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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Odd Lots Podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm Joe Wisenthal and I'm Tracy Alloway. Tracy, I have

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Speaker 1: a new idea for an e t F that I

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Speaker 1: think we should launch. You and about a gazillion other people,

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Speaker 1: but go on. So, I think we should make a

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Speaker 1: brose e t F like bro culture. I feel like

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Speaker 1: his is a really is a really winning format. So

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Speaker 1: I think, Um, I think the basic can you say

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Speaker 1: bitch on air? I don't know, Um, the Basic Bitch

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Speaker 1: portfolio you just did, so I guess, I guess. So

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Speaker 1: sorry everyone, Um, this is going to be the first

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Speaker 1: episode of all thoughts that comes with a disclaimer about

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Speaker 1: bad language. The Basic Bitch e t F portfolio has

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Speaker 1: been sort of long running theme on a finance Twitter,

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Speaker 1: and that's done pretty well, at least in twenties. So

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Speaker 1: things like Pinterest, um, some of the makeup companies, those

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Speaker 1: sorts of things, Starbucks, So I could see I could

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Speaker 1: see the flip side of that being a brose e

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Speaker 1: t F. Sure, Gaming stocks gaming, so we know video

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Speaker 1: games have done extremely well. I mean that's just incredible sector.

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Speaker 1: Of course, Uh you know, back last summer we did

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Speaker 1: that episode about Domino's Pizza, which I think, like, you know,

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Speaker 1: ordering pizza while you're playing video games, then it's obviously

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Speaker 1: part of it. I imagine there's some like sports element.

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Speaker 1: Oh well, you could certainly put in um DraftKings and

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Speaker 1: some of these online gambling um Penn Gaming, some of

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Speaker 1: these online gambling names. And uh, there's also a beverage

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Speaker 1: company that I think fits right into the portfolio, and

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Speaker 1: it's done extraordinarily well, So I know which one you're

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Speaker 1: talking about. This has become one of your favorite companies.

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Speaker 1: Not just because this story around bro culture is quite

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Speaker 1: interesting right now, lots of people are playing more video games,

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Speaker 1: we're all stuck at home, and so maybe you want

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Speaker 1: to drink more of this particular beverage while you're gaming,

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Speaker 1: but also because the returns on this one have just

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Speaker 1: been absolutely stunning. Yeah, exactly right. So the company is

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Speaker 1: a monster beverage. You've almost certainly seen them like at

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Speaker 1: any Delhi or grocery store or anything. They're known for

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Speaker 1: their big cans of heavily caffeinated drinks sugary. They have

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Speaker 1: like super aggressive label labels on them. It's like this

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Speaker 1: sort of like very like macho frankly Browy Beverage, and

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Speaker 1: the stock has done phenomenally well. But depending on exactly

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Speaker 1: what settings you use, it's it might be the single

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Speaker 1: best performing stock in history, or certainly over the last

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Speaker 1: twenty or so years. I think it's up like five

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Speaker 1: thousand percent over the last twenty years, or at one

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Speaker 1: point it was like it's just donereal. Like it's like

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Speaker 1: we're talking like bitcoin level returns. Actually could probably put

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Speaker 1: like bitcoin into et F two, um, but we're talking

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Speaker 1: like bitcoin level returns for a company that sells sugary

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Speaker 1: caffeidated beverages, right. And I think when most people think

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Speaker 1: about the best performing stock of the past couple of decades,

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Speaker 1: they're going to think about Amazon or Google or Apple

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Speaker 1: or something like that. Not many people are going to

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Speaker 1: think about, you know, a consumer facing beverage company. I

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Speaker 1: have to tell you something, so I don't know much

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Speaker 1: about Monster. Um. I've never had one of the energy drinks,

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Speaker 1: although I am very aware of the branding and you know,

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Speaker 1: they're advertising strategy has been a big part of their success,

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Speaker 1: and I'm sure we're going to get into that on

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Speaker 1: the podcast. But I have to say, in the course

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Speaker 1: of doing some research for this episode, I found the

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Speaker 1: most amazing anecdote on Reddit. Of course it came from Reddit,

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Speaker 1: that's what what the anecdote. So I think it was

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Speaker 1: on the Financial Independence Retirement Early board, but it was

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Speaker 1: some guy who said he invested nine thousand dollars in

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Speaker 1: Monster Energy drinks. Um. I think this was in two

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Speaker 1: thousand and ten. He posted and he said he had

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Speaker 1: invested five years ago. So basically he had a five

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Speaker 1: increase on that nine thousand dollar position, which made him

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Speaker 1: a millionaire in the space of five years. And the

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Speaker 1: best part of it was so he wrote that in

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Speaker 1: two thousand ten, everyone on the message board basically said,

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Speaker 1: you are absolutely crazy. I can't believe you have this

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Speaker 1: huge chunk of portfolio of your portfolio in a single stock.

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Speaker 1: You need to sell it right now. And of course

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Speaker 1: had he held onto it, I don't know even know

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Speaker 1: what it would be worth now. But like the big

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Speaker 1: spike in Monster Energy came after two thousand ten, so

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Speaker 1: you can only imagine what invested back in two thousand

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Speaker 1: five would look like after a fifteen year monster run

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Speaker 1: in Monster Energy. It's really incredible. I mean it's like

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Speaker 1: one of these like charts where you just like slice

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Speaker 1: it up and you're like, holy crap, these are amazing returns,

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Speaker 1: and then you zoom out and it looks even more amazing.

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Speaker 1: It's just, uh, it's just incredible. So I want to

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Speaker 1: get the story. How did this maker of these drinks

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Speaker 1: that I've actually never had one either, I don't think

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Speaker 1: maybe I had one years ago, but you know, I

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Speaker 1: see him everywhere? How did it become this just mammoth

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Speaker 1: player um company? Did I think? Uh? For a billion

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Speaker 1: in revenue last year? In two thousand and four, it

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Speaker 1: was just forty nine million dollars. So the growth of

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Speaker 1: the fundamentals have been incredible. We're going to be speaking

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Speaker 1: with an analyst wh will explain it. Our guest today

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Speaker 1: is Mark Astracan. He's an analyst at Steeple. He covers

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Speaker 1: consumer goods. He's going to tell us the story of

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Speaker 1: Monster and why it's returns have been so monster. So, Mark,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, thanks for

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Speaker 1: having me. Where did this company come from? It used

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Speaker 1: to be like it was called something different. It was

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Speaker 1: like some sort of like natural beverage maker. Originally right, yes,

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Speaker 1: it was called Hands and Natural up until a few

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Speaker 1: years ago. The two guys who are running at the

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Speaker 1: now co CEOs bought the business as an investment or

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Speaker 1: as part of an investment group in the early nineties.

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Speaker 1: It was selling juice at the time Southern California. I

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Speaker 1: think they were living in London at that point to

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Speaker 1: South Africans looking for an investment and yeah, pulled some

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Speaker 1: money together and bought the business, moved to California and

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Speaker 1: started selling beverages. So how did the energy concept come about?

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Speaker 1: Because I think around that time there was already a

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Speaker 1: very well known energy beverage with loads of caffeine in

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Speaker 1: the form of Red Bull. And I have to declare

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Speaker 1: my interest here. I'm half Austrian. Red Bull comes from Austria.

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Speaker 1: Lots of people don't know that, and so you know,

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Speaker 1: my loyalty and the energy drink markets are already committed

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Speaker 1: to red Bull. But I'm curious, like there was an

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Speaker 1: incumbent with a strong brand, why did they decide to

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Speaker 1: to take on that particular sector. Well, maybe just to

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Speaker 1: take a step back, because I think it's it's interesting

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Speaker 1: and importance. So the Austrian comment, you know, the guy

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Speaker 1: who's running red Bull rebel versus a private company, So

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Speaker 1: there's not a whole lot of information out there, but

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Speaker 1: having studied this sector for far too long and finding

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Speaker 1: it as interesting as it is. Um the guy who's

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Speaker 1: running Red Bull, the CEO, actually only owns about half

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Speaker 1: of the company. He was a consumer executive in the

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Speaker 1: world before starting Red Bull, and he was traveling to

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Speaker 1: Southeast Asia a lot and finding that he's has travels

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Speaker 1: from Europe to Southeast Asia retiring and was in Thailand

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Speaker 1: and found this drink called Creighton Dang, which is translated

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Speaker 1: into Red Bull the days, and he decided he wanted

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Speaker 1: to bring this back to Europe with him, so he

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Speaker 1: actually created a joint venture with the family of the

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Speaker 1: founder of this this business, and so what we know

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Speaker 1: of Red Bull today actually originated as a tie beverage

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Speaker 1: which is still sold in a can that looks like

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Speaker 1: it did in the early eighties in a bunch of

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Speaker 1: places around the world, mainly in that that part of

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Speaker 1: the world China as well, but that's an aside. He

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Speaker 1: brings it back to Europe and starts selling it as

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Speaker 1: Red Bull in these sleek cans as the first energy drink,

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Speaker 1: and so that is is kind of where the monster

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Speaker 1: story begins. So Rodney and Hilton the co c e

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Speaker 1: O s. We're living in London, and I saw that

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Speaker 1: Red Bull was starting out in Europe around the same

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Speaker 1: time that they moved there and could see that this

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Speaker 1: was obviously doing really well. So I had nothing to

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Speaker 1: do with buying the hands and Natural juice business, but

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Speaker 1: having seen the growth of the energy category, they thought

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Speaker 1: it would be a good thing to try when they

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Speaker 1: were running their their beverage business in the US, So

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Speaker 1: before they launched Monster, they actually had some energy drink

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Speaker 1: brands under the Handsome Natural portfolio. I think it was

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Speaker 1: Blue Sky Beverage. There were a few other ones, but

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Speaker 1: they were launched in maybe the mid to late nineties,

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Speaker 1: and the fact that you haven't heard from him suggests

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Speaker 1: that they were probably a little bit too early. So

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Speaker 1: they were always interested in the energy category, but it

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Speaker 1: wasn't until I think two thousand and two or so

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Speaker 1: that they and one of their partners, a guy named

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Speaker 1: Mark Hall who now is a board member and also

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Speaker 1: one of the chief innovators of the company, decided to

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Speaker 1: create this this thing called Monster, this edgeyear product than

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Speaker 1: than Red Bull, and the rest is sort of history.

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Speaker 1: So basically, Red Bull we sort of at the time

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Speaker 1: and still is it's you know, highly caffeinated, it's associated

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Speaker 1: with extreme sports. I know they sponsor a lot of

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Speaker 1: that stuff. Monster is basically like, we're just gonna go

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Speaker 1: more extreme. Yeah, I think that's probably fair. Maybe starting

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Speaker 1: with the sixteen ounces can, I think if you were

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Speaker 1: to think about the energy drink consumer, I believe I

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Speaker 1: think history kind of bears out, as well as sales

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Speaker 1: trends that the Red Bull and Monster consumers are unique

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Speaker 1: in that. Red Bull sure when after that extreme consumer,

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Speaker 1: but it also early on focused on on premise so

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Speaker 1: bars and restaurants, and it, as a result or maybe coincidentally,

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Speaker 1: morphed into what I would consider more of a white

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Speaker 1: collar beverage. And it was partly because it was sold

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Speaker 1: at a premium, partly because it was a smaller can.

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Speaker 1: Now you have a whole bunch of other packages for

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Speaker 1: Red Bull twelve O, sixteen ounts and the like, but

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Speaker 1: the original can is an eight point four ounce can,

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Speaker 1: and so was small in volume and expensive in dollars

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Speaker 1: or euros or whatever it was at the time. And

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Speaker 1: so Monster decided they were gonna come out with the

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Speaker 1: sixteen ouns to basically sell the same volume or the

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Speaker 1: same value, same price for twice the volume, and they

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Speaker 1: also started to market it a bit more towards blue

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Speaker 1: collar workers, construction workers, the like they flavored the product

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Speaker 1: I think to be a little bit more unique than

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Speaker 1: Red Bull. Red Bull was never something that I think

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Speaker 1: people wanted to really enjoy drinking, and the folks at

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Speaker 1: Monster really focused on on palatability and something that they

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Speaker 1: thought would would appeal and it especially from a very

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Speaker 1: sweet standpoint of the core. Green Monster, which was the

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Speaker 1: original product, really did that to a certain unique set

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Speaker 1: of consumers. But then they added on that with a

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Speaker 1: focus on much more of the the I don't know

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Speaker 1: if he'd be a blue collar type of extreme sport,

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Speaker 1: but but red Bull was focused more on on mode

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Speaker 1: or sport and on well known athletes and music, and

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Speaker 1: and Monster went a bit kind of next level two

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Speaker 1: younger generations as well, focusing on early on like X games,

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Speaker 1: but focusing on things like video games which really weren't

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Speaker 1: a focus at that point for Red Bull, focusing on

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Speaker 1: Moto GP, focusing on supercross, you know, things that that

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Speaker 1: RedBull not wasn't necessarily focused on at the time, and

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Speaker 1: probably still to a large degree really really isn't focused

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Speaker 1: on and so they were able to bring in a

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Speaker 1: completely different consumer. So you have you've they've done a

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Speaker 1: really good job of retaining that blue collar consumer, which yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think it's pretty important. You can look to see

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Speaker 1: the the green can, which is still their biggest best

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Speaker 1: selling product, but also that they've now skewed I think

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Speaker 1: a bit younger than Red Bull as well. Maybe their

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Speaker 1: core consumer is kind of late teenager to thirty Rebels

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Speaker 1: consumer probably come in in mid twenties and and up,

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Speaker 1: and so they've really segmented the energy drinking category. And

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Speaker 1: as I said at the outset of the question, I

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Speaker 1: think if you you asked the consumers, they would largely

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Speaker 1: tell you they're they're a drinker of one and not

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Speaker 1: the other. And so I think that has really led

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Speaker 1: to the success of both businesses. And interesting, I mean,

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Speaker 1: we can get into the international expansion for for Monster,

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Speaker 1: which has been quite successful. But it's interesting that both

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Speaker 1: businesses as best we can tell, because as I said before,

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Speaker 1: Rebels private, so you don't have as much information, but

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Speaker 1: they're they're both still growing it unbelievably strong rates in

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Speaker 1: the case of Monster, almost twenty years after the product

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Speaker 1: was created. In the case of red Bull almost thirty

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Speaker 1: five years now, still growing at an amazing rate. I

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Speaker 1: think that customer segmentation is really interesting because you know,

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Speaker 1: as I mentioned, I have had red Bull throughout my life.

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Speaker 1: One of the worst cocktails I've ever had involved um.

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Speaker 1: I think it was red Bull vodka and gummy bears

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Speaker 1: and it was absolutely disgusting. UM. But I haven't had

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Speaker 1: a Monster energy drink of any kind. But I am

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Speaker 1: aware of the advertising campaign, uh, the very distinctive can

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Speaker 1: with the green claw marks. I think a lot of

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Speaker 1: people have probably seen hats and T shirts and things

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Speaker 1: like that over the course of their lives. But one

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Speaker 1: thing I wanted to dive in, so we spoke a

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Speaker 1: little bit about how the marketing was important here, the advertising,

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Speaker 1: how the brand set itself apart from red Bull. Can

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Speaker 1: you talk well, you started to touch upon this with

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Speaker 1: the international expansion mentioned, but could you talk about the

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Speaker 1: distribution network here? And um, I guess the deals that

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Speaker 1: Monster struck with um first a b in bev and

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Speaker 1: then Coke. Yeah, and and it's it's important from just

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Speaker 1: a beverage standpoint to understand that that basically what you

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Speaker 1: try to do as a brand owner is to put

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Speaker 1: uself in a position to be distributed by the biggest

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Speaker 1: and the best distributor over time. And so you know,

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Speaker 1: success sort of breaths success in that regard, meaning that

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Speaker 1: you've got to get out there and kick the tires

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Speaker 1: and sell the product to retailers to distributors on a

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Speaker 1: single case basis at the beginning. But as you get

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Speaker 1: more success, you attract more attention, and the result is

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Speaker 1: you have these networks of distributors of beverages who ultimately

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Speaker 1: want to put more product on the truck. And the idea,

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Speaker 1: of course, is to find the product that sells the

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Speaker 1: fastest and also provides you the best profit in doing so.

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Speaker 1: And so as the energy category accelerated is monster share accelerated.

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Speaker 1: You started to see Monster get proposition by a lot

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Speaker 1: of distributors because of the success, and you think about

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Speaker 1: it too, you're taking a step back. The biggest non

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Speaker 1: alcoholic beverage categories carbonated soft drinks. Energy at the time

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Speaker 1: fifteen years ago was a pimple of a pimple of size,

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Speaker 1: and this behemoth of carbonate of software was out there.

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Speaker 1: If you look to day a fast forward fifteen years

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Speaker 1: in a lot of convenience stores which accounts for about

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Speaker 1: of energy drink sales. You've got a full door, maybe

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Speaker 1: even two doors, depending on the store selling energy drinks.

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Speaker 1: And you've seen at the same time the amount of

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Speaker 1: space dedicated to carbonated soft drinks shrinking and basically giving

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Speaker 1: share away to energy drinks because it's growing faster and

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Speaker 1: it's allowing for more profit margins from both the distributor

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Speaker 1: as well as the retailer. So it creates this opportunity

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Speaker 1: for itself. And obviously it starts with the consumer wanting

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Speaker 1: the product. But if you're able to have higher velocity

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Speaker 1: and greater value in your your rings, it's it's a

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Speaker 1: self fulfilling prophecy. So you go back to mid two

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Speaker 1: thousands and Monster were starting to gain this traction. So

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Speaker 1: Ant hazer Bush, not a non alcoholic company but a

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Speaker 1: company that still has trucks and distributors that goes in

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Speaker 1: services grocery stores and convenience stores and the like, said hey,

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Speaker 1: you know we we want to put you in our trucks.

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Speaker 1: And so I think the original agreement was for about

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Speaker 1: half of the US. The other half of the US

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Speaker 1: was a bit of a hodgepodge of distribution from a

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Speaker 1: Monster standpoint, and slowly the distribution progressed, where in the

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Speaker 1: early two thousand tents the distribution had evolved into about

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Speaker 1: half Anheiser Bush and half Coke. Because Coke saw the

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Speaker 1: opportunity there, they had been a partner in international starting

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Speaker 1: in the UK. It was actually the first distribution partner

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Speaker 1: that Monster had outside of the US. Monster was doing

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Speaker 1: a little bit on their own, but really it started

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Speaker 1: to accelerate with Coke's help in the UK, and eventually

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Speaker 1: that morphed into Coke I think in two thousand and

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Speaker 1: fourteen announcing it was going to take at the time,

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Speaker 1: I think a fifteen or steak in Monster, which is

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Speaker 1: now close because Monster has brought back a lot of stock,

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Speaker 1: increasing Coke's ownership. And at the same time that agreement

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Speaker 1: made Coke the global distributor of of Monster, with a

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Speaker 1: couple of exceptions at certain countries. And so basically Monster

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Speaker 1: kicked again has a Bush out and is now fully

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Speaker 1: distributed at least domestically through Coke and as I said,

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Speaker 1: through probably something like of the world. And so if

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Speaker 1: you think about distributors out there of size on a

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Speaker 1: global basis, ant Hazard Bush is a very good distributor

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Speaker 1: globally and has a bushing a very good distributor Pepsi,

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Speaker 1: very good distributor. But I think many people believe the

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Speaker 1: Coke is the creme de la creme, and so Monsters

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Speaker 1: really positioned itself with the best distributor, the one with

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Speaker 1: the global reach to put you into every single bodega

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Speaker 1: on the planet if need being. Importantly, if Monster wants

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Speaker 1: to launch a new product, the Coke system can get

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Speaker 1: that onto store shelves virtually the next day. How much

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Speaker 1: do you know? It seems like there must be like

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Speaker 1: a real chicken and egg problem for any upstart consumer

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Speaker 1: food or beverage company because obviously you need these distributor

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Speaker 1: relationships to get to get out there. They're not easy

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Speaker 1: to get. There's limited, uh, there's limited shelf and truck space.

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Speaker 1: On the other hand, you also presumably need to have

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Speaker 1: a pretty big marketing efforts so that people actually buy it.

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Speaker 1: But if you don't have the distribution, then you can

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Speaker 1: have all the marketing and brand in the world, but

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Speaker 1: no one can get it. How do they sort of

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Speaker 1: navigate that simultaneous challenge of raising the brand awareness becoming

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Speaker 1: an entity that people knew, while also making sure that

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Speaker 1: once people became aware of the brand, they were able

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Speaker 1: to find it. Yeah, it's it's it's actually interesting to

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Speaker 1: Monster if you just take a look at marketing or

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Speaker 1: advertising expenditure. Despite it being a marketing company, it's not

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Speaker 1: even a company that manufactures its own product. It outsources

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Speaker 1: on manufacturing to third parties, so it's really just a

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Speaker 1: brand manager. Despite being a brand manager, it's it's marketing

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Speaker 1: expenditures is actually pretty low as a percentage of sales.

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Speaker 1: It's not a traditional I'm going to watch an add

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Speaker 1: on TV and want to go out and buy a Monster.

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Speaker 1: So what they do is is what I was saying before,

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Speaker 1: You go out and sponsor athletes, events, video games, rock festivals,

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Speaker 1: sporting events and the like, and that creates the lifestyle

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Speaker 1: image of the brand and becomes that that self fulfilling prophecy.

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Speaker 1: I mean Red Bulls kind of done the same thing.

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Speaker 1: They do a little bit of TV advertising, but the

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Speaker 1: bread and butter is really that you're you're sponsoring these

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Speaker 1: athletes and events, and so that relies a bit more

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Speaker 1: on a guerilla marketing proposition. What Monster is really good at.

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Speaker 1: Originally it was just feed on the streets, sampling and

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Speaker 1: kind of showing up at the right place to create

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Speaker 1: the image that they wanted for the brand, and that continues,

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Speaker 1: believe it or not to this day. They've evolved, as

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Speaker 1: everybody has, from traditional or more traditional kind of advertising

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Speaker 1: in at least in their sense of course of brick

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Speaker 1: and mortar. But we're a real visible in real world

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Speaker 1: advertising to now digital and social media. But they're still

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Speaker 1: doing it in kind of that same way, appealing to

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Speaker 1: the same consumer. And it's not going to be something

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Speaker 1: that you're gonna find on a Jeopardy advertisement for examples,

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Speaker 1: And I think he is probably gonna be something that

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Speaker 1: continues for the foreseeable future. And so I think that's

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Speaker 1: a bit different than kind of the rest of the

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Speaker 1: world that I spend time analyzing, the proctors and gambles,

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Speaker 1: rested laws, loreals of the world. They are doing more

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Speaker 1: traditional advertising. So I'm curious. You know, you've laid out

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Speaker 1: the sort of history of the company, what made it

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Speaker 1: different from its major competitors, how it was doing some

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Speaker 1: things rather unusually. So for instance, in marketing, it wasn't

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Speaker 1: spending a ton of money buying traditional ads. Instead it

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Speaker 1: was going through these sort of grassroots efforts or sponsorships.

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Speaker 1: How did the streets approach Monster in its early days, Like,

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Speaker 1: how are analysts actually viewing the company and its potential

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Speaker 1: and how did that evolve over time? It's it's it's

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Speaker 1: a good question. Frankly, I'm still not sure the the

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Speaker 1: street fully understands what they're they're doing or what they've created.

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Speaker 1: No no offense to the guys running the company, but

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Speaker 1: but it is interesting. They don't even have an in

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Speaker 1: sourced investor relations functions, So management uniquely here doesn't really

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Speaker 1: even talk to investors, don't talk to analysts, don't talk

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Speaker 1: to investors. They hold for earning his calls a year

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Speaker 1: and allow people to ask probably on the very minimal

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Speaker 1: side of questions to three four five per quarter. They

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Speaker 1: do a couple of investor events a year outside of that,

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Speaker 1: but but that's really it. There's no real outreach on

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Speaker 1: their part. And so that's actually what to me has

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Speaker 1: created such an interesting proposition from an analyst standpoint to

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Speaker 1: covering it. And if you think about it, yes they're

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Speaker 1: a public company, but they almost treat themselves as a

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Speaker 1: private company as a result of what I just said,

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Speaker 1: and you couple that with Red Bull being an actual

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Speaker 1: private company and that Coke and PEPSI. Yes, they distribute

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Speaker 1: energy drinks, but don't have really any of their own

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Speaker 1: and have never really had any success doing that. That

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Speaker 1: there's almost no information out there from an energy drink

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Speaker 1: company standpoint, so you're left to really do a lot

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Speaker 1: of feed on the street kind of thinking about how

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Speaker 1: how these businesses work and what has driven the success,

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Speaker 1: which I think is fun and it creates an opportunity

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Speaker 1: to really do unique analysis. In my opinion, I think

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Speaker 1: one of the things that we've done a good job

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Speaker 1: of historically is that is looking at things in a

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Speaker 1: way that people haven't looked at it before. I mean, ultimately,

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Speaker 1: I see my job is trying to help investors make

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Speaker 1: decisions and help them make money. And I think in

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Speaker 1: a company like this, where they give more information and

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Speaker 1: regulatory filings but not necessarily something that you have an

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Speaker 1: investor relations person or kind of directing people to find

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Speaker 1: that it creates an opportunity to do that. And so

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Speaker 1: if you go back fifteen years ago, there there was

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Speaker 1: none zilch, you know, zilch. There was just very little

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Speaker 1: information whatsoever. Is also a smaller company at the time,

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Speaker 1: and so it was probably something that really just felt

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Speaker 1: through the cracks. If you are lucky enough to cover it,

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Speaker 1: maybe it was one that you give less focus to

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Speaker 1: than covering some of the bigger companies like a Copa

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Speaker 1: Pepsi within your your coverage universe, and it was just

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Speaker 1: there because you thought it was interesting. And so in

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Speaker 1: the early days, I mean, I can remember just making

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Speaker 1: phone calls to private beer distributors and asking how sales

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Speaker 1: are going and what they're seeing from a category standpoint,

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Speaker 1: is there any are there any other brands that are

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Speaker 1: coming up Because of the time, if you go back

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Speaker 1: to the mid two thousands, Coke and Pepsi were both

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Speaker 1: trying to compete in this. They saw what was happening

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Speaker 1: from an energy standpoint, they saw the share shift commencing,

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Speaker 1: even early days at that point, and so they were

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Speaker 1: all trying this and and I think the fear amongst

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Speaker 1: investors was these are the behemous, the under pound guerrillas,

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Speaker 1: and they're gonna come in and they're gonna they're gonna

433
00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:08,639
Speaker 1: kill Monster and they're gonna hurt Red Bull. And it

434
00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:11,879
Speaker 1: just never materialized like that. And as I said, you

435
00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,280
Speaker 1: started getting bigger and bigger from a distribution standpoint. I

436
00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:19,080
Speaker 1: think these these big beverage companies ultimately decided if you

437
00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:21,240
Speaker 1: can't beat them, you join them, or from this case,

438
00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:23,440
Speaker 1: if you can't kill them, you distribute them. And so

439
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:25,920
Speaker 1: you still make a piece of the distribution or the

440
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:28,920
Speaker 1: profit that's out there, but you can't own the brand

441
00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:30,879
Speaker 1: Fulegus unless you go out and want to buy it.

442
00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:33,840
Speaker 1: And it's it's it's just very fascinating from that standpoint.

443
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:35,520
Speaker 1: I mean, I think you didn't ask the question, but

444
00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:39,200
Speaker 1: there is clearly this dynamic that's still at play here

445
00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:41,960
Speaker 1: that Coke owns close to the company, but monsters still

446
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,040
Speaker 1: like public companies. If at these two companies that are

447
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:48,879
Speaker 1: public answering to their own shareholders, and so you can't

448
00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:52,480
Speaker 1: be fully aligned with with one another as a result

449
00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:54,080
Speaker 1: of that, And so I described it as almost a

450
00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:56,440
Speaker 1: healthy tension where I think if Coke were to ultimately

451
00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:58,240
Speaker 1: by this company, you would probably see some of that

452
00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:01,560
Speaker 1: tension go away, and you probably actually see better execution

453
00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:05,320
Speaker 1: because you have more streamlined focus from a organizational standpoint

454
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:08,440
Speaker 1: on selling Monster so coaxed on a good job, I

455
00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:10,800
Speaker 1: think they could do a better job. Is that something

456
00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:14,440
Speaker 1: people uh talk about? I mean, do people speculate that

457
00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:18,000
Speaker 1: at some point Coke just might buy the whole thing. Yeah,

458
00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:20,479
Speaker 1: there's there's a lot of speculation on that. I mean

459
00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:23,240
Speaker 1: I could probably spend an hour answering that question alone.

460
00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:26,040
Speaker 1: But in terms of the specifics, yeah, Coke Is has

461
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:28,680
Speaker 1: done what it's done. They've never increased their stakes since

462
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:32,480
Speaker 1: the original purchase. They, if you pay attention to current news,

463
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,119
Speaker 1: have some tax issues which ultimately could result in them

464
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:37,800
Speaker 1: having to write a big check, and so that probably

465
00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:41,840
Speaker 1: prevents things from from happening nearer term. Their stock, which

466
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:44,240
Speaker 1: I would think they could use in a potential deal,

467
00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:47,080
Speaker 1: is also down off of high Is given the whole

468
00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:50,440
Speaker 1: impact to their business from from COVID, and so their

469
00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:54,640
Speaker 1: their equity is a little bit depleted relative to historical levels.

470
00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:56,399
Speaker 1: It probably makes it harder. But the flip side to

471
00:26:56,520 --> 00:27:00,440
Speaker 1: it is the two guys who are running Monster Odney

472
00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:05,080
Speaker 1: just turned seventy end of last year. Hilton is sixty seven.

473
00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:09,000
Speaker 1: He'll be sixty eight the middle of this year. They're

474
00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:11,040
Speaker 1: not They're not young. They've been running this company for

475
00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:14,199
Speaker 1: a long time and uniquely each of them own about

476
00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:17,200
Speaker 1: five of monsters. If you think about that, on a

477
00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:20,480
Speaker 1: roughly fifty billion dollar company. They're worth an awful lot

478
00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:23,960
Speaker 1: of money, and so they're not getting younger. They are

479
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:26,960
Speaker 1: worth a ton of money. I think they want to

480
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:29,959
Speaker 1: spend more time doing other things at some point than

481
00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:35,320
Speaker 1: just running Monster. They both have grandkids, they're both enjoying

482
00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:38,320
Speaker 1: spending more time with them. I think they would like

483
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:40,600
Speaker 1: to travel more, assuming that one could ever actually leave

484
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,719
Speaker 1: their house, and so yeah, there's this question of kind

485
00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:47,520
Speaker 1: of what happens from there. In my humble opinion, I'm

486
00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:49,280
Speaker 1: sure they would disagree with this, but I think the

487
00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:53,520
Speaker 1: bench strength is at least lacking as far as visible

488
00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:57,440
Speaker 1: facing folks to the street. And it's not obvious to

489
00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:01,600
Speaker 1: me who would necessarily run and the company should they

490
00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:04,640
Speaker 1: both get hit by a bus tomorrow, God forbid. In fact,

491
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:07,199
Speaker 1: I don't think there is somebody internally who would make

492
00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:09,439
Speaker 1: sense to do that, and I think it's a very

493
00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:12,040
Speaker 1: unique organization, and I think that creates a bit of

494
00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:17,000
Speaker 1: a question mark about what happens. But but obviously it

495
00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:20,680
Speaker 1: takes It's kind of like firing nuclear weapons. I guess

496
00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:22,320
Speaker 1: it takes two people to turn the key or two

497
00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 1: sides to do that, and so you need to have

498
00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:25,920
Speaker 1: a willing buyer as well as a willing seller. I'm

499
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:28,879
Speaker 1: not sure that they necessarily are willing sellers, but but

500
00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:32,119
Speaker 1: the right offer comes along, who who isn't. But I

501
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:34,080
Speaker 1: think as as they get older, I think that becomes

502
00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:37,399
Speaker 1: more more reasonable. But then the question is who who

503
00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:40,040
Speaker 1: ultimately would buy them? And I think the distribution arrangement

504
00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:42,280
Speaker 1: and the equity ownership would put Poke in that position.

505
00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:45,040
Speaker 1: I just think at president it's probably a little harder

506
00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:47,880
Speaker 1: to pull off. So what we'll see how that goes.

507
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:52,160
Speaker 1: I have long thought that there could be some others

508
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:54,920
Speaker 1: out there, kind of dark horses that aren't really talked about,

509
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:57,800
Speaker 1: that could potentially be buyers in the business. But what

510
00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:00,920
Speaker 1: will ultimately see how that plays out. But for the

511
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,000
Speaker 1: time being, I think they're they're very happy, and they're

512
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:07,200
Speaker 1: they're obviously very successful in doing what they're doing. What

513
00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:12,080
Speaker 1: we'll see what happens in time. So Joe mentioned in

514
00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:17,440
Speaker 1: the intro that we did a previous episode on Domino's Pizza,

515
00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:21,160
Speaker 1: which was another stock that had a stellar performance, perhaps

516
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:27,000
Speaker 1: um unexpectedly, and we also did a podcast about tobacco companies,

517
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:30,040
Speaker 1: again a similar story. You would have expected that an

518
00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:33,360
Speaker 1: industry that's been under a lot of pressure over the

519
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:38,480
Speaker 1: years might have suffered, but actually they've generated pretty consistent returns.

520
00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:42,720
Speaker 1: Are there any parallels between I'm trying to think how

521
00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:46,040
Speaker 1: to phrase this. Are there any parallels between tobacco and

522
00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:50,560
Speaker 1: energy drinks here? I mean, ultimately, you're selling a product

523
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:55,160
Speaker 1: that a lot of people would classify as unhealthy and addictive.

524
00:29:55,480 --> 00:30:00,040
Speaker 1: Is the business model as simple as that? Well, I

525
00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:05,480
Speaker 1: think the differences. Energy drinks don't kill people, and I

526
00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:09,720
Speaker 1: think there has been a question historically about the health

527
00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:13,440
Speaker 1: of of these products. If you go back, I think

528
00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:16,360
Speaker 1: it's now sevent eight years ago, it had come to

529
00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:21,480
Speaker 1: the attention of various political folks in Washington, who ultimately

530
00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:24,760
Speaker 1: put it to the f d A too figure out

531
00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:29,680
Speaker 1: whether these products were healthy. We're not and whether they

532
00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:34,920
Speaker 1: should be sold. And Rodney her Monster and the then

533
00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:38,040
Speaker 1: CFO at rock Star and a senior marketing executive a

534
00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:40,360
Speaker 1: red Bull, We're pulled in front of I think a

535
00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:44,000
Speaker 1: Senate committee to talk about the health of energy drinks,

536
00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:49,560
Speaker 1: and ultimately the FDA said the amount of caffeine in

537
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:55,080
Speaker 1: this product was well within our daily limits. The other

538
00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:58,080
Speaker 1: stuff that helps to make it an energy drink, things

539
00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:02,360
Speaker 1: like touring or guarana gin seeing are all what would

540
00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:04,920
Speaker 1: be considered generally regarded as safe meeting that they're all

541
00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:08,160
Speaker 1: okay to go into the body, and there's nothing that

542
00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:11,680
Speaker 1: we can say or do that should change how these

543
00:31:11,760 --> 00:31:16,640
Speaker 1: things are are sold. But ultimately the energy drink companies

544
00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,600
Speaker 1: had come to an agreement to kind of have this

545
00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:21,719
Speaker 1: this go away, which is that they just put more

546
00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:24,600
Speaker 1: explicit messaging on the cans to say, pregnant women shouldn't

547
00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:26,680
Speaker 1: drink these, you shouldn't drink more than one a day,

548
00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:28,800
Speaker 1: and here's the amount of caffeine that's in the can.

549
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,280
Speaker 1: And you've seen over the years, various countries that have

550
00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:35,760
Speaker 1: tried to do similar things have tried to ban sales

551
00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:40,520
Speaker 1: to minors. Monster also agreed not to market two kids

552
00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:43,280
Speaker 1: under twelve, whatever that means, because they don't really market anyway.

553
00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:44,680
Speaker 1: So I'm not sure how a twelve year old er

554
00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:48,200
Speaker 1: younger could be differentiated from those that are older from that,

555
00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:51,160
Speaker 1: but you know that the point is it's been vetted,

556
00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:54,880
Speaker 1: It's been vetted all over the place, and it effectively

557
00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:59,560
Speaker 1: still has less caffeine than a espresso at Starbucks or

558
00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:01,800
Speaker 1: thinking about a frappuccino that has a lot of calories

559
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:04,360
Speaker 1: in it. It's no, it's no worse for you than

560
00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:06,000
Speaker 1: kind of anything else that's out there. I mean, I'm

561
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:07,600
Speaker 1: not arguing these are good for you. I'm not arguing

562
00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:10,480
Speaker 1: cargnate soft drinks are good for you. But it's it's

563
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:12,760
Speaker 1: in that same vein and it's not something, as I said,

564
00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:16,400
Speaker 1: that will ultimately link to cancer, I think pretty definitively.

565
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:19,880
Speaker 1: And so it is what it is. I think it's

566
00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:25,040
Speaker 1: interesting too, just stepping back. It's never been perceived is

567
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:27,960
Speaker 1: good for you, and the world seems to evolve into

568
00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:32,960
Speaker 1: more helpful products. And yet while the consumer says on

569
00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:35,960
Speaker 1: one hand that that's what they want to consume, whether

570
00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:38,160
Speaker 1: it's eat or drink, that they want things that are

571
00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:43,000
Speaker 1: cleaner label and more natural, organic and whatnot, the actions

572
00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:47,640
Speaker 1: to sales, the volumes, the accelerating growth globally of energy

573
00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:52,480
Speaker 1: drinks would speak otherwise. And I think ultimately, like coffee, sure,

574
00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:58,560
Speaker 1: caffeine is an addictive drug to some extent, but this

575
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:01,600
Speaker 1: is something that fills it needs to eight. Consumers are sleeping, less,

576
00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:05,200
Speaker 1: working more, want more focus, and this is what it offers.

577
00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:08,400
Speaker 1: But but as I said, interestingly, it still has less

578
00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:13,080
Speaker 1: caffeine in it than an equivalent cup of coffee. Yes,

579
00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:15,160
Speaker 1: there's more caffeine in it, but I wouldn't say it's

580
00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:17,000
Speaker 1: materially more. It's kind of four times the amount of

581
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:18,960
Speaker 1: caffeine is a can of coke. But what does that

582
00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:22,960
Speaker 1: really do necessarily from a body standpoint, I don't think

583
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:26,240
Speaker 1: it's all that significant. So it's along when it answers

584
00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:29,400
Speaker 1: saying not healthy hasn't seemed to have an impact, doesn't

585
00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:33,840
Speaker 1: really harm you. It's been vetted across various regulatory bodies,

586
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:37,320
Speaker 1: and um, I think at this point, and knock on wood,

587
00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:39,960
Speaker 1: but it seems like most of have generally accepted what

588
00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:43,320
Speaker 1: I just said. So I want to like look into

589
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:46,040
Speaker 1: the future a little bit. I mean, you mentioned that

590
00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:49,760
Speaker 1: outside of the current management, there's not an obvious replacement

591
00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:52,479
Speaker 1: perhaps a reason for them to sell. Talk to us

592
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:56,080
Speaker 1: about like where has the growth been lately and what

593
00:33:56,240 --> 00:34:00,200
Speaker 1: are the opportunities going forward? Like where will you know

594
00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:03,720
Speaker 1: we're theoretically well the next ten years of growth come

595
00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:06,560
Speaker 1: from for a company. Yeah, it's it's a good question.

596
00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:11,360
Speaker 1: And I'll start by saying in the US, which is

597
00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:15,200
Speaker 1: still two thirds of revenue, it's still growing at at

598
00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:17,879
Speaker 1: least a high single if not a low double digit rate.

599
00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:21,080
Speaker 1: So here here is a business fin around in the

600
00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:24,560
Speaker 1: US now for nineteen years and still growing at that rate.

601
00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:27,279
Speaker 1: And they don't really take price, so it's almost all

602
00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:31,680
Speaker 1: volume that's that's driving it, just more incremental cans being consumed.

603
00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:36,840
Speaker 1: The US is a bigger profit center than than the

604
00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:39,719
Speaker 1: international piece. They just have higher margins here and so

605
00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:44,160
Speaker 1: it probably accounts for ninety percent of global profit and

606
00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:47,239
Speaker 1: it produces just massive cash flows. So you've got this

607
00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:49,359
Speaker 1: business just before I answer the question on where does

608
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:52,200
Speaker 1: it go? Yeah, you know, you talked about it being

609
00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:55,120
Speaker 1: a great stock. It's just the greatest business ever invented.

610
00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:58,160
Speaker 1: I mean, these guys don't produce anything themselves. There's no

611
00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:01,880
Speaker 1: real capital expenditures. They spend a percent of sales or

612
00:35:02,239 --> 00:35:05,000
Speaker 1: less per year. There's no debt on the balance sheet,

613
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:07,560
Speaker 1: so it's just mints money a billion dollars plus in

614
00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:10,560
Speaker 1: free cash flow a year that they use to basically

615
00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:13,440
Speaker 1: just buy back stock. So you've got this business that's

616
00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:16,920
Speaker 1: growing domestically at a call it a high single digit rate.

617
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:19,799
Speaker 1: I think can grow at that rate for at least

618
00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:23,239
Speaker 1: the foreseeable future. Here and we didn't touch on it,

619
00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:26,160
Speaker 1: but Ken if you want to later. I think they've

620
00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:28,200
Speaker 1: done a really good job of expanding usage occasion, so

621
00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:30,239
Speaker 1: you keep the core consumer and you innovate into new

622
00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:34,200
Speaker 1: product categories, and that has really driven interest and incrementality

623
00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:38,560
Speaker 1: of purchases, and it has contributed to the consistent growth

624
00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:43,360
Speaker 1: in the US. And in the US they have around

625
00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:46,279
Speaker 1: a forty share or so on a dollar basis of

626
00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:49,799
Speaker 1: the energy drink category, about the same as Red Bull. Volumetrically,

627
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:52,840
Speaker 1: they're actually higher because they sell, as I said, twice

628
00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:54,680
Speaker 1: the volume for the same price, So they are the

629
00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:57,320
Speaker 1: leader from a volume standpoint on a market share basis

630
00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:01,040
Speaker 1: in the US. If you take that and look at

631
00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:04,960
Speaker 1: it globally excluding the US, our best guess, because there's

632
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,719
Speaker 1: really not good data, is that they're probably somewhere in

633
00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:11,480
Speaker 1: the low to mid teens as a percentage of global share.

634
00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:14,759
Speaker 1: Red Bullet somewhere around a fifty share. So if you

635
00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:16,560
Speaker 1: think about what they've been able to do in the US,

636
00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:19,640
Speaker 1: starting at zero and now being a volume share leader

637
00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:22,279
Speaker 1: in the US, if they can have that kind of

638
00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:25,919
Speaker 1: success outside of the US, you go from a twelve

639
00:36:26,040 --> 00:36:29,120
Speaker 1: or thirteen global share to a forty share in a

640
00:36:29,239 --> 00:36:32,360
Speaker 1: category that's growing at a I don't know, ten percent

641
00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:35,440
Speaker 1: or more rate on a global basis. You get a

642
00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:38,279
Speaker 1: business it's three or four times the size of what

643
00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:41,680
Speaker 1: you have today on an outside the US basis, which

644
00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:44,920
Speaker 1: today is roughly a third of the business, and you

645
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:46,640
Speaker 1: have a business that's growing in the US at a

646
00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:50,280
Speaker 1: high single digit rate. You've got a really long growth

647
00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:53,000
Speaker 1: rate for for the revenues of this company. To put

648
00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:58,880
Speaker 1: in perspective, best we can tell, Monster will do about

649
00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:02,680
Speaker 1: five billion dollars lars and revenue globally. I would guess

650
00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:04,759
Speaker 1: Red Bulls probably twice that size. You're talking about a

651
00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:09,120
Speaker 1: ten billion dollar company. So Monster can easily see its

652
00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:11,359
Speaker 1: sales double from here over a long period of time,

653
00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:14,840
Speaker 1: just based on the math that I just outline. And

654
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:21,239
Speaker 1: so it's partly just this getting more distribution, increasing brand awareness,

655
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:25,840
Speaker 1: and expanding usage occasions through innovation and the Coke system.

656
00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:27,840
Speaker 1: This is where the Coke system is really coming and

657
00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:29,960
Speaker 1: done a good job. I think in the US Monster

658
00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:32,279
Speaker 1: didn't need Coke, but outside the US, I think Coke

659
00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:35,000
Speaker 1: has really been helpful in just getting the product to

660
00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:39,080
Speaker 1: market in an efficient, effective manner and really getting more

661
00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:41,759
Speaker 1: product on shelf. And I think that's also an opportunity

662
00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:45,440
Speaker 1: beyond just category growing. If you think about a typical

663
00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:48,920
Speaker 1: seven eleven cooler in the US, you could have twelve

664
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:51,520
Speaker 1: the fifteen Monsters sitting in that cooler. If you go

665
00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:54,320
Speaker 1: outside the US, on average, you're probably seeing three to

666
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:57,360
Speaker 1: five per cooler. So there's also an opportunity to just

667
00:37:57,520 --> 00:38:00,920
Speaker 1: add more products, and those incremental products that have expanded

668
00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:03,320
Speaker 1: the usage occasions and brought in more consumers to the

669
00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:05,960
Speaker 1: Monster business, and that has been one of the big

670
00:38:06,040 --> 00:38:10,399
Speaker 1: things that has driven out performance relative to Red Bull

671
00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:12,400
Speaker 1: in my opinion that Red Bull has been more about

672
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:16,600
Speaker 1: just adding different packaging sizes and until more recently just

673
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:19,640
Speaker 1: not really wanting to add flavor extensions. And Monster beyond

674
00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:24,280
Speaker 1: just flavor extensions, has created new sub brands. They've created juice,

675
00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:28,360
Speaker 1: energy plus Juice, They've created coffee plus Energy and it

676
00:38:28,400 --> 00:38:31,239
Speaker 1: sounds almost like an oxymorn, and yet they've created a

677
00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:35,000
Speaker 1: multibillion dollar business globally that they're the day along with

678
00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:38,120
Speaker 1: Starbucks and others are competing in and so they they've

679
00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:40,640
Speaker 1: created this, I mean when they launched that in two

680
00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:43,080
Speaker 1: thousand five or six, this job a Monster product. I'm

681
00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:45,080
Speaker 1: sure I wrote something obnoxious at the time like, oh

682
00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:47,239
Speaker 1: my god, how could you possibly be successful with doing that?

683
00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:50,399
Speaker 1: And sure enough, here we are. So they've just done

684
00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:52,439
Speaker 1: a really good job of kind of going to where

685
00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:54,920
Speaker 1: the consumer is going to be. I think, you know,

686
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:58,800
Speaker 1: the thing that you can't over emphasize enough is that

687
00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:01,080
Speaker 1: the management here, back to the beginning of what you

688
00:39:01,120 --> 00:39:04,840
Speaker 1: said about what has made this so successful, they've just

689
00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:09,000
Speaker 1: been the management here. Rodney, Hilton, Mark, those three guys

690
00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:11,319
Speaker 1: have just been brilliant at figuring out where the puck

691
00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:13,240
Speaker 1: was going and trying to figure out how to expand

692
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:16,839
Speaker 1: those used occasions for the consumer and the Red Bull

693
00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:19,759
Speaker 1: maybe being a big, fat, happy private company never had

694
00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:23,160
Speaker 1: to do that, and Monster was given the opportunity and

695
00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:40,080
Speaker 1: clearly capitalized on it. I'm curious. We've talked a lot

696
00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:44,000
Speaker 1: about the success of Monster, and you seem pretty optimistic

697
00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:48,320
Speaker 1: about its future. What, in your opinion, is the biggest

698
00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:53,640
Speaker 1: threat to the company. I think the biggest threat at

699
00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:56,359
Speaker 1: this point the thing, I guess there's probably two things.

700
00:39:56,600 --> 00:39:58,279
Speaker 1: The two biggest things we hear are one, how long

701
00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:01,560
Speaker 1: can category growth continue? Because that's most important if they

702
00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:03,880
Speaker 1: can retain their share or even grow their share of

703
00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:06,520
Speaker 1: a category. And it's growing at that rate, I think

704
00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:09,480
Speaker 1: they're they're gonna be pretty happy. The second would be,

705
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:11,719
Speaker 1: you know, and sort of related to that, what about

706
00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:14,719
Speaker 1: new entrance into the category. And so if you go

707
00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:20,279
Speaker 1: back twelve to eighteen months ago, there was a new

708
00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:22,840
Speaker 1: entrant or relatively new enter into the category in the

709
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:27,600
Speaker 1: US called Bang, which is selling what is called performance energy,

710
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:30,440
Speaker 1: which is basically selling, if you can believe it, twice

711
00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:33,720
Speaker 1: the caffeine in a same sixteen ounts can as Monster,

712
00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:37,400
Speaker 1: and that was something that started to resonate with consumers.

713
00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:42,560
Speaker 1: And like Monster, they moved from smaller distribution into antiser

714
00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:45,600
Speaker 1: bush district distribution and they're now actually distributed by Pepsi.

715
00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:49,680
Speaker 1: And so there's questions about whether the share that they

716
00:40:49,719 --> 00:40:52,399
Speaker 1: were able to get to fairly quickly, which was made

717
00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:55,640
Speaker 1: the high single digits, and it's it's since stopped and

718
00:40:56,080 --> 00:40:59,040
Speaker 1: moved backwards. But that share they got fairly quickly, it

719
00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:01,120
Speaker 1: wasn't as hard to get is maybe some people thought.

720
00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:06,800
Speaker 1: And so digital social media new age marketing can allow

721
00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:09,800
Speaker 1: or potentially allow new entriest to come in and reduce

722
00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:14,000
Speaker 1: the barriers to entry. You see a few smaller companies

723
00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:18,839
Speaker 1: like Celsius and C four also seeing very strong growth

724
00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:21,480
Speaker 1: at this point off of admittedly a very small base,

725
00:41:22,239 --> 00:41:24,560
Speaker 1: but you're seeing more competition in the space. So the

726
00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:27,880
Speaker 1: question is how relevant can Monster be within that? And

727
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:29,960
Speaker 1: so it's just not one of these things that I

728
00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:31,920
Speaker 1: think they can sit there and rest on their laurels.

729
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:36,160
Speaker 1: It's always about constant innovation and tweaking the image and

730
00:41:36,200 --> 00:41:40,160
Speaker 1: the products that they're offering and to monsters credit. For example,

731
00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:44,000
Speaker 1: when the world started focusing on this or the the

732
00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:46,320
Speaker 1: energy can world, I suppose the subset of losers like

733
00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:50,160
Speaker 1: me to focus on the beverage industry. When people started

734
00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:53,680
Speaker 1: focusing on this Bang product taking share fall two thousand eighteen,

735
00:41:54,600 --> 00:41:57,160
Speaker 1: Monster was able to get a product out to market

736
00:41:57,239 --> 00:42:00,680
Speaker 1: within six months called Rain that allly got to a

737
00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:03,880
Speaker 1: three share of the category stopped. The growth of Bang

738
00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:06,399
Speaker 1: has done quite well considering it was a brand nobody

739
00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:08,839
Speaker 1: ever heard of two years ago. That brand, I think

740
00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:11,800
Speaker 1: at this point could be doing something on order of

741
00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:14,360
Speaker 1: hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue at retails. So

742
00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:16,120
Speaker 1: they've done a really good job of creating something out

743
00:42:16,160 --> 00:42:18,960
Speaker 1: of nothing. So but that's the question. It's how can

744
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:21,160
Speaker 1: you continue to growth and how you can sustain the

745
00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:25,160
Speaker 1: share you have. I mean, I'm curious bigger picture, I mean,

746
00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:31,440
Speaker 1: beyond Monster, you cover consumer brand um overall, this question

747
00:42:31,719 --> 00:42:36,080
Speaker 1: of the degree to which new new avenues for promotion

748
00:42:36,239 --> 00:42:39,520
Speaker 1: social media Instagram, and new avenues for distribution the whole

749
00:42:39,560 --> 00:42:43,480
Speaker 1: director consumer phenomenon. How much space for that is. We

750
00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:46,640
Speaker 1: have another conversation actually the timing wise, I think it's

751
00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:48,719
Speaker 1: going to come out right after this episode where we

752
00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:51,360
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about that. But from your perspective,

753
00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:55,280
Speaker 1: you know, you mentioned the importance of these distribution deals,

754
00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:59,960
Speaker 1: the Coke network, that sort of the oligopoly of distribution,

755
00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:02,920
Speaker 1: and in the US and globally, how much under threat

756
00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:06,080
Speaker 1: is that from the Internet, from new stuff or how

757
00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:11,640
Speaker 1: much Canada withstand um these sort of these changes. I

758
00:43:11,680 --> 00:43:16,960
Speaker 1: don't want to understate the importance. But in a category

759
00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:21,439
Speaker 1: like beverages, where as I said at the beginning, energy

760
00:43:21,520 --> 00:43:24,480
Speaker 1: drink sales are done a convenience store, meaning is an

761
00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:27,759
Speaker 1: impulse by It's going to be pretty hard to see

762
00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:32,719
Speaker 1: that materialize. Monster and others are selling more online and

763
00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:37,680
Speaker 1: on Amazon than they ever have, but those numbers are

764
00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:40,360
Speaker 1: how would estimated probably something like two percent of sales

765
00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:43,000
Speaker 1: at this point so it's it's still pretty small and

766
00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:45,560
Speaker 1: the idea of shipping heavy cases of beverage, it's still

767
00:43:45,640 --> 00:43:49,000
Speaker 1: not something that necessarily appeals or that I think will

768
00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:52,880
Speaker 1: get traction like it could in selling sneakers or in

769
00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:56,640
Speaker 1: selling pet food or something like that. So I think

770
00:43:56,719 --> 00:43:59,680
Speaker 1: in this category in particular, it's probably a little bit harder.

771
00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:02,920
Speaker 1: I won't say that it will be impossible, but I

772
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:07,800
Speaker 1: think that's an advantage of of where we are historically speaking,

773
00:44:08,280 --> 00:44:11,000
Speaker 1: at least so far. You just you haven't seen any

774
00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:15,000
Speaker 1: brands like that game traction, partly because you want to

775
00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:17,759
Speaker 1: be where the consumers are and they need to see

776
00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:20,239
Speaker 1: the product want to buy it. I think that's a

777
00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:22,319
Speaker 1: good place to stop it. Do you have any other

778
00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:24,960
Speaker 1: It's sort of like anything we missed in terms of

779
00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:27,759
Speaker 1: like understanding the story and where it's going that we

780
00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:33,320
Speaker 1: should think about. It's worth pointing out and making it

781
00:44:34,560 --> 00:44:37,880
Speaker 1: making it important that this innovation thing is really what

782
00:44:38,080 --> 00:44:42,680
Speaker 1: has driven success, and the guys that this company are

783
00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:47,800
Speaker 1: are very good at understanding what consumers want. And I

784
00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:50,840
Speaker 1: think they're still despite being a company that will do

785
00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:54,200
Speaker 1: five billion in revenue this year, operating like a company

786
00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:56,560
Speaker 1: that's going to do a couple hundred million in revenue.

787
00:44:56,920 --> 00:45:00,879
Speaker 1: Like I mentioned with the rain product, I couldn't even

788
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:03,520
Speaker 1: imagine how long it would take a product like that

789
00:45:03,680 --> 00:45:06,480
Speaker 1: to come to market at Coke or something equivalent to

790
00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:09,200
Speaker 1: Procter and Gamble, but it would take probably two years

791
00:45:09,239 --> 00:45:11,920
Speaker 1: of market research and consumer testing, and these guys were

792
00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:17,120
Speaker 1: able to get it done in months. And early last year,

793
00:45:17,640 --> 00:45:21,600
Speaker 1: Red Bull launched a watermelon flavor which sounds simple, but

794
00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:24,160
Speaker 1: it just killed it. It did. I'm sure Tracy would

795
00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:26,440
Speaker 1: love that in the country, probably very good with I've

796
00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:28,640
Speaker 1: done a little bit of sprig of basil or something

797
00:45:29,520 --> 00:45:31,839
Speaker 1: that sounds good joke, But now that you say, at

798
00:45:31,960 --> 00:45:35,040
Speaker 1: Red Bull watermelon with a sprig of basil, well but

799
00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:37,360
Speaker 1: but but if you don't want the full sugar products.

800
00:45:37,400 --> 00:45:40,400
Speaker 1: So that product did really well. Monster put a product

801
00:45:40,440 --> 00:45:43,719
Speaker 1: in the market on their zero calorie line in September,

802
00:45:43,880 --> 00:45:47,319
Speaker 1: so within months of seeing the success, they were able

803
00:45:47,320 --> 00:45:51,200
Speaker 1: to get that product the formulation correct, the taste profile right,

804
00:45:51,239 --> 00:45:53,440
Speaker 1: and they were able to get it to market. I

805
00:45:53,520 --> 00:45:56,120
Speaker 1: will say, if I'm able to do anything here, it's

806
00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:59,120
Speaker 1: it's to at least get you to try a Monster.

807
00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:01,239
Speaker 1: At this point, feel like both of you have never

808
00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:05,520
Speaker 1: tried one, which what's your favorite? What's your favorite? Uh,

809
00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:08,160
Speaker 1: your favorite one to try and I'll get that one.

810
00:46:08,400 --> 00:46:10,480
Speaker 1: What's your favorite flavor? I think you should try one

811
00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:14,640
Speaker 1: of the Ultra lines, try Ultra Sunrise, which is the

812
00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:18,600
Speaker 1: orange flavor, or Ultra Paradise, which is there. I don't know,

813
00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:22,560
Speaker 1: i'd call it like an apple key cucumber kind of thing, um,

814
00:46:22,800 --> 00:46:25,040
Speaker 1: but it's those are probably the ones that I would

815
00:46:25,040 --> 00:46:27,800
Speaker 1: try first. All Right, I'm gonna I'm looking up, I'm

816
00:46:27,840 --> 00:46:30,360
Speaker 1: gonna test the what were you going to test the

817
00:46:30,400 --> 00:46:34,239
Speaker 1: watermelon with vodka? Obviously? Obviously, but I was gonna say,

818
00:46:34,560 --> 00:46:38,680
Speaker 1: I'm going to test the strength of Coke's distribution network

819
00:46:38,760 --> 00:46:41,320
Speaker 1: and see if I can actually find a monster product

820
00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:46,560
Speaker 1: in Hong Kong. That's job number one. You will definitely

821
00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:48,799
Speaker 1: be able to find a Monster in Hong Kong. I'm

822
00:46:48,880 --> 00:46:53,560
Speaker 1: just I'm just envisioning Tracy on a rooftop in Hong Kong.

823
00:46:54,560 --> 00:46:57,840
Speaker 1: It's some you know where they apparently like they have

824
00:46:57,920 --> 00:47:04,239
Speaker 1: the virus under control, drinking a out monster watermelon basil cocktail.

825
00:47:04,320 --> 00:47:07,200
Speaker 1: And I'm very jealous of that. I'm very jealous of

826
00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:09,239
Speaker 1: that moment right now. I don't think you're gonna find

827
00:47:09,239 --> 00:47:12,880
Speaker 1: a watermelon ultra in Hong Kong, unfortunately. But Jill, they

828
00:47:12,920 --> 00:47:15,319
Speaker 1: actually are expanding in China at this point, to which

829
00:47:16,920 --> 00:47:19,640
Speaker 1: they're even a slightly different product offering there than they

830
00:47:19,719 --> 00:47:21,120
Speaker 1: do in the rest of the world. But they have

831
00:47:22,040 --> 00:47:25,960
Speaker 1: three three of their mainstream products and two non carbonated

832
00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:29,080
Speaker 1: tea products there, so I'm confident you'll be able to

833
00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:31,759
Speaker 1: find at least a couple of those on shelves. I'm

834
00:47:31,800 --> 00:47:34,359
Speaker 1: on it before this episode comes out. I'm gonna I'm

835
00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:37,200
Speaker 1: gonna get one, all right, Mark, thank you so much

836
00:47:37,200 --> 00:47:39,600
Speaker 1: for joining us. I've been so curious about this company

837
00:47:39,719 --> 00:47:42,120
Speaker 1: for a long time, and I feel like you you

838
00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:45,360
Speaker 1: told its story extremely well, so I really appreciate you

839
00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:48,640
Speaker 1: joining up. Yeah. Absolutely, thanks for having me. That was great, Mark,

840
00:47:48,719 --> 00:48:11,279
Speaker 1: Thank you, thanks Mark. Yeah, Tracy, I am kind of

841
00:48:11,360 --> 00:48:13,960
Speaker 1: embarrassed that I've never had one. I I think I

842
00:48:14,120 --> 00:48:16,759
Speaker 1: probably have like two thousand and four, two thousand five,

843
00:48:16,880 --> 00:48:20,120
Speaker 1: Like I have like some memory of like going to

844
00:48:20,200 --> 00:48:24,120
Speaker 1: the bagel store on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, and I

845
00:48:24,200 --> 00:48:27,560
Speaker 1: remember like seeing them, Like I have this vague memory

846
00:48:27,600 --> 00:48:30,279
Speaker 1: of like the first time I saw them proliferate. But

847
00:48:30,680 --> 00:48:33,239
Speaker 1: it's definitely been a been too long since I've had

848
00:48:33,680 --> 00:48:36,839
Speaker 1: a Monster beverage, But that's kind of an interesting thing, right,

849
00:48:36,920 --> 00:48:39,600
Speaker 1: So I have a feeling that even for most people

850
00:48:39,920 --> 00:48:45,040
Speaker 1: who haven't actually tried Monster, they're aware of the branding. Um. Yeah,

851
00:48:45,600 --> 00:48:47,719
Speaker 1: because it became such a big thing and it was

852
00:48:47,840 --> 00:48:53,520
Speaker 1: so distinctive. I do think that whole conversation was obviously fascinating.

853
00:48:54,040 --> 00:48:56,520
Speaker 1: The strength of management, this idea that they're able to

854
00:48:57,040 --> 00:49:00,759
Speaker 1: respond to the market very very quickly, that their advertising

855
00:49:00,840 --> 00:49:05,919
Speaker 1: has been different to other traditional drinks companies. The fact

856
00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:08,560
Speaker 1: that they have zero debt on their balance sheet is

857
00:49:08,760 --> 00:49:12,880
Speaker 1: absolutely amazing in the current environment. But one thing I

858
00:49:12,960 --> 00:49:15,480
Speaker 1: found really interesting was, you know, Mark was kind of

859
00:49:15,560 --> 00:49:18,080
Speaker 1: hinting at this, but it was the way the street

860
00:49:18,520 --> 00:49:23,680
Speaker 1: approached the company. Um, they didn't really understand it. Monster

861
00:49:24,120 --> 00:49:26,120
Speaker 1: was kind of unique in the sense that it was

862
00:49:26,200 --> 00:49:28,920
Speaker 1: a public company, but it acted a bit like a

863
00:49:29,080 --> 00:49:33,560
Speaker 1: private company. And I suspect also, and Mark didn't go

864
00:49:33,600 --> 00:49:36,120
Speaker 1: into this directly, but I suspect that there is also

865
00:49:36,200 --> 00:49:40,720
Speaker 1: a little bit of I guess like arrogance or classism

866
00:49:40,960 --> 00:49:45,120
Speaker 1: towards the product, Like Monster was always the blue collar

867
00:49:45,520 --> 00:49:49,600
Speaker 1: product for a less well off market. I suppose whereas

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00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:52,640
Speaker 1: Red Bull was the sort of white collar one, and

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00:49:52,719 --> 00:49:55,640
Speaker 1: I wonder how much of that fed into people's um

870
00:49:56,440 --> 00:50:01,200
Speaker 1: investment decisions or analysis. The it's just no question, like

871
00:50:01,320 --> 00:50:04,840
Speaker 1: if I have to in my mind's eye, and again

872
00:50:04,920 --> 00:50:08,239
Speaker 1: it's it's my own biases and judgment, and but like

873
00:50:08,360 --> 00:50:10,440
Speaker 1: in my mind's eye, you know, like if I have

874
00:50:10,920 --> 00:50:14,400
Speaker 1: if I imagine someone drinking Red Bull, it's like some

875
00:50:14,680 --> 00:50:17,800
Speaker 1: like you're a guy who's like six ft one, wearing

876
00:50:17,800 --> 00:50:21,400
Speaker 1: a white shirt and a club and you know, like

877
00:50:21,520 --> 00:50:24,680
Speaker 1: super fit, And if I imagined what I would have

878
00:50:24,760 --> 00:50:27,879
Speaker 1: assumed as like a monster drinker, it's like someone playing

879
00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:32,279
Speaker 1: video games in the US and Florida and having a

880
00:50:32,360 --> 00:50:35,760
Speaker 1: headset on talking, you know, like whatever game they're playing

881
00:50:36,320 --> 00:50:38,719
Speaker 1: with a baseball cap backwards and everything. Like it's just

882
00:50:38,800 --> 00:50:40,640
Speaker 1: like I hadn't I hadn't, you know, in my mind,

883
00:50:40,680 --> 00:50:42,600
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, yeah, they're competitors. But then as

884
00:50:42,640 --> 00:50:45,239
Speaker 1: soon as you said that, it's like so clear to me,

885
00:50:45,400 --> 00:50:49,320
Speaker 1: like how I've long like stereotyped the to uh the consumers.

886
00:50:49,440 --> 00:50:51,040
Speaker 1: So but I guess it's kind of accut, you're going

887
00:50:51,080 --> 00:50:54,479
Speaker 1: to get a lot of angry Monster fans coming after

888
00:50:54,560 --> 00:50:58,040
Speaker 1: you now I know, but you are definitely uh the

889
00:50:58,120 --> 00:51:02,640
Speaker 1: red Bull demotrazy. I would not like to put myself

890
00:51:02,680 --> 00:51:07,680
Speaker 1: in that category. I support it because Austria has very

891
00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:10,920
Speaker 1: very few things of which to be proud, and probably

892
00:51:11,040 --> 00:51:13,920
Speaker 1: our most famous export is something that you wouldn't want

893
00:51:13,920 --> 00:51:16,800
Speaker 1: to take credit for. So you know, we latch onto

894
00:51:16,920 --> 00:51:18,920
Speaker 1: what we can and red Bull is one of them,

895
00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:22,719
Speaker 1: even though, as Mark pointed out, the actual recipe came

896
00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:26,560
Speaker 1: from Thailand. But I'm going to convert, or at least

897
00:51:26,560 --> 00:51:28,600
Speaker 1: I'm going to try monster. I'll try to find it

898
00:51:28,680 --> 00:51:31,399
Speaker 1: in Hong Kong and uh, you know, we can talk

899
00:51:31,600 --> 00:51:34,239
Speaker 1: on Twitter or somewhere else about how we feel about it.

900
00:51:34,719 --> 00:51:37,759
Speaker 1: Do the review sounds good? I'm looking forward to our

901
00:51:38,280 --> 00:51:41,000
Speaker 1: our review and I'll take that selfie when I'm you know,

902
00:51:41,320 --> 00:51:44,800
Speaker 1: on the roof deck drinking some sort of monster based

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00:51:44,880 --> 00:51:50,320
Speaker 1: cocktails to Instagram. Okay, this has been another episode of

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00:51:50,400 --> 00:51:53,200
Speaker 1: the All Thoughts podcast. I'm Tracy Alloway. You can follow

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00:51:53,239 --> 00:51:56,480
Speaker 1: me on Twitter at Tracy Alloway and I'm Joe Why

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00:51:56,520 --> 00:52:00,120
Speaker 1: Isn't All? You can follow me on Twitter at the Stalwart. Hello.

907
00:52:00,200 --> 00:52:03,720
Speaker 1: Our producer Laura Carlson. She's at Laura M. Carlson. Follow

908
00:52:03,760 --> 00:52:07,160
Speaker 1: the Bloomberg head of podcast Francesco Levi at Francesco Today,

909
00:52:07,560 --> 00:52:10,400
Speaker 1: and check out all of our podcasts at Bloomberg onto

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00:52:10,440 --> 00:52:12,920
Speaker 1: the handle at podcasts. Thanks for listening.