An All Natural Icon Reaches Beyond Whole Foods

By: Saabira ChaudhuriFri Jun 27, 2008 at 3:55 PM

As Reed’s ginger brew makes a play for the big leagues, the natural question arises: Can the brand's success be attributed to the marketing or is it all about the taste?

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Reed explains that while grocery stores have been competing with places like Whole Foods for some time by including a natural foods aisle within the store—his product has been in two to three thousand of these specialty sections around the country—his goal is to move into the mainstream aisle with other soft drink producers. "There's a huge opportunity for us in grocery," he says. And he has recruited Neal Cohane, former senior account manager for Pepsi, to chase these chain accounts specifically.

While entering the mainstream is an understandable ambition for any niche company, Gary Hemphill, managing director at the Beverage Marketing Corporation issues a caveat. "These companies can't get caught up competing directly against the giant companies. They certainly can't compete against them on price." His advice is that companies like Reed's should "play up their uniqueness in their marketing. That's their value in the marketplace."

But when questioned about whether he thinks branching out could dilute his brand, Reed shakes his head in an emphatic no. "When we say we're number one in places like Whole Foods and Trader Joes, supermarkets will love us," he says confidently emphasizing that they've recently been picked up by Kroger, Fred Meyer and Smith's among others.

Reed is also training his eyes overseas, with distribution deals in Singapore, France, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Belgian, Holland and Japan. Next on the ginger man's map? China.