry relationships on a human level — mine included.
If you can’t join us, rest assured we’ll share some slices of the Future Smarts pie in our newsletter next year. In the meantime, enjoy your families this holiday season. The team at Beverage Digest wishes you all the very best.
Coca-Cola’s new holiday ads that pay tribute to a 1995 campaign called, “Holidays Are Coming,” have generated lots of attention this week over the company’s use of “Real Magic AI” to produce the spots.
The New York Times ran the headline, “Coca-Cola’s Holiday Ads Trade the ‘Real Thing’ for Generative A.I..” Commenters on social media said the ads look artificial, pointing out inconsistencies like truck tires that don’t spin. Others called the...
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