• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, August 8, 2016

PepsiCo’s SoBe beverages brand is throwing itself a 21st birthday party in Las Vegas, featuring a Charli XCX concert, to promote the launch of two new flavors.

The #SoBeNotSorry campaign is kicking off with a sweepstakes with a grand prize of a trip for two to attend the concert/party, to be held on September 3 at the SLS Las Vegas. Ten first-prize winners will receive prize packs with SoBe-branded items, including an iPod Nano.

Fans can enter through August 15 on the sweeps site by following @DrinkSoBe and @SLSLasVegas on Instagram; taking a photo with a SoBe Elixir or tea product (or with the word “SoBe” on a piece of paper); and posting it on their personal Instagram accounts using #SoBeNotSorry and #SLSLasVegasSweeps.

The brand has partnered with the Elite Daily site, which calls itself “The Voice of Gen Y,” to produce other events and to create sponsored content for SoBe’s Instagram, Twitter and Facebook channels, Christine Ngo Isaac, SoBe brand lead, tells Marketing Daily. The native advertising, distributed through a custom Snapchat filter, will be themed around celebrating a 21st birthday in Las Vegas -- a subject that connects with young adults, she says.

In addition, SoBe is working with Quickframe, an on-demand marketplace for original UGC video, to have video influencers go on adventures in the U.S. and elsewhere -- with bottles of SoBe’s new flavors in hand. 

Those new flavors are Midnight Mojito, with blackberry flavor and “a hint of mint,” and En Fuego, with lime flavor and a bit of jalapeno for heat. 

In extensive testing, Millennial consumers were particularly taken by the novelty of the spicy beverage, a concept that is truly innovative in the non-alcoholic beverages sector, says Isaac. 

But these and other SoBe varieties are also designed to work as mixers. On its recently redesigned Web site and in a national sampling tour that launched in June, the brand is promoting a number of cocktail recipes -- including the “Laughing Lizard” and the “Howling Mojito,” which include the new flavors.

Taste differentiation – and the versatility of both daytime and party consumption – are advantages in the growing but increasingly competitive flavored waters and teas beverage segments.

SoBe recently updated the graphics on its packaging, as well as its site, to feature fanciful characters and revive its ‘fantasy names,’ such as fan favorites Morning Patrol (strawberry banana) and Lizz Blizz (piña colada).