SunnyD to Crossover into Alcoholic Beverages with Vodka Seltzer
The next popular non-alcoholic beverage brand to crossover into alcoholic beverages is SunnyD.
Images of packaging for SunnyD Vodka Seltzer began popping up on social media over the weekend and Vine Pair posted the label filed with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) this week, which stated that the brand is being distributed by American Beverage Corporation, a subsidiary of SunnyD owner Harvest Hill Beverage Company. A press release announcing the launch of the brand notes it is entering “the hard seltzer space.”
SunnyD Vodka Seltzer (4.5% ABV, 95 calories, 0g of added sugar) is sold in 12 oz. slim can 4-packs with a suggested retail price of $9.99. The offering is gluten free and “made with real juice and natural ingredients.”
“Consumers are passionate about this iconic brand, rooted in nostalgia but with a taste that resonates today. Many have told us that they enjoy SunnyD as a mixer and asked for this product,” Ilene Bergenfeld, Harvest Hill Beverage Company CMO, said in a press release. “So, we looked at the hard seltzer category, and thought, good, but we can do better. And SunnyD Vodka Seltzer was born.”
A call out on the brand’s website, SunnyDCocktails.com, encourages consumers to “find us at Walmart” and a FAQ on the site adds that the brand will be carried by Total Wine & More and independent alcohol retailers. The press release adds that the brand is “rolling out nationwide,” with features in “select Walmart stores,” starting Saturday, March 11.
SunnyD, which was founded in 1963, is owned by Harvest Hill, which also markets Daily’s Cocktails. According to the TTB filing, the product is produced in Cold Spring, Minnesota, home of the Cold Spring contract brewing facility.
The launch of another non-alcoholic brand into the alcoholic beverage realm comes as similar products have received increased scrutiny from lawmakers and trade groups. Bernstein Autonomous analyst Trevor Sterling called SunnyD’s foray into bev-alc “an egregious example” of “irresponsible marketing of U.S. beer and near-beer.”
Bernstein analysts Sterling and Nadine Sarwat previously co-authored an op-ed cautioning that the beverage-alcohol industry “is at risk of a ‘Joe Camel’ blow-up” leading to a “public furor over irresponsible marketing glorifying alcohol brands amongst the underaged.” due to four factors: higher ABV offerings, sweet/sugary liquids, the combination of alcohol and caffeine and other stimulants, and cross-over/line-extensions of soft drink brands.
However, the Bernstein analysts note that there is no regulatory authority covering the issue of irresponsible marketing in the U.S.
Molson Coors Adds Simply Spiked Peach Flavor
As the brand nears its first birthday, Molson Coors’ Simply Spiked is adding a new flavor to the family. Simply Spiked Peach will roll out beginning March 27, the company announced.
“Simply Spiked Peach is a certified crowd pleaser,” Molson Coors VP of innovation for North America Jamie Wideman said during the company’s distributor conference in September. “It will be highly incremental to our lemonade pack. In fact, of all the concepts we tested, peach had the strongest reach of incremental consumers following our Simply Spiked Lemonade.”
Peach flavors are expected to take off in the coming years, with the fruit “expected to outperform 90% of all other food and beverage ingredients, resulting in a 137% boost in peach-flavored total alcohol and beer dollar sales over four years,” Molson Coors wrote, citing market research firm Circana, formerly known as IRI.
“Peach is something our fans have been asking for since the first day Simply Spiked was in market,” Simply Spiked senior marketing manager Josh McDonald said in a press release.
Molson Coors will also juice the new Peach offering with a brand integration in Peacock’s Bel-Air.
Since its June 2022 launch, the Simply Spiked variety pack has reached $62.8 million in off-premise dollar sales through January 29, according to IRI.
In addition to Peach’s launch, the Simply Spiked brand has rolled out 6-packs of Simply Spiked Signature Lemonade, a variety 24-pack of existing flavors and 24 oz. single-serve cans of Simply Spiked Blueberry Lemonade.
The 5% ABV juice-forward, flavored malt beverage (FMB) is brewed under a license agreement with Coca-Cola, which owns the non-alcoholic Simply juice brand.
Anheuser-Busch Releases LTO Bud Light Seltzer Sangria Splash Variety Pack
Anheuser-Busch InBev (A-B) has extended its Bud Light Seltzer hard seltzer brand with a new limited-time offering (LTO): Bud Light Seltzer Sangria Splash.
The LTO is available in a variety 12-pack with four flavors: Red Sangria Style, White Sangria Style, Rose Sangria Style and Tropical Sangria Style. Each 12 oz. slim can is 5% ABV with two grams of sugar and 110 calories.
Sangria Splash is also the first Bud Light Seltzer offering to launch under A-B’s new campaign: “100% Hard Seltzer, 0% Beer.”
More than half of consumers (54%) believe Bud Light Seltzer has beer in it, according to an A-B spokesperson. This is despite the brand releasing ads in 2021 assuring fans there was no beer in the hard seltzer and blurring out the Bud Light logo.
“Since our inception, Bud Light Seltzer has always been about bringing new, bold, and delicious hard seltzer flavors to market, BUT due to our Bud Light name people still think there is beer in our great tasting seltzer; 54% of people to be exact,” Steve Wolf, VP of marketing for Bud Light extensions, said in a press release. “That’s why our new campaign makes it crystal clear – Bud Light Seltzer is ‘100% Hard Seltzer, 0% Beer.’”
The new campaign is a “intentional shift to elevate the brands look and feel” and “directly juxtaposes beer, showing-off [Bud Light Seltzer’s] bright colors and lightness.” The campaign will debut with a TV spot titled “Truckin’ Bubbles,” which features Sangria Splash.
In the ad, a bright blue Bud Light Seltzer truck is driving through a brown desert. The truck then hits a bump and spills out colorful hard seltzer bubbles, which float around and brighten up the area.
A-B is also releasing a new card game to accompany the campaign. “Misconceptions,” made in partnership with the party card game company Rabble, is a “tabletop card game” where players aged 21 and older must “decipher what is fact and what is misconception.” The “game of fact vs. fiction” features the Bud Light Seltzer logo on its cover.
Boston Beer’s Jim Beam Kentucky Coolers Begin Hitting Retailers
Jim Beam Kentucky Coolers, the FMB family born out of Boston Beer Company’s joint venture with Beam Suntory, have begun hitting retail shelves. Brewbound first reported on the product’s introduction in October during the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) trade show in Las Vegas.
Jim Beam Kentucky Coolers (5% ABV, 120 calories) are sold in single-flavor 6-packs ($9.99 suggested retail price), single-serve cans ($3.49) and variety 12-packs ($16.99 suggested retail price) in four flavors: Strawberry Punch, Citrus Punch, Black Cherry Lemonade, and Sweet Tea Lemonade. Retailers carrying the product include Kroger, Walmart, Total Wine and Albertsons.
“We are proud to have created a product that directly addresses what consumers are looking for in the RTD market – a full flavored beverage at 120 calories,” Heather Boyd, Beam Suntory Managing Director of RTDs, North America, said in a press release.