The Real Coconut Beverage Journey
Kokomio is the perfect blend of coconut water and pulp. It’s richer than water, lighter than a smoothie and more refreshing than both. Enjoying Kokomio by the pool, after a workout or hanging out with friends is a direct result of how much time, effort and care has gone into creating this authentic, premium coconut beverage from Mexico. Every step of this four-year journey has been fun, exciting and worth taking.
What Drives Us
Why did we develop Kokomio? We saw a need for continued support and economic opportunities for the coconut growers in Guerrero, so by creating a pure organic coconut beverage life we enjoyed in our childhood days in Acapulco seemed to be the right choice. We also discovered that consumers in the U.S. were thirsty for a fresh, real coconut beverage, with less sugar straight from Mexico. Insert “Ah-ha!” moment here!
We went to work to produce the world’s best coconut water and pulp beverage. In time, we came up with what we feel is the perfect recipe. Wanting to give customers the highest standards, we worked hard to earn our “organic” certification and developed our quality control processes.
Testing the (Coconut) Waters
To learn more about the coconut beverage market, we attended Expo West. The positive feedback we received from consumers confirmed our belief that Kokomio was a delicious and refreshing product. In fact, a large, well-known wholesaler came to us looking to enter into a distribution agreement. That was exciting, but ultimately we ended negotiations in order to stay true to our recipe and our commitment to quality. We knew we made the right decision for our company and our product.
Continuing to explore the market, we sent samples to BevNet Live. We received constructive criticism that taught us a valuable lesson: even outstanding products need the right package to build brand equity. So, we reached out to a firm called TIG (The Intertwine Group). Their expertise in the natural food and beverage industry really helped us define our goals and strategy, that allowed us start building our brand.
Packaging and Positioning Breakthroughs
Needing to keep spreading the word about Kokomio coconut beverage, we attended Expo West again even though we hadn’t finalized our “look” yet. There we learned another lesson. We needed more than just an enhanced appearance for the product—we needed to update our entire brand. For that, we turned to branding and marketing experts from California, MHD Group.
This was a very important period in our company’s journey. Working with TIG and MHD Group, we developed new branding and packaging, redesigned our website and made a plan for connecting with our audience using social media. Our company and our product now had a new, engaging persona.
Launching a Coconut Beverage Brand That Consumers Will Love
In March 2020, we were set for Expo West, unfortunately that didn’t happen. We’re looking forward to launching e-commerce in May 2020.