Boi conquers native Italian hard seltzer clubs and beyond.

Our meeting with Massimo Benetello, CEO of the Boem brand, the Italian producer of hard seltzer, took place in May this year. We talked about the first months of the product's life and the future of this beverage category in Italy, where it is still little known.

Four months after the official launch of Boem, Bargiornale returns to the world of hard seltzer to talk to Massimo Benetello, the executive who moved from the world of wine to this new adventure with ready-to-drink tins.

First, a brief summary of the previous series:

At the end of May, the first Italian hard seltzer premiered inMilan (we talked about it here). Fedez and Lazza are not only the face of this launch, but are also personally involved in this adventure, along with Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio (better known as the Luxottica Group, but the intention is to diversify) and Camillo Bernabei (retail manager of the Bernabei Group). Benetello is the executive director and operational arm of the group and helped us make the valuation.

Is the presence of two singers an indication of the target audience?

Of course, Fedeza and Lazza's fan base is our stated goal, so we've been testing the product on an 18-27 year old audience from the beginning, but of course we don't want to stop there.

How was your summer?

The summer confirmed the scale of the project. We estimated that 1600/1800 venues included Boem on their menus. At some events, we were directly involved with various elements of visibility, both at concerts and in venues where you can dance. We actively used social media for communication and mostly worked in the music industry to stay connected to our artists, but we want to sell it as a lifestyle, not just link it to a specific context.

How is the distribution of Boem going?

Well, in these first months, we have focused specifically on distribution, involving as many beverage distributors as possible in the HoReCa world. We already have about twenty of them in our portfolio. On the retail side, we only entered Esselunga because we believe it is a functional choice to distribute the product and link it to a certain lifestyle. Esselunga itself has just launched a competition with a special prize of €100,000 for those who buy Boem and play with us.

How interested are you in breaking into bars?

Because Boem is a ready-to-drink drink with alcohol already contained, we envision the possibility of consumption by opening a can and drinking it with friends on the wall. But that doesn't mean we don't like support from bars, so we want to communicate to this world where Boem can go in on its own or in mixing.

Right. We don't want to send a message of "drinking it instead," it's not a new energy drink, it's a ready-to-drink drink with new values. It's a product that has become popular in the United States. Today, the first American player, White Claw, has the same sales as Red Bull. This boom is due to the fact that the values of the hard-seller were already present, from water symbolizing well-being to the latent need to drink something that satisfies, low in alcohol and without calories. Add to this, "made in Italy." That's right, Boem is made at the San Bernardo plant in Garessio and uses the same spring water. But we want to convey not only "made in Italy" but also the value of Italian style.

There will be competitors in the Italian market. Does that scare you?

On the contrary. The entry of other players into the market will be a strengthening of the brand category.