Buffing up the team

Fitness water brand Buff Water signed Canadian Football League athlete Hugh Charles, a running back for the Edmonton Eskimos, to its brand team. In addition to serving as a Buff Water brand ambassador, Charles will regularly contribute blog entries on the brand’s website and participate in social media activities as the Eskimos prepare for the 2014 football season this spring. He also is dedicated to educating his fellow athletes about Buff Water’s hydration and creatine-like benefits, including improved performance, delayed muscle fatigue, and greater-than-normal gains in muscle size and strength, according to the brand.

Pinning for pleasure

In celebration of the launch of its Sorbet Light Pineapple Coconut reduced-calorie vodka, Smirnoff is hosting a “Guiltless Pleasures” Pinterest contest. Through March 26, fans can enter at smirnoffsorbetlight.com by pinning their guiltless pleasures along with a brief description and the hashtag #smirnoffsorbet. Three winners will receive $5,000 to help bring their pin to life.

Road trip

Cognac brand Hennessy V.S. embarked on a 15-week, 9,000-mile journey across the country to bring its “Never stop. Never settle.” mantra to life. The nationwide tour celebrates Sir Malcolm Campbell’s historic chase to shatter nine land-speed records between 1924 and 1935, the company says. The tour will stop in 20 cities and at four military bases through the end of April to show off a 24-foot-long replica of Campbell’s racecar. The exhibit also will feature a visual retrospective of Campbell’s career highlights, samples of Hennessy mixed drinks, and an airing of “The Man Who Couldn’t Slow Down,” a 60-second film narrated by hip-hop artist Nas. Tourstop visitors also can enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win a trip to the Hennessy Distillery in Cognac, France, and the Formula 1 Academy in Nice, France.

Customized contours

Best known for its drinking glasses that are designed for specific wine varietals, Riedel is bringing its expertise to the soft drinks category. In collaboration with The Coca-Cola Co., the glassware brand developed the contoured Coca-Cola + Riedel glass, which marks Riedel’s first step outside of the alcohol segment, it says. To determine the precise shape of the glass, Riedel’s owner led a tasting panel of top flavor experts who tasted Coca-Cola from numerous glasses of different shapes and sizes. The panel unanimously determined that the resulting glass delivers the optimal Coca-Cola taste experience. Additionally, the glass was inspired by the original Coca-Cola “Contour” bottle, which was patented in 1915, it says.

A bicultural beat

 As a tie-in with popular Latin American alternative rock and art festival Vive Latino, Mexican beer brand Indio launched “Vive Indio Vive Latino.” The campaign is designed to connect with bicultural millennials of legal drinking age and give them an opportunity to celebrate their culture. Vive Indio Vive Latino also offered fans a chance to win a trip to the event in Mexico City at the end of March. Indio invited fans to submit videos via Instagram showcasing their unique talents and tag them with the hashtag #mis15segundos or #my15seconds for a chance to win. The campaign also is supported by point-of-sale materials with a music theme as well as cross-promotions with snacks and other items in select states.  

Inspirationally social

Caribou Coffee started out asking its fans a simple question on Pinterest: “What inspires you?” Those responses evolved into a new product and a 64-foot-tall living Pinterest board inside the Mall of America near Minneapolis. Also after posing the question to consumers, the company selected 250 “pins” and created Real Inspiration Blend coffee. Designed to inspire dreamers to become doers, the coffee marks the company’s first product to launch simultaneously at grocery stores and Caribou coffeehouses. To promote the coffee, the company took over the Rotunda in the Mall of America and created a giant Pinterest board showcasing the pins that inspired the new coffee. The board also offered shoppers interactive experiences that were designed to inspire them to pursue their passions, the company says.

Beer-flavored jelly beans 

With craft beer continuing to stimulate the beer category in terms of growth, many companies are looking to capitalize on the segment’s success — even candy companies. After three years of product development, Jelly Belly Candy Co. introduced its first beer-flavored jelly bean. More specifically, it is styled after hefeweizen ale, which pays homage to the company’s German ancestry, the company says. Draft Beer Jelly Belly jelly beans feature a clean flavor profile with notes of wheat and a touch of sweetness without any alcohol content, it adds. According to Jelly Belly, beer has been a highly requested flavor by its consumers for decades.

Put a cap on it  

After spending two years in development, NuTech Beverage Inc.’s Flavor Blast dispensing caps have hit the market. Like other dispensing caps, the product protects the ingredients inside from degradation before releasing them into the water solution below. However, unlike other dispensing caps, Flavor Blast dispensing caps feature a functional sport cap. To release the ingredients, consumers should push down on the cap. To take a sip of the beverage, they can pull up on the cap and then push it back down to reseal it. The caps were designed to replace the existing caps on most water bottles in the marketplace, the company says.