Michael Hayes

Why Non-Alcoholic Beverages Are a Retail Growth Engine Exciting trend alert: The non-alcoholic beverage category is booming! While alcohol sales remain steady, it’s the non-alcoholic beer, wine, and mocktail options that are seeing explosive growth—and for good reason. Why are retailers so excited about non-alcoholic drinks? Higher Profit Margins: Many non-alcoholic products, especially premium mocktails and craft sodas, offer higher profit margins for retailers compared to traditional alcoholic drinks. Lower Costs: Non-alcoholic beverages often have lower ingredient and preparation costs, and require less specialized labor. Fewer Regulations: No licensing or excise taxes mean less hassle and more margin for retailers. Expanding Market: Health-conscious consumers and changing social norms are driving demand, making non-alcoholic options a smart investment for the future. Bottom line: Non-alcoholic beverages aren’t just a trend—they’re a powerful growth opportunity for retailers. As consumer preferences evolve, smart businesses are stocking up on premium, alcohol-free options to boost profits and reach a wider audience. #Retail #BeverageIndustry #Trends #NonAlcoholic #GrowthOpportunity

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Your competition is putting their OND budget into retail media and hoping the digital ad converts at shelf. You can take the floor instead. Freixenet attached a free Lindt Lindor on-pack to their Cordon Negro Cava and turned every bottle into a gift. No display required. No endcap negotiation. Just a bottle necker that slides on and makes the buying decision obvious. This is how independent brands compete during the biggest selling season of the year. Not by matching the big brand spend, but by removing every barrier between the shopper and the purchase. The category buyer sees a program that sells itself. The shopper sees a gift that's already done. And your sales team sees a format they can execute in seconds, across every location you're listed in. Quick note for brands running programs across state lines: GWP rules vary by market. Map it before you ship it. Big brands play it safe. You shouldn't have to.

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Pepsi embraces its challenger DNA because we know one simple truth: we win on taste. From the original Pepsi Challenge fifty years ago to its revival last year, we’ve proven the same thing again and again. When labels are gone and taste is all that’s left, America chooses Pepsi. 120,000+ taste tests. 1M+ samples. One undeniable result: 66% of consumers preferred Pepsi Zero Sugar. The proof is clear. The question for marketers becomes how we continue finding new and inventive ways to both entertain and educate consumers. Riley Martin at SportsBall took Pepsi’s legacy of superior taste, starting with the original Pepsi Challenge, and transformed it into a dynamic, data-driven narrative that adds depth, context, and credibility as the story builds toward Super Bowl LX. It is a powerful example of how the right partnerships can connect history, proof, and culture, and set the stage for what we are excited to unveil on 2.8. Mark Kirkham JP Bittencourt Gustavo Reyna Lou Arbetter Paul Mascali Sarah Stewart Emily (Thomas) Rykken Anna Cardelfe Meghan Noth Jason Carbonetti Meredith Jenks Lopez Sammy Marrus Sarah Stewart Connor Rohan Steve Frechtman Lane Borgida Chris Lenz Alix Ekstrom Caitlin Coburn Winsor Stephanie Burgess Dana Bloom Adam Brewster David Wexler Bonny Plosker Melissa Duhaime Rob Salit Stephanie Hsu Prithvi Malik Elijah Farmer Jayne Ambrosini Sarah Maloy Susmita Burnett Kyle Ahrendsen Aydin Delbar (Abdollahi) Scott Bell Peter Kain Marcelo Nogueira Anna Taylor VaynerMedia

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From farmers market side hustle to national pasta sauce contender, Hoboken Farms is betting that “luck” plus seasoned CPG talent can fuel its next stage of growth. 🍝 What started as a college-age bassist’s weekend gig has evolved into a brand now in roughly 2,000 stores, backed by a recent $4 million “unconventional” investment and a leadership bench pulled from Carbone, Mezzetta and Sovos Brands. Hoboken Farms is leaning on aggressive in-store sampling, a network of thousands of farmers markets and a stack of third-party certifications to stand out in an increasingly crowded sauce aisle. With plans to at least double its retail footprint by 2026, the brand is making a calculated push to turn regional loyalty into national scale — and investors are buying in without a single pitch email sent. 🛒📈 https://lnkd.in/gZV7ssy7 #CPG #FoodAndBeverage #PastaSauce #RetailExpansion #NaturalProducts #BetterForYou #BrandStrategy #InvestmentNews

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The new Dietary Guidelines for Americans was released last week, and I’d love to see more commentary from CPG folks on it, especially those in baby and childhood categories. From an industry perspective, I’ll give credit where it’s due: the rollout clearly succeeded in one way -- people are talking about it for the first time in years. The consumer-facing experience is polished, accessible, and very “DTC-ified.” And the “eat real food” tagline aligns both with nutrition science and where I believe consumer preferences are ultimately headed (hot take: savvy consumers will eventually trade supplements and protein-spiked junk back in for actual real food, please don’t hate me). But if you work on this side of the industry, you don’t just look at the upside-down triangle graphic and call it a day. You read the appendices. You look at recommended serving sizes. You convert cups to ounces to calories and back again because these details have real consequences. They inform FDA guidance, labeling rules, and what we can and cannot say on packaging. I’ve spent hundreds of professional hours doing exactly this over my career, including the last several years working in one of the most sensitive subcategories of CPG: baby food. So I was a bit surprised (and honestly disappointed) to see that this edition appears to remove calorie-based dietary pattern examples for children that were included in 2020. Parents want that specificity even if most never read the DGAs themselves. Overall, my take is that the guidelines are… fine? There’s some conflicting messaging (please keep your saturated fats in check people), but the spirit is consistent: eat real food, diversify nutrient sources. Food policy is always political, but it’s worth noting that the 2020 DGAs were also released under a Trump administration, so more continuity exists here than headlines suggest. I wrote more about this from the lens of someone who lives both sides of it, professionally and at home, on my Substack. I’ll drop the link in the comments.

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72% of Gen Z try a new beverage each month compared to just 16% of Boomers. Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. just dropped the latest beverage trends data, highlighting that your customer base is divided by curiosity. Gen Z is trying new beverages at a rate that’s literally 4.5x higher than Boomers. That’s a completely different relationship with discovery. To Gen Z, beverages are self-expression. They turn to social media for trends, they want to stand out, and their drink choices are part of their identity. Boomers, on the other hand, know what they like. They value consistency, trust, and familiarity. When they find something that works, they stick with it. Brands catering to both, please don’t try to make Boomers act like Gen Z or vice versa. Meet each demographic where they are. For Gen Z, lead with innovation, limited editions, bold flavors, and social shareability. Make it Instagram-worthy. For Boomers, perfect your classics. Focus on quality, reliability, and the emotional connection to trusted favorites. Make it about the ritual, not the novelty. #ConsumerFirst #Beverage #Coffee #GenZ #Boomer #Trends

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💸 You’re trying to grow your brand. But your marketing budget? Basically nonexistent… or just got slashed. 😬 Next up in my Scaling Emerging CPG Brands series: How small brands actually grow with a limited budget ✅ Hyper-focus your dollars You can’t afford to be everywhere. Pick a few key markets and flood them - geo-targeted ads, strong local retailer presence, and community activations that actually convert. Then use that traction to expand and unlock more budget.  ✅ Safe creative is wasted spend  You don’t have the budget to reach everyone. So make sure the people that do see it find it impossible to ignore.  ✅ Relationships go a long way Retailers, vendors, and influencers often go the extra mile for small brands, but only if you ask. Be real about your budget, ask for what you need, and don’t be afraid to aim high. ✅ Don’t let paid do it all Use it to boost, not carry. Build community through email, organic social, and platforms like Reddit and Substack that reward real content and conversation. ✅ Check your performance constantly You can have the best agency in the world - but your team still needs to be in the weeds of the data. Don’t wait for the recap. Know what’s working, every single day. 👉 Bottom line: You don’t need a massive budget. You need focus, creativity, and speed. How have you been able to scale on a small budget?  #EmergingBrands #CPG

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