Vita Cocoa Water.
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For nearly two decades, life cocoa has marketed its coconut water as a new way to hydrate health-conscious consumers. This year, it’s changing pitch.
Beverage company growing its namesake brand with partnerships in new use cases and opportunities diego Marketing the drink on a canned cocktail and as a hangover aid.
Co-founder Mike Kirban compared Vita Coco’s transformation to Ocean Spray, an agricultural cooperative selling cranberry products.
“Ocean Spray is a brand that’s four times the size of ours, all based on one ingredient,” the company’s executive chairman told CNBC. “And we should be bigger than Ocean Spray pretty quickly, because I think coconuts are cooler than cranberries.”
Founded in 2004, Vita Coco began as a coconut water brand, but has since expanded into other beverage categories, such as energy drinks and water. Its namesake brand still accounts for three-quarters of the company’s revenue, reaching $335.8 million in the first nine months of 2022.
company went public In October 2021, the war in Ukraine and economic uncertainty weighed on investors, just before the market for initial public offerings dried up as inflation.
Vita Coco’s stock is up less than 1% since its IPO, but it’s outperformed many other consumer companies that went public around the same time, such as sweet green And all birds,
In May, Kirbon transitioned from co-CEO to his current role at the company, leaving boston beer Veteran Martin Roper as sole chief executive – another step in Vita Coco’s evolution.
Disadvantages of Coke and Pepsi, Benefits of Vita Cocoa
Just months before Vita Coco’s IPO, both Coca-Cola And PepsiCo Coconut water came out. Coke sold Zico back to its founder because it was getting diluted DepartmentAnd Pepsi Offloaded to ONE $3.3 billion in sales in its juice business.
Despite the beverage giants’ size, they have been unable to compete with Vita Coco, which is credited with bringing coconut water to the US and still holds 50% of the market, excluding its private-label business.
His exit from the segment opened up a new distribution route for Vita Coca. As long as Coke and Pepsi were in the coconut water business, their contracts with venues ranging from stadiums to college campuses excluded Vita Coco.
With the momentum for new growth opportunities, Vita Cocoa is now entering bars and restaurants. The first phase of the plan involves teaming up with Diageo for three canned cocktails combining Captain Morgan rum and Vita Coco coconut water: a mojito, a pina colada and a strawberry daiquiri.
“If you go to Brazil or Southeast Asia, you mix coconut water with cocktails,” Kirbon said. “With Diageo, the idea is to start a habit of drinking coconut water cocktails with ready-to-drink consumers.”
Kirbon said Vita Coco would partner with a spirits company for its broader on-premises expansion plans, but declined to name the partner.
Over the years, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage companies have been shake hands, Leaning on expertise to gain each other’s brand equity and so-called “throat share”. For example, Captain Morgan can introduce itself to Vita Coco’s health-conscious, younger consumers, while Vita Coco benefits from Rum’s mass-market appeal.
the morning after
Vita Coco is also leaning into its reputation as a hangover “cure.”
Since late 2019, the brand has used New Year’s Day as a way to pitch hangover recovery kits and subscriptions that showcase its products in collaboration with Postmates, Lyft, and Reef Kitchen.
this year partnering with Doordash For promotion the Monday morning after the Super Bowl.
The marketing strategy is somewhat of a reversal after years of opposing the association.
“With our board, there were always discussions,” Kirbon said. “When you talk about marketing, are we supposed to talk about hangovers? Is it okay to talk about us?”
And it’s not done there. After the hangover subsides, Vita Cocoa wants to be the non-dairy milk in your coffee.
In late January, the brand announced that it had partnered with Alfred Coffee, a high-end chain with locations in California and Texas, to create a non-dairy coconut milk for the use of its baristas. Could
Vita Coco plans to expand a product designed specifically for coffee—different from the coconut milk it sells in supermarkets nationwide—to other coffee shops and eventually store shelves.