Cocaine: A controversial name. Check it out:
(Press-Enterprise, The (Riverside, CA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Sep. 28--You can buy Cocaine at specific clubs, liquor stores and markets in Los Angeles and San Diego. But to find the source, you'll need to go to Murrieta.
That's where Jamey and Hannah Kirby, founders of Redux Beverages LLC, organize the marketing, sales and distribution of their new energy drink. Because of its name, the drink has generated enormous publicity since it debuted earlier this month.
"If I had a million cases, I could sell them by the end of the week. We could never have imagined being this successful so fast," said Jamey Kirby, 42, a former software executive from northern San Diego County, who started Redux last year.
Although Cocaine Energy Drink has nothing to do with the drug and contains nothing illegal, its motto claims it offers an "instant rush" and "no crash" to partiers, rock 'n' rollers and other consumers who want to go beyond coffee, Red Bull or Mountain Dew.
In fact, the entire marketing campaign, from the red can, the company motto, the Web site, www.DrinkCocaine.com, and a youth-centric Web page at myspace.com, play off the drug. Cocaine is targeting the 16- to 25-year-old age group.
Redux is registered in Nevada and lists Las Vegas as its headquarters, but Hannah Kirby said the company is operated out of Murrieta because the city has good office space and is a convenient middle ground between Los Angeles and San Diego.
The product has frustrated Los Angeles community groups who fight drug use, however, and elicited an angry response from Assemblywoman Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, who called the drink's marketing strategy irresponsible.
"It's important that drug use of any kind is not glamorized, and this product undermines this effort," she said Wednesday during a statement.
"Cocaine has had a devastating impact on our nation and has affected everyone," added Najee Ali, an activist and director of Project Islamic Hope.
The groups plan to boycott stores that sell Cocaine.
But that reaction pales in comparison to the positive response, said Kirby, who is in New York this week to appear on TV news and entertainment shows.
"One sales rep told me he has people on the East Coast driving for a hundred miles to pick one up," Kirby said, adding that he has sold out of his first production run and begun another. Eventually, he hopes to make 150,000 cases per day.
"I chose the name because I knew it would be controversial, and controversy sells," he said. "A lot of super-right-wing groups are trying to come at us and asking about drug addiction and kids, but I think kids are a lot smarter than people give them credit for. They are not going to do cocaine because of this.
"I don't like people blaming us for the world's problems," he added.
But Cocaine will have other challenges.
Energy drinks are a $3 billion industry and growing by 50 percent a year. The category includes serious competitors such as stalwart, Red Bull; Monster, made by Corona-based Hansen Natural; and brands affiliated with major soft-drink companies.
Nevertheless, publicity and "brand awareness" don't always translate into sales, San Diego marketing consultant Liz Goodgold, owner of the Nuancing Group.
"Provocative names pique consumer interest. But you have to walk a fine line between provocative and outlandish, and I think he has crossed it," she said.
Goodgold acknowledged the name's appeal to certain segments, however.
"He's intentionally upset parents, so it will be the perfect teen drink," she said.
Kirby said Cocaine will easily find its niche.
"Most of the products out there target pro sports and athletes, so they have limited their market. We have moved into the street scene and rock 'n' roll," he explained.
The Kirbys, along with five financial partners, decided to make and sell an energy drink because of the growing popularity of this market segment.
One 8.5-ounce can -- the same size as a Red Bull -- packs a punch that is three-and-a-half times greater than a cup of coffee, the company says.
Although Redux won't reveal all of its ingredients, Kirby said Cocaine includes some of the same ingredients as other energy drinks, including Taurine, D-Carnitine, ribose, sugar and caffeine. The beverage supposedly contains a throat-numbing agent as well, although the Kirby's won't say what it is. The suggested retail price is $1.99.
So far, it can be found only in select stores in New York, Los Angeles and San Diego, and in some nightclubs, but the Kirbys are working on distribution agreements for Florida, Texas, Arizona, Oregon and northern California.
They also hope to have it in stores in the Temecula area in the next few weeks. They have no timetable for the rest of the Inland region.
To see more of The Press-Enterprise, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.PE.com.
Copyright (c) 2006, The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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