beverages

KDP Acquires Hydration Brand, Touts Upcoming Marketing Changes

Image above from last year's Dr. Pepper "Fansville" campaign.

There'll be some changes made at Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) this year.

KDP  shared its Q2 earnings report today. During the call, KDP CEO Tim Cofer highlighted Diet Dr Pepper’s 35% retail sales growth for the quarter, as well as positive consumer engagement for the brand, pointing to its “successful marketing tie-in with the summer blockbuster ‘Jurassic World Rebirth,’ which we amplified through media and in-store activations.”

Cofer also noted the company’s partnership with Bloom expanding with the launch of prebiotic soda Bloom Pop, which recently made its debut as a Walmart exclusive ahead of a wider retail rollout. Cofer said prebiotic sodas had quickly grown to represent nearly 3% market share of the $46 billion consumer soft drink category as a whole. “This launch builds on our successful energy partnership with Bloom, which has rapidly scaled to nearly a share point in energy drinks, and has strong crossover potential into prebiotic carbonated soft drinks,” he added.

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Cofer also noted that the company’s approach to marketing has been evolving, particularly since the appointment of Drew Panayiotou as CMO for U.S. refreshment beverages last November.

The “marketing transformation…is one where we are putting data, technology and digital at the center of the marketing flywheel. And that's really to enable more powerful real-time insights, create more precise consumer segmentation, consumer targeting, [and] generate more effective, sometimes-AI-enabled, marketing content,” he said.

For example, Dr. Pepper will be bringing back its college-football-themed "Fansville" series for the eighth consecutive year, Cofer said, but with some changes emblematic of the company’s evolving approach to marketing. “This year, not only is the work great, but you're going to also see it materialize in a more personalized, digitally enabled consumer engagement.”

Such changes are coming to the coffee side of the company’s business as well, he added, with its Keurig brand implementing “new digital approaches and marketing to identify and to target higher-value households — both existing Keurig users and new high-value households — to really drive that lifetime value and get the most out of new Keurig household placement.”

KDP also announced it has fully acquired hydration drink mix maker Dyla Brands. It had held a minority stake in the powdered drink mix and liquid water enhancer company since 2017.

In a release announcing the acquisition, KDP cited increased consumer demand for flavored water with ”functional” embellishments. According to KDP’s recently published “2025 State of Beverage” report, 59% of Americans rate “new flavors” as a motivating factor to try a new beverage, and 60% said they are “interested in trying flavored water with added antioxidants and vitamins.”

“This acquisition provides KDP with a turn-key platform to immediately capitalize on the growing demand for functional, trend-forward and on-the-go beverage enhancers and drink mixes — leveraging Dyla-owned brands, KDP’s existing portfolio, and licensed third-party brands,” Nate Champagne, vice president and general manager of juice, snacks, and mixes, said in a statement.

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