Truly Hard Seltzer will say g’day to a new market in February 2022.
Boston Beer Company will partner with the Campari Group to bring Truly to Australia next year, the company announced today.
“Seltzer RTDs really have exploded in this market and are now the sixth biggest player in the ready-to-drink category, with growth driven by consumers looking for flavor-forward drinking experiences and choice,” Simon Durrant, managing director of Australia and New Zealand at Campari Group, said in the release, referencing data from market research firm IRI.
“The introduction of Truly Hard Seltzer in Australia, through our partnership with the Boston Beer Company, will enable us to seriously play in this category,” he continued.
Truly will launch its Watermelon Kiwi and Lime flavors to start. Both are fruit-flavored hard seltzers from Truly’s core product line and available in single-flavor 6-pack cans in the U.S. In addition, Watermelon Kiwi is available in the Truly tropical variety pack, and Lime is available in the Truly citrus variety pack. For the Australian market, all products will be made locally and sold by Campari.
“Campari shares our passion for brand building and driving sustainable category growth,” Boston Beer CEO Dave Burwick said in the release. “While we are focused on launching Truly Hard Seltzer, we also see the potential to expand into other Truly product lines.”
White Claw, Truly’s largest competitor in the U.S., entered the Australian market through a partnership with Lion in October 2020, just ahead of the Southern Hemisphere summer season. At the time of its launch, White Claw was available in Ruby Grapefruit, Mango and Natural Lime flavors in 4-packs of 330 mL cans.
Campari is the second major spirits brand to partner with Boston Beer in recent months. In July, the company — whose portfolio also includes Twisted Tea, Samuel Adams, Angry Orchard and Dogfish Head — announced a long-term strategic joint venture with Beam Suntory that will allow both companies to develop cross-branded products, such as Truly-branded spirits and Sauza Tequila-branded flavored malt beverages.
In other Truly news, the brand today unveiled a customizable can insulator that allows drinkers to specify their pronouns to commemorate International Pronouns Day.
Truly partnered with artist Stephanie Medeiros to create the colorful can insulator, which features a blank space to write in pronouns.
“It’s important for people to understand that normalizing the use of personal pronouns goes beyond the LGBTQIA+ community,” Medeiros, whose pronouns are they/them, said in the release. “Working on this project with Truly in honor of International Pronouns Day is a reminder of how amazing it is to feel seen and empowered to share my truth.”
The can insulators are an in-person version of the way drinkers have become accustomed to including their pronouns in email signatures and social media profiles, Boston Beer chief marketing officer Lesya Lysyj said in the release.
“Disclosing one’s pronouns has become normalized in everyday virtual settings, but we wanted to create a convenient, comfortable way for drinkers to share their pronouns in real life,” she said. “As a brand, we’ve always believed our differences make us stronger and this is another way for us to help our drinkers express their individuality.”
The insulators will be available at TrulyOriginals.com beginning November 1. Each costs $20 and all proceeds will be donated to GLAAD.
Year-to-date through October 3, dollar sales of the Truly brand family in the U.S. have increased +42.1%, to $1.033 billion at off-premise multi-outlet food and convenience stores, according to market research firm IRI. However, Truly’s trends have been decelerating — dollar sales were +14.9% for the last four weeks and +19.4% for the last 12 weeks (both periods ended October 3).
Of Truly’s six variety packs, only Lemonade, Punch and Iced Tea have contributed growth in 2021. Dollar sales of the Lemonade variety pack have increased +29.7%, to $260.7 million, year-to-date through October 3, according to IRI. Lemonade was launched in January 2020 and its success likely inspired the introduction of Iced Tea in January 2021 ($117.9 million through October 3) and Punch in May 2021 ($134.1 million through October 3).
Dollar sales of the brand’s three fruit-flavored seltzer variety packs have declined year-to-date through October 3:
- Berry: -4.5%, to $177.8 million;
- Tropical: -12.4%, to $117.1 million;
- Citrus: -33.9%, to $60.7 million.
Despite these trends, Truly continues to grow share within the hard seltzer segment, and has gained 4.5 sharepoints year-to-date through October 2, according to data from market research firm NielsenIQ shared by Bump Williams Consulting. The company attributed this to Truly’s “strong innovation pipeline and extensive range” in the release.
In comparison, White Claw’s share of the hard seltzer segment has declined by -9.7 sharepoints. Among other top 10 hard seltzer brands, Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer (+3.1 sharepoints), Vizzy Hard Seltzer (+1.3 sharepoints), Topo Chico Hard Seltzer (+1.7 sharepoints), Mike’s Hard Lemonade Seltzer (+1.4 sharepoints) and Cacti (+1.1 sharepoints) increased share. With the exception of Vizzy, all were launched in 2021.
Bud Light Seltzer (-0.3 sharepoints), Corona Hard Seltzer (-1.4 sharepoints) and Smirnoff Spiked Sparkling Seltzer (-1.3 sharepoints) have all lost share compared to 2020.
Combined, the top 10 hard seltzer brands account for 92.9% of all dollars spent on hard seltzer in the U.S.