Empowering Communities to Make Better-For-You Choices

KDP continues to expand the distribution of better-for-you offerings to new and varied markets to reach a diverse mix of consumers. Over the last year, we have advanced that access through new outreach at both the local and national level.

In partnership with Stop & Shop and Partnership for Healthier America (PHA), KDP launched a pilot in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, MA, an area known to have food access disparities. We tested in-store marketing and merchandising strategies that prioritized placement of our better-for-you beverages, such as Core Hydration, Bai, Evian, Snapple and Polar in front of consumers at the store entrance and at check out. The pilot successfully marketed healthier beverage options and provided key learnings to inform our efforts in the future.

Building on our success, we expanded our work to Southside Chicago – a community with a high poverty rate, a high sugar-sweetened beverage consumption rate and a lack of access to varied food options. In partnership with community partner Project H.O.O.D., we provided residents with better-for-you products through a food and beverage drive and sponsored a fitness event with local instructors. In addition, we worked with local grocer Jewel-Osco to provide samples of KDP’s better-for-you products in-store. KDP also worked with Pennsylvania supermarket chain Redner’s’ retail dietician team to promote our Bai and Core Hydration products in 44 stores via price promotions and a “HealthCents” merchandise wall. Through this local work, we are gathering insights from consumers on what types of healthier choices they are looking for from their beverages.

Following the national conversation initiated at the 2022 White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health, KDP worked with its fellow members of the Hunger to Health Collaboratory’s Leadership Council to launch its inaugural “Prizes for Innovation” award – a $100,000 grant that identifies and highlights creative, systemic efforts to address food and nutrition inequities and advance health equity in U.S. communities. The first two grant recipients were Alameda County Recipe4Health and DC Central Kitchen.

To close out the year, we engaged consumers by participating in a Giving Tuesday campaign with Instacart and PHA. For one week, a shoppable pop-up was launched within the Instacart app that featured KDP brands Core Hydration and Mott’s. For every $1 purchased of the select better-for-you products, KDP, Instacart and other participating brands donated one serving of fruits and vegetables to PHA. In total, the campaign provided one million servings of nutritious food for families in need across the country.

With these efforts, and the many more to come, KDP is working to address pressing national and local community health challenges. We are accelerating innovation to increase the number of better-for-you beverage options in our portfolio and expanding distribution of those offerings in new and varied markets to promote an equitable and nutrition-secure future.