Tasked with creating a promotional product; finding instead a new proprietary “pre-tox” natural energy drink product and ultra-contemporary sub-brand for a new target audience
Client:
Wieden | SoCo
Wieden had a small promotional budget from their client Southern Comfort for doing on-site promotions to gain adoption from a new potential demo entering their space, 21–25 year old “alcohol switchers”. They tasked Wieden with making mixers for the event. Wieden brought EGG in to determine the flavors/formulas for 3 mixers, brand extension packaging, find and validate contract manufacturers for them, and adjust to create a per unit cost to fit into the overall promotional budget.
SoCo’s revenues were dwindling as their core customers were aging and moving into less alcoholic/healthier frequency alcohol (e.g. wine). New drinkers (21–25) are the biggest new target segment opportunity; as the highest volume alcohol consumers and lowest loyalty to other alcohol brands up until their early 30s. However, this segment’s primary alcohol was vodka, and they reported they did not like the flavor of Southern Comfort, excepting a minority when SoCo was mixed with fruit juices, primarily orange juice.
There was a trend, skewing female, towards shared ironic consumption of SoCo similar to the Americana-retro movement with old brands such as Pabst Blue Ribbon with this generational segment. Finally, women in this cell admitted they preferred sweet beverages, but as “long as they were healthier than the alternatives”.
Given SoCo was established itself as the “sweet whiskey” in its category a few decades ago, pushing this definer to the front of communication with tropical juice healthy mixers was both on-segment and competitively sound.
The biggest product segment growth in beverage, for the last decade, has been energy drinks. Yet RedBull’s ($1+ billion) dominance had been in decline for 2 years. While EGG found contract manufacturers for the SoCo promotional mixer project, it also discovered “upstream” perennial tropical fruit/juice suppliers that were under-capacity and thus ones that would contract at a 20%–30% discount to domestic processors. Herbal energy suppliers could also make our prototype formula for a “pre-tox” mix. Together, this made this a feasible and viable opportunity for SoCo.
01 //
We determined the 80/20 in current mixer use, located and negotiated with package suppliers, co-packers (fillers), and fresh fruit juice suppliers. In the process, we realized traditional. In addition, one of Southern Comfort’s long-term competitive advantages was distribution, with over 32,000 doors throughout the U.S. Looking at the continued growth in energy drinks as mixers (e.g. Red Bull and ), found alternative natural energy boosters, a handful that had recently been proven as rapid detoxification, and formulated and tested blends with natural juice as mixer. We delivered a mock package design & cost and set-up for the serving 2 purposes.
Providing branded mixers for an event
Testing and proving a new (patentable) “all-natural energy drink mixer” with unique “pre-tox” (preventative detox recovery) FDA approved herbs that tasted great.
But instead of it serving to try to convert SoCo, could utilize their brand blocking across 34,000 locations to introduce the country’s first all-natural “pre-tox” mixer to all drinking segments, and for use (as a massive cross-sell and competitor brand Trojan-horse) with all other major promoted alcohol types/competitors. (Vodka).
02 //
Produced and distributed into all outlets (Q3 ’17), company successfully sold at premium.
03 // Next
The SoCo brand was sold along with Tuaca as part of a $543.5M deal to Sazerac Company.
Annual contribution: $23,529,660
Annual new profit stream: $10,341,061
