Beer Marketer's Insights
Fast-growing Garage Beer is looking to punch things up a notch with its latest marketing stunt. The brand is promoting itself w/ a two-part "content series" starring part owner Jason Kelce that's "as authentic as it is absurd," per press release. NFL legend will compete in the Brewmite ("brew-muh-tay"), a (fake) thousand-year-old martial arts tournament, in which winner will obtain coveted "Golden Garage Beer." Content will be released "like a movie, with teasers, trailers, full-length content, behind-the-scenes features throughout April," and one fan will win cameo in Part II, when Jason will face "ultimate opponent," who "might be someone he has known his entire life." The mind reels. Trailer here.
In a soft industry overall, craft beer posted the largest share drops among all beer segments tracked by Fintech data, per presentation from NBWA chief economist Lester Jones and Fintech veep of distrib strategy Eric Kiser. Down 0.8 share of both on- and off-premise retailer purchases for 14 wks thru Apr 4, 2025 vs yr ago. That's as total beer STR $$ declined over 4%, with off-prem STRs down 4.7% and on-prem STRs down 0.2%, Lester estimates.
Owoc Loses Appeal Over Monster Judgment
Bang Energy might now be owned by its former nemesis Monster Beverage, but its founder and ex-CEO Jack Owoc hasn't stopped legal wrangling. But 9th Circuit appeals court in Calif has rejected his effort to overturn ruling in MNST's favor by Calif judge over rival's claim that Bang marketer Vital Pharmaceuticals (VPX) violated Lanham Act by falsely claiming its drink contained Super Creatine, an ingredient that expert testimony indicated did not exist. Judge awarded Monster over $270 mil, part of series of legal reverses that plunged VPX into bankruptcy and led to Monster acquiring brand at auction.
The distributor alliance that goes by Keg 1 has announced its biggest acquisition to date. It will purchase 6.6-mil-case Iowa Beverage in Des Moines in transaction expected to close this summer. Its diversified portfolio includes Molson Coors, Mark Anthony Brands (White Claw), Boston (Sam Adams, Dogfish Head), Heineken/Lagunitas, Pabst, along with a range of alc RTDs like Beatbox and Surfside, NAs and D9 bevs, including aggressive home state player Climbing Kites. Among the NAs are Jarritos, Calypso, Sparkling Ice, Bucked Up, Zoa, Mas+ by Messi, Good2grow and Zen WTR, its website indicates.
Determined to get its acquired Body Armor hydration brand back on track, Coca-Cola has given it a total rethink, debuting revamped packaging graphics and new campaign that reps largest spend in brand's 15-yr history. It opens, tellingly, with image of worker mopping up orange liquid that's splashed across dimly lit basement floor - commencing a kind of call to arms that's reminiscent of famous Apple campaign that took on IBM.
PEOPLE: Reed's Anoints Pepsi Lifer Wallace as CEO as Crisis Mgr Snyder Heads to Advisory Role
Can a Big Soda lifer finally get altsoda marketer Reed's Inc to the finish line as a fast-growing, profitable company? That's the bet the Norwalk, Conn-based co is making in announcing today that its CEO of past 5 years, Norm Snyder, 63, will be retiring, succeeded by 21-yr PepsiCo vet Cyril Wallace, who seems to have spent his entire biz career at soda giant, mainly from Atlanta base with stops in Charlotte and Dallas/Ft Worth. Wallace is taking a board seat too. Norm, who'll stay on in full-time role thru end of May, told us this morning that his exit was mutually agreed upon with controlling shareholder Yumin Dai, with whom he'll continue to work as an advisor and on special projects, including a pending joint factory tour to Hong Kong. Among other new blood at Reed's, the co said it's named the 15-yr Heineken vet Ruud Bakker to its board, picking up seat recently relinquished by longtime board member Lou Jaffe. Since his Heineken run the NY-based exec has had stints at Red Bull Mexico and at Diageo on Smirnoff brand, while also operating bev incubation biz under name Purple Fox Studios.
Throwback Thursday
This week in 2000, INSIGHTS reported Pabst was down to a single brewery (in PA) as it announced its Pearl Brewery in San Antonio, TX would close in a few mos. Production shifted to Miller's Ft Worth plant. Local papers were angry that Pabst chmn Bill Bitting had gone back on statements that co would pump lotsa $$ to keep San Antonio plant humming. Instead, Pabst decided it could not afford the $8-10 mil it would take to bring it up to speed. At time, Miller was producing 75% of Pabst's volume and was expected to reach 80% after Pearl plant closed. In 2025, Molson Coors will produce no Pabst volume for the first time in more than a quarter of a century. AB will brew much of its beer.
"It's not the best of times" in the beer biz, conceded NBWA analytics veep and chief economist Lester Jones to kick off his webinar presentation titled "I've Lost My Mojo," alongside Fintech veep of distrib strategy Eric Kiser. Beer sales to retailers $$ declined a little over 4% in Q1, Lester estimates. This is "the first time" he's looked at Fintech data and "seen consistent contraction week over week." With beer shipments down a whopping 9% YTD thru Feb, he's expecting Mar to come in flattish to up slightly, bringing Q1 shipments down 6.5% to 7.5%. That's "pretty rough numbers at this point" and it's a "pretty darn bad" Jan-Feb. But those are the least significant mos of the year for beer, Lester reminded. Maybe the "bad juju" is outta the way and there can be "good mojo" in following qtrs, he posited. Tho early read on Apr Beer Purchaser's Index currently shows another down mo for beer distrib orders.
Education remains the primary tool used to reduce underage drinking and other drug use. And it's been remarkably successful, despite the dismissal of such tactics by some of the most prominent alcohol-focused public health advocates. This week, two new studies expanded evidence of the efficacy of well-constructed educational programs. And crucially, neither promising program targeted alcohol use in isolation. One study showed another set of strong results for a well-researched program that places substance use in the context of a wide array of "life skills." Another randomized trial revealed that college students don't necessarily need to drink less to experience fewer negative consequences.
Alcohol-impaired driving fatalities declined a significant 7.6% in 2023, according to final data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin (NHTSA). The decline by over 1,000 alcohol-related crash deaths represented over half of the total 1,820, 4.3% decline in total motor vehicle crash fatalities that year. Additionally, preliminary estimates suggest that total crash deaths declined by another 4% or so in 2024. The progress is welcome after record increases in 2020-2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Total crashes declined about 9% since a peak in 2021, but remain 8% above 2019, preliminary data suggests.