Lone River Beverage Company’s Ranch Water hard seltzer has been making waves since their launch in late May. Made with lime and 100% agave, Ranch Water is inspired by a tequila-based cocktail of the same name, as well as the culture of West Texas. The hard seltzer market doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon, and it is dominated by big brands owned by the likes of Mark Anthony Brands, Boston Beer Co. [NYSE: SAM], and Anheuser-Busch [NYSE: BUD]. Just how does Lone River Beverage Company plan to stand out from the ever-growing crowd?
In an exclusive interview with Hard Seltzer News, Katie Beal Brown, founder and CEO of Lone River Beverage Company, revealed major secrets to success in the hard seltzer market — a rocking team and an emphasis on brand differentiation.
“Just knowing that my expertise was more in the branding and marketing world, [sic] I’ve really relied on my team to bring expertise from other parts of the industry, especially on the operational and financial sides of the business,” Brown told Hard Seltzer News. “[It’s] been really great to see is just how clear the vision is for everybody and how they have bought into really supporting it and driving it forward from all aspects of our business.”
At inception, Lone River Beverage Company was just Brown and her husband — so the support of Brown’s team has been crucial to the company’s success and growth.
“We hired our first employee a little bit over a year ago on the sales side, and he brought a whole other level of expertise just in being able to get our product on shelves,” Brown said.
Because of Brown’s background (she left an advertising career in New York before founding Lone River), she’s had the benefit of being able to surround herself with top-notch professionals from various fields.
“We’ve kind of collected people along the way — from our business partners, our investors and our distributors,” Brown said.
With a strong team behind her, Brown was able to build a powerful brand — one that thrives on a unique vision.
“When we looked at the hard seltzer category we felt like the growth was really being driven by what we call a ‘sea of sameness’ — [with] a lot of products that looked, felt and tasted the same,” Brown explained.
In the hard seltzer category, thin cans are all the rage, along with bright, feminine marketing. With Ranch Water, Lone River Beverage Company has forgone the petite cans, for a sleek, silver, standard can. Their marketing images capture men and women out on the dusty ranch, seltzer in hand.
“When you look at far West Texas, in a lot of ways, it’s emblematic of the American West and the value sets associated with that,” Brown said, “I think we’ve been able to kind of build a brand that’s bigger than just the Ranch Water product — one that celebrates that kind of western lifestyle associated with [West Texas].”
Brown explained, “It is inherently a little bit more rugged and masculine, so I think that has also just benefited us in carving out that point of differentiation.”
Last week, Lone River Beverage Company released two new flavors of Ranch Water: Spicy Ranch Water with jalapeño and Rio Red Grapefruit.
“As we looked to expand our portfolio and our flavor profiles, it was really important to me to maintain that differentiation,” Brown said about the new flavors. “We are one of the first spicy seltzers to hit the market, and I think that is very different from a lot of the fruitier floral flavors that you see from some of the bigger brands.”
Given that the drink is inspired by a tequila-based cocktail, Brown said she wanted to continue to pull from category adjacent flavor profiles, while staying true to the roots of West Texas, “Doing something that, again, just feels different from the trends that already exist.”
When asked for advice to new entrepreneurs looking to enter the hard seltzer market, Brown emphasized the strategy that has worked so well for her and her brand.
“Going into next year, we will see an onslaught of new entrants [in the hard seltzer category],” Brown said. “I think it’s really critical for any new brand to carve out that point of differentiation to ensure that they’re offering something new and not just following what a lot of the other brands have done.”
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