Red Bull Cola
From the what were they thinking files......
So Red Bull is putting out a cola. You heard it here first: IT IS GOING TO FLOP. Cola sales are down across the board and will continue to be. They'll probably price it high, thinking that they don't want to cheapen their brand. I say, price doesn't matter at all. Once they put the work "Cola" with "Red Bull," the "Red Bull" name is going to take a hit. They can call it natural or whatever, but soda is soda and drinkers will not be buying it.
Reuters sux!
Let us take a look at the B.S. here in the Reuters release. We'll go down the list here. I hope you've brought your waders 'cuz the B.S, is getting deeeeep.
First, I want to point out the location of the release: Bangalore.
Second, the author: Vikram Subhedar
Third, the editor: Jarshad Kakkrakandy
Fourth, the analyst saying that Java Monster has extremely low margins.
Fifth, during the call, for everyone to hear, the analyst mentioned that for March dairy costs "have fallen off a cliff." This article says "thru the roof." Yeah, good job fellas. How 'bout you get back in your rickshaw and go back to your english listening and comprehension lessons.
All of this is bullshit. Think these guys have a clue? Nada chance.
It is one thing to be a basher on the message boards. It is a whole different ballgame for Reuters to put out a bashing release like this.
How convenient they didn't mention that first quarter growth is in the 50s compared to the analyst expected 30s. Did I mention it was a blowout quarter? How about the international expansion? The next international expansion will be to India to whup some Reuters writer's ass!
HANS beats analysts by 18.4%
Back up the truck.
Java and Mixxd 4 packs
Here we have some new pics. Java four packs are beign distributed. Finally we see the wisdom of the eight Java flavors -> they fill a whole row. Also Mixxd four packs are out. Seen at a Shell Station just outside the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, San Diego.
With the door shut...notice the promo door suction shelf...
Same door, opened for better viewage...
The regular monster door in the same store.....notice Mixxed in two slots of 16 oz, 1 slot of four packs, and one slot of 24 oz. Heavy Metal and BFC are down there too at bottom right.
A closeup of the Mixxd can graphics.
Java Shelf Domination
Seen at 7-11 in San Diego on January 20, 2008. Java Monsters from left to right: Chai Hai, Lo Ball, Russian, Mean Bean, Big Black, and Loca Mocha. Far right can is a Rockstar Roasted. 
New Java Flavors
Here we go, lots of pics
NUT-UP - hazlenut
IRISH BLEND - irish cream
RUSSIAN - white russian
LO-BALL - low carb
Heavy Metal in 32oz.
Found on Ebay. Looks good. Heavy Metal is definetly more aggro than Rockstar.
BFC
Here it is, our first coverage of BFC. Has been in the San Diego market since about the second week of October. It is selling anywhere from $3.79 to $4.99, with most stores being in the mid to low four dollar range.
More Sparkling Pics
Bevnet put up two new pics today. Very nice. Blueberry pomegranate and cranberry grapefruit.
New Sparkling Water - nice can!
We are starting to sound like a broken record here with all the new product news. From the BevNet news letter covering 2007 Expo East:Hansen Naturals - Introduced its new line-up of flavored sparkling waters (Valencia Orange, Cranberry Grapefruit, Blueberry Pomegranate, Valencia Orange). The products are packaged in attractive 10.5 oz slim cans. The products are sweetened with cane sugar and contain 90 calories per can.
Bevnet has a typo with the repeated flavors. However, they have a pic of the very attractive new cans HERE.
Email us if you know what the flavor is: monsterstock@gmail.com
MORE New Products!
The Russian Java Monster!!! This HANS hit machine just keeps on rolling!!! I think I'll pick up more shares. Back up the truck! Dominate the stock market.
From the US Patent and Trademark office:
Unbound Fountain Drink
Seen at the AM/PM in Ladera Ranch, CA
Monster "Beer" Truck
Seen in San Diego:
Energy Drinks vs.
Coffee
Finally an apples to apples comparison.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/08/08/energy.drinks.reut/index.html?eref=rss_health
Ideas (3 of 3)
We've saved the best for last! Read on...
Figure out how and why vitamin water trampled HANS waters
In the beverage space the past five years, the big growth has been in energy drinks and water. This is the biggest "off the radar" goof of HANS. Vitamin Water has periodically grown at rates approaching the Monster. HANS had plenty of energy water and flavored waters on the market, even before Vitamin Water. "Righto," you're thinking you've never heard of or seen these HANS water products. That's the problem. The packaging and branding (and also the sales) of the HANS waters pales in comparison to the Vitamin Water. HANS needs to review their offerings in the water space and figure out why they didn't 1-up Vitamin Water a couple years ago. Imagine the revenues of HANS + a product rivaling Vitamin Water.
Re-launch products in the water space
It's not too late. Put the creative minds that came up with Java + Monster to work on a rebranding in the water space. A makeover is overdue.
Adjust the can colors for Khaos and M-80
Spread the Khaos and M-80 colors a little farther apart on the color spectrum. The M-80 in a nice and bright yellow and the Khaos in a rich, polished orange would do it. As it stands I've purchased M-80 and Khaos cans that were essentially both orange, just a tiny shade apart. Possibly that was just a QC issue. Sometimes I’ve seen M-80 in yellow. It looks great and differentiates well against Khaos. Consistency please. The metallic graphics further confuses the customers. The metallic paneling pattern may be an example of "trying too hard."
Press release good news when you've got it
Beverage Insights recently released news on sales across the energy category. The news was encouraging since Monster's growth continues to outpace the category. However, one line snuck in the bottom of the story mentioning how Rumba sales had doubled! That is great news if I ever heard it!. I almost didn't hear it though since it was buried at the end of somebody else's press release. Let those who make store slotting decisions know that you've got a hot product.
Ideas (continued)
Six more of the fifteen. Let us know what you think.
monsterstock @ gmail.com
Change the Java text
HANS is missing the mark with the Java can text. It says "…half the caffeine of regular coffee, Twice the Buzz." Just say that there's twice the buzz. Several bloggers have commented how this makes no sense both from a logic perspective (i.e. is it half the caff of regular Monster) and from a marketing perspective (i.e. half the caff of coffee). The Java products are reaching out to new Monster drinkers who are not familiar with what the Monster buzz and energy blend is all about. The core Monster brand is built on offering more - bigger cans and bigger buzz. Why would HANS offer a product that is "half" anything.
Organic soda
An easy way to put more growth into the Hansen's soda line. Organic products command premium pricing. This is a relatively easy thing to implement. The ingredients stay the same, they just come with the organic label. Organics are growing the 15-20% range. HANS has organic Blue Sky, but bring it around to the mainline sodas. Organics are premium products that get premium pricing.
Remove HFCS from soda
HFCS is bad for us. The consumers looking for "natual" soda are more health concious than others and know that the HFCS is nto so natural. Jones Soda created a real buss going to cane sugar. No reason not to copy them. Snapple's being sued for saying HFCS is natural. Hard to see how HANS would not be subject to similar suit. In addition corn prices are way up with
Review ingredient suppliers for QC
With the recent bad press associated with tainted food and supplements from China, HANS should preemptively review their raw materials for quality and security.
Develop and energy + protein drink
Probably this looks something like an extension in the lo-carb arena.
Develop even more energy + ?????
The Java came out of left field, has gone to the plate, and is hitting homers. Let's see what else you've got. Leverage the Monster brand all the way to the bank.
Ideas for HANS
15 ideas for HANS to help hansen's in the stock market, the press, and in the customer's minds. Here are the first six:
Put out 24oz Javas ASAP
Being noncarbonated, the Java products are inherently more chuggable than the mainline monsters. They go down quick and make the drinker want more. Give it to them. This will help secure another complete row in the cooler and hoarde space before the copycats appear.
Press release new products
What is the product, what does it look like, and where can I get it? These are the questions that need to be answered via press release. The Java Monster appeared to rollout in SoCal 7-11 stores first. However, I had to find that out thru message boards rather than from the company. The target demographic for these products is probably not big on investment message boards.
Update the monsterenergy.com website
This is a no brainer. M-80 has been out for at least three months; Java for 6 weeks. Neither are found officially online. The web promotion ought to precede the actual rollout to build hype. I'm not talking about putting it online months before and giving a leg up to the competition, but a couple weeks ahead would be good. An out of date website is so 1999.
Get a blog and social networking team
This is better than updating the website. The job of this team is to post fresh and frequent info on the Monster and its happenings. The beauty is it would lower the urgency of updating the primary website.
Seed the blogosphere with samples
This is the quickest way to get the info out and make it viral. However, the blogosphere needs something to link to that has the latest official info. If a blogger says good things about Java Monster, they've got nowhere to link to.
Buyback more shares
How about using up some of that cash. Rodney has suggested in the past that they were saving it for possible acquisitions. There is nothing out there in the beverage world growing like the Monster so it would not make sense to do an acquisiton anytime soon. Buy some shares and spend it down. The Monster will replenish the cash reserves quick enough. The share price is acurrently a good value and it is a good investment.
check back soon for the rest of the list.....
More New Products Coming?
Looks like more new products are in the works. HANS has registered another tradmark with the Monster name but clearly an offshoot from the core energy drinks. Looks like it will be called CHAI HAI. This could be a sign that the Java line has been selling well. CHAI and JAVA are much more similar to each other than Monster Green. I bet there will be 3-4 more Monster offshoots outside the core energy space. They will want to get up to a full cooler row worth of product. Other messageboards have suggested a Hazlenut lo-carb though I've not found any evidence to corroborate. These Monster extensions help attract female customers who have been underserved in the energy category. They also will play well on hot mornings when it is 8 AM and you are already sweating and don't want hot coffee or tea.
Java Placement
Genious placement by the Monster distributor in Manhattan, KS. Home to Kansas State University and 23,000 energy hungy students. This was sighted by our Kansas affialiate over the Memorial Day Weekend. Right between the cappuchino machine and the freshly brewed. Selling at $2.69 per the door stickers.
Six rows of Java Monster
Selling at $2.49 compared to the tiny can of Doubleshot at $2.29. Located in the AM/PM across from the Del Mar Fairgrounds, San Diego, CA.
The store has 2 and 3/4 full rows of other Monster Energy, Unbound Energy, Lost Energy and Rumba products. So this is another 3/4 row or roughly 30% increase in slots devoted to HANS products.
But what does it look like?
Here you go. Pics of the Java Monsters in the wild. Priced at $2.99 (the same store sells 16 oz. Monsters at $2.49). You have to love how it towers over the Starbucks drinks. Two rows Loca Mocha, one Mean Bean, and one Big Black.
Where did I find it?
Coming New RTD Coffee Products?
Could HANS be jumping into the Ready-To-Drink coffee market? Recently HANS filed for trademark protection for the product names "Mean Bean" and "Loca Mocha." These names were filed for on December 22, 2006 and just made it into the USPTO trademark database.
Red Bull 12 oz Advertisement
Here is a gas station advertising the 12 oz Red Bull:
Red Bull 12oz Comparison
Here are some fresh pics of the new Red Bull 12oz can. Red Bull was smart to stretch the height of the can to be the same as a 16oz Monster, Rockstar, etc. At first glance our unwitting energy shopper may not notice that the Red Bull is only 12oz when our beloved Monster is a whopping 16oz! No matter though, because RB has nothing approaching the 24 oz Mega XXL Monster that sells like hotcakes. Here you see the 8 oz., 16 oz., and the 16 oz. Monster:
This shelf was in a Long's Drug store in northern San Diego.
Halloween
Sure to be a hit with the party crowd.
More Natural Soda Promotion
This commercial has been on the TV lately. Confirmed to have been seen during an airing of The Simpsons on San Diego's Fox station a few weeks ago.
http://vidsearch.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1035688954
Natural Soda Promotion
One of the new promotional pickup trucks cruised thru my neighborhood on the weekend and I managed to snap some pics. During the last conference call, Rodney said they were doing some new things to promote the soda line. Here's the proof.
Article about Florida distribution
It appears that the Florida AB distributors are pumped to get on board the Monster. The article says that HANS is sticking with their original distributor in the panhandle but switching to the AB system everywhere else. 25 distributors in the AB system have signed on to distribute Monster, Lost, and Rumba.
AB has really locked down their distributors into only AB approved products. That worked well until the recent fragmentation of consumer tastes. AB is in a hurry to add some diversification to the product line they allow their distributors to carry. Monster fits the bill nicely. I suspect the distributors will work hard on the Monster product. They need a growth product (or a few) to supplement their more stagnant AB line.
http://www.sun-herald.com/NewsArchive2/082306/bz2.htm?date=082306&story=bz2.htm
HANS is suing Rockstar!
From the second quarter 10Q:
In June 2006, HBC filed a lawsuit against Rockstar, Inc., Rockstar Beverage Corporation and Rockstar Brewing Company, Inc., all Nevada corporations (collectively “Rockstar”) for false designation of origin, trademark infringement, unfair competition, deceptive trade practices and unfair competition seeking an injunction and damages based on Rockstar’s unauthorized use of HBC’s Monster Energy® valuable and distinctive trade dress in connection with its alcoholic energy beverage known as “Rockstar 21.” HBC alleges that the overall appearance of Rockstar's “Rockstar 21” beverage container is confusingly similar to the appearance of HBC’s Monster Energy® beverage trade dress. Further, HBC alleges that Rockstar is infringing on other trademarks, trade dress and slogans owned and used by HBC.
Monster trending up
An interesting chart to keep things going.......I used Google Trends to compare the search engine traffic of the leading energy drinks Have a look.
A look at the cities show western cities filling most of the top 10. I see that as a sign the eastward expansion still has a long way to go.
And finally, looking at regions. It appears that there is interest in Mexico. Even more interesting are the countries that are oceans away. One could speculate that the Mexican traffic could be driven by those close to the USA border who have access to the product. But the searchers in Australia, France, and the UK probably have no access at all to the product, yet the Monster is on their radar. I think HANS is getting big bang for the buck on the marketing side of things.
