Full Of Itself, Moxie Is Poised To Stage A Comeback

It wouldn't be overselling to describe Moxie as a marketing superhero. After all, how many brands have inspired popular music, used baseball legend Ted Williams as a pitchman and driven a personality trait even sexier than chutzpah into the vernacular? Sadly, its superpowers jumped the shark before the Allies stormed Normandy.

But that may change soon: Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Northern New England, owned by Japanese giant Kirin Beer, has bought Moxie, and hopes to expand it beyond its septuagenarian New England base.

The acquisition of the brand from Monarch Beverages was completed in March. "Switching from six-packs to 12-packs has increased sales," says Justin Conroy, brand manager of Cornucopia Beverages, the division of the company marketing Moxie and Diet Moxie.

"And we're hoping that with new packaging, expanded distribution and widespread grassroots sampling, we can get younger consumers interested, too." In fact, despite its famously medicinal flavor, which Conroy says come from bitter-tasting gentian roots, "we've been surprised by how positive a response we've gotten from younger demographics."

advertisement

advertisement

Like Vernors Ginger Ale in the Midwest and Cheerwine in the South, a big part of the challenge is reaching out beyond its original region. In Moxie's case, the precise origins are a matter of debate: Its inventor was a Maine native, but he sold it from his pharmacy in Massachusetts.

"It's a lot easier to expand first in your own backyard and then gradually roll it out beyond New England," Conroy says. "We'd like to do some advertising, but that's a few steps down the road."

Tiny brands like Moxie might seem irrelevant: Cadbury Schweppes' Vernors, for example, has only about 0.1% share of the soft-drink market, according to Beverage Marketing Corp. But in today's fragmented beverage world, they're actually increasingly important, says Gary Hemphill, a spokesperson for Beverage Marketing Corp., which tracks beverage sales.

"The whole marketplace has changed so much in terms of sheer variety--whether it's types of teas, fruit drinks, sports drinks or energy drinks." Regional brands, which have a kind of character and authenticity all their own, can play into that. "People don't want to drink the same thing morning, noon and night," he says.

Next story loading loading..