In the Market: A look at Fever-Tree’s acceleration as it tours the U.S.

Our In the Market series explores how we bring our brands to life in our local markets, closest to our customers and consumers. This edition highlights an experiential campaign that is national in scale but local in execution, supporting the continued growth of Fever-Tree mixers.

When Non-alc Marketing Activation Director Matt Stallman walked into a high-end bar and told the bartender he works on the Fever-Tree brand, the bartender feigned ignorance. But just as Stallman was about to begin explaining it, the bartender cut him off.

Of course I know Fever-Tree, the bartender laughed. Its the best, by far. Its all we use here.

Fever-Tree is Americas No. 1 mixer brand, and its premium positioning including the lengths the brand goes to source the best ingredients makes it a standout among bartenders and mixologists. Its also the insight behind the brands first national campaign that launched in April, Mix with the Best, which states that: a bartenders best kept secret… is now your secret too.

If the secret wasnt already out then, its certainly out now.

Fever-Tree only continues to accelerate. According to Circana through July 19, dollar sales are up nearly 10% year-to-date, and over 13% in the last 13-week period. And while Fever-Tree holds the highest dollar share in the mixer category, that only continues to grow, up nearly 3 points in dollar share vs prior year for the last 13 weeks through July 19, according to Circana.

This past quarter was also the brands highest sales quarter since it partnered with Molson Coors just over a year ago, another proof point in how Fever-Tree is bolstering Molson Coors non-alc portfolio and beyond beer ambitions, and in Molson Coors ability to scale the brand.

Now, Fever-Tree is building momentum this summer with a sampling tour thats hitting cities and premier bartender conventions.

This is Fever-Trees biggest activation push, ever, in the United States, says Stallman. We have a stellar, category-leading brand that still has lots of awareness to gain, so for a lot of people we see in these markets, were making a first impression with this tour. It has to be a great impression.

Having started in April in San Antonio and continuing through September, the 24-week tour includes 72 activation days in over 20 cities because to truly understand what makes Fever-Tree so special, you have to try it for yourself, Stallman explained.

The experiential activations, anchored by an aesthetic mobile cocktail bar, are a statement that once you try Fever-Tree, you wouldnt want to mix your drinks with anything else. As Fever-Tree continues to expand distribution and awareness, experiential sampling remains one of the brands most effective tools for converting first-time consumers into repeat ones.

While the brands activation strategy is targeted toward consumers, Fever-Trees lifeblood is the bartender community, so the tour has also made stops at bartender-specific events: Camp Runamok, a bartender sleepaway camp in Kentucky, Bar Convent Brooklyn, and most recently as the official mixer sponsor at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans.

At Tales of the Cocktail alone, Fever-Tree participated in nearly 50 events, reminding bartenders just how much better their concoctions taste when using Fever-Tree over other mixers, or the soda gun.

Bartenders deserve the best mixers to do their best work, so we need to show up at the places where they come together to celebrate their profession, says Stallman. And what weve seen is that its not only the bartenders who prefer Fever-Tree, full-strength spirits brands with activations are asking for it too. They want to pair their high-quality products with only the best mixer to make the best impression, so were always happy to run a few cases of Fever-Tree over to them.

As Fever-Tree continues its nation-wide sampling tour, its staying focused on what it is, and what it isnt. Its a top-of-the-line mixer, its made with premium ingredients, it cares about the details. Its not bland or basic. Its focused on winning people over by getting on the ground and showing them what Fever-Tree is all about.

And while it does this, the accolades keep rolling in.

Fever-Tree is Drinks Internationals No. 1 Best Selling Mixer for 12 years in a row, and is the NY International Spirits Carbonated Mixer Brand of the Year for six years running. Individual mixers within Fever-Trees portfolio have totaled over 50 awards and counting. Its no wonder the brand is pairing its first national campaign with its strongest experiential activations yet, because how it tastes and mixes is its biggest strength.

Fever-Tree is so lauded, and so awarded, that if a bartender tells you they havent heard of it, theyre probably messing with you.

We are proud of our growth, our awards, and the love our bartenders and drinkers have for us, but we arent resting on our laurels, says Stallman. We have something special here, and we want to bring Fever-Tree to more markets and more people, so drinkers can taste the difference for themselves.