SunSip’s meteoric growth in the past year is a testament to the nascent prebiotic soda set’s potential and changing consumer priorities – if not taste preferences – as well as Health-Ade’s experience creating accessible beverages that boost gut health and overall wellbeing.
Health-Ade cut its teeth in the polarizing and competitive kombucha category where its “bubbly probiotic tea” consistently outpaced the category thanks in part to its “purist” approach to fermentation with a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast), distinctive glass bottles, organic positioning and unique flavors that placed it firmly in the premium segment.
SunSip takes the company in a new direction by appealing to more mainstream but still health-minded consumers with flavors that are closer to conventional soda than kombucha but with added health benefits – including prebiotics from agave inulin fiber, vitamins C, B6 and B12 and minerals, such as zinc and selenium – to support immunity and energy.
The brand’s debut last year marks the company’s second foray into the functional soda set, following the launch of Health-Ade Booch Pop in 2020. While that line was discontinued in 2023, the company is optimistic about its new venture, which it expanded at Natural Products Expo West with two new flavors and which it will further support with a soon-to-launch campaign that it says “challenges the outdated belief that what is good for you has to taste bad.”
‘When they go high, we go low’
While the modern soda set is dominated by a few heavy-hitters and much larger collective of smaller players, Health-Ade still sees room for SunSip as “an amazing alternative to what you’ve got out there with some of the bigger players,” said Health-Ade Chief Marketing Officer Charlotte Mostaed.
“We know that people are looking for better solutions, but there are a ton of people that are addicted to big soda and big amounts of sugar, big amounts of artificial ingredients – and that is where when they go high, we go low,” she said.
She explained SunSip has 6 grams or less of sugar per can, compared to the 39 grams in a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola, the 77 grams in a 20-ounce bottle of Mountain Dew or 67 grams in a 20-ounce bottle of Minute Maid Lemonade.
In addition, SunSip has only 40 calories or less per can, but “still full flavor, full enjoyment,” Mostaed added.
“It’s got super delicious flavors,” including Raspberry Lemonade, Cherry Cola, Root Beer, Lemon Lime and Strawberry Vanilla, she said.
“These are amazingly appealing flavors that everyone can drink, and a lot less intimidating and much more approachable than something like a kombucha,” where there might be some barriers or hesitance to try it.
She added: “Everyone loves a soda. Everyone knows what to do with a soda, and they can enjoy it in their life alongside their future.”
At Natural Products Expo West, the company sampled two new flavors – Dr Bubbles, which it describes as “a bold blend of sweet cherry, smooth vanilla and a subtle spite inspired by the rise of iconic ‘doctor’ sodas,” and Cream Soda, which it said is a “vanilla delight with caramelized notes.”
Finally, SunSip “goes low” on price with an SRP of $2.49 compared to most kombucha products – including its own offerings, which hover around $3.50 a bottle – making it more accessible, Mostaed said.
Where the brand goes high when others go low is with added health benefits, including fiber, vitamins and minerals, she added.
“People are busy, right? They don’t have time to take all of the supplements and balance their macros and make sure that they have all the nutrients and all of their meals every single day. So, they need their beverages to work harder for them,” and SunSip does without sacrificing taste, she said.
“Those extra ingredients that just make it worth your while to try a SunSip and see if that’s something that you want to add to your liking, to your daily routine,” she added.
Is a shakeout of the category looming?
While consumer interest in prebiotic and better-for-you sodas is strong, store space is limited and will serve as a check-and-balance to the explosive growth happening now, theorized Mostaed.
“There is going to be, as we saw in the kombucha category, an explosion of brand, an explosion of interest in this, and then there will be some rationalization, some mellowing out,” she said.
But, she added, “what we know at Health-Ade is that we are both the experts in gut health as well as amazingly tasty, bubbly beverages, and so we feel like consumers know us for that and we have a right to win here because of that equity we’ve built with them over the last decade or so.”
Sundeinably Good Soda campaign sets SunSip apart
To reinforce SunSip’s positioning in the category and further drive consumer engagement and sales, the brand is launching a new “Sundeinably Good Soda” omni-channel campaign that embraces the nostalgia of soda but challenges that old adage that “if it is too good to be true it probably isn’t.”
Mostaed explained the campaign has a “retro vibe” and “really kind of flips that nostalgic wonder on its head and says, ‘Yes, the thing you always wondered could be true, it really is true. You can have something that tastes incredibly good, that is also good for you.”
Videography and production by Caroline Rude
