It seems the beverage industry continues to go through some form of consolidation. Big Red Inc. – one of North America’s Top 10 beverage organizations – has acquired Xyience effective immediately. Xyience – one of the more well-known energy drink brands through their sports sponsorships – now joins a drink portfolio that includes Big Red Soda, Hydrive Energy Water, Nesbitt’s, and Thomas Kemper Soda. While many things may change for Xyience in the future, one thing has already changed as a result of this acquisition: Xyience has ended its UFC sponsorship. Will ending this sponsorship hurt Xyience’s growth among their core demographic? How else will their communicate to this group of consumers? Will the gains from being part of Big Red’s system outweigh Xyience existing as a standalone energy drink company? What benefits Xyience in this arrangement?
One major factor: Big Red’s national footprint. Xyience had been working well to gain distribution, winning more doors and regions over the past few years. However, most of these distribution gains have occurred along the coasts. There are many areas within the U.S. that Xyience products cannot be found. Joining Big Red gives Xyience national distribution by piggybacking off of Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPSG), which is a national distributor and delivers to three-quarters of all Big Red retail accounts. This change alone provides significant gains for Xyience, allowing the energy drink to challenge Red Bull, Monster, and Rockstar across more geographies. The best part is that this is organic growth, where Xyience can rely on their brand name to help them do some of the work.
Beyond distribution gains, another growth opportunity for Xyience would be to broaden its target audience. While the energy drink manufacturer owns a niche following among a select group of consumers, appealing to more consumer groups will help this brand evolve from its current state to a much larger energy drink player. Hence ending their UFC sponsorship. Gary Smith – Big Red’s CEO – said as much:
“I’m just gonna soften it (their image) up a little bit, make it a little less hardcore than the image that it’s got today.”
Ending the sponsorship won’t immediately alienate their niche consumers, but provides the opportunity to reach other consumer groups.
If managed properly, Xyience may be primed for explosive growth following its Big Red acquisition. The brand is very recognizable and will be available in more places where consumers will recognize them. And in the distant future after new consumer marketing content is built, they will certainly be challenging Red Bull, Monster, and Rockstar for share of mind in addition to share of shelf.
BevWire 