💧 LaCroix: The Cinderella of Seltzers | 32

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You know, Jack, I was a little embarrassed the other day.

On the flight home from New York, I was watching a movie, and then I noticed my seatmate kept glancing over and I think judging me for the movie.

What were you watching?

This is a six-hour flight back to San Francisco, so I enjoyed a little clueless.

Is it too too much to enjoy the movie Clueless in the privacy of seat 17B?

As if I felt judged, but I don't care.

I'm going to watch the whole movie.

Best part of that movie, Brittany Murphy.

Yes.

And the epic makeover she gets put through from Alicia Silverstone.

Totally.

I mean, was it even a 90s movie unless there's a 12-minute makeover montage?

Pretty woman, clueless, Devilwear's Prada.

And of course, this all begins with Cinderella, the ultimate glow-up of all that set us up for all the makeover scenes for the rest of our lives.

We all love a good glow-up story.

Yes, we do.

And today's story is about a product that went on just this kind of journey from wallflower to homecoming king.

And that product is LaCroix.

I'll be your

LaCroix boy.

Crack me open, drink me down.

The clip you just heard is from one of LaCroix's many viral moments in the 20 teens when this gently flavored, extra bubbly seltzer burst onto the sea.

Since then, LaCroix, aka La Croix, if you took AP French in high school, have dominated office break rooms.

The Airbnb you booked for your ski weekend, boom, that fridge stocked with LaCroix.

Whether you're reaching for LaCroix, Spindrift, Topo Chico, or Polar Seltzer, we are in the fizzy water era because the modern sparkling water market is worth over $30 billion.

That is more than the global markets for hot tubs, houseplants, and orange juice combined.

But the real surprise of this story is that LaCroix has actually been around way longer than you realized.

LaCroix used to be considered a diet drink for Milwaukee moms before it got a trendy millennial makeover.

And before that, it was part of a beer company.

So how did LaCroix go from a quiet, mid-tier seltzer to a viral star?

We're gonna pop one open and get into it.

Along the way, we'll learn how seltzer traveled from the spas of ancient ancient Greece to the writer's rooms of Burbank, California.

We'll learn how the best brands are more people's choice than Academy Award and how to correctly pronounce Pamplemoose.

I think you mean Pomplemoose, Jack.

Here's why LaCroix is the best idea yet.

From Wandering and T-Boy, I'm Nick Martel, and I'm Jack Ravici Kramer.

And this is the best idea yet.

The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with with and the bold risk takers who made them go viral.

The locals call it God's country, but on the map, it's called La Crosse, Wisconsin.

And on this early Midwestern morning, the lacrosse sky is full of puffy clouds reflected in the ripples of the mighty Mississippi River.

From his office window, 47-year-old Russell Cleary takes in this stunning waterfront view.

On a clear day like this, he can actually almost see all the way over to Minnesota.

He's a soft-spoken man with a pointed nose and clear-framed aviator glasses.

Russ looks like the treasurer of your local chamber of commerce.

But in fact, Russ is in charge of the most successful brewing company you've never heard of, the G.

Hylaman Brewing Company.

Hileman has been making Wisconsin beers and malt beverages since before the Civil War.

The company has survived prohibition, a bunch of economic downturns, and an epic industry-wide consolidation.

But as we join this story in early 1981, Russ Cleary has quietly been building Hyliman into a national contender.

He's just led the company through a series of acquisitions, adding brands like Bex, Carling Black Label, and the malt liquor, Colt 45.

Paper bag, not included.

If you're not familiar with some of those brews, that's all part of Russell's master plan.

Heileman has become a national competitor without really being a national presence.

Under his steady hand, the company has climbed from 39th to sixth biggest brewing company in the United States.

And now they're considering buying Schlitz outright.

Russell's M.O.

is speak softly and carry a big merger agreement.

But there is one problem with Russell's expansion plan.

An oldie, but a goodie called the Sherman Antitrust Act passed back in 1890 to break up big oil.

This is the law that's supposed to protect consumers from giant monopolies dominating an industry.

The U.S.

Justice Department has already blocked two of Hileman's big beer mergers, including a mega deal that would have given them breweries in eight different states.

The government's basically telling Heiliman, you've been overserved.

If Heiliman can't make those deals, it puts a major damper on their ability to expand.

So Russ Cleary, he's got to get creative.

So he investigates how else Hylamen might grow, not just through acquisition, but through diversification.

Instead of trying to own all the beer brands in America, maybe they can make a play for some new markets instead.

That's when Russ thinks back to a recent trip he took to Germany.

Bavarian brewers there weren't just fermenting hops and brewing beer.

They also made their own lines of waters, sparkling mineral waters.

That is key, Jack.

Because if your company already has facilities for making bubbly alcoholic drinks, it shouldn't be that hard to spin that expertise into bubbly non-alcoholic drinks.

Double dip on the equipment you already got.

Russ quietly decides this is Hileman's next product.

He's gonna create his own Wisconsin-produced homegrown seltzer, a sparkling water for Hyliman to call their own.

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Stories of scams, murders, and cover-ups, and the things we're doing to either protect the Earth or destroy it.

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Follow Lawless Planet on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Russell Cleary's aha moment in 1981 does not actually mark the start of our obsession with bubbly water.

Step into our classroom and get ready for a little seltzer 101.

But before we get started, Nick and I will be using the words seltzer, carbonated water, and sparkling water pretty much interchangeably, even though technically there is a difference between the three.

Our love of the bub, it actually goes back, like way back, to 400 BC, and the ancient Greek doctor named Hippocrates.

His greatest hits include the Hippocratic oath, which every doctor today must take before putting on their white jacket and treating people.

Hippocrates wrote about the healing properties of carbonated water, which he found naturally in special springs in ancient Greece.

People will enjoy nature's tonic water as is for the next couple thousand years, although Hippocrates sadly never commercialized it because he was was too busy philosophizing.

Then, around the year 1700, a small European spa town starts bottling their local springs fizzy water in clay jugs and starts selling it to tourists.

And Jack, what was the name of that small European spa town?

Niederseltzers, Germany.

The name of their signature drink, of course, gets shortened to just Seltzer.

And in the late 1700s, scientists invent a mechanical process of adding carbon dioxide bubbles to regular water.

An entrepreneur can now make a tasty seltzer from anywhere.

The first person to mass produce this artificially bubbly water, it's a man named Jacob Schwepp.

Sounds familiar.

Yeah, like Schwepp's ginger ale.

And this leads to a huge upgrade in the next century.

The invention of the soda fountain.

You can find these in drugstores, general stores, and even perfume shops.

The soda fountain basically takes over.

Get this.

In the early 1900s, there were more than 70 different soda fountains on the lower east side of Manhattan, an area that's only one half of a square mile.

But the Seltzer craze eventually gives way to a different bubbly concoction in the 1940s and 50s, Coca-Cola.

Coke becomes king and Seltzer gets dethroned.

But we should point out, Jack, Seltzer is not down for the count yet.

In the 1970s, Perrier decides that they're thirsty for a bigger market.

They want America's soda drinkers.

Perrier isn't some upstart.

They've been selling carbonated water out of France for over a hundred years at this point.

But in 1976, they kick off a multi-million dollar ad campaign to convert Americans to foreign fizzy water.

Here's an ad from that time featuring Academy Award-winning filmmaker Orson Welles.

Deep below the plains of southern France, in a mysterious process begun millions of years ago, nature herself adds life to the icy waters of a single spring.

Perrier.

Wow.

If Citizen Kane told me to drink some Perrier, I'd probably do it.

Well, it works.

U.S.

sales for Perrier shoot up from 3 million bottles in 1976 to 200 million bottles just three years later.

But this European invasion causes a patriotic pushback.

Here in the States, Polar Seltzer, a century-old company out of Worcester, Massachusetts, becomes one of the first big brands to add light flavoring to their Seltzer lineup.

Something Perrier wasn't doing.

New Englanders, they swear bipolar.

Rhymes with no money.

By 1979, the New York Times is reporting of a full-blown Seltzer Renaissance.

1970s soda water is swinging, baby.

And it is in this context, this Seltzer Renaissance, that Heiliman Brewing Company launches a new brand in 1981.

It's called LaCroix.

The CEO, Russell Cleary, names the drink himself, an homage to the company's hometown of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and the nearby St.

Croix River.

Our research team went deep to track down the very first version of the LaCroix sparkling water.

And honestly, this looks nothing like it does today.

I mean, this isn't in some splashy, colorful can.

This is a 12-ounce green glass bottle.

You can see the Perrier influence all over this first version of LaCroix.

You can also see it in LaCroix's vaguely French-sounding name.

We've said it before.

We'll say it again.

Americans love European branding and they'll pay more for it.

Oh, a Milano cookie, a Hagenda's pint.

It is sophistication by association.

That European branding, it is a profit, puppy.

But Russ clearly knows that copying Perrier isn't a long-term strategy.

So he also takes a page from the Polar playbook and he adds flavor.

Early LaCroix offers orange, lemon, or lime.

But then Russ goes even further.

In 1986, LaCroix makes an alcoholic version to cash in on the wine cooler era.

Sorry, White Claw.

LaCroix malt beverages had you beat by 30 years.

But even with these epic choices, LaCroix stays pretty low-key, just like its founder, Russell Cleary.

Well, we did say, High Limon is a stealthy company.

It is.

Their strategy is build in the shadows and shine in the spotlight.

We should also point out that the beverage market tends to be fragmented by region.

So it's tough for LaCroix to break out of its upper Midwestern bubble.

LaCroix is sold in more than 30 states, but sales are strongest in their own backyard.

They're killing it in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois.

Big 10 country.

LaCroix is the go-to drink for Midwestern moms throughout the 80s and throughout the 90s.

You might find one of them at the bottom of a picnic cooler or in your friend's fridge after the Capri Suns run out by the lake.

So if you're a fan of LaCroix, you're probably asking yourself right now, how does it go from a Wisconsin tailgate beverage, the last picked in the cooler, to a national viral cultural phenomenon.

Well, Jack, I guess the real question isn't actually how, it's who.

Because LaCroix glow-up owes it all to one entrepreneur who's so driven he'll make Mark Cuban look like George Costanza.

And this guy's name is Nick Caparella.

Now, Jack, if Russell Cleary at Highland Brewing keeps his business moves quiet, then Nick Caparella, he does things out loud.

Caparella was born to Italian immigrants in a rural Pennsylvania mining town, and he's been making money for his family since age 11.

His first businesses, plural, included collecting scrap metal, bicycle repair, and making mud flaps for trucks out of old conveyor belts.

And when Caparella hits his teenage years, his dad gets a construction job and the family moves down to West Palm Beach, Florida.

Cap will end up going into construction too.

And his first grown-up job is at age 22 when he's maintaining huge cranes getting paid just a buck an hour.

But then Caparella makes a legendary haggle that will change the direction of his entire life.

He meets a man who is selling an excavator for $9,000.

Cap doesn't have $9,000 though, so he convinces the seller to let him take it for a down payment of just $250.

of his own.

Nikki Cap is barely old enough to drink, and yet he convinces this guy to let him drive off with a giant machine for almost no money down.

And a bunch of construction projects later, bada-bing, bada-boom, that excavator owner gets repaid in full, and Nick Caparella is a millionaire by age 30.

By age 40, his company gets acquired.

By age 50, he's diversifying his holdings and looking for something new.

He's also fending off a hostile takeover, but that's a story for another pod.

Yeah, someday we should do a whole episode about hostile takeovers and activist investors, by the way, Jack.

Fascinating topic.

But TLDR, he's he's basically facing a real-life Gordon Gacko.

So to defend his company, Caparello whips up some what we would call financial weaponry.

He figures out how he can end the hostile takeover if he forms a new company that buys up enough shares of his old company to dilute his activist investors' shares.

For his new entity, he goes pretty far outside his area of expertise.

He goes into soft drinks and seltzers.

That's right.

In 1985, Nick Caparella founds a business with a boring but ambitious name, National Beverage Corporation.

Any reason why beverages are not like gravel, granite, or sand?

We're talking about a construction guy who made millions with forklifts.

Yeah, Jack, it just so happens Caparella had bought a soft drink bottling plant a couple years back to diversify his portfolio.

So he's got this asset and he figures, you know what?

Why not lean into it?

But here's the crazy part.

Once he decides that he's all in on soft drinks, he embraces them as fully as he embraced scrap metal and bicycle repair when he was a kid.

Basically, Nikki Cap crowns himself the Sultan of Soda.

Now, ironically, given that he just escaped a financial takeover, the Soda Sultan's growth plan for National Beverage is to acquire existing beverage companies.

If you can't beat them, buy them.

His first big play, it's buying the soft drink brand, Shasta, the soda brand with flavor offerings fruitier than a bag of Skittles.

And then he buys another soda brand, Faygo, a Michigan-born soda company, also known for its bold flavors.

And for all the insane clowns out there, we know that Faygo is the beloved drink of insane clown posse and their fans, the juggalos.

But clowns aside, National Beverage Corporation keeps growing.

And the company actually goes public in 1991 with what Jack and I happen to think is the greatest stock ticker in the history of the stock market: Fizz.

F-I-Z-Z.

But the real jewel and National Beverages crown is yet to to come.

Soon, Shasta and Faygo gain a corporate cousin, the hero of our story that shockingly has fallen on hard times up in Wisconsin.

That's right, Jack.

Mild-mannered Midwestern LaCroix is in trouble, and National Beverage Corp has a chance to save it.

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Jack, picture poor LaCroix.

When we left off, the brand was a modest but steady Midwestern success.

Its manufacturer, Hileman Brewing Company, was selling it in cute glass bottles and a range of flavors.

They were even making a line of LaCroix malt liquor.

But after cruising through the 1980s, Heileman runs into a challenge the size of a team of Clydesdales.

Mega brands like Anheuser-Busch.

Yeah, the reality is Heilaman just can't compete with big beer.

So the company files for bankruptcy protection in 1991.

Pour one out for our brewing buddies up in Wisconsin.

Hyliman's Chapter 11 status means they have to auction off assets, including LaCroix, to pay their debtors quickly.

And in 1996, Nick Caparella takes it, adding it to his growing soft drink empire, National Beverage Corp.

The acquisition price has never been publicly disclosed, but given how bankruptcy auctions work, we can assume LaCroix was on sale like a 30 rack at Costco.

Caparella, he's building up his business, deal after deal after deal.

And by the end of the millennium, national beverage, Fizz on the stock market, hits a billion dollars in annual sales.

But remember, this soda conglomerate has a lot of soft drinks under its belt, like Shasta and Faygo.

Those brands, Jack, they got big, bold flavors and a higher national profile than LaCroix.

So if Caparell isn't careful, little LaCroix is going to get lost in the beverage shuffle.

But Nick Caparella loves an underdog and he believes in LaCroix.

In fact, he kind of becomes personally obsessed with LaCroix and putting his own unique stamp on the brand.

It's about to get an epic refresh that will change the course of Seltzer history.

You find yourself in a rented conference room.

Nothing much to this place besides a projector screen and a plastic ficus.

You're in here with several other people who, like you, were plucked from the street and lured inside by a modest stipend.

You've all been invited to the grand corporate tradition known as the Focus Group.

It's 2002 and you've got an important job today.

You got to help LaCroix pick a fresh new look for its millennial era.

We know this is an audio medium, but we're going to do our best to guide you through this visual design story because it's this packaging redesign that unlocks LaCroix's viral success.

In front of you are three labels.

You have to choose between options A, B, or C.

There is no right answer, the moderator reminds you.

Just go with your gut, people.

Option A is understated and simple.

A light gray stripe at the top, the color of the flavor at the bottom.

The letters are a plain design, like the default font on your MacBook.

The moderator doesn't tell you this, but option A right here, this is the first choice of National Beverages management team.

It's tactful, it's safe, it's not going to offend anyone.

Option B is a little more colorful with a background of swirly designs.

It's a bit busy, but the lettering is still very clean.

Skinny capital letters, spell out.

LaCroix.

It's still safe.

It's still simple.

Just adds a tiny bit of flair.

But then option C enters the chat.

Option C is like happy Gilmore walking into the PGA tour.

Very rough around the edges, not buttoned up at all like the other two options.

Option C uses this loopy handwritten cursive.

Kind of looks like Tinkerbell's autograph.

It's got dark blue letters underscored with a blue and teal swoop.

There is not a single right angle or hard line line on this camp.

The management team at LaCroix does not like option C.

In fact, there is only one person at National Beverage Corp who's excited about this cursive chaos logo.

And you guessed it, that person is the founder and CEO, Nikki Caparella.

Nikki Capps personally contributed to this crazy design.

Shocker.

He worked with a top branding firm.

Cap chooses lettering that feels fluid like flowing water, but also a little jagged because the water is effervescent.

And by those measures, the chaos logo is firing on all cylinders.

But this hand-drawn logo also looks a little nuts.

It does, Jack.

So behind Cap's back, most of the executives around him are like crossing their fingers and hoping the focus group ignores option C.

So Basties, which one are you gonna choose?

The simple Helvetica MacBook one, the slightly busier one, or the option that looks like someone took a handful of Crayolas to the nearest wall?

The answer?

To the horror of National Beverages' executive team, the cursive chaos logo wins.

It's crazy.

Everyone lets out a giant groan on the other side of the one-way mirror, except Nikki Capps, who is thrilled.

And that crayon looking signature is still LaCroix's brand look today.

As Jack and I like to say, the packaging is the product.

But there are real stakes when it comes to a brand refresh.

It's not like repainting the office or getting new lobby furniture.

This is extreme makeover brand addition.

But here's the thing, Jeff.

For LaCroix, the brightly colored chaos logo works because their goal isn't to look sharp in a magazine ad or on a billboard or in a website.

National Beverage doesn't have much of an ad budget.

So they're relying on something called shelf presence to increase sales.

A shelf presence is pretty much what it sounds like.

Like, how much does this package grab your attention in the grocery aisle?

The war is in the stores.

In those three seconds when the consumer makes their decision, did you have presence?

presents?

So standing out, that's like 90% of the battle.

In the sophisticated world of green glass Perrier bottles, LaCroix's new brightly colored cans punch like a fistful of Sour Patch kids.

LaCroix can is going to go on to win a design award in 2003.

After that, you won't be catching LaCroix in bottles anymore.

It's chaos can or nothing.

Nick Caparella makes one more product update to LaCroix during this brand refresh.

He cranks up LaCroix's carbonation quotient, an aspect that he calls bite.

This is a full-on Cinderella makeover and LaCroix is heading to the ball, baby.

And it's a great time to kick off a new sales strategy too, because during this time, something else is happening in the beverage space you might remember from a previous episode of ours.

Oh, we got two words for you.

Red Bull.

In the early 2000s, when National Beverage is busy revamping the look and the feel of LaCroix, energy drinks led by Red Bull are taking over America.

But according to industry data, a majority of energy drink buyers at the time are men.

To Nick Caparella, there are two ways to interpret this data.

First, women don't like energy drinks.

Or maybe energy drinks just aren't targeting women.

So Nick bets on the latter.

There's untapped market potential here to market a drink to women.

While Red Bull is sponsoring extreme sports like skydiving, cliff jumping, and anything that might trigger an OD on testosterone, LaCroix sponsors women's sports and charity runs for breast cancer research.

And with the rise of blogs in the mid-2000s, LaCroix goes hard targeting fitness blogs, mommy blogs, and any other femme-coated corner of the internet.

They even give away Tori Birch handbags to bloggers in exchange for glowing reviews, a little quid pro quo.

Their pitch to these lifestyle bloggers sounds like Hippocrates' pitch for carbonated water.

LaCroix is a health product.

LaCroix even prints the word innocent on the can with an exclamation point because LaCroix is in their words innocent of sugar, calories, sodium, and artificial ingredients.

LaCroix's health pitch works.

In 2009, two nutritionists launch a diet program that goes mega viral.

Jack, do you remember whole 30?

I never tried it.

Okay.

But I was aware it was a thing.

Whole30 will approve LaCroix by name as something you can drink on their their restrictive diet regimen.

Whole30 also encourages followers to post their meals on social.

So Instagram becomes a perfect place to show off what flavor LaCroix you paired with your tuna steak.

LaCroix has accidentally hijacked the algorithm thanks to Whole30.

But Jack, it is LaCroix's next move that really bumps up their cultural stock.

Move over, Guy Fieri, because LaCroix is coming over to Flavor Town.

In 2004, the drink comes in six flavors, pure, lemon, lime, berry, orange, and crayon raspberry.

But in 2008, Nick Caparella whips out that Euro Curious naming strategy again, and he adds the flavor, pamplemous.

Pamplemous, or pomplemous, as I'm probably mispronouncing it, is just the French word for grapefruit.

And this name, plus this flavor profile, combine to make the most identifiable type of LaCroix out of any of the flavors.

Now, LaCroix adds coconut in 2011 and peach pear in 2012, but then LaCroix basically doubles their flavor count over the next three years.

And Jack, you and I have studied food and beverage brands for over a decade, but have we ever seen a company launch this many flavors at this scale this quickly?

We have not.

And this flavor strategy, plus their strategic targeting of women, creates a massive sales boom for LaCroix.

It is not your imagination.

LaCroix really did get massively popular more or less overnight.

And the proof is in their stock price, which went from nine bucks a share in 2014 to over 60 bucks a share just three years later.

That is 6x growth.

Yeah.

And what we're saying is that LaCroix is the Nvidia of refreshment.

But hang on, Nick, crack open another can, because that may not be the whole story.

We've actually learned about a lesser-known reason for the popularity explosion of LaCroix.

We think the real cause of the LaCroix surge just might be Office Max.

Ah, glamorous Hollywood.

Tinsel Town, red carpets, designer gowns, radiant celebs.

Just kidding.

We're actually sitting in a studio backlot in Burbank, California, where the unglamorous job of writing TV shows actually happens.

In these rooms, they got low ceilings, long conference tables piled with snacks for the writers to nosh on throughout the day.

We're talking pizza bagels, gummy worms, and basically enough kind bars to trigger a nut allergy.

Stocking these writers with creative fuel, that is literally a full-time job, specifically the job of the writer's assistant.

And in 2012, one such assistant is comedian Ryan Rosenberg.

Ryan handles all the jobs nobody wants to do.

From printing and collating script revisions to ordering lunches to stocking the break room with supplies.

And one thing he's learned catering to the whims of thirsty scribes, TV writers love pounding sparkling water.

Look, these people are penning classic episodes with beloved characters.

They're crafting Lorelei's reaction when Rory Gilmore chooses Yale over Harvard.

Regular water?

That just ain't gonna cut it.

Ryan learns that one thing he must keep stocked at all times is Perrier.

And keeping Perrier stocked gets really annoying.

Glass bottles, man, they are heavy.

And if supplies run low, guess whose job it is to find more?

Poor Ryan.

He's He's having to carry case after case of Perrier out of a Safeway or a Ralph's.

This Perrier stocking part of his job, it's a real pain point.

But then one day, Ryan opens up the Office Max website to order some alligator clips and sticky notes, and he notices something that's about to transform his life.

Office Max carries sparkling water that he can order by the case.

It's not Perrier, but the colors are pretty and the flavors are on point.

So now he's just got to figure out how much lime to order and how much pample mousse.

Now, unbeknownst to Ryan, National Beverage has just scaled up distribution in California, meaning LaCroix is now available at West Coast office supply stores.

Now, we know what you're thinking, this is not a typical sales location for a food and beverage company, but look, there's no competition between the copiers and the sharpies.

So what the heck?

It's worth a shot.

Why not sell LaCroix at Office Max?

We say this all the time.

Distribution is destiny.

Where Where your product is carried directly influences who buys it, how much they buy, and how often.

When office supply stores start carrying LaCroix sparkling water, the friction to purchase it suddenly goes way down.

And less friction means more sales.

LaCroix starts replacing Perrier in writer's rooms from the Disney lot to the CW.

And the writers decide all across Hollywood: you know what?

We love this stuff.

Scribes for the buzziest shows of the 20 teens get obsessed with LaCroix.

Parks and Rec, You're the Worst, Vampire Diaries, even Two Broke Girls.

And here's the key.

Unlike the Midwestern moms in the 80s and 90s, these creatives got some cultural influence and a major social reach, since being funny online is literally how writers tend to book their next gigs.

Before long, the LaCroix takeover of Hollywood writers' rooms starts generating press cycles all its own.

Articles about LaCroix start hitting BuzzFeed, Vox, the New York Times, and before you know it, LaCroix is a viral darling across basically all the media platforms.

There are songs written about LaCroix, like this one from an artist called Big Dipper, which you heard at the top of the show.

My mama used to drink room temp LaCroix.

As a boy, I thought it nasty, but now I enjoy carbonated elixir.

It gives me my fix, just what I need.

Now, this is more recent, but there's also a scene in succession when Cousin Greg tries to flush wasabi out of a a guy's eyes using lemony lacroy it doesn't go well put water in it put water in oxygen

it's what's lemon it's lemon greg that's clear it's lai no it's not that lemony it's just a hint of lemony it's more entertaining hearing that than watching it jack just want to point out cousin greg brings up a great point how lemony is lacroix really yeah yeah there's actually a passionate debate online over what it means that some flavors are called flavored and other flavors are called essenced.

What's the difference?

And whether it is essenced or flavored, both varieties are pretty subtle.

Cue the memes, Jack.

People say that citrusy LaCroix tastes like a lime.

Calling you long distance.

Or like whispering the word strawberry into a paper cup.

They say LaCroix tastes like the memory of a grape.

And honestly, you can't call these people haters because the jokes just drive more and more LaCroix sales.

Jack, what's happening with Fizz?

By 2017, National Beverage Corp is valued at over $4 billion.

And the next year, LaCroix alone hits almost $1 billion in annual sales.

More than double Perrier's and more than four times what Polar Celta is doing.

Oh, and our buddy Nick Caparella, he hit the three comma billionaire status club back in 2015.

By 2018, he's worth close to $5 billion.

Personally, not the company, just him.

Remember, he had the chance to retire a few times over his career.

He was a millionaire by the age of 30.

He could have bought himself a catamaran and sailed off into the sunset 30 years before this, but that's not the Nikki Caparello way.

No, it's not.

Billions, no billions, Cap remains very involved in the LaCroix brand.

He's nurtured that brand from bankruptcy to become the ultimate beverage influencer.

You could even say he gets too involved.

Yeah.

On Boxing Day 2018, 20-year-old Joy Morgan was last seen at her church, Israel United in Christ, or I-U-I-C.

I just went on my Snapchat and I just see her face plastered everywhere.

This is The Missing Sister, the true story of a woman betrayed by those she trusted most.

IUIC is my family and like the best family that I've ever had.

But IUIC isn't like most churches.

This is a devilish cult.

You know when you get that feeling where you just, I don't want to be here.

I want to get out.

It's like that feeling of, like, I want to go hang out.

I'm Charlie Brent Coast Cuff and after years of investigating Joy's case, I need to know what really happened to Joy.

Binge all episodes of The Missing Sister exclusively and ad-free right now on Wondery Plus.

Start your free trial of Wondery Plus on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or in the Wondery app.

It is a rule of Newtonian physics and business.

What goes up up must come down.

And what gets popular must get competition.

In 2018, PepsiCo releases a direct competitor to LaCroix.

It's called Bubbly, their own flavored seltzer in bright gold cans.

The previous year, Coca-Cola bought the Mexican mineral water brand Topochico, and Coke plans to leverage Topochico's cult following, driving a wedge between trendsetters and their LaCroix.

Then in 2018, Pepsi acquires the DIY seltzer company, Sodastream.

Both major Cola War combatants are officially gunning for LaCroix.

But Jack, it's not just Coke and Pepsi.

There's a craft label boom going on too that sees a rush of new competitors into the sparkling water sector, including Spindrift, which has real fruit juice in it.

For people drinking LaCroix as a health aid, Spindrift presents a tasty alternative that feels more natural, even though both claim to be natural.

Yeah, Spindrift tastes lemony because there's lemon juice in it.

Yeah.

LaCroix tastes lemony because of some magic zero-calorie natural lemon flavor.

Either way, LaCroix is now facing fresh competition from the top with big beverage and from the bottom with the drink startups.

Now, stiff competition does not have to kill you.

Red Bull, for example, faced off against Monster, Rockstar, and Five Hour Energy, and it's still number one in energy drink sales worldwide.

But the onslaught of competition coming after LaCroix right now is immense.

And by the late 20 teens, LaCroix is struggling under the guidance of their aging boss.

In 2018, Nick Caparella turns 83 years old while still running National Beverage and owning 70%

of the shares.

Jack, what does 70% of the shares mean?

It means he has a veto-proof majority over any business decisions.

If this guy wants to launch a hummus-flavored sparkling water, legally, no one on the team can stop him.

But the press can report on him, Nick, and that's exactly what they do.

New stories emerge of erratic behavior by the LaCroix boss.

As reported by Bloomberg, some employees say he is verbally abusive, that when he gets pushback on decisions about LaCroix, he tells them that LaCroix is M-I-N-E.

That's the direct quote.

In 2016, Nick gets sued for alleged inappropriate touching of employees.

Now, obviously, we don't know what happened, so we're going to keep our lawyers' briefcases buttoned.

But the fact is, anytime there's one person at a company that's unfireable, it presents a major challenge to that company's long-term health.

When you have a leader that no one can question or say no to, that leaves a business vulnerable to mismanagement.

Well, National Beverage struggles with this very problem, weathering a major stock dip in 2019 that has a bunch of analysts writing early obituaries for LaCroix.

But here's the thing.

If you've been to Whole Foods lately, you know that LaCroix, it hasn't gone anywhere.

It's still stocked all over the shelves and in corporate break rooms and in Airbnb fridges and Yeti coolers at your nephew's soccer game.

Yeah, LaCroix may not be getting the red carpet treatment like it used to, but so far, rumors of its demise have been greatly exaggerated.

And we have a theory about why.

The broader seltzer market, it's stronger than it's ever been.

The global sparkling water market, it's worth over 30 billion bucks, which is expected to more than double by 2028.

As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats, especially if the tide is bubbly.

Basically, the majority of the bottled water market has now been captured by sparkling water.

Dasani and Fiji, you're out.

Topo Chico and LaCroix, come on over, you're in.

So even if LaCroix's hype cycle is winding down, it's still reaping the benefits.

LaCroix was so much in the zeitgeist in the late 20 teens, people kind of got sick of hearing it.

But the underlying product is sound.

So once the fad-driven interest faded, LaCroix's core fans, like Coastal Millennials and Creative Industries, they still genuinely love the product.

But these millennials, they're now creeping up toward middle-age themselves.

So what if this is just a case of LaCroix returning to its roots?

As in a quiet brand that middle-aged folks seem to like.

Not sure I want to discuss millennials hitting middle-aged.

Yeah, here we go, Jack Jack.

But give me a Pample Moose mocktail and I'll ponder it.

One Pample Teeny coming right up.

Jack, now that we've gone full makeover like Cinderella and you've heard the whole story of LaCroix, what's your takeaway?

Great consumer brands aren't trying to win an Oscar.

They want a People's Choice Award.

Let's go back to when LaCroix went through its branding refresh, the one with the focus groups.

They asked people to choose between classy and understated, which the executives wanted, and loud and splashy, which Nick Caparell wanted.

The experts went for the classy choice, but the masses, they wanted the chaos label.

And that's what mattered most for LaCroix's shelf presence.

Choosing a drink, it isn't like choosing a film from the Criterion Collection.

It's an everyday action.

Most people aren't even thinking about it that much.

It's frankly in the subconscious space that powerful consumer branding operates.

And it taps into that instinctive part of the brain that reaches for what's most inviting.

And in LaCroix's case, that was their loudest, most colorful can option.

It was the chaos packaging.

Forget about the Oscar.

What you want is a people's choice award.

What about you, Nick?

What's your takeaway?

My takeaway is that you can

reinvent the wheel.

I kind of sound like a motivational speaker here, but I'm going to say it again anyway, Jack.

You can reinvent the wheel.

To most products, they aren't brand new ideas.

They're actually new takes on existing ideas.

Like if you grew up in the 20 teens, you might have thought that LaCroix invented Seltzer.

But in fact, Seltzer is a 2,400-year-old product.

Actually, fact, check,

it's a three and a half billion-year-old product because that's how long planet Earth has had mineral springs.

What we're saying is that this product is older than the Bronosaurus, but it's also been reinvented many, many, many times, from getting hyped by Hippocrates to green Perrier bottles.

LaCroix alone has reinvented itself a few times over.

but its brand refresh in the early 2000s was so successful, LaCroix seemed like a totally new product.

We often romanticize the idea of brand new, unprecedented products.

This happens a lot in the venture world, which is why all the startups looking for investment are rushing to get in on the AI trend.

But in reality, some of the most viral products aren't unprecedented at all.

They've reinvented the wheel in a smart way.

Inventions can be reinvented.

Okay, before we go, it's time for my favorite part of the show, The Best Facts Yet.

The hero stats, the facts, and the surprises we discovered in our research, but we just couldn't fit into the story.

One question around LaCroix is whether it's good or bad for your teeth.

Well, according to a 2007 study from the University of Birmingham, carbonic acid, the substance used to create seltzer bubbles, erodes dental enamel.

You know, I've never had a cavity.

I don't know if I mentioned that to you before many times,

but I'm concerned about this news.

Well, a few years later, when Wired magazine asked the dean of a dentistry school about it, he said that the enzymes in your mouth neutralize carbonic acid, making LaCroix and seltzer basically okay.

Also, we promised at the start of the show, Yetis, that we would tell you the difference between seltzer, mineral water, sparkling water, and soda water.

And here is that reveal.

Seltzer is carbonated mineral water, meaning naturally bubbly water from a natural underground supply.

Meanwhile, what most people call seltzer is actually sparkling water, which is sodium-free still water that you add bubbles to later.

So, which one is LaCroix?

Well, according to LaCroix's website, Jack, they are sparkling water, not seltzer.

The bubbles aren't natural, they add the bubbles later.

And that same website, by the way, it also reveals why the word innocent is on the cam.

Innocent of sugar and sodium.

Guilty of being delicious.

And that, my friends, is why LaCroix is simply the best idea yet.

Coming up on the next episode of The Best Idea Yet, grab a dog, a burger, and a side of fries because we're talking about Heinz Ketchup, king of the condiments.

Hey, if you have a product you're obsessed with, but you wish you knew the backstory, drop us a comment.

We'll look into it for you.

Oh, and while you're at it, give us a rating and review.

Five stars helps us grow the show.

Follow the best idea yet on the Wonder app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can listen to every episode of The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus and the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.

The best idea yet is a production of Wondery, hosted by me, Nick Martel, and me, Jack Kurvici-Kramer.

Our senior producers are Matt Beagle and Chris Gauthier.

Peter Arcuni is our additional senior producer.

Our senior managing producer is Nick Ryan, and Taylor Sniffin is our managing producer.

Our associate producer and researcher is H.

Conley.

This episode was written and produced by Katie Clark Gray.

We use many sources in our research, including Battle of the Bubbles by Lauren Eder and Craig Giamona for Bloomberg News.

The Secret History of the LaCroix label by Ashley Haupern for Bon Appetit.

And special thanks to former Hileman Brewing Company employee John Reynolds, who hooked us up with the early history of Hileman and LaCroix.

Sound design and mixing by C.J.

Drummeler.

Fact-checking by by Brian Punyon.

Music supervision by Scott Velazquez and Jolena Garcia for Freesan Sing.

Our theme song is Got That Feeling Again by Blackalack.

Executive producers for Nick and Jack Studios are me, Nick Martel, and me, Jack Ravici-Kramer.

Executive producers for Wondery are Dave Easton, Jenny Lauer-Beckman, Aaron O'Flaherty, and Marshall Lewis.

How hard is it to kill a planet?

Maybe all it takes is a little drilling, some mining, and a whole lot of carbon pumped into the atmosphere.

When you see what's left, it starts to look like a crime scene.

Are we really safe?

Is our water safe?

You destroyed our top.

And crimes like that, they don't just happen.

We call things accidents.

There is no accident.

This was 100%

preventable.

They're the result of choices by people.

Ruthless oil tycoons, corrupt politicians, even organized crime.

These are the stories we need to be telling about our changing planet.

Stories of scams, murders, and cover-ups that are about us and the things we're doing to either protect the Earth or destroy it.

Follow Lawless Planet on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can listen to new episodes of Lawless Planet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.