Campari is making its biggest bet ever on a pink spritz

As the alcohol industry deals with a dreary environment in the US , Aperol’s parent company hopes a brightly colored aperitif imported from Italy will entice drinkers.

Campari Group is making its biggest investment ever for the US launch of Sarti Rosa, a tropical pink-colored aperitivo liqueur made for spritzes. The Sarti Spritz has built a devoted following from Americans visiting Europe over the past few years, posting the bubbly concoction on TikTok and begging the company to bring it stateside.

The Italian company has seen its US business grow consecutively for the past five years by heavily promoting Aperol and Campari, popularizing the spritz to Americans cutting back on drinking as a lighter alternative to booze-heavy cocktails. With Sarti Rosa, however, the aim is to attract younger drinkers who prefer a sweeter aperitivo that doesn’t taste bitter.

“There’s a lot more growth in the spritz category,” Allison Varone, head of marketing for Campari Group, told CNN. “We believe that (Sarti Rosa) is building upon that and consumers now know what a spritz is, so they’re looking for different spins and variations.”

For those unfamiliar, a Sarti Spritz has tasting notes of mango, passionfruit and blood orange that is mixed with Prosecco and club soda. The pink-hued cocktail is photogenic, which has made it a social media sensation.

For the first six months of this year, global sales of Campari Group’s aperitifs, including Aperol and Campari, grew 4%. The category that includes Sarti Rosa jumped nearly 9% worldwide, bolstered by the pink drink’s continued growth across Europe.

Sales for many alcohol brands in the US market have been sluggish as consumers in recent years, particularly younger ones, moderate their drinking or seek out more budget-friendly options.

“The alcohol business in the United States is struggling more than in virtually any other part of the world,” Bourcard Nesin, a beverage analyst for Rabobank, told CNN earlier this year. “We’re seeing dramatic declines in consumption that aren’t taking place elsewhere.”

However, early signs in the United States have been encouraging for Campari Group. The company began rolling out Sarti Rosa to retailers and bars in June. Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, the nation’s biggest distributor, told CNN that the liqueur is one of its most successful launches ever.

“We are seeing particular success in markets that already over-index with spritz, like New York,” said Zach Poelma, the company’s senior vice president of strategy and insights. “While normally a new item launch would build up over time and be a more gradual build, we are seeing significant interest from both chains and independent accounts.”

At Saksey’s , a cocktail bar in Detroit, the Sarti Spritz has become one of the bar’s top-selling drinks since hitting menus last month. Tara Wong, head bartender, attributes its quick rise to a growing thirst among drinkers for refreshing, fruit-forward options.

“What has been especially exciting is that guests are not only asking for the Sarti Spritz, they are interested in experiencing it in other cocktails as well,” Wong told CNN.

Sarti’s debut comes amid growing competition for spritzes in the United States, including from the Hugo Spritz, an elderflower-based cocktail often made from Bacardi-owned St-Germain.

The privately held company hasn’t disclosed St-Germain sales. But in June, a research note from S&P Global said the liqueur continues “to grow faster than the broader industry.” Square data shows that orders have skyrocketed more than 150% year-over-year, making the Hugo Spritz the fastest-growing cocktail this past summer.

Despite the competition, Campari Group’s Varone said she thinks the US launch of Sarti Rosa will help bolster Campari’s dominance within spritz.

“We’re fortunate that we lean in on a portfolio that’s attractive to all consumers, especially young ones,” she said.

由于美国酒类行业面临低迷的市场环境，Aperol 的母公司希望从意大利进口的色彩鲜艳的开胃酒能够吸引饮酒者。

金巴利集团正斥巨资在美国推出其旗下产品Sarti Rosa，这是一款热带粉色开胃利口酒，专为调制气泡酒而设计。过去几年，前往欧洲的美国人纷纷在TikTok上分享Sarti Spritz的美味照片，并恳求金巴利将其引入美国市场，积累了一批忠实拥趸。

过去五年，这家意大利公司通过大力推广Aperol和Campari，使其在美国的业务持续增长。他们将这种清爽的开胃酒推广给那些减少饮酒的美国人，作为一种比烈性鸡尾酒更清淡的选择。然而，推出Sarti Rosa的目标却是吸引更年轻的饮酒者，他们更喜欢口感偏甜、不苦涩的餐前酒。

金巴利集团市场营销主管艾莉森·瓦罗内告诉CNN：“气泡酒品类增长潜力巨大。我们相信（萨蒂·罗莎）正在巩固这一市场地位，消费者现在都知道气泡酒是什么，所以他们正在寻找不同的风味和变化。”

对于不太熟悉的人来说，萨蒂斯普里茨鸡尾酒（Sarti Spritz）融合了芒果、百香果和血橙的风味，并以普罗塞克起泡酒和苏打水调制而成。这款粉红色的鸡尾酒非常上镜，因此在社交媒体上迅速走红。

今年上半年，金巴利集团旗下开胃酒（包括 Aperol 和 Campari）的全球销量增长了 4%。其中，Sarti Rosa 所在的品类全球销量增长了近 9%，这主要得益于这款粉色饮品在欧洲的持续增长。

近年来，由于消费者，尤其是年轻消费者，减少饮酒或寻求更经济实惠的选择，美国市场上许多酒精品牌的销售一直低迷。

“美国的酒类行业正面临着比世界上几乎任何其他地方都更加严峻的困境，”荷兰合作银行的饮料分析师布尔卡德·内辛今年早些时候告诉CNN。“我们看到美国的酒类消费量出现了大幅下降，而这种情况在其他地方并没有发生。”

然而，美国市场的早期迹象对金巴利集团来说令人鼓舞。该公司于6月开始向零售商和酒吧推广Sarti Rosa。美国最大的经销商Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits告诉CNN，这款利口酒是其有史以来最成功的产品之一。

公司战略与洞察高级副总裁扎克·波尔玛表示：“我们在像纽约这样对气泡酒需求量已经很高的市场取得了特别大的成功。通常情况下，新产品的推出需要时间慢慢积累，循序渐进，但我们看到连锁店和独立零售商都对这款产品表现出了浓厚的兴趣。”

在底特律的鸡尾酒吧 Saksey's，Sarti Spritz 自上个月推出以来，已成为酒吧最畅销的饮品之一。首席调酒师 Tara Wong 将其迅速走红归功于顾客对清爽、果味浓郁的饮品日益增长的需求。

“最令人兴奋的是，客人们不仅要求品尝 Sarti Spritz，他们还有兴趣在其他鸡尾酒中体验它的味道，” Wong 告诉 CNN。

Sarti 的首次亮相正值美国 Spritz 鸡尾酒市场竞争日益激烈之际，其中包括 Hugo Spritz，这是一款以接骨木花为主要原料的鸡尾酒，通常使用百加得旗下的圣日耳曼接骨木花利口酒调制而成。

这家私营公司尚未披露圣日耳曼利口酒的销售额。但标普全球在6月份发布的一份研究报告中指出，这款利口酒的增长速度“持续超过整个行业”。Square的数据显示，其订单量同比增长超过150%，使得Hugo Spritz成为今年夏季增长最快的鸡尾酒。

尽管面临竞争，金巴利集团的瓦罗内表示，她认为 Sarti Rosa 在美国的上市将有助于巩固金巴利在气泡酒领域的统治地位。

“我们很幸运，我们的产品组合对所有消费者都很有吸引力，尤其是对年轻消费者，”她说。