Suso Drinks plans overseas expansion

Suso Drinks is planning to expand its brand overseas next year. It is understood to be in discussions with distributors in three countries.

Its is not known at this stage which countries it is considering, but an industry insider says the company has already been approached by three interested parties to launch the carbonated fruit drink in their respective countries, and oversee the manufacturing and distribution of the brand.

The start-up drinks company set up by former Red Bull managing director Harry Drnec has been focused on growing its distribution and marketing activity over 2008.

It recently launched “The Suso Project”, a campaign to find new creative ideas it is willing to fund. The initiative will see it provide grants of between £1,000 and £10,000 given to help fund the best ideas.

As part of the initiative, Suso has created a website to showcase all the entries, with submissions accepted until January 21.
It has also moved to position itself as a creator of media content, launching a free quarterly lifestyle magazine and undertaking major relaunch of its website (MW March 26).

It also made key marketing appointments in February. It brought in former Red Bull marketer Fiona Bosman, as the brands first marketer (MW February 21). In May, it followed added another former Red Bull staffer, Heather Gillespie, to lead its experiential strategy. She had previously worked on Red Bull’s student programme and brand activity.