Mini: Why Do Influencers Start Beverage Brands?

From Prime to Chamberlain Coffee, influencers are making serious moves into the beverage aisle.

In this Soul & Science mini-episode, Jason unpacks the rise of creator-led drink brands—and why the beverage industry has become the go-to playground for digital tastemakers. With built-in audiences and high margins, the formula is simple: influence + hydration = $$$.

Key Takeaways:

✅ Beverages are easy to produce and offer premium profit margins.
✅ Built-in audiences become built-in distribution channels.
✅ Drinks match the lifestyle-driven narratives influencers are already selling.

Forget merch drops. The new influencer flex? Something you can sip.

Brought to you by Mekanism.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Welcome to a mini episode of the Soul and Science podcast. Today,
I'm going to talk about why influencers are starting beverage brands,
and I'm sure you've seen them. It is definitely a trend.
So many of the big time influencers are launching their
own beverage brands. Think of course, the biggest one is
Logan Paul's Prime, Emma Chamberlain's Chamberlain Coffee, Alex Cooper from

(00:36):
Call Me Daddy's Unwell, so from energy drinks to coffee,
it seems like every big influencer is hawking a drink
And what is behind this phenomenon? Why do they feel
like they need to be launching beverages. One of the
biggest reasons is getting in the beverage aisle is a
little easier than perhaps creating some other products. Ownership is

(00:59):
another big reason. Instead of just promoting a video with
someone else's products, they can promote to their fans and
audiences their own products, so they get to call the
shots on everything and have more autonomy. They have creative freedom,
They get to design a product and then they get
to distribute the product. So owning a brand for them

(01:19):
builds long term value. It's not just a one off endorsement.
It's an asset they can grow and then sell for
a lot of money down the line if they play
their cards right. Another massive driver of why so many
influencers are launching beverage brands is their existing audience is
the main distribution channel. So you can prime your audience

(01:43):
for your drink or your beverage, push them into retail
and start hitting the cash register so that those retailers
will order more product. So that deep connection and loyalty
really drives the sales because they know that it's not
just a paid promotion for they have no connection with.
It's really a product that they help developed. Why are

(02:05):
so many influencers launching beverage bands. There's a low technical
barrier to entry. Beverages do not require extensive product development expertise.
They can white label through partners, get the formula and
production done very easily, so easy to pump out a drink.
Number two, there's high margins. Premium beverages have very high

(02:27):
margins because to make a drink costs, you know, hunder
a dollar, but they can retail it for three to
five dollars, so the margins are there, and the potential
upsides there. Another reason is repeat purchase potential. Unlike a
one time purchase like a hoodie or sneakers, beverages create
recurring revenue because they're driving habitual consumption. And I'd say

(02:48):
the last reason why so many influencers are going into
the beverage space is lifestyle alignment. Many influencers build their
brands around health or wellness or kicking ass or succeeding
or whatever lifestyle that their audience is into, but their
personal brand matches, it's easy to connect that to a

(03:09):
functional beverage. So anyway, that is a little info on
the rise of influencers that are starting beverage brands and
why they're starting beverage brands versus other products in higher quantities.
So thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this discussion, share
it with a fellow marketing enthusiast, and don't forget to
listen to Soul and Science podcast until next time. We

(03:32):
will see you later.