Sipping: Fresh Victor Cocktails, Innovation and Total Wine & More

Hi everyone – As you know, I preach physical to digital as the now and future of adult beverage – really any CPG category. The customer acquisition cost for digitally-driven in store sampling costs 10x less than traditional media or digital ad campaigns and the return, let’s be all the way 100 here, priceless.

A quick throw back to Mr. Price of Price Club. He was the first to implement sampling in store and what he saw was nothing short of game-changing. The in-store experience was entertaining and the new product discovery part of the wonder. Today, Price Club is Costco Wholesale and the rest as they say is history.

Which brings me the current bleak outlook for growth in adult beverage. The response has been cut prices and run promos. Cut SKUs, stop spending. I promise you these are not the answers – they were not in the 80s and 90s and they are not now. Innovation, customer connection and listening ARE the answers.

So, let’s talk innovation – a story of an organic cold chain cocktail mix called Fresh Victor and retailer Total Wine & More. When wellness, low calorie, and low sugar are central to shopper choices why would we continue to choose shelf stabilized cocktail mix with additives, chemicals and loads of sugar? Because the alternative requires a refrigerator – in the adult bev aisle. Hmmmm… that’s not how we have done things in the past?

And, so, with an industry looking for new ideas with products that are better for you, I applaud the vision of #TotalWineAndMore buying team for living up to the promise made by Angela Weber and Christina Callas at the Shanken Impact conference this past September. They spoke of TWMs commitment to innovating customer experiences, experimenting with new brands, and pursuing the cocktail craze. Thank you ladies and Troy Rice for following through on your promise.

The HSP Brands team is in the process of completing sampling events throughout the Bay Area in Northern California for #FreshVictor at Total Wine & More. Thank you Stephanie Gallo and the #LaMarca team for partnering with FV on this project, the response has been nothing short of incredible. Apparently the market really does like low sugar, low calorie, no chemical cocktail mix blended with La Marca Prosecco, their favorite spirits (current fav – #LALOTequila), and is a big winner with non-alc products like #lacroix!

The Total Wine & More associates on the ground have been incredible partners and we thank them with our whole hearts for their support as well!