No Assumptions
High Energy Holdings Proposes Unique Potential in p.i.n.k.

As the spirits industry floods the market with more product entries than on-premise buyers can process with their mental SPAM filters, it can get a mite tough to tell the gimmicks from the goldmines.
    It’s tough enough to keep track of all the vodka labels turning up every week, as well as all the energy products out there. On-premise operators tend to relegate anything with the word “energy” attached as being purely youth-oriented and anything with the “ultra-premium” tag as more fitting for monied, more mature patrons.
    But peeking its head out of the glut, p.i.n.k. vodka — by means of a mixture of taking the time to put thought into its product combined with good ol’ fate and market surprise — has managed to spark the interest of multiple demographics. And lest its aim at a dynamic audience be misconstrued as an attempt to be all things to everyone, in fact, the brand’s owner High Energy Holdings is putting p.i.n.k. out there selectively.

So What?
    “Don’t make any assumptions about p.i.n.k. and who will drink it,” says David Mandell, president and CEO of the company. “That’s what we’ve learned. May 1 was our 1-year anniversary, and we’ve realized that the potential for what we’ve created is enormous.”
    p.i.n.k. lays claim to being the first ultra-premium vodka infused with caffeine and guarana. If the first question is, “So what? Why not just mix another vodka with an energy drink,” p.i.n.k.’s very strategy and positioning are ready with the answer.
    “We’ve created a product that not only has tremendous appeal to the 21- to 35-year-old market, but some of our biggest growth is in the 35-50 and older category,” Mandell says. “We are covering the entire landscape. If you look at p.i.n.k. and its image, it’s a fashionable, sexy product with a gorgeous package. We do all the high-end events in New York, L.A., San Francisco, Vegas and soon in Miami. It’s a product that is crossing all age ranges and demographics.”

Something for Everyone
    For the 20-somethings who perhaps are not as enamored of the brunch scene, p.i.nk. also is engineered to be “the perfect enhancement for an energy drinks,” Mandell says. “If you do a lot of energy drink business, great. We love working with Red Bull and energy drink companies. We’re allowing you to make money in a way that is expanding that. The product is ultra-premium. Our formula has caffeine and guarana, which is an all-natural herbal stimulant.
    “p.i.n.k. doesn’t have a lot of other additives in it,” Mandell says “Some of the copycats do (have additives). The product is not overly powerful. It is designed to create a pleasurable drinking experience for the consumer.”
    That experience, Mandell says, is the link between the youger set and the Baby Boomers, the latter being “a generation that in many ways wants to experience the benefits of the caffeine and guarana even more than the younger generation,” Mandell says.
    “If you’re out on the golf course, and you’re going to have your Martini at lunch before you go to the back nine, you should make it a p.i.n.k. Martini. We’re doing partnerships with golf courses and country clubs, and it’s exciting to see the brand grow in markets in which we didn’t initially think it would.

A Different Opportunity
    “What we are offering the bar, the restaurant and the nightclub is a way to make money that no other product can provide,” Mandell says. “Because we’re ultra-premium, you can now have your brunch cocktails and your dessert cocktails. You can have your energy Martini. p.i.n.k. is in the finest restaurants and nightclubs, where we are producing brunch cocktail menus, dessert cocktail menus, late-night alternatives. You can really transform the menu of the restaurant or nightclub in a way that makes them very profitable.
    “We have created an entirely new category of spirits, and vodka is the first entry.”
Also slated from High Energy Holdings in the next 12 months are a tequila, a white rum, a gin and a sake.