DEALBOARD
The Big One Edition —
Coca-Cola Co.
Buys Glaceau
The Cash: $4.1 billion in
cash and Coke stock for a company whose fast-growing Vitaminwater
product line is expected to solidify the soda giant’s footing in non-carbs
for years to come, as well as millions more to buy out the contracts of
many distributors (yes, the ones Glaceau founder J. Darius Bikoff referred
to those distributors last year as the – ulp! – ‘Glaceau network’).
The Objective: As noted above, Coke continues to try to get its
non-carb offerings in line with its wide-ranging but fading CSD lines.
Glaceau finally stops flirting and cashes in on the brand’s momentum.
The Analysis: Should be a slam-dunk for Coke when it comes to putting
an end to chattering about how company is weak in non-carbs,
and could be a huge international growth engine, as well, the kind of
international brand that Gatorade has become. Buying out distributors
is expensive, but should stop Coke bottling network and CCE from
continuing to scream for exciting brands. Biggest buyout of individual
beverage brand on record, so Coke can’t screw it up – can it? If this thing
starts to smell of the Snapple buyout in a few years, heads will roll.
COURTROOM SCOREBOARD
Moving Forward: a lawsuit
that alleges that products including
Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi were
sold with ingredients that can form
benzene – which has been linked
to some forms of cancer – has been
allowed to progress after a federal
judge in Kansas denied a motion
to dismiss the suit in late May. The
Coca-Cola Co. has already settled
the case, but PepsiCo, Sunny Delight
and Rockstar are still
part of the suit.
Back in Court: the
suit between artificial
sweetener manufacturers
Merisant, which makes
Equal and McNeil Nutritionals,
which makes
and sells Splenda,
was back in court mere days after a
settlement had been reached in the
case. McNeil was apparently upset
that Merisant ran an advertisement
in USA Today trumpeting a jury’s
finding a guilty verdict on false advertising
claims in the case against
Splenda. The settlement had been
reached before damages were
awarded, but according to McNeil,
the ads violated the agreement.
MAYBE THIS EXPLAINS
THE STOMACH TROUBLE...
No one knows whether President
Bush is a Coke or a Pepsi kind of
guy, but we know two things about
his visit to Germany for the recent
Group of Eight summit.
1. He got sick to his stomach.
2. Neither of those familiar colas
were around to soothe his presidential
tummy.
What there was instead was Germany’s
own Afri Cola, a small (12
million bottles), local CSD that is
bottled near the summit’s locale.
According to caterer Jarste
Weuffen, the summit wanted a local
brand. We hope, for their sake,
it wasn’t the cause of the President’s
mid-summit retreat from view. We
also hope it wasn’t the schnitzel.
GOT COPYRIGHT?
The California Milk Processor Board – otherwise known as the friendly
folks behind “Got Milk” – is not happy with its hippie brethren.
Recently, the organization’s Executive Director, Steve James, was Web
surfing when he saw a photo captioned “The loneliness of the hemp milk
seller” featured in a wrap-up of last year’s Natural Foods Expo East.
James did a double-take when he saw that the lonely hemp milk seller
in question was wearing a shirt bearing the logo “Got (HEMP) Milk?” – a
play on the group’s omnipresent slogan, and began sending out cease-anddesist
letters to all the hemp milk companies he could find.
“It’s direct copyright infringement,” James said. “We’re very interested
in preventing that.”
Waitaminute. Isn’t the word “Got” followed by some other funny or
ironic word (i.e. Got Drugs? Got Beer? Got Sand) pretty much the most
widespread joke on the planet? It is, of course, but the company takes
exception when another food or beverage company tries to horn in on
the action.
“They’re selling hemp milk in this case,” he said of the company, which
was later revealed to be Living Harvest. “They would still be trying to
produce a beverage.”
That’s not the case with most of the other uses of the phrase, he added.
“I really can’t control many of the other uses,” James said. “It’s the English
language, after all. I mean, I’m looking at two requests for ‘Got Milf ’
right now. There’s not a lot we could do about those.”
JONES GAINS GROUND
Peter van Stolk grew up in Canada, but apparently the Jones Soda
founder has got a big yen for four-down football anyway.
Jones has signed a deal to be the official soft drink supplier at Seattle’s
Qwest Field for the next five years, and will be featured at fountains and
in cans and bottles during football games, concerts, and other events at its
home city arena.
It’s not known how much Jones paid for the agreement, but a key play
in the company’s sponsorship drive was a patent the company has that will
allow them to put a Seahawks lineup on the soda bottles, as well as those of
fans. Photographers will roam the stadium during the games, and fans will
be able to buy customized 12-packs through the company’s Web site.
Jones recently made a commitment to use only pure cane sugar in its
beverages, which will extend to the stadium.
EXECUTIVE MOVES
• The Boston Beer Company has announced the promotion of its
National Sales Manager, John Geist, to the newly created position of
Vice President of Sales.
• The Penta Water Company announced the appointment of Dennis F.
O’Brien to the company’s leadership team as chief executive officer. Mr.
O’Brien most recently served as president and chief operating officer
with ConAgra Foods.
• Function Drinks hired Bob Miller, former executive vice president of
sales for Fuze Beverage, as executive vice president of sales and head of
strategic planning.
• Celsius hired Erin Heit for the position of Marketing Vice President. She
had previously been marketing manager at Fuze Beverages.
• Welch's appointed Chris Heye as VP of Marketing and David
Engelkemeyer as VP of Operations & Technology.
• Mix1 announced the hiring of Robert Pinkerton as Chief Financial
Officer and Chief Operating Officer.
• New Sun Nutrition has promoted Maigread Eichten, the company’s
Chief Operating Officer, to President and Chief Executive Officer. Dick
Lamb, the company’s founding Chief Executive Officer and a major
shareholder in the company, will serve as Non-Executive Chairman of
the Board of Directors.
• Jones Soda Co. named former Izze Beverage Co. executive Peter Burns
Peter Van Stolk and some new, burly buddies. as senior executive vice president of sales and marketing.