Styling and Photography by Laurie Mosco

In the age of tabloid TV and gossip websites, paparazzi, and social media, there’s no denying customers crave celebrity sightings — including on the products they purchase. With 81% of consumers buying a product because they like the packaging, according to packaging leader WestRock, there’s great opportunity to make your soda section pop with dynamic labels that feature celebrities.

Whether its celebrity-founded, or celebrity-licensed, products that feature celebrities make fans feel closer to the celebs they follow.  Packages featuring high-profile celebrity images makes merchandising fool proof. Customers will be drawn to the bottles.

We’ve rolled out the red carpet and ready to introduce some star power for your soda selection.

Adoring Fans Ask for Celebrity-Founded Brands 

Purchasing a celebrity-founded product gives customers behind the scenes VIP access into the minds and tastes of their favorite celebrity.  That’s why we’re fans of Moneybag, the celebrity soda line founded by Kiss front man, Gene Simmons. Made with the “ingredients of royalty,” like pure cane sugar, and featuring the greatest soda hits like cola, cream soda, ginger ale, and root beer, Moneybag is topping the soda bestseller charts.  Even the glass bottles get the royal treatment, with ornate labels of, you guessed it, bags of money, Gene’s image and his autograph for those “I’m with the band” feeling. 

“That’s So Retro” is So Now

Nostalgia is always appealing whether for longtime soda brands or for old-time celebrities.  For your more “golden” customers, these retro celebrity sightings will feel like their favorite reruns from their childhood. For the younger crowd, they’ll have fun uncovering ‘new’ retro celebrities to follow when they spot soda starlets like Marilyn Monroe Wild Cherry Soda and Farrah Fawcet Cream Soda on your shelves.  They’ll also want to wrangle Earp’s Sarsaparilla  featuring an image of wild west icon turned popular silver screen character Wyatt Earp. Added bonus here – Sarsaparilla is a flavor straight out of the westerns adding to the time travel experience.

The hits keep on coming when your pop selection is popping with such iconic pop and country music favorites like The Monkees Banana Nut Soda, Ritchie Valens Soy Capitan Cola and Gene Autry Root Beer.

Fictional Faves Have a Following

Don’t limit your celebrity A-list to real-life people. Characters and items from books, movies, and TV shows have just as much of a fan following. Though the characters might not be real (or even human), the love for the cool packaging is hot.

Fans of Harry Potter get a taste of the magical lives of their favorite characters with Flying Cauldron Butterscotch Beer. From the moment they set eyes on the label with cauldron and broom they know they’re in for something magical. Butterscotch flavored soda is a nod to one of the book’s most coveted beverages.

Though wrestling is real (or is it?), the characters are larger than life, which is why bottles of Rowdy Roddy Piper’s Bubble Gum Soda is like a pied piper, guiding customers to your specialty soda section. For those fictional fans who want to keep it classic, there’s King Kong Cola and Mighty Mouse Blue Cream Soda with super soda flavors all made with pure cane sugar recipes.

Packaging can play a leading role in purchasing decisions – particularly when it’s star studded. Added bonus: 40% of customers will share pics of packaging on social media if its unique, according to medium.com.  This can be a great way to increase demand and conjure up a new fan base for your business.  While the celebrity images might get them to make the initial purchase, it’s the fun soda flavors and collectibility of the bottles that encourage them to keep coming back for more.

More than just a pretty face . . . celebrity soda is just a small part of our selection

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