When it comes to ready-to-drink (RTD) alcohol beverages, most consumers want variety. The latest data from Circana reveals that Gen Z consumers aged 21 and up are driving innovation in RTD flavor, format and packaging, and they’re looking for variety across all beverage types.
Despite this, one brand has found that its variety packs don’t sell well in retail. Canned cocktail brand Tip Top Proper Cocktails (TTPC) originally sold its cans as a single serve can dispenser on the counter at various retailers. It was an incremental charge, so the final basket was a larger amount with a can or two being added.
After seeing the success of this experiment, TTPC decided to try an 8-can variety pack, ranging at around $40, the brand states. Consumers did not take to this as much as the company anticipated.
“Starting off as a can in a counter dispenser was a really great entry for consumers to get comfortable with our format and understand our liquid, but a growing business needs to know how to evolve out of just an impulse purchase,” says co-founder Neal Cohen. “So we then tried the 8-can variety pack format, and what we quickly realized was that our $40 package was being placed in the RTD section alongside seltzers for a price point of $15. This presented a lot of shock.”
Finding the Best Selling Strategy
Due to the rapid explosion of the RTD category, nothing was ever put in place to differentiate between a canned cocktail and a malt-based seltzer — which means everything gets lumped together on shelves under an “RTD” sign in stores.
Because of TTPC’s higher price point, even though they sell canned cocktails with an ABV of over 21% for all of their beverages, it’s hard to compete when you’re sitting next to $15 and $20 variety packs.
“The 8-can variety pack that we released was called the Summer Classics Variety Pack, which contained two margaritas, two daiquiris, two bee’s knees and two negronis. And it just didn’t do as well as we had hoped,” Cohen says. “But what we found was that bringing that size down to a four-pack configuration at $20 allows the customer to understand that this is more of a premium beverage compared to some of the other RTD’s on the shelves.”
Transitioning to selling 4-can packs of one cocktail for $20 proved to be successful for TTPC. With the cheaper price point and consumers being able to choose exactly their favorite cocktails, the brand states that it nets an average of around $60 due to shoppers purchasing three of the 4-can packs at a time.
Now that TTPC has experimented with a few different pack options, Cohen says that they will continue to focus on the 4-can packs since consumers seem to like that option.
“We feel like we’ve got a pretty good handle on the 4-can packs. We just need to get the distribution and the placements in retail in order to truly hike up our performance,” he notes.
Finding the Best Marketing Strategies
TTPC’s experimentation doesn’t stop at the continued roll-out of its 4-can packs. According to Cohen, the brand is still working on growing its marketing by using tried and true tactics as well as some new ones.
“A large part of our marketing strategy this year has been focused on pushing two new products: The Penicillin and The Paper Plane,” he says. “Now, we’re planning on moving from innovation to execution. Looking at 2025, we’re going to focus more on our core cocktails and ensure that those are what’s placed in every retailer before we push out more.”
Another focus of TTPC’s marketing for 2025 will be pushing liquid to lips. This tried and true method always helps to not only secure a sale, but also boost brand awareness as consumers tell their friends and family how good a drink was that they tried at a store or event.
“We’re targeting the food and drink festivals, just trying to get as many people to try Tip Top as we can,” explains Cohen. “In a fairly saturated market, taste is going to continue to be the best differentiator for us.”
To keep up with the ever-growing RTD market, Cohen notes that yet another marketing strategy TTPC is looking into for 2025 is through influencers.
“In the coming year, we’ll be investing a little more heavily in creating true partnerships with some of the more significant influencers in the beverage community,” he says. “Some of those will be with some bartenders, but we’ll also be expanding into some more adjacent lifestyle-type influencers.”
