Where the heck did this Happy Thursday drink come from?

White Claw is flavorless and its cans are boring. Enter: Happy Thursday

To me, it felt like nobody had heard of this drink then, all of a sudden, you couldn’t escape it.

This Google Trends graph shows the true surge out of nowhere:

Branding:

This colorful, flavorful, non-carbonated, alcoholic beverage has Gen-Z drinkers in a chokehold. Its branding was built specifically targeting Gen-Z, taking advantage of trends and opportunities in the alcoholic beverage industry and pairing it with a huge marketing budget. 

Happy Thursday worked directly with 21+ members of Gen-Z when creating both the product and brand giving them direct insight into consumer preferences.

Gen-Z preferences followed:

• Non-carbonated
• Flavorful
  • Strawberry
  • Pineapple starfruit
  • Black cherry
  • Mango passionfruit

Brand identity:

• Youthful
• Nostalgic
• Colorful
• Fun

Distribution:

Being under Molson Coors gives Happy Thursday a massive distribution advantage. I think this is the main key for its success. One day I went to the local Festival Foods and saw an enormous end-cap display for this drink I had never heard of. That type of push marketing would be impossible without Molson Coors distribution network, relationships with retailers, and budget. 

The high-budget push strategy doesn’t end at retail though. Happy Thursday popped up in all the local college bars around the same time, giving people a more convenient way to try it without requiring a trip to the store and the purchase of a whole pack.

Looking ahead:

Happy Thursday will likely release limited time flavors and different variety packs for summer. It will be interesting to see how this product performs moving out of the introduction stage, if they will grow into the mainstream this summer or if it will stay a niche drink for college kids. My recommendation for them would be to use celebrity endorsements and influencers to introduce the product to more audiences.

P.S. claiming a day of the week is kinda genius cause why would you not try something named happy thursday if youre drinking on a thursday??