Coca-Cola International recently entered a partnership with Monster Beverage Corporation, buying out 18% of its public shares, which in the process will be bringing the widely popular drink to Israel as a new official import.
The company itself, traded at $60 billion on the NASDAQ Composite, is one of the top-selling energy drinks in North America as well as Europe - second in sales only to top competitor Red Bull.
In lieu of the partnership, Monster has set up a representative office in Israel and recently hired an Israeli as their regional marketing manager to spearhead their campaign.
The Israeli energy drink market is currently dominated by the brands XL and BLU, while the cost for these two brands (NIS 5) is much less than the previous import price of NIS 15 a can for Monster Energy drinks, the new import agreement will bring the Monster prices down to NIS 7 to 9. At the same time, the new drink will offer Israelis twice the amount of beverage they would get from their usual energy drink.
Like Red Bull, Monster Energy is heavily involved in advertising within the extreme sports arena. Sports such as MMA, skateboarding, snowboarding, motorsport and others.
The energy drink was first introduced into the market by Hansen Natural Company - now Monster Beverage Corporation - in April 2002. Today, Monster has 34 different drinks that it sells to consumers through six subsidiaries: Monster Energy line, Java Monster, Extra Strength, Import, Rehab and Muscle Monster.
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