Simply Spiked Lemonade, Molson Coors Beverage Company’s latest foray beyond the beer aisle, is set to hit shelves in the U.S. this June.
It will launch in variety packs of 12-ounce slim cans featuring four flavors: Signature Lemonade, Strawberry Lemonade, Watermelon Lemonade and Blueberry Lemonade. Select flavors also will be available in stand-alone 24-ounce cans.
Known for its real, high-quality juices and variety of flavors, Simply Lemonade is the nation's best-selling refrigerated lemonade. It is found in half of American households and already is routinely used by consumers to make cocktails.
“We’re taking Simply, the No. 1 juice brand in the U.S., and turning it into the drink of the summer,” says Joy Ghosh, vice president of marketing for above-premium brands and flavored malt beverages for Molson Coors. “Simply is a beloved brand that is synonymous with real fruit juice, which makes Simply Spiked Lemonade poised to be a breakthrough hit this summer”
Simply Spiked Lemonade products check in at 5% alcohol by volume and are made with real fruit juice, which Ghosh says sets the brand apart from other competitors in the growing flavored alcohol beverage segment.
“This is not a seltzer. This is a full-flavored product that we think can win not only with drinkers of non-alc Simply who mix cocktails and FMB drinkers searching for something a little juicier,” he says.
The flavored malt beverage segment is growing, up 11% in dollar sales between 2020 and 2021, according to IRI. Moreover, the lemonade-flavor subsegment is exploding, up 49% since 2018, with more than $254 million in dollar sales, according to IRI.
Simply Spiked Lemonade is the latest collaboration between Molson Coors and The Coca-Cola Company, which also combined to turn Topo Chico Hard Seltzer into a top-4 hard seltzer in the U.S. market. Topo Chico Hard Seltzer went national earlier this year, and the brand recently launched Topo Chico Ranch Water Hard Seltzer and Topo Chico Margarita Hard Seltzer. It launched in Canada this week.
“We’ve had amazing success with Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, and we know the playbook on how to win with this relationship,” Ghosh says. “And Simply, as a non-alc brand, is seven times bigger than Topo Chico. So, if you think Topo Chico Hard Seltzer was a hit, we’re going to have an even bigger opportunity with Simply Spiked Lemonade.”
The brand plans a big marketing push heading into summer with ads on national TV and across digital and social channels. It also will roll out a suite of in-store components that play up its use of real juice. And with packaging that clearly calls to mind the Simply non-alc brand, Ghosh hopes legal-age drinkers will seamlessly embrace Simply Spiked Lemonade.
“We’re bringing legal-age drinkers who love Simply into the alcohol aisle,” he says. “Now they can get their favorite beverage as an RTD.”