Talking Rain
| Industry | Beverage manufacturing and bottling |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1987 |
| Headquarters | Preston, Washington, United States |
Key people |
Kevin Klock, CEO |
| Products | Sparkling ICE |
| Website | SparklingICE.com |
Talking Rain is a privately held beverage company based in Preston, Washington, that manufactures and distributes enhanced and sparkling waters. The company was founded in 1987, and distributes its Sparkling Ice brand flavored waters across North America.
History
A part of the Talking Rain product portfolio for over 20 years, Sparkling Ice beverages were often overlooked, until a major organizational shift in 2010. The new leadership team refocused the company’s efforts. With Kevin Klock serving as Senior Vice President, TalkingRain started to build a marketing, sales and manufacturing team to focus efforts on this naturally flavored, zero-calorie carbonated beverage. By the time Klock became president in early 2011, his strategic focus on Sparkling Ice grew it from $10 million to more than $350 million in retail sales in just three years.
Sparkling Ice is one of the fastest-growing beverage brands in the United States, and aims to become a one billion-dollar brand by 2018.[1]
Products
Talking Rain produces PETE bottled, flavored and non-flavored waters for distribution throughout North America, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia and select countries in the Caribbean and Central America. The company's most prominent brand, and only brand that is distributed internationally, is Sparkling Ice, a low-calorie, artificially sweetened, carbonated water made with vitamins and fruit juice.
Sparkling Ice brand products come in 12 fruit flavors, and each flavor has a distinct and vivid color. The products are packaged in a tall, minimalist PETE bottle, branded with an ice cube logo depicting each bottle's flavor. Talking Rain also produces and distributes Sparkling Ice Lemonade and Sparkling Ice Tea, an extension of the Sparkling Ice brand. In 2016, Talking Rain introduced the Sparkling Ice Essence Of product line. The Essence Of products are lightly flavored carbonated water, without the usual bold coloring and flavoring of the traditional Sparkling Ice line.
Microsoft stocks Talking Rain products, among other soft drinks, for free distribution to employees. During the development of Windows Vista, Microsoft arranged to have special Talking Rain cans printed with the Vista logo and a link to an Intranet site.[2]
According to the Puget Sound Business Journal, as of August 2008, 90% of Talking Rain's revenue comes from flavored products. The company is privately held and as such does not report exact revenue or profit figures.[3]
References
- ↑ "Water's Just the start for Talking Rain." Seattle Times, December 10, 2004.
- ↑ "I found a can of Lemon-Lime Windows Vista Pop" Reddit.com, September 1, 2015.
- ↑ "Puget Sound area water bottlers still growing despite eco-concerns." Puget Sound Business Journal, August 22, 2008.