When you hear a ‘rag to riches’ story, your mind might automatically think Microsoft or Facebook. In the water industry, there isn’t a better ‘rag to riches’ story than Talking Rain Beverage Company. A group of ambitious entrepreneurs banded together to overtake the bottled water industry back in the 90s, and today, it was worth every ounce of energy and persistence they invested in their brand to get it to the top.
A Short History of Talking Rain and Sparkling Ice
Talking Rain was founded in 1987 in the Pacific Northwest by two local entrepreneurs. The company got its start by selling unsweetened, lightly flavored sparkling water and eventually went on to launch other national brands, Twist and ActivWater. By 2010, the company’s national brands were struggling. Enter Sparkling Ice, a zero-sugar, boldly flavored sparkling beverage. Today, you’ll find this delicious sparkling water in almost any convenience or grocery store across the country. The originators modestly attributed their success to good timing, but it took innovative strategizing and risk to save a struggling company like Talking Rain and turn it into a nationwide product.
Sparkling Ice is truly a “shooting star story.”
In a Nutshell, Here’s How It Went Down
Sparkling Ice was able to overcome the sugar-filled beverages that monopolized the $22.8 billion juice market. In the first five years after Sparkling Ice’s expansion, the soda industry declined 2.9 percent consistently in each of those years. This was amazing, and it all started with the investors making the risk to focus their attention on the Sparkling Ice brand. This investment was the start of the sequence of actions that led to the company’s overall success.
In 1996, the entrepreneurs tried to extend the boundaries of their sparkling water because they knew it was good. They took it out of the Northwest by going into Costco in California and BJ’s on the east coast in New Jersey. This initial venture was unsuccessful but they remained diligent in their dream of getting Sparkling Ice into the public’s hands. It wasn’t until Kroger, another national grocery chain, gave the struggling company a chance by stocking two palates in the first 19 stores. Sparkling Ice was now available to five universities in Indiana, and they sold out overnight!
This turned out to be the beginning of Talking Rain’s ultimate success. When the delicious sparkling-water drinks disappeared off the shelves, Kroger then stretched this virtually unknown beverage into 150 more stores. This beginning of Sparkling Ice instigated the spread across the midwest; the sales team was convincing retailers to replace the Twist and ActivWater on their shelves with the new, refreshing, flavorful Sparkling Ice. The promo worked, and by 2011, Sparkling Ice had taken Talking Rain to an increase of 140 percent or $60 million a year in revenue.
A Few Years Passed
In 2012, Talking Rain had targeted all the majority of the top 40 retailers in the United States. What an accomplishment! The interest of millions of Americans around this new delightful brand of sparkling water became a regular part of their lives.
Talking Rain tripled in employees. In 2013, they invested $15 million towards their first major ad campaign, and this push included television and media. They also became a sponsor in the LPGA, which would target the over 35 population, a new frontier.
The company has continued to see major growth. In 2018, Sparkling Ice had a record summer sales season, shipping 15 million cases to retailers over a three month period. The following year, the Sparkling Ice brand held the number one spot in the sparkling water category.
Today, the world can see that it was the risk-taking and wise marketing strategies that brought Sparkling Ice out from behind the Talking Rain label. Americans know Sparkling Ice to be refreshingly tasteful bottled water that they can find everywhere!
