Professional wrestler, businessman, and actor Dwayne Johnson, who often goes by "the Rock," is partnering with Molson Coors Beverage Company (TAP 0.44%) in his launch of non-alcoholic ZOA energy drinks. The partnership, announced today in a press release, will cast Molson Coors as the exclusive distributor for ZOA, currently scheduled for public sale in March.
Said to be made for people with an active lifestyle -- the press release calls them "everyday warriors" -- ZOA includes vitamins, nutrients, caffeine, and "powerful antioxidants from camu camu and acerola." The product appears to blur the line between energy drinks and dietary supplements, with its description focusing on natural ingredients and claims of boosting the immune system in addition to the expected energy lift.
Image source: Getty Images.
According to Johnson, his team, which includes private equity investment firm Juggernaut Capital Partners founder John Shulman, researched and developed the drink over a period of one and a half years. Shulman says part of the process was "homing in on where the white space is in the industry," or looking to create a product different enough from other energy drink offerings to stand out.
As the beer industry struggles with sales that were slumping long before the COVID-19 pandemic appeared on the scene, Molson Coors has been attempting to branch out into new beverage markets to regain momentum. Zeroing in on strong demand for the fizzy drinks, it recently unveiled a plan to boost its hard seltzer manufacturing capacity by 400%.
This move could help it slurp up profits in a beverage sector expected to reach $6.5 billion in the next four years. Today's alliance gives it a potentially strong entry into the even bigger energy drink sector, which is projected to climb to $19.2 billion by 2024.
