Word: arizona
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...bottles have cult followings. "If I were planning a room inspired by [Arizona's] Green Tea with Ginseng," wrote interior designer Carelton Varney in the Palm Beach Daily News, "I'd go for an aqua-blue wall with a carpeting of rose pink, and I'd be certain to find an Asian print to use for drapery...
Snapple was then the hot brand, so Vultaggio needed a way to distinguish his iced tea from his new rival. He picked the name Arizona after staring at a map; his Uncle Vito had moved there to ease his asthma. Vultaggio saw pricing as his true opportunity: Why not give the consumer a 24-oz. can at the same price as Snapple's 16-oz. bottle? After developing the drink with the help of a "flavor house" in New Jersey, Vultaggio dispatched his sales force to Manhattan. "Some of those guys couldn't sell lemonade in Saudi Arabia...
...take it public. "Why do we want to have these Wall Street guys coming around to complicate it?" he asks. Vultaggio says remaining independent lets him move drinks quickly to market. He sees an alluring piece of cobalt-blue glass on the beach, and a few months later, Arizona has a cobalt-blue bottle. Vultaggio has discussed a distribution deal with Coke that would put Arizona in Coke's vending machines. Without the vast distribution networks of Coke and Pepsi, Arizona still lags behind Nestea and Lipton in vending machines and fast-food fountains. Vultaggio says Coke has talked...
Some analysts think that Vultaggio's stubborn streak, especially his rejection of advertising, is hurting him. Pirko, president of BevMark, believes that with soda lagging, Coke and Pepsi will shift some focus to trouncing Arizona. "It's vulnerable," Pirko says of Arizona. "Word of mouth might work when there's little competition, but now the shelves are overloaded, groaning with new products. He who spends is usually he who gets the space." Vultaggio is utterly unmoved. "We've got a winning formula," he says. "What's the sense of changing...
...stubborn, but he is not standing still. Vultaggio is making a bet on the energy-drink craze, pioneered by Red Bull and the hot upstart Monster. In April he will unveil a hybrid product: Arizona's Green Tea Energy Drink, packaged in a sleek black can--a bizarre combination that promises to keep you up all night while helping your heart. Don't be surprised if Vultaggio finds another hit. "People see something exciting, and they remember it," he says. "Think they remember the first time they had C2 [Coke's low-calorie cola]? I doubt it." Sure...