The fourth-largest beverage brand in the U.S. market, Gatorade, is launching an energy drink, which is cool, but I’m more interested in what the Fast Twitch product announcement means to entire sports nutrition portfolio strategy at the beverage CPG giant PepsiCo (NASDAQ: PEP). That being said, I do run through all the Gatorade Fast Twitch product details (e.g. formula and packaging), along with where the energy drink will be merchandised in large retailers. With it's lack of carbonation, Gatorade Fast Twitch potentially offers the growing $16 billion U.S. energy drink market (and large retailer energy sets) a potential strong level of incrementality. Gatorade Fast Twitch will not be the next billion-dollar energy drink brand, but it does fill a consumer pain point for those that use performance energy drinks before a workout or sports activity. Additionally, I cover the aggressive innovation strategy that PepsiCo has taken with Gatorade as of late including the launch of Gatorade Zero, Gatorade Zero with Protein, Gatorlyte, Gatorade Fit, and Fast Twitch. After the early 2019 acquisition of CytoSport (aka Muscle Milk), PepsiCo has been relatively inactive and I thought it would end up being just another sad story of a large CPG company buying a sports and active nutrition legacy brand and letting it fizzle away...but, then I got the heads up from someone that noticed PepsiCo began listing Muscle Milk and Evolve products on the Gatorade website. In the latter part of the content, I explore if PepsiCo is possibly "merging" its sports nutrition brands together? If so, what does that mean long-term? Finally, I cover the competitive landscape and categorical shifts of the U.S. sports drink market that Gatorade still owns about a 70 percent share.

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Sleep matters A LOT. Sleep is truly an interdisciplinary aspect of our health. Yet, if I was tasked to describe in one word the current state of sleep in America, I would use lackluster. Why? A recent Gallup poll showed that around 84 million Americans would describe their sleep the previous night as “fair” or “poor” but also 55% report that getting good sleep is a “major priority.” This is partly the reason why the demand for sleep support supplements has been exploding, but is the functional CPG industry ready to meet the evolving consumer needs and wants of this now much larger market? I run though the recent sales market activity, which ingredients are most popular now and in the future, which product formats are trending, and sleep friendly food and beverage growth. Finally, I run through a few reasons why I'm long-term bullish on the sleep health category.

This content was supported by NuLiv Science. If you’re interested in obtaining more information around why brands are formulating with NuLiv Science ingredients to take their products to the next level, head over to https://nulivscience.com/ or reach out to me directly and I’ll connect you with the relevant team member.

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What the heck is going on at Laird Superfood (NYSE: LSF)? At one point in February 2021, the company had a market capitalization of almost a half a billion dollars but is now getting takeover offers at 95% less. At it's core, Laird Superfood is still perfectly positioned inside the CPG triangle of better for you, plant-based, and functional. That being said, category competitiveness was always going to catch up to Laird Superfood. Along with the absurdly poor stock performance, Laird Superfood has had its share of business struggles that start and end with a cost structure that needs drastic improvement. With new CEO Jason Vieth leading Laird Superfood in 2022, you can start to see some signs of positive change. Because of that (and it being a lowball offer), Laird Superfood cannot and should not take the unsolicited offer from EF Hutton. I do though think Laird Superfood would be better off transforming its business to achieve its long-term goals outside of the unforgiving spotlight of Wall Street. That leaves Laird Superfood with maybe the following path…they could go back to EF Hutton to negotiate a higher price, but at the end of the day, EF Hutton just wants to value hunt, improve fundamentals, and then flip it to a big CPG portfolio. So, why would Laird Superfood do that when they already have a Big CPG portfolio as one of its biggest investors? Is it finally time for Danone to acquire Laird Superfood?

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Am I the only one that thinks the music is about to stop again during the energy drinks version of the musical chairs game? Last week, you might have seen a pair of Bloomberg article headlines that said Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) was in talks to acquire the owner of Bang Energy and then quickly another that denied that M&A rumor. Either way, it brought back memories of my KDP prediction video from October 2021 (link below) that had some fun with the 2021 KDP Investor Day announcement that the beverage giant would have $20 billion in fire power to make several M&A moves. One of those beverage categories that I explored (arguably the most important) was the energy drinks category. This is because energy drinks are the most desirable category in the entire beverage industry due to high profitability and high sales velocity. In terms of the energy drinks category, KDP would rank far behind its two main competitors PepsiCo and Coca-Cola (plus they also trail far behind the two global alcohol distributors and a collection of independent energy drink brands). That categorical butt whipping CANNOT continue…especially if you’re KDP’s new CEO that took control of the beverage portfolio at the beginning of August 2022. So, do they acquire Bang Energy? If not, which energy drinks brand makes the most sense?

KDP M&A Prediction YouTube Video

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Pivotal is an interview-style segment that tackles topics in consumer packaged goods (CPG) and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) from the business leaders that live it EVERY DAY! If you’re an OG consumer of my content, you might recognize this episode’s guest. That’s because he was also the guest on Pivotal episode number one way back in August 2018. While repeating guests won’t be commonplace, I felt like since a lot has changed in the last four years for both of us, I needed to run it back with my longtime friend and CEO/Founder of IWON Organics Mark Samuel. A few years ago, Mark committed to daily “off the cuff” value-oriented LinkedIn posts. A small decision that has now snowballed into a powerful personal brand that pays countless dividends to IWON Organics. Mark also shares how his entrepreneurial journey hasn’t always been filled with wins, but a “never quit” optimistic mindset has made him comfortable in the chaos. That carries into us talking shop about the current state of the CPG industry…the changing marketplace, margin pressure, and the impending recession. These are just some of the fascinating areas we chatted about in this episode...

Mark Samuel LinkedIn

Mark Samuel Pivotal Ep.1 (2018) = https://youtu.be/Fi2QRYOhG1Y

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Is Glanbia the bellwether for the supplement industry or will things change in the second half of 2022? Glanbia Performance Nutrition had 2022 H1 revenue growth of 14.9% YoY on a constant currency basis from strong pricing increases. They also benefitted from the mid-2021 acquisition of LevlUp, a gamer (esports) nutrition brand. Glanbia Performance Nutrition is one of two wholly-owned segments of Glanbia plc (LON:GLB), a multi-billion dollar global nutrition company. The brands in the Glanbia Performance Nutrition portfolio include; Optimum Nutrition, BSN, think!, Isopure, Amazing Grass, and SlimFast. I'll use the recent earnings report, earnings call, and associated news to update you on how Glanbia Nutritionals and Glanbia Performance Nutrition is performing against the complex operating environment. Additionally, I'll dive deeper into Glanbia Performance Nutrition sales channel, product format, and categorial performance (performance nutrition, healthy lifestyle, weight management, and international). Finally, I share a collection of hot takes or things I’m left pondering about Glanbia at this current time, which includes the Slim Fast overhaul, Glanbia Performance Nutrition outlook that might give hints to the entire supplement (and sports nutrition) industry, and why more activist investor noise might be ahead for Glanbia.

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Did you know that the specialty supplement retailer GNC had a venture investing platform? This is broadly known as corporate venture capital. It’s essentially a practice where a large corporate entity takes an equity stake in a small but innovative or specialist company with the objective of gaining a specific competitive advantage. As an alternative to traditional acquisitions, companies are making more of these minority investments. In fact, corporate venture capital now accounts for nearly a quarter of all venture capital investing and its deal value have increased more than tenfold over the past decade. When most people familiar with corporate venture capital think about the concept, they tend to beeline towards large tech companies, but this type of investing is done by every sector in the economy. That includes retailers, especially those that have the financial wherewithal. These retailer-owned (or affiliated) venture funds and/or incubators formed by retailers is becoming more common as retailers are having to evolve more rapidly to meet the needs of customers. I'll run through some recent retailer venture fund announcements and explain the different main forms, which includes improving customer experience capabilities and supporting smaller consumer brands (sometimes to further a cause). Finally, I breakdown GNC Ventures, which has made three investments in the last year (RealEats, GLAXON, and PlantFuel)...and explain what could be next for the retailer's renewed strategic focus on innovation.

GNC "Store of the Future"

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The haters are coming out of the woodwork after the PepsiCo and Celsius Holdings deal, but can’t we all be collegial and appreciate just how impressive its growth story has been? Celsius Holdings (NASDAQ: CELH) hit another record quarterly revenue ($154 million - up 137% YoY) and represented its 16th consecutive quarter of sequential growth for the energy drinks brand. While Celsius energy drinks saw massive growth in convenience stores, mass retailers like Walmart, the club channel, and the Amazon marketplace...the big news this quarter was the announced distribution and investment agreement between PepsiCo and Celsius Holdings. Celsius energy drinks were again biggest brand driver of growth to the energy drink category. Add in the PepsiCo deal, and a lot of competitors have gotten chirpy about Celsius Holdings. The category is growing immensely with no signs of stopping anytime soon, as more consumers get over preconceived notions that energy drinks are sugar-filled devil beverages. What Celsius Holdings needs to do is tune out the noise…both the good and the bad and focus on this PepsiCo transition. Celsius needs to build inventory to fill the PepsiCo system. It also needs to over-communicate to all stakeholders from old DSD partners to PepsiCo team members to internal Celsius employees from corporate to the field.  This is its biggest near-term risk and opportunity.

PepsiCo & Celsius Holdings Deal | Energy Drinks Market Potential Impacts

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Did Netflix just create an ‘in real life” entertainment CPG go-to-market playbook? While I appreciated the expansiveness, sharper storylines, amazing cinematography, and darker nature of Season 4 like most other fans of Stranger Things, the CPG industry strategist in me couldn’t help but notice something else…Surfer Boy Pizza. This was a fake pizza restaurant chain that had a reoccurring theme throughout Season 4, but did you know that you could actually buy a real Surfer Boy Pizza at Walmart? The “in real life” Surfer Boy Pizza was just as much of a masterpiece as Stranger Things Season 4. It used to be pretty rare to find real products in movies, but over the last century product placement has become such a big business. This has caused media companies to have an overreliance on product placement and Netflix is showing the entertainment industry that its lack of creativity and utilization of fictional brands might be a big mistake. I breakdown why Netflix changed its consumer products strategy and what's likely next for them in their battle with Disney. What Netflix did with Surfer Boy Pizza was special, but this sort of reverse product placement, aka going from entertainment placement to CPG and not CPG placed in entertainment, isn’t completely new (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory). That being said, life has a way of imitating art, especially when there’s money to be made. So, in the final part of this content, I run through five of my favorite fictionalized CPG brands from movies that could have made a killing (maybe even literally) crossing over into real life.

CC: Limitless, Coming to America, Anchorman, Fight Club, and The Stuff

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Will Dymatize have enough power remaining in its growth story to make up for some predicted Premier Protein headwinds from a product recall? As I normally do with my performance update content of publicly-traded functional CPG brands, I will use the recently filled earnings report, earnings conference call, and any relevant publicly disclosed news, in this case it’s Bellring Brands (NYSE: BRBR) 2022 Q3 earnings release, to obviously update you on the performance of brands in that portfolio, but also use it as the backdrop to discuss market insights within the active nutrition formats of the liquids, powders, and bars. BellRing Brands is a portfolio that owns a collection of convenient nutrition brands like Premier Protein, Dymatize Nutrition, Powerbar, and Joint Juice, which was previously wholly-owned by Post Holdings. A fast-paced and busy lifestyle is pushing consumers to switch to quick and healthy meal options. This has resulted in the increased household penetration of RTD protein shakes that promote active lifestyles. Bellring Brands had a strong 2022 Q3 with net sales reaching $370.6 million, which was up 8.2% YoY. Premier Protein (81% of BellRing Brands total revenue) grew 7.3% YoY because it was able to exercise pricing power because of its strong brand equity in the inflationary market. Dymatize Nutrition was up 16.8% YoY stemming from price increases. Finally, I provide some details around the Premier Protein voluntary product recall from its contract manufacturer Lyons-Magnus and explain if I think it will cause any long-term issues to the company's reputation and the reputation of the product in question.

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