SHOT DRINKS ALL THE RAGE

Shot drinks are so clever because they deliver added benefits and charge more, while containing less volume and calories. Many also require a daily consumption regime. The most common are probiotic and cholesterol lowering dairy drinks, but energy shots are now growing faster. Smaller segments include juice shots and vegetable shots. More recently there have been a series of new relaxation and other health shots. Two stories about these caught my attention this week. One was in Zenith’s free daily online news service, which reported without irony on an ‘aggressive’ sampling campaign for a new ‘relaxation’ drink, Mini Chill in New York. The other was on BevNET.com, which gave details of the new HealthShot range being launched on Long Island, including a Men’s Edge variant to ward off prostate cancer. If there’s any chance of a new beverage niche, you can be sure someone will try to open it up.