In 1987 an energy drink was sold for the very first time in its home market of Austria. The original beverage, at the time called Krating Daeng, was actually a Thai energy drink marketed to truckers, farmers, and construction workers. It wasn’t until Austrian business man, Dietrich Mateschitz, drank this formula to cure his jet lag that Red Bull finally “got its wiiings” and a new category was born.

 

The original energy drinks had to leverage their success solely on the premise that they worked. Nearly 20 years later, when the energy drink boom exploded in the USA, their success was founded on improved taste and variety. Now, it is 2016, and concepts like “free-from” and “clean label” are challenging the industry to keep up with an evolving core-consumer. Early evidence suggests that the performance of energy drinks under this clean label spotlight comes down to three important facts.