New energy drink targets Generation X
billion US energy drink market, Hansen Natural has set up a
marketing agreement with surfware firm Lost Internation to target
the the young, active slice of society.
The owner of the successful Monster Energy drink brand has signed a deal with 'surf industry icon' Lost International to license the rights to develop, produce and distribute Lost Energy - a new energy drink targetting 15-25-year-olds, writes Lindsey Partos.
"Hansen's alliance with Lost was a strategic move that instantly put us on the radar of the skeptical, hard-to-reach, Gen-X beverage consumer," said Rodney C. Sacks, Hansen's chairman and chief executive officer.
In an intial test run in Southern California, both companies said the brand 'was an instant success'. A national roll out is now pending via the new drinks venture - Lost Beverage Company - wholly owned by California-based Hansen.
For the surfware company, the agreement offers the opportunity 'to leverage the equity in the Lost brand', already well established for clothes and surfboards. Hansen's already has an extensive national distribution network into which we can plug the Lost Energy brand, said Joel Cooper, CEO of Lost.
Global sports and energy drinks continue to show strong growth, with the market growing by over 50 per cent in the last six years alone, writes market research firm Canadean.
A recent report from the company reveals the domination of the Asia and North America markets for these high value products, together accounting for more than 80 per cent of consumption.
Globally, sports drinks account for around 80 per cent of consumption, although there is evidence that energy drinks are growing in popularity. According to the report, still variants are the most significant and are particularly dominant in the Americas.
The short-term future for sports and energy drinks looks bright, says Canadean. Growth is expected to slow a little in all regions except Asia, but it is estimated that volume will advance by around 24 per cent by 2006.
