Beer Marketer's Insights
Tropicana Brands Group is doing more to leverage the personality of tennis ace Coco Gauff as Naked's "chief smoothie officer" since last Jun, with campaign that casts comedian Andrew Rousso as her "smoothie boy" delivering the nutrition shakes to her thru the varied roles she plays over the course of a given day. Intentionally or not, the ad is reminiscent of a classic Heineken effort from late 90s in support of US Open sponsorship that depicted tennis ballboys whisking away empty green bottles from imbibers at a tavern.
Icelandic Glacial Water cofounder Jon Olafsson leads such a jet-setting lifestyle that it took a former FBI agent to track him down to serve him with a lawsuit over unpaid loan, claims law firm Mills Sadat Dowlat in heralding what it says was summary judgment handed down by NY judge for $4.37 mil. With Icelandic serving as official water of Golden Globes, the firm dispatched the PI to Jan 2023 edition of show expecting that Olafsson would show, per announcement today. "Though unsuccessful in getting into the International Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton, where the event is held, the former FBI agent instead hunkered down in the lobby for several hours. Then, around 2 AM, having obtained Olafsson's cell phone number, he texted him a simple message: 'What room are you in?' Right away, Olafsson sent his room number back to the unknown texter. So, our man simply went upstairs, knocked on the door and surprised him," per statement from partner Arash Sadat.
Juni Sparkling Tea with Adaptogens, the canned line fronted by author and life coach Jay Shetty and his wife Radhi Devlukia, the noted cooking authority, is launching its first caffeine-free entries, a trio of flavors that are breaking exclusively at Sprouts Farmers Market chain before heading out to retail more broadly. Out in Strawberry Hibiscus, Cherry Lime and Yuzu Pineapple flavors, they're intended to broaden the dayparts that Juni is consumed, even serving as a mocktail option. Juni team and Sprouts greenlighted launch after an initial appearance on DTC site late last year sold out quickly, with shoppers giving them strong reviews. With 40% reorder rate, that base is committed to brand, as cofounder/CEO Kim Perell noted to us in discussion yesterday.
What's the outlook for M&A in food/bev? Trump administration's tariff lurches placed a very big elephant in the room for pair of experts convened by Food Institute this afternoon but demand for deals is solid, they assured, even if recent weeks' chaos may have paused activity. Things "are not static," said BMO Capital Markets managing dir John Siegler, who leads Food, Consumer & Retail Middle Market M&A there. There are "lots of deals in market, but it's becoming a timing issue." For companies addressing sizable market, with good margin profile and strong management team, the outlook remains encouraging, he stressed. "My view is it's more active than people realize," he said. "It's more about timing than interest . . . a fairly active market, particularly in the lower middle-market."
As Heineken 0.0 continues to post strong gains in the US, don't miss Heineken USA cmo Alison Payne along with Athletic ceo/co-founder Bill Shufelt as they discuss their continued NA beer growth and perceived run room in the US and beyond at our Beer Insights Spring Conference! Heineken 0.0 remains the best-selling individual NA beer brand in the US this yr. And Athletic has become the #1 NA beer family in the country, still growing fast-paced double digits in 2025 scans.
HUSA $$ Down 6%, Vol -7% in Q1 NIQ Data; Heineken 0.0 Bright Spot, Especially in C-stores
Heineken USA sales declined 5.8% by $$ and 6.7% by volume YTD thru Mar 29 in NIQ channels. Heineken brand family volume dipped 5%, Dos Equis family was down 7% and Tecate down low-double-digits. Separately run biz unit, Lagunitas, declined nearly 8% YTD in NIQ data.
Heineken USA Q1 Revs and Volume Down High-Single Digits; "Weak Sentiment" Among Hispanics
"In the USA, organic net revenue (beia) and beer volume declined by a high-single-digit," reported Heineken this morn, "in a beer market particularly affected by weak sentiment among Hispanic consumers." One positive US note: Heineken 0.0 "grew by a high-single-digit, marking another consecutive quarter of growth." Interestingly, Heineken 0.0 "declined by a low-single-digit" globally, as "solid growth in the USA was more than offset by a slight decline in markets impacted by the timing of Easter and the phasing of orders to some key export markets," said Heineken. In a presentation, Heineken showed 0.0 down 2.7% globally, while brand Heineken up 4.6% and Heineken Silver up 31%, (even tho it's plummeting in US).
Hulk Hogan's Real American Beer pinned its first new partnerships since tag-teaming with WWE in Jan as new sponsor of the dirt-track World Racing Group. Having linked with Arena Football One in March to be league's Official Beer for 2025, this marks third foray into sports/entertainment for Hogan's "crushable" light lager. Real American Beer will serve as title sponsor/official beer of World of Outlaws Late Model Series and official beer of World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, Super DIRTcar Series and American Sprint Car Series.
As a second wave of dormant commerce clause cases started to crest, targeting self-distribution and direct sales privileges held by small in-state alc bev producers, legislative fixes had to be on the table. Earlier this year, folks in Idaho attempted to address just such a disparity. Idaho is one of 3 states defending against a fed lawsuit over a state law providing an exception to the 3-tier system to in-state but not out-of-state brewers. Wine and spirits producers filed similar suits in a handful of other states, claiming such laws unconstitutionally violate the dormant commerce clause.
BA Craft Production Down 4% in 2024; "New Realities of a Maturing Market"; Top 50 Ranking Shifts
Indie US craft brewers produced 23.1 mil bbls of beer in 2024, down 4% vs yr ago, the Brewers Association announced today in its annual production report. That's 3d straight yr of decline and a slightly steeper drop than 2023, with report highlighting the "new realities of a maturing market in a rapidly evolving environment." But while # of US craft breweries in operation fell to 9,612 for the first nationwide decline since 2005, closure rate "remained relatively low" at ~5%. Plus there were plenty of shifts among the top 50 BA-defined suppliers.