BevNET’s 2026 NYC conference was a highlight of this year—and not just because it took place just blocks from our New York City office. After attending massive trade shows like Sweets & Snacks and Expo West, it was nice change of pace to attend a more intimate conference and have deeper conversations with brands and partners. This setting lent itself to quality over quantity, and we came away with some valuable learnings about what’s next for the industry.
Beverage is one of the strongest categories in our client roster, and many of those brands are based right here in New York. Getting to see our clients face-to-face is one of the best reasons to attend any conference.
At BevNET, we visited with Electrolit— a premium hydration brand quickly growing in popularity.
We talked about their recent traction in the US market after decades of success in LATAM, and how they’ve used Blue RGM to create a strong commercial foundation as they scale.
A few trends were hard to miss on the floor. Calm, protein, and carbonation are generating the most energy right now. As always, health more broadly continues to shape what brands are bringing to market. Red Dye 40, the infamous synthetic food coloring, came up repeatedly in conversation, with attendees celebrating that it’s on its way out.
We also noticed some interesting trends coming up in marketing and promotions. Most notably Trip, a leader in the emerging “calm” category, launched a collaboration with the award-winning Calm app. This signals that brands are thinking more intentionally about how they build relevance before pushing for shelf space.
That fits with a broader shift we’re seeing: brands investing in demand creation before retail distribution—or even growing Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) for a longer period of time before pursuing retail listings at all. As Tastewise puts it, brands are now focused on proving consumer demand before a product reaches the shelf.
Beverage moves fast, and BevNET reflects that energy. The harder question to answer is how to distinguish what’s a lasting shift from what’s a passing fad. Making these distinctions isn’t easy, but attending industry events where you can learn at scale makes it easier to stay ahead of the curve.
In a category that moves as fast as beverage, the brands that win are the ones that can plan, spend, and adapt with discipline. That’s where UpClear comes in.
UpClear’s Blue RGM platform gives beverage brands a single source of truth for trade promotion management (TPM) and revenue growth management (RGM). It helps established brands plan smarter, control trade spend, and measure the return on every promotional dollar across a growing portfolio of customers, channels, and markets.
Leading beverage brands including Vita Coco, Electrolit, Spindrift, Twinings, and Nichols plc rely on UpClear to manage trade promotion at scale and maximize the return on their trade investment.
Damask is a Senior Marketing Manager at UpClear, where she supports the sales team in developing new business. She’s based in NYC with roots from Oregon. She brings over a decade of marketing and sales experience from a variety of industries.
At UpClear, our mission is to empower Consumer Goods brands to maximize revenue performance and trade investment returns through intelligent, collaborative software—providing a single source of truth, streamlined automation, and actionable insights.
The Blue RGM Intelligence Platform supports end-to-end processes, from Annual Planning to Account Planning and Execution.
