Miami – Entrepreneur Hoby Buppert made a clever marketing decision eight years ago.
He pushed his new energy drink, BAWLS, to computer gaming enthusiasts, who found the caffeine-juiced drink was the perfect stimulant for pulling all-nighters with their PCs. Their slavish devotion has propelled Buppert’s Miami company to unforeseen heights, and the Miami-based shipper moved 20 million of its distinctive blue bottles in 2005.
Now Buppert is targeting another niche: American soldiers abroad.
With some of his devoted customers now serving in the armed forces – and with all soldiers needing to stay awake through extended periods of boredom – Buppert has created the BAWLS “military pack.” Could his blue-bottled drink become as ubiquitous today as Lucky Strikes were in World War II?
“There is a huge crossover between our customers and the military,” said Buppert, 32. “More and more of our consumers are going overseas, and they miss BAWLS.”
BAWLS, a nonalcoholic soft drink that packs more than twice as much caffeine as a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola, is riding the rising demand for energy drinks from teenagers and twenty- somethings.
While those drinks remain a small slice of the beverage market – 3 percent to 4 percent of all soft drinks sold in the United States – sales are growing fast.
Energy-drink sales rose 75 percent in 2005 from the year before, estimated John Sicher, publisher of trade publication Beverage Digest.
“American consumers have a love affair with energy drinks,” he said.
Red Bull dominates the segment, with 41 percent of the market, followed by Monster at 16 percent and Rock Star at 9 percent. BAWLS has a loyal following, but its limited distribution makes it difficult to track.
Buppert wouldn’t disclose gross sales.
Unlike some energy drinks that are supplemented with vitamins, the citrus-flavored BAWLS is supposed to do only two things: taste good and keep you awake.
Said Buppert: “We aren’t a health drink.”
“They have done a really nice job,” Sicher said. “They have really distinguished themselves with their blue bottle. The beverage industry is dominated by three giants – Coke, Pepsi and Cadbury Schweppes – but entrepreneurs can make money with a good idea.”
Sicher points to upstarts such as Snapple from the 1970s and SoBe from the 1990s.
Buppert, a Baltimore native, founded BAWLS in 1996 after dreaming up the idea for a senior-year project at Cornell University. He didn’t like coffee and thought caffeine-packed drinks such as Mountain Dew were too sweet. He eventually found the guarana berry, which is wildly popular in drinks in Brazil.
He picked South Florida for its weather and its local sales potential, believing there was an easy-to-tap market of South Americans already there. The company – called Hobarama – recently moved to a large, cheaper location in Miami’s fashion district.
Heavy sponsorship of computer-gaming tournaments and conventions led to a distribution deal with CompUSA, which sells cases of BAWLS.
Later this year, in a partnership with 7-Eleven, the convenience store will test SNO BAWLS – a guarana Slurpee – at its Dallas-area stores.
Hobarama LLC hopes soldiers will order BAWLS from their faraway outposts.
The company found it was too expensive to ship its dark- blue bottles abroad, so it developed a “military pack” with a six-pack of BAWLS in cans. Also included: a tin of BAWLS mints, lip balm, a drawstring backpack and a pack of playing cards emblazoned with the BAWLS logo.
That costs $26, including shipping. Since the military pack was introduced in mid- December, Hobarama has shipped about 1,600.
Though the beverage-maker has e-mails from soldiers proclaiming their love for BAWLS – “Lets face it, there aren’t that many benefits to being in Iraq. Now that I am here in the good ol’ US of A, I want to buy a gift pack,” one sergeant wrote – BAWLS has a long way to go to become a common sight in the desert.
An article in the Marine Corps Times in October noted Red Bull was the top-selling item for personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan at military stores.
A Starbucks double-shot coffee was second, and Newport Menthol Cigarettes were third.
