In my world, hearing about (this or that) successful brand or person launching a new energy drink has become an almost weekly occurrence. I could understand how a casual market observer could easily get desensitized to it…or maybe even a bit dismissive like some pundits seem to have gotten about the trending functional beverage category. But I’ve tried to pride myself on deciphering what’s noise from who’s actually making music. When the energy drink brand Juvee launched in October 2022, I could tell there was some intent behind pairing the right audience and right product…plus choosing to launch with (and continue to support early) instant delivery partners like GoPuff. Additionally, what I believed was the smart decision to not make Juvee explicitly about the esports/gaming market despite having unique provenance within the hardcore of that growing niche market. But it was after an industry friend in common connected me with Sam Keene, Co-Founder of Juvee…that all my earlier thoughts started to make a lot more sense. In our conversation, Sam and I cover everything from how his early years at Red Bull had an outsized impact on the creation of Juvee a handful of years later. We also share insights about the growing importance of having an established audience/community when building within the CPG industry. Additionally, we talked through the interesting details behind last month’s acquisition of Juvee by the beverage portfolio Sprecher Brewing. Moreover, we explore what Sam’s most excited about post-deal…from the Juvee growth plan to his new CMO role being able to bring stories to life for each of the Sprecher brands. But those are just some of the interesting topics we talked about in this episode...

FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS