Anheuser-Busch to launch energy drink through Dana White-backed partnership

Dive Brief:

• AB-InBev’s Anheuser-Busch is partnering with sports nutrition and supplements company 1st Phorm to launch energy drinks and other related beverages. The partnership will include sports and entertainment mogul Dana White.  
• The initial energy product, which will be called Phorm Energy, is expected to reach the market this summer and be distributed by Anheuser-Busch’s wholesalers. 
• The energy drink will give the Bud Light and Michelob Ultra brewer a bigger presence in a category dominated by Monster, Red Bull and Celsius.

Dive Insight:

With beer sales struggling as consumers cut spending or turn to other forms of alcohol, brewers are looking for other opportunities for growth. One of the most enduring is the $21 billion energy drinks space. 

Anheuser-Busch’s archival Molson Coors last November purchased a majority ownership stake in Zoa, the energy brand created by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The Coors Light maker noted the growth opportunity for the brand, noting Zoa has a 50% repeat purchase rate with consumers, and 30% of the brand’s consumers being new to the category.

Anheuser-Busch no doubt is hoping to replicate this success through its partnership with 1st Phorm. The companies did not provide details on White’s involvement, but his celebrity status and previous experience building brands will likely play a role in launching and promoting the new energy drink.

“1st Phorm brings over 20 years of category experience and deep relationships in the sports nutrition industry and fitness community,” 1st Phorm CEO Sal Frisella said in a statement. “By combining our strengths with Anheuser-Busch’s experience in beverage innovation and scale, we look forward to creating a new wave of energy and other beverages.”  

Anheuser-Busch has had a small presence in the energy drink space. It purchased Hiball, a maker of organic energy drinks and sparkling energy waters, in 2017 before selling the brand to cannabis producer Tilray Brands six years later.

Robert Moskow, an analyst at TD Cowen, said in a research note that despite ABI’s distribution muscle and Dana White’s involvement, which is expected to generate consumer interest in trying the drink, it will be hard for the brand to make inroads in the highly fragmented energy drink space.

“We find it encouraging to see ABI take a bigger swing at a growth category that is highly incremental to the declining beer category,” he noted. “That said, ‘better-for-you’ energy is crowded with ~70% of energy drinks outside of Monster & Red Bull making vitamin claims.”

Non-alcoholic beverage companies also have carved out a bigger presence in energy, largely through acquisitions. In 2020, PepsiCo purchased Rockstar for nearly $4 billion. Keurig Dr Pepper dolled out $863 million for a stake in C4 Energy owner two years later before spending more than $1 billion in 2024 to acquire Ghost.

Updates with analyst comment