Green Mountain Coffee ranked as the coffee brand of the year above Folgers, Dunkin’ Donuts and Millstone in Harris Interactive’s 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend study.
Beam Inc., Deerfield, Ill., announced a definitive agreement with White Rock Distilleries, Lewiston, Maine, to acquire Pinnacle Vodka, Calico Jack rum and other related assets for $605 million in cash. Pinnacle Vodka’s 2012 volumes are expected to exceed 3 million 9-liter cases and will significantly enhance Beam’s presence in the growing vodka category, the company said.
The Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta, reported its solid first quarter 2012 results with strong volume and revenue growth as well as volume and value share gains across every non-alcohol ready-to-drink beverage category in which it competes, the company said. All geographic operating groups delivered volume growth in the quarter, with global volume increasing 5 percent, North American volume rising 2 percent and international volume growing 6 percent in the first quarter of 2012.
PepsiCo, Purchase, N.Y., announced a multi-year partnership with Family Dollar Stores Inc., Matthews, N.C., to sell PepsiCo’s beverages in 7,100 stores across 45 states. The multi-year partnership will provide Family Dollar shoppers with access to a variety of products from PepsiCo’s North American beverage portfolio, including Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sierra Mist, Aquafina and Lipton teas.
Accounting for more than 52 million people in the United States, Latinos are expected to represent the majority of the population growth during the next five years and have become prominent influences in all aspects of American life, according to New York City-based Nielsen’s “The State of the Hispanic Consumer: The Hispanic Market Imperative” report. Nielsen projects that the buying power of Latinos, which in 2010 ranked at $1 trillion, will increase 50 percent to $1.5 trillion by 2015.
Natural Products Expo West hosted more than 2,000 exhibiting companies and in excess of 60,000 attendees March 8-11 in Anaheim, Calif. Among the exhibitors were about 540 new companies, according to the trade show.
Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Plano, Texas, collaborated with Marvel Entertainment for a limited-edition collectible can series, an online game and a new commercial organized around the upcoming feature film “Marvel’s The Avengers.”
Honest Tea, the Bethesda, Md.-based subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta, will host “The Great Recycle” in New York City’s Time Square on April 30. Designed to support the city’s pledge to double recycle efforts by 2017, Honest Tea and its partners — GrowNYC, Recyclebank, Coca-Cola Live Positively, Global Inheritance and Five-Boro Green Services — will place a 30-foot-tall recycling bin in Times Square. The goal is to crowd-source recycle more than 45,000 plastic, glass and aluminum beverage containers in 10 hours on April 30, the company says.
Chicago-based Technomic’s Adult Beverage Resource Group reported that the Top 250 spirits brands grew 3.1 percent in total volume in 2011, which is slightly lower than the total market’s 3.5 percent increase. Deerfield, Ill.-based Beam Inc.’s Skinnygirl Cocktails outpaced all other brands with a 388 percent gain to break the 500,000 case mark and rank as the fastest-growing brand, according to Technomic.
Heineken USA, White Plains, N.Y., honored Harbor Distributing LLC, Anaheim, Calif., and Mission Beverage Co. , Los Angeles, with its fifth annual 1864 Award for Responsibility, which recognizes partners that embrace the values of moderation and responsibility. The awards were presented at Heineken USA’s annual National Distributor Conference in Atlanta last week.
RSS