Beverage Industry's Best New Products of 2007
Written By: The Fine Water Connoisseur

New Product Awards All About Function

And the awards go to Urban Detox, House Call, Youth Trip and Brainiac.

   Who are they? Members of a hip-hop collective, picking up a
Grammy? Nope.

   They're part of a new line of beverages put out by Function
Drinks, a company that today was named the overall winner of the 'Best
New Product of 2007' award by the beverage industry trade publisher
BevNET.com. The company also won for Best New Functional Beverage,
capitalizing on a group of innovative ingredients that Function
Drinks' makers say will provide hangover relief, protection from
disease, athletic recovery, and energy.

   This year's winners covered 12 different categories and were
chosen from a field of more than 100 entries. With more than 430 new
beverage products identified and catalogued by BevNET.com last year,
the products receiving Best of 2007 designation emerged from a broad
pool of competitors as superlative in terms of innovation, taste,
execution, and packaging. The competition was sponsored by WILD
Flavors, Inc.

   Brand new companies and well-established giants were both
represented in the winner's circle. The winner of the Best Packaging
Innovation award, NOS, is owned by the Coca-Cola Co. and Mark Hall,
the president of energy drink giant Monster, was named Beverage
Executive of the Year. But freshman efforts like the kids' bottled
water, bot (Best Children's Product), and fast-growing Yerba Mate tea
company, Bombilla & Gourd (Best Non-Carbonated Product), also produced
award-winning drinks.

   "This year's entries demonstrated a breadth and depth that went
far beyond any of the previous years," said BevNET CEO John Craven.
"It's exciting to see how many companies are eager to receive
recognition for their hard work, and gratifying that they look to us
as the avenue for conferring that recognition."

   The complete list of entries follows:

   Best New Product of 2007 - Function Drinks

   Best Carbonated Beverage - Bionade

   Best Non-Carbonated Beverage - Bombilla & Gourd Yerba Mate Tea

   Best Energy Drink - Steaz Energy and Syzmo (Tie)

   Best Children's Product - bot beverages

   Best Enhanced Water - O Water Infused

   Best Packaging Innovation - NOS 22 oz. bottle

   Best Functional Beverage - Function Drinks

   Best Water - Icelandic Glacial Natural Spring Water

   Best Packaging Design - 420 Water

   Best Marketing Campaign - Fred Water

   Beverage Executive of the Year - Mark Hall, Monster Energy

Resources: BevNet

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