In a new ad campaign, Workaholics star Blake Anderson takes on a question likely popping up on college campuses around the county: Why does ready-to-drink cocktail BuzzBallz come in a round, tennis ball-sized bottle? But the bigger question might be how, despite an onslaught of new competitors, the cocktail bomb has become a RTD category leader over a decade after its launch?
BuzzBallz was started in 2010 by high school teacher Merrilee Kick, who while studying for her MBA got the idea for a single-serve cocktail packaged in bright spherical containers. A newbie to the industry, she was turned down by multiple lenders until she could leverage a home equity line and inheritance for a bank loan.
Over the following decade-plus, BuzzBallz has evolved into a $1 billion company that boasts distribution in all 50 states and 24 countries, with more on the way. At the start of the year, the brand ranked eighth among the 15 top-selling RTD cocktails, according to data from Bump Williams Consulting, with 292% revenue growth from 2019 to 2022, as reported by the company.
In addition to the 200ml, 15% ABV cocktail balls, BuzzBall’s Carrollton, Texas-based production facility now houses several brand lines under the Southern Champion umbrella, including agave wine cocktails Sip Sip Hooray and ready-to-serve Uptown Cocktails. It’s also bottling premium wine and spirits brands Andrew John’s Gin and Crooked Fox Bourbon. The 500,000 sq. ft. facility with more than 500 full-time employees is vertically integrated with blow mold, printing, filling and bottling capabilities.
There are a number of factors to the company’s success, and celebrity influence is not one of them— Anderson is its first partner. A distribution footprint, bolstered by its wine or spirit alcohol bases, may have given the company a leg-up before the pandemic accelerated RTD sales.
The product offers a hefty ABV at a bargain-bin price tag, and proudly flaunts that it’s woman-owned, an attribute increasingly important to younger, diverse consumers. BuzzBallz also comes in a dizzying number of flavors (13 core cocktails with seasonal offerings) and based on its TikTok fans, has lived up to its original inspiration as a “party ball.”
Wine-, Malt-, or Spirit-Based, They’ve Got it “Ball”
Kick, who was not made available for this story, was inspired by a crystal snowball from a stint living in Sweden for the shape of the cocktail, according to interviews. As she graded papers by the pool, an idea emerged to pair bright “party” cocktail balls with fun flavors: stuff like a green and yellow Tequila ’Rita or a Yoo-Hoo colored sphere for the creamy Choc Tease, two of the line’s best-selling flavors.
The founder, who comes from a family of scientists, researched liquor laws and designed a plastic container that would meet single-serve legal requirements, incorporate a metal top, and be food-safe and recyclable. Kick had worked as a radio anchor, voiceover artist and computer engineer, but she was new to the alcohol industry. As a teacher, she was denied by banks until receiving a $178,00 loan. It was enough for her to buy manufacturing equipment, and she launched the company.
BuzzBallz come in different lines: Cocktails are spirits-based, and Chillers are made with orange wine— not the funky varietals on trendy wine menus, this one is typically made from orange peels or grape skins and has been filtered for a neutral taste. It’s the same base used by competitors like BeatBox, which produces a malt version as well.
Southern Champion received a brewery license in 2020, adding the final piece to complement its winery and distillery. Last month, the company added a line of malt-based BuzzBallz, so it could find easier channel access in Pennsylvania. There are also multiserve Biggies (1.75 L) that are closer to bowling-ball sizes.
That base variation has been a strategy from Day One, with the idea of enabling customers to find the same “flavor” wherever they shop, a tactic replicated by hard seltzer brands Truly and Topo Chico, which have launched spirit-versions of malt-based RTDs. As of now, the wine-base version performs better than its spirit counterparts because of accessibility.
“We’re able to place those in convenience stores and grocery outlets in certain states that don’t have liquor licenses for their grocery and convenience stores,” BuzzBallz director of marketing Tia Wines told Brewbound.
The Play For Convenience and Value
As the company builds out its presence and its team internationally, the route-to-market will mirror its domestic strategy.
“We focus on building awareness of the brand through independent channels first, driving demand for the product to be more widely distributed by chain accounts,” Wines said.
Distribution initially began in Dallas convenience stores, and then expanded to Austin. The brand sold about 20,000 cases in its first year by focusing on independent convenience stores, successfully laying the groundwork to eventually expand to national chains.
While other RTDs and spirit companies have recently looked to beer distributors for inroads to the cold box, BuzzBallz has primarily worked with Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits since the beginning, except for several states. After having to convince Blair Casey, vice president of supplier management at Southern Glazer’s, to trial BuzzBallz in Texas, Casey joined Southern Champion as national vice president of sales and marketing in 2017.
Grocery is the second-largest channel for the company, (its first major grocery win was Walmart), and it is now zeroing in on more major grocers and increasing sales. A scroll through TikTok shows how the company has leveraged its unique packaging and low price (ranging from $2.99 to $3.99) to lure in customers at those convenience and grocery stores. The balls are found on cyclone racks, dump bins, cold box suction shelves, and at the register.
“We use strategic placement by the register for impulse purchases in certain stores and our unique packaging displays itself when on shelf or in the cold box,” Wines said. “For larger formatted stores, we utilize eye-catching display pieces that help our brand stand out amongst the crowded aisles.”
It’s a strategy that’s not too far off from BeatBox’s bright displays as it embarked on a push to increase sales in convenience channels last year. At that time, BuzzBallz was just ahead of BeatBox, which ranked fourth in RTD dollar sales in the convenience channel, increasing +78.4% YOY with nearly $81.9 million in dollar sales. The convenience channel has taken a strong foothold in BevAlc off-premise dollar growth in 2023, up +6.6% in the 52 weeks ending May 13, and last year RTD sales were up +4.6% in convenience stores according to NIQ. But like BeatBox, BuzzBallz has built much of its buzz online.
A Gen Z Party Ball Rolls In
The Anderson-led ad campaign, which will run on TV and social media this summer, captures the “fun” approach that Wines said has helped distinguish the brand. The campaign was planned after the company caught on that Anderson was an organic fan, mentioning the cocktail on his podcast with other Workaholic stars, “This is Important.”
“Each brand is different, it’s a scale of how comedic and how far out there can we get,” said Kia Zomorrodi, founder and chief creative officer of Los Angeles-based Bacon & Eggs Media, which produced the campaign. “And I think with BuzzBallz, it was a perfect fit of them letting us really push the envelope, because they don’t take themselves seriously.”
Not “taking themselves too seriously” has landed well with younger drinking generations: The sly and punny names were a millennial target, according to Kick in this Texas publication. The company yesterday released a flavor for the U.K. called Pornstar Martini.
While BuzzBallz might not align with certain emerging bev-alc trends like low-sugar or mindful drinking, its relaxed branding and novelty status has granted it some hype with Gen Z. The company doesn’t advertise on TikTok but user videos hashtagged #BuzzBallz (more than 14 million views) have displayed young people rolling the cocktails around for sport-like drinking games, competing in chug-offs, or even reusing the spheres for decoration.
Wines said the company doesn’t target specific demographics, maintaining that marketing to occasion and convenience are the company’s major plays. Innovation is also a feature, and seasonal flavors with cheeky names are a part of that approach, such as its annual eggnog release and a new seasonal cookie batter flavor, Cookie Nookie. Those flavors align with recent trends in nostalgic, sweet flavors in other categories.
Wines added that the company also aims to maintain a personal touch with users, adding that the CEO occasionally responds to customer emails. The “Buzz Club” program has also allowed the company to gather data on its drinkers, of which more than 13,000 have signed up since its launch in 2019. Members are able to earn points for swag rewards based on uploading receipts data, or completing quarterly reviews, games, and surveys.
“We’ve noticed the people that love BuzzBallz are very passionate about the brand,” Wines said. “So we don’t really have to force any kind of messaging on them, we kind of just let our brand be whatever it is to them that they need it to be.”