Unique experience

PepsiCo’s new premium bottled water brand LIFEWTR partnered with traveling night club, Club Nomadic, for Super Bowl 2017. On Feb. 3, during Super Bowl Week in Houston, the brand hosted “Art After Dark,” an entertainment experience fusing music, technology and art, the company says. Grammy Award winner Bruno Mars was the evening’s headliner, with a special performance by JD Khaled. During the experience, the LIFEWTR artists’ work jumped off the bottles through an audiovisual experience where the designs were projected onto the façade of the Club Nomadic building.

That’s a lot of juice

The year 2017 marks the 20th anniversary of Old Orchard Brands’ bottled juice business. To celebrate, the company is giving away two truckloads of juice — one to consumers and the other to local food pantries — in its Bottle Bash Sweepstakes, it says. “As we enter 2017, we want to take the time to step back and celebrate our success in the bottled juice space over the past 20 years,” Vice President of Marketing Kevin Miller said in a statement. “Our fans have been crucial to our continued growth, and we want to encourage them to celebrate with us.” Consumers can enter the Bottle Bash Sweepstakes for a chance to win one of more than 8,000 prizes on Old Orchard’s website through Feb. 28.

We all score

The Heineken brand is strengthening its support of soccer by maintaining its partnership with the UEFA Champions League and Major League Soccer to ensure fans stay engaged throughout the 2017 season, it says. Beginning March 1, the brand’s fully-integrated, 360-degree retail and on-premise They Score. You Score program will encourage legal drinking-age consumers to choose Heineken for their soccer viewing occasions. The marketing campaign features TV spots, retail and on-premise marketing materials, as well as a mobile soccer hub designed to provide fans with information on both soccer leagues and matches, the company says. Additionally, digital and social content will promote the program and prizes, it says.

Fantastic philanthropy 

Starting Jan. 1, Tito’s Handmade Vodka began donating 100 percent of the proceeds from its online store sales to charity and is allowing its consumers to designate the charity of their choice from six select charities, it says. The partnering charities include Emancipet, Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, Grammy Foundation, American Red Cross, Operation Homefront and CORE. “Philanthropy has always been something we are extremely passionate about at Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and there is no better way to express this than having 100 percent of our online store proceeds donated to charities from now on,” said Bert “Tito” Beveridge, founder and master distiller, in a statement. “By partnering with six different charities, we’re not only benefiting one good cause, but six — and we are allowing our fans to choose exactly where they want their money going, toward the cause closest to their own hearts.” 

Creating cocktails like a pro 

As savvy consumers increasingly turn to the web and mobile apps for at-home bartending and cocktail inspiration, Master of Mixes announced the release of a new online resource: mixcologypro.com.“Most packaged consumer beverage products — from beer and wine to soft drinks and iced tea — do not require a high level of customer knowledge regarding the preparation of the finished drink, but cocktail mixes are different, and that’s why our new digital resource is so critical,” said George Wagner, president of American Beverage Marketers, the parent company of Master of Mixes, in a statement. In addition to hand-crafted cocktail recipes for a Blood Mary or Margarita, the website showcases seasonal favorites, how-to videos, and expert tips and tricks. 

A new way to pay 

In a move that could pave the way for widespread legitimization of cryptocurrency, Starbucks is partnering with iPayYou, a Bitcoin wallet service, to provide users of the Starbucks app a fast, easy way to pay for menu items, the company says. Using the Bitcoin Direct to Starbucks tool, consumers can commission an amount and the cryptocurrency is converted into dollars in real time. More than 1 million Starbucks customers currently use Mobile Order and Pay monthly, it adds. 

70% Did you know?

It’s important for brands to understand the factors that influence purchases, and 70 percent of millennials agree that foods and beverages with healthier ingredient lists should use packaging materials that are healthier, too.

The 2017 EcoFocus Trend Study published by Evergreen Packaging and EcoFocus Worldwide that reveals growing themes expected to impact the industry. 

Up close and personal

Jacob’s Creek and Novak Djokovic are giving tennis fans a glimpse into the life of the international tennis champion with its new “Who Makes You” video content series. The third installment of the “Made By” series by Jacob’s Creek, the new video series is inspired by the concept of “it’s not what makes you, it’s who,” and explores the influences in Djokovic’s life, the company says. “Jacob’s Creek celebrates authenticity, a quality that Novak embodies. The new films capture some extraordinary moments between Novak and the people who have influenced him,” Global Marketing Director Derek Oliver said in a statement.

Partnership of champions

Jim Beam Bourbon and the 2016 World Series Champion Chicago Cubs announced that they have signed a multi-year Legacy Partnership beginning this year. In the pairing, the Cubs have named Beam Suntory, parent company of Jim Beam, as the Official Spirits Partner of the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field. Additionally, the partnership gives Jim Beam long-term naming rights to the organization’s first base club at Wrigley Field as well as a new left field bar concept at the team’s spring training facility Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz., the company says. To reinforce the partnership, Maker’s Mark has launched a Chicago Cubs-themed, limited-edition bottle throughout the Chicagoland area; Jim Beam will release a Chicago Cubs co-branded offering by springtime, it adds.