For Everyday Moments, Reach for Passion Tree’s Mini Seltzers
By Ryan Slattery
The idea was formulated in Miami and took shape on the opposite coast when Passion Tree’s co-founders loaded up a 1994 Gulfstream RV full of hard seltzers and took to the streets of San Diego to share their product in a “boots on the ground, guerilla marketing” campaign. The response to the fruity spiked seltzers was extremely positive and soon the masterminds behind the brand had a deal in place to sell Passion Tree in Kroger’s Ralphs stores throughout San Diego.
The bus tour occurred just about two years ago in 2021 and now Passion Tree’s new mini-seltzers are getting national attention with a blitz marketing campaign, lead by their strong social media presence and national distribution in Target stores that are in some of the country’s biggest markets–California, Florida, Texas, New York and Illinois. These key states are sure to help brand identity and propel Passion Tree into the next stratosphere.
In a crowded hard seltzer market, what makes Passion Tree unique and stand out is (pardon the pun) their passion for producing a quality better-for-you beverage that focuses on offering a new drinking experience with their signature mini cans and vastly differs from competitors in a multitude of ways.
Minis Cater to the Mindful Drinker
Firstly, Passion Tree is the first-ever mini hard seltzer to hit the market. They’re called minis because they’re sold in 7.5 ounce cans–and done so for good reason. When researching what consumers wanted out of a hard seltzer, Passion Tree’s founders, Andy Kuklock, Jake Ryder and Garrett Olsen, found that drinking trends were changing and people were being more conscious of what they were consuming, and how much of it they were. They realized that there was very limited options for people other than non-alcoholic beverages or lower-ABV beverages and nothing in between.
“That’s where the passion for minis came in,” says Olsen. “It was filling a legitimate gap in the industry.”
Just as Coca-Cola modernized the soda industry in 2009 when it introduced its mini-size beverages, Passion Tree is hoping it will capture a similar market.
“We found that people were only finishing half a beverage so it just made a ton of sense,” says Kuklock. “Not everyone wants to have a 12-ounce can all the time and let’s be honest, nobody likes it when their favorite beverage gets warm halfway through. With the minis your last sip is as cold as your first.”
In another trendsetting move, they also saw that no other alcohol brand in their market had any sort of broader initiative that was easily measurable tied to their brand and wanted to make that a trademark of Passion Tree so they teamed up with with Our Forests and Eden Reforestation Projects on reforestation efforts.
For every case sold, one tree is planted, contributing towards the fight against deforestation and helping to restore the world’s ecosystems. So far, Passion Tree has planted 100,000+ mangrove trees in Madagascar.
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But while you can shrink the serving size and plant a tree for each case sold, it’s really the taste and quality of what’s inside that small can that really matters and Passion Tree took that to heart as well in crafting an all-natural, five-ingredient, 70-calorie seltzer. Using nanofiltration in the brewing process with their cold brewed fermented sugar cane, Passion Tree has achieved a remarkably clean tasting beverage with no hidden ingredients and a label that consumers can read and actually understand.
To no surprise, given the brand’s palm tree logo, consumers will also find uniqueness in Passion Tree’s tropical-inspired real fruit flavors. Current flavors available exclusively in the mini cans are guava, lychee, dragonfruit, boysenberry and coconut.
Kuklock, Ryder and Olsen want Passion Tree to be that go-to beverage for those who embrace a healthy, more active lifestyle. Celebrate with friends without all the guilt or headaches the next day. It’s a sessionable seltzer that provides a new alternative to the standard 12oz can option people have been stuck with for years.
“In the end, we’re a beverage brand but we feel that Passion Tree really has the potential to become more of a lifestyle brand after seeing how people have already chosen to buy into this mini movement and especially embracing the philanthropy portion of our brand” says Kuklock. drinkpassiontree.com
