After testing the waters of the energy drink category, Anheuser-Busch (AB) dove headfirst into the packaged beverage segment in May 2025 with the launch of Phorm Energy. The new drink is the result of a partnership between AB, sports nutrition company 1st Phorm and Dana White, CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship. “I couldn’t be more excited to take on the energy category with this partnership and product,” AB CEO Brendan Whitworth said at the time, “and alongside our world-class distribution network and team, I can’t wait to bring Phorm Energy to consumers across the country.”

Less than a year later in January 2026, AB announced that Phorm Energy was “a top 15 brand in total energy,” citing Circana data for all retail channels. Such is the potential of the energy drink category. A new brand that captures the imagination and attention of consumers—or at least a segment of them—can find itself among the fastest-growing brands in the country. As a result, it’s no surprise that hundreds of new energy drinks and brands come to market each year.

Unfortunately, not all energy brands come with the backing of AB’s marketing and distribution reach. NielsenIQ reported that 258 new energy drinks launched in 2024. It also reported that 90% of new beverage brands fail within two years. Still, energy drink product launches have grown at a rate of 20% since 2018, according to Innova Market Insights.

Different Strokes

Why so much focus on a single category segment? The continued growth of the segment is certainly a draw. It’s been six years since energy drinks first outsold the carbonated-soft-drink category in convenience stores. The 2020 milestone established the energy segment as a golden product not just in the cold vault but for the entire store. In 2025, packaged beverages brought in over $45,000 per store, per month, according to NACS State of the Industry data, with more than 28% of that coming from the energy drink segment.

The $26 billion market in the U.S. remains 77% owned by big brands Red Bull and Monster. Still, for beverage manufacturers new and old, there remains a desire to bring something unique to the fastest-growing segment in the cooler to reach current and new consumer demographics.

For three-year-old Lucky Energy, that unique proposition begins with something as basic as how the product gets to market.

“You could argue that energy is the most crowded category of any of them, but we didn’t agree,” said Hunter Kessler, general manager of brand at Lucky Energy. “There are legacy brands that have been served to us for 20 years, and they’re great. And there are a bunch of brands that are finding their way.”

Many new brands in the category are leaning on a healthier product as an advantage, determined to change consumer perception of the category and appeal to a new consumer segment.

“Today’s consumers are more health-conscious than ever, demanding more from their energy drinks than just a caffeine jolt,” retailer H&S Energy Group said in a 2025 blog post. That may be why more energy drinks are opting to include ingredients with benefits, like L-theanine to reduce the jittery effects of caffeine, ashwagandha or rhodiola to manage stress, and B vitamins, magnesium and zinc, which may improve energy metabolism.

“This shift toward ‘smart energy’ supports a wellness lifestyle—something modern consumers are eager to invest in,” the retailer said.

Key Ingredient

Accelerator Active Energy debuted in 2019 with a slightly different brand name (Accelerator Shoc or A Shoc) and different packaging. The brand was the latest brainchild of Lance Collins, the creator of several successful packaged beverages, including NOS Energy, Core Hydration and BodyArmor.

For Accelerator, his goal at launch was differentiation and a tight target audience. “We’re placing A Shoc in traditional energy doors, as well as new ‘fitness-enhanced energy’ space that retailers have created to help target consumers looking to purchase performance energy drinks,” Collins said in 2019. “As the ‘healthier performance’ energy category grows, we believe retailers will embrace unique products like A Shoc that target a younger consumer with modern demands.”

Following mixed success, A Shoc was rebranded, reformulated, and repackaged to a smaller can. In 2022, the reformulated product earned the NSF Certified for Sport mark, which indicates that it meets a strict set of standards for health and safety and doesn’t include any substances that are banned by major athletic organizations.

That certification gave Accelerator the unique positioning the company had been seeking. “[It] means athletes can drink it, and there’s nothing that’s going to pop up on a drug test,” said Dan Moran, area sales manager for the brand.

Different Folks

Another growing strategy for energy drink manufacturers is focusing on female consumers. Today, men account for about 60% of energy drink consumers, according to a report by Jeffrey Slater, founder of The Marketing Sage consultancy.

“This gender gap isn’t just a coincidence,” he said. “It’s the direct result of decades of marketing that alienated female consumers through hypermasculine positioning and imagery that suggested energy drinks were exclusively a ‘guy thing.’”

Celsius Energy stands as the original outlier here. The brand was introduced in 2004 as a fitness drink that actually burned calories. It has since gone through changes in both ownership and value proposition. Today, it promises to provide “essential energy,” to accelerate metabolism and to burn body fat. The result is a 50-50 split in male-to-female consumption ratio.

As the third-largest energy drink company in the U.S., Celsius found itself able to acquire another female-leaning brand, Alani Nu, in February 2025. Marketed to women, Alani Nu’s social media following is overwhelming female, with estimates as high as 92%.

Other brands distinctly targeted to female consumers include Bloom, Gorgie, Babe Energy by Bucked Up and Kim Kardashian’s Update. The latest addition comes from Monster Beverage Co., which launched FLRT Energy in four flavors in March. CEO Hilton Schlossberg said the “female-focused brand ... includes ingredients we believe will appeal to our target audience.”

The company said the drinks are made with “better-for-you ingredients” that provide collagen, immunity, skin and hair support, all with the idea that energy should be “as vibrant, fearless and fun as the women who drink it.”

The 12-ounce slim cans are designed with pastel colors and an abstract flower logo. FLRT is intended to provide a new opportunity for Monster. It also provides a halo for convenience retailers, which gain a new product to market to female consumers, perhaps bringing in new customers who can then discover a chain’s customer service, foodservice, clean restrooms and more.

With projections from Grand View Research showing the energy drink market in the U.S. will grow another 7.2% to reach nearly $38 billion through 2030, there’s no doubt new variations and new brands of energy drinks will continue to flow onto the market. H&S Energy Group welcomes the innovation and sees the category remaining a major growth opportunity for c-stores.

“[Current] trends in energy drinks are redefining the beverage landscape and creating new opportunities for c-store operators to increase sales and satisfy changing customer preferences,” the retailer said. “Once the go-to for college students and overnight workers, energy drinks now attract consumers of all ages. Athletes, remote workers, busy parents and even older adults are turning to these beverages for performance, focus and wellness benefits.”

C-stores that understand this broadened appeal, H&S concluded, can maximize profits by stocking a variety of energy drinks that cater to different lifestyles.