When a company manages to create a big-name brand, it often gets licensed to be used in other areas of the food business. People, for example might not buy chocolate and peanut butter cereal puffs, but call them "Reese's Puffs" and people will at least sample them.
In a very crowded market, that can be the different between success and failure. It's very hard to launch a completely original product and get space in convenience and grocery stores.
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It's not impossible, but there's a reason so many new energy drink and spirit brands have opted to work with celebrities. A social media influencer like Logan Paul can get his fans to demand that stories carry Prime Energy, but the same product, or even a better one, without that hook, would have a much lower chance of success.
In many ways, it works a lot like movies. There's a reason that Walt Disney, Comcast, Sony, and the other big studios lean heavily on sequels. People will go see the new Star Wars movie or the latest Minions film, but "Space Battles," and "Funny Yellow Guys," even if they have good scripts, have very little chance of becoming big hits.
This, in the food world, has led to some really weird products, but it has also made big-name products like M&Ms and Oreo cookies, bigger than they ever were. Now another big name in the candy world, Mars' Skittles, is expanding its brand by entering the soda space.
Image source: Wikipedia/PiccoloNamek
Taste the rainbow, drink the rainbow
While Skittles may not be as popular as M&Ms (another Mars brand), it's a very popular brand name that has been expanded into a number of new candy products. Adding new flavors, or selling mini Skittles, however, is a very different thing than entering the beverage world dominated by Coca-Cola (KO) and Pepsico.
"Skittles drinks are starting to show up in stores and my inner child is beyond excited just seeing the bottles. These could end up being a lot of fun if they get the flavors right...but I have to admit I'm skeptical. Will they be like a cheaper flavored water, something like Hi-C/Kool Aid, soda, or some combination or them?" the Snackolator Instagram page reported.
Mars already offers Skittles drink powders which can be added to water. Those are sold in various packs of single flavors. The bottled Skittles drinks are a little different, at least when it comes to flavor.
Skittles drinks come in four flavors
"They're starting with Original, Wild Berry, Tropical, and Sour Skittles flavored drinks and I wonder if they'll branch out to individual flavors down the road," Snackolator added.
Essentially, the candy maker is promising a flavor that tastes like when you eat a handful of Skittles from one of the company's flavor assortment offerings.
What remains unclear is exactly what Coke and Pepsi brands Mars hopes to compete with. The Skittles drinks are not carbonated but it's unclear if it's meant to be a hydration beverage like Coke's Powerade or Pepsi's Gatorade, some sort of energy beverage, a high or low-calorie offering, or just flavored water,
Mars, which is privately held, has a better chance of getting shelf space at convenience and grocery stores than a startup beverage brand. Coke and Pepsi want to crowd competitors out, and while there are success stories, like Red Bull and Celcius (CELH) , which have fought there way in, there are countless other brands that died because they could get that distribution.
In theory, Mars can leverage M&Ms, Skittles, Snickers, Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, Twix, and its money other incredibly popular candy brands to get stores to at least give its Skittles beverages a try.
