White Claw enters five new European markets
Drinks Industry title The Spirits Business has also awarded White Claw Hard Seltzer Supreme Brand Champion in its annual report published recently.
White Claw has now entered markets across Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden.
The market launches will see a variety of flavours available with Natural Lime, Black Cherry, Raspberry and Mango hitting shelves across the continent.
White Claw’s parent company, Ireland-based Mark Anthony Brands International, developed the White Claw Hard Seltzer brand for launch in the US in 2016.
Since its launch, White Claw has expanded into Canada, the UK, The Netherlands, Australia and Ireland in 2020.
White Claw is now the #1 Hard Seltzer in the UK, Canada, The Netherlands and Ireland where it has captured 25% of the RTD market by value here in the 44 weeks since being launched.
And in the last 52 weeks, White Claw has delivered 58% of Hard Seltzer’s market value, worth €3.5 million, over double the size of the next-biggest brand, it claims, already making it the No 2 canned brand in Ireland.
“We’ve been blown away by the success of White Claw in every market we’ve entered to date” said Mark Anthony Brands Chief Executive Davin Nugent, “and our goal is to continue to build on that success as we introduce the product across Europe.”
Brand Champion status
And now drinks industry title The Spirits Business has also awarded White Claw Hard Seltzer Supreme Brand Champion in its annual report published recently.
The Supreme Brand Champion’s Award seeks to recognise brands that have found fresh and inventive ways to grow their market volume share.
Up against 102 entries from 39 Hard Seltzer competitors, in all, White Claw was awarded four medals at the Inaugural Hard Seltzer Masters 2021.
White Claw was recognised as the Ready To Drink Brand Champion in the report. The magazine also awarded its Mango, Black Cherry, Natural Lime & Raspberry flavours with The Spirits Business Hard Seltzer Master Medals.
Through its social feeds, home-made merchandise, videos, hashtags and memes, fans have generated over 4 billion impressions and 46 times more social media mentions than competing brands.
In the US over 140 million cases have been sold across the category, currently valued at over $4.7 billion.
It has proved to be America’s most successful new alcohol product in a generation, disrupting the alcohol industry with what’s being coined “the Hard Seltzer revolution”. In 2020, White Claw contributed over $1 billion in growth to the US Hard Seltzer segment which was more than the next two largest beverage growth brands combined.
According to the company, Hard Seltzer in the US is experiencing “explosive growth, with total sales up by +117% in the latest 52wks”.
Despite five years of triple-digit growth, the category continues to grow in 2021 with Hard Seltzer value growing by $367 million dollars in the last 13 weeks, it states.
When compared to its largest source of volume – the beer category, White Claw has become the #6 brand for value in the US and at the current rate of growth, on track to be #2 by the end of this year, states the company.
