A recently-launched vodka soda offering from the Kardashian family machine is embarking on a mission to stand out in the crowded ready-to-drink cocktail market — a plan that includes aligning with another buzzy alcohol brand within the family’s business empire.
Kylie Jenner’s Sprinter debuted in March of this year in four flavors — Black Cherry, Lime, Grapefruit and Peach. The brand pointed to a shipment of 140,000 cases in its first month as a sign of initial success, along with a debut at the Coachella music festival in April.
Each can of Sprinter contains 100 calories and 4.5% alcohol-by-volume, along with premium vodka, fruit juice and sparkling water.
The brand is now run under Calabasas Beverage Company, a venture that owns brands launched by the Kardashian family. Its lineup currently includes Kendall Jenner’s tequila brand 818, which debuted in 2021 and reported 65% year-over-year growth in January with its Blanco, Reposado and Añejo varieties.
Kylie Jenner’s Sprinter canned vodka sodas.
Courtesy of Sprinter
The company’s CEO Mike Novy, a beverage industry veteran, said in an interview the creation of Sprinter emerged naturally from an idea Kylie had about making a less artificial tasting vodka soda. Initially, he acted as a sounding board for Kylie to workshop ideas. By the time the product was ready to hit shelves this past spring, the dynamics of the two brands, 818 and Sprinter, came into focus for Novy and the family.
“Sprinter was going through a different set of distributors and a different route to market which came from some early participants on it,” Novy said. “We had meetings with two of the biggest retailers in the alcoholic beverage space in the U.S., and the messaging was very clear: you should be with one distributor group.”
According to Novy, Calabasas Beverage Company is a “reverse holding company,” owned 50/50 by the Sprinter and 818 teams. The arrangement, he said, has allowed for the brands’ strategies to be more synchronized.
Sprinter will soon launch its second variety pack with four new unannounced flavors. The CEO said the brand is aiming to move toward bolder flavors that balance sweetness and acidity.
“We want it to be a positive sensory experience from a carbonation and overall consumption standpoint, beyond just the flavor,” Novy said.
Red hot RTD demand
The market for ready-to-drink canned cocktails is expanding each day, with new entrants entering the fray with unique blends of spirits, juices, sodas and even botanicals. The market for RTD cocktails is projected to be worth $2.4 billion by 2030, rising at a compound annual growth rate of 14%, according to Grand View Research.
Compared to when hard seltzer first surged in popularity in the late 2010s, disrupting the alcohol landscape, Novy believes that today, the RTD cocktail consumer is more knowledgeable about the spirits and ingredients constituting the drinks they purchase.
“One of the big pushes from Kylie was to make it super high quality, true to the fruit. We didn’t want artificial,” Novy said. “Consumers are more discerning in terms of flavor profiles, which is a dynamic that’s happened in almost every alcohol category. You saw it in beer, people going from the mass brands to then wanting things that were more craft.”
Sprinter is uniquely poised to benefit from this consumer evolution thanks to the visibility of the Kardashian-Jenner family on social media, where they amass hundreds of millions of followers, according to Novy.
818 tequila has also launched collaborations with influencer Emma Chamberlain’s Chamberlain Coffee and New York City Italian restaurant Rao’s, on tequila-infused espresso martinis and pasta sauce. With the potential for access to collaborations with upper echelon brands, Sprinter has a leg up on other upstarts trying to break through in the alcohol category. But Novy said the brand is still in the early stages of planning its next move.
“It’s all about making people feel a part of something bigger than just a beverage,” Novy said. “I’ve been in the alcohol beverage business for 35 years and have done a lot of very cool brands, but I’ve never had one where the consumers are so engaged and passionate about their experience with it.”
